If I Knew Then What I Know Now by Len Woods & Dave Veerman

Author:Len Woods & Dave Veerman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Array
Publisher: Zondervan

I was the pastor of a small church in rural Wisconsin with a staff of one—me. And one of my many responsibilities was the youth program. I recall one unchurched mom and dad whom I got to know primarily through their two daughters who’d grown up in our youth programs. When those girls reached high school, they took home information about a scheduled mission trip to Mexico. The parents were a little concerned about the dangers of travel outside the States, and they asked to talk to me. I was able to reassure them by explaining that I’d lived most of my early years in another country (and look how normal I turned out!), I’d done this trip before, and I could describe the logistics and organizations we’d be utilizing while in Mexico.

One Sunday the girls approached me and asked if there was any chance their parents could go on the trip as chaperones. Frankly, this was a new thought to me. I’d occasionally invited key church members to consider traveling with us (with mixed responses), but I hadn’t considered that nonbelieving parents might benefit from a hands-on experience as much as their children. I knew the gospel often becomes especially compelling in a cross-cultural setting (as it often does at camps and on special trips), but I hadn’t thought of applying that evangelistic strategy to the folks who often paid the freight for these trips. Ultimately, this couple not only joined that trip, but they eventually traveled with me to several other countries as well— sometimes without kids!

On that first trip to Mexico, they saw and heard the gospel a number of times as it was verbalized by various people on the front lines who were carrying out acts of mercy and justice in Christ’s name. And then during our journey home, we stopped on the border in El Paso, Texas, and spent a day debriefing.

We were walking along a sidewalk that parallels the Rio Grande, and we could see Juarez, Mexico, in the distance. Our group was spread out, and I realized this father was walking next to me. He wasn’t much of a conversationalist, but he suddenly said, “Neil, I need to tell you something. I heard what that speaker said about Romans 10, about confessing your faith with your mouth, and I realized I’d never done that with anyone my whole life. So I decided I would start with you. This trip I definitely crossed the river from being someone who ran my own life to being someone who wants Jesus to run my life from now on.” Now, I’d call that a good confession any time!

—Neil Wilson

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