All-Stars

I want to tell you about three AMF women who are all-stars for different reasons:

Last weekend I was at the AMF camp conference in Nebraska. I had come in from a long flight, and I sat down with a group of ladies. One of them, Marie Parker, was having a great time with her friend. I was overwhelmed by their enthusiasm and their joking. It was just too much; it was like drinking from a fire hose.

I wanted to spend more time with Marie, so the next day, I found her and got to know her a little better. Her family runs a camp. She does much of the cooking and the recruiting – she is a hard, hard worker. Looking into her eyes, I saw an incredible enthusiasm for her ministry and for what God is calling her to do. I thought, I want us all to be like Marie, who has a fire in her eyes to reach people for Christ.

The second star is our PR manager, Andrea Graver, who takes her job very seriously. In a few months we will be sending out our annual report, which is in a different format this year. I’ve given Andrea free reign to be as creative as she’d like to tell the story of what God is doing at AMF.

One day I got a phone call from her, expressing how excited she was that she had found the perfect paper for the project to be printed on. She had prayed that God would lead her to the right paper and that she would sense when she found it. When she did, she actually cried. She was delighted that God gave her this one little bit of the project; that detail reminded her God was with her.

I’m so glad we have people like Andrea who pray about little things, who sense God leading them to the type of paper to have for our annual report. Few people who get the annual report a few months from now will notice the paper, but Andrea will because she knows that God is concerned about the little things.

The third all-star is our IT person, Lisa French. We’ve been having a horrible time with our computer systems and software, but I’m always amazed that she’ll talk about what God has called her to do or mention a piece of Scripture that has given her hope and encouragement during down times. She sometimes asks me theological questions. She loves Jesus and is inquisitive about how Jesus is part of our office and the IT Department. She’s excited about serving our Lord in details I would never dream of.

My mentor, Bob Broaddus, once asked me, “Ridge, how good would you be if no one else showed up?” He was simply reminding me of the biblical mandate that we are to be members of the body of Christ; by doing what we are called to do we raise up our living Lord, and we build each other up in our faith. These three all-stars, working behind the scenes, are all doing what God has called them to do. That’s what I want for everyone in our mission.

http://www.americanmissionary.org/