Have you met my friend, Dr. John Woodward with South Pacific Christian Fellowship?
Read John's testimony here:
I feel most closely akin to Jonah, the reluctant prophet. I have had a lifetime of being called by God to do that which I perceived to be beyond my ability and outside my area of interest. This has resulted in my hesitancy to act until God wrestles me down to the point where I am finally willing to go. That process of God calling, God persuading and God’s presence along this journey has left me in awe. It began with my conversion through a friend in Jr. High. That same summer, the man overseeing the youth at my family’s ultra-liberal church also came to Christ, and within weeks of my newfound faith, he began Bible studies for our youth group. Serious study of the Bible would continue to grow and nurture my faith all through high school. God had prepared the way.
At college, I joined InterVarsity, a small and dying ministry on our campus. As a new member, I was asked into leadership immediately. It was well beyond my training or aptitude, which was the perfect place for me, because it caused me to get serious about my faith and to learn how--out of necessity--to rely on God. Serious prayer and Bible study followed. However, this position also allowed me to oversee the death of this ministry as our staff left at the end of my Sophomore year. Not being able to find another ministry that provided the hands on ministry that InterVarsity had, I began to lead Bible studies in the dorms. In no time, we had over twenty students involved, leading to the rebirth of the chapter in the next year. These four years of responsibility, leadership and discipling college students was God’s way of pushing me forward in my faith and giving me tools for my future ministry. It also illustrated how God could accomplish great things in spite of me.
At Urbana ’79, my future wife and I committed to giving two years of our lives to mission work before we settled down. Not sure what this commitment would look like, we continue to pray and watch for two years. At the small church we had joined in Illinois after graduation, a missionary came and reported on their work in Eastern Europe helping the oppressed church behind the Iron Curtain. We knew immediately this is where we were supposed to be. A year later, we were stationed in Vienna and began a two-year ministry to the suffering saints in Iron Curtain countries. Two things happened from this experience. First, I was humbled and ashamed about my lax Christian life. Here were people who were suffering under the regular threat of imprisonment and even torture for their faith, and I - with so much freedom--did so little for the Kingdom. I was truly challenged by these saints and learned from their example of faithfulness and passion for the Lord. I desired to know and serve God in a deeper and more committed way. Second, God was finally able to opened my stubborn heart. I had been told by godly friends and leaders that I should be in campus ministry. I had discounted any such suggestions. I was now excited to pursue ministry as a vocation. Now, I had a clear hunger and calling to return to kind of ministry I had been involved in in college. Again, God was preparing the way, as a couple we had worked in Vienna called us on our return to the USA to say there was an opening for a campus minister at Iowa State University.
As a campus minister for twenty-three years, God place me in the perfect place for me to continue to grow and develop my faith. My shortcoming is - on my own - I am not very good at growing my dependency on or purity in God. However, with deep sense of concern and responsibility for the spiritual and emotional lives of the young people God had given me, challenged me to be the best for God and for the students. Through service and the heavy weight of responsibility to the college students, I continued to study, to pray, and learn reliance on the Lord to live a humble life of purity that I might be an example and encouragement.
Due to a lack of formal training in ministry and theology, I have relied heavily on personal Bible study. I am very aware of my lack of knowledge and do all I can to learn from the Bible and to make applications to my life. Through teaching, preaching and discipling programs, I have been greatly challenged to grow more in my understanding. This has resulted in two important conclusions about God and His Word: The first is God’s deep concerned for the orphans and widows - the least among us - which lead me to my work with For God’s Children. I desire more than ever to be at the center of God’s heartfelt concern. Second, I have learned to test all theologies with my initial and simple reading of Scripture, which has led me to a strong appreciation of Arminian interpretation of Scripture and for Anabaptist and Wesleyan traditions.
I am a passionate but slow learner. I know a lot about what I don’t know! And I am the most blessed because I see God’s hand guiding me to places He clearly has prepared for me. I am like Habakkuk who was told by God to “Look at the nations and watch - and be utterly amazed. “For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told.” (Hab. 1:5). I am more often “utterly amazed” as I get to be a witness to the wonderful work that God is doing, which I find myself somehow privileged to be a part. How I got here, only God knows, as He has (and continues to) prepared the way.
