Recently my leadership team placed a proposal before me: would you stay in the New York for a couple of years and head up our internship? At that time, my wife and I were in full wedding planning mode, so they were gracious to give us some time to make the decision.
In early October we decided to accept. This is a change from our original plans; we had planned to go back to Asia about a year after getting married. But we decided to stay because leading the internship is what we are called to do during this season to play our part in seeing multiplying churches take off on universities in Asia. Our heart is in Asia, but our role to play is here for now.
What is the internship? When a Campus Target member decides to become a long-term missionary with us, the first step is for them to go through an 11-month internship in New York that is focused on preparing them for long-term success in Asia. During that time we help them raise a support team, grow spiritually, develop practical life skills, learn language, and more. They also help us recruit more people to go with us to Asia.
Leading the internship will not be a one-man show; there will be at least two of us focused on it. I’m excited about this opportunity to invest in the people who are the future of our team in Asia. They are amazing people who will do great things by God’s power.
We are hearing great reports about students coming to Christ in Asia. Also, one of our young churches got their first taste of persecution — a student was taken to an office, held for a couple of hours, and berated for being a Christian. Teachers tried to convince her to not believe. She later said that she never knew before whether she could give up something big for Jesus, but now she knows she can. Isn’t that beautiful? Pray for the young churches there.