News > North America

 

2013 Key Verse "And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains."  Col. 4:3

This has been my key verse for the last two and a half years.  My life has been a string of key verses- a pilgrimage through which God has been guiding me for as long as I can remember.  Even when many times I forgot about God or failed to acknowledge him he was there.  I can relate to Jacob confessed in Gen 48:15, “God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day.” Like Jacob God has led my life full circle, beginning from his revelation to me in my childhood and ultimately leading me back to himself.  The second thing I would like to say is that, though it may take a short or a long time, God answers prayer.

Still there have been hard times when I struggled with fear, self doubt and meaninglessness.  in high school and when I left my small Ohio home town to study architecture at the University of Cincinnati.  Despite getting good grades and recognition for some of my design projects, this feeling of emptiness grew until I fell into depression my pre-senior year.  Sporadic reading from my  6^th grace RSV Bible was the only thing that gave me relief and rest.  I was especially moved by Jesus' words which seemed like divine wisdom but seemed far away from my fallen reality. 

 

One day a young man standing by the library asked me if I wanted to study the Bible and I immediately said yes.  His name was Geordan Griggs and he called me a few days later.  When I showed up for the study Missionary Samuel Zun greeted me.  By coincidence several visitors from Columbus, (OSU, including Grace [Martin] Carroll) happened to be visiting that day. God met and spoke to me very personally as my true heavenly Father through that first Genesis study, and continually through one to one with M. Sam Zun, John’s gospel study, and Genesis School, to which I invited my classmates.  After graduation unlike my classmates I stayed in Cincinnati because I decided to remain as a campus Bible teacher despite the difficult economy and delivered pizzas until I got a full time job.  I spent a good part of that summer in prayer and reflection until I met Jesus late one night before I shared my life testimony at a conference in Niagara Falls.  I embraced his grace and calling and set Phil 3:8a as my life key verse.  “What is more, I consider everything a things a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord.”  One year later I became engaged to Grace Martin.  And after our marriage we remained in Cincinnati fifteen years raising four children and a few student leaders including Shepherd David Miller. Throughout that period I worked hard to provide for my family and encountered many difficulties because of the up and down economy.  In 1996 I was working for a small boutique firm.  While the projects were interesting the paychecks sometimes bounced.  Soon my kids would be teenagers so on Dr Samuel Lee’s advice I began looking for a new job by spreading a wide net and sending resumes across the country.

 

God's answer for prayer for my direction came in the form of nine requests for interviews all from Raleigh, which is the location North Carolina largest state University.  When I accepted an offer from my first choice company, we packed up and moved there and began a UBF chapter, first in our house and later on campus as a student organization.  Throughout that time I was thankful for the Bible study and training I had received in Cincinnati as preparation for weekly message writing.

 

As part of the Mid Atlantic we attended regional conferences with Washington and occasionally with Atlanta.  On campus we held fall/spring events and Christmas services with up to fifty worshippers.  Our primary prayer topic was to participate in raising Jesus’ disciples.  For the first several years I went visited campus after work and on weekends with the family, meeting students until I had a large piece of cardboard covered with the tiny names and phone numbers of hundreds of students, out of which a couple of dozen studied one to one and a few faithfully for a time.  And out of this remnant God raised Andrew Dellinger as an ancestor of North Carolina State.  Through challenging himself and overcoming difficult circumstances God established Andrew’s beautiful marriage to Shepherdess Heather Janis, and enabled him to graduate with a PhD from NC State where he is now interviewing to become a full time professor shepherd.

 

As a chapter director I attended USA/Canada staff meetings.  It was at one of those semiannual staff meetings that Dr Samuel Lee gave a prayer topic for going out as missionaries.  I’m not sure about the other attendees but through testimony writing that day I made a decision to go out as a missionary.  Along with Grace, I renewed this vow at the 2008 Purdue conference.  Soon after this I had a dream that I was in a large field preaching to a crowd who seemed to all be speaking in a Gaelic accent.  I woke up and told Grace that the people in the dream might be Scottish, and together we interpreted that God wanted us to go Scotland.  Three years ago a scouting trip from the top to the bottom of Britain confirmed our idea when we fell in love with the warm character of the Scottish people.

 

At that time I no idea how to make this happen.  One barrier was I did not have a credentialed degree to work in the UK.  But in 2011 two events occurred. First, I found out about a TAU Master's program at Judson University a Christian-based school located west of Chicago. That same weekend Pastor, Ron Ward, mentioned to Grace and I about coming to Chicago.  I told Mother Sarah Barry about this plan and that many doors needed to open.  So we prayed together and one by one God began to open the doors.  In June of 2011 after some prodding I called with Keelan Kaiser, chair of the architecture program at Judson.  He said they were also interested in me, not only as a student but possibly as adjunct professor for one studio and scheduled an interview.  I worked hard to prepare a portfolio and pedagogical philosophy, etc. and was accepted into the program.

 

The remainder of the summer was a fierce battle of to downsize, fix up, and sell our house in Raleigh.  Throughout this period we were praying with Andrew and Heather how to transition the ministry to their leadership.  Two weeks before moving I attended a Southeast summer organized by NC State  along with chapters from Georgia, Florida and Tennessee.  The event was a wonderful example of unity and co-working and sign that our ministry was in good hands. 

 

The move itself was not easy but in fact only the beginning of many trials.  Taking a full load of classes on top of teaching made that the school year of was the hardest year of my life. In reality living in Chicago was not easy because we were used to a small ministry.  Shep. Grace and I reached out to make friends and develop relationships, which we hope to continue.  God helped us so much through the prayer and encouragement of Chicago coworkers including P. Ron, P. Abraham Kim, our Pyongyang house neighbors, Loyola fellowship and many whom I’m leaving out.  The faculty at Judson were very supportive especially my adviser Dr Chris Miller who suggested that I pick a project in Scotland as place a thesis I subject because of our prayer to go there. I can say both in my school, church and other chapters including M. Sam Zun in Cincinnati and M. Jacob Lee in Washington, we have received unconditional support for our prayer to go as missionaries to Scotland and Britain. 

 

After my graduation Grace and I returned to Raleigh.  Since we sold our house we have been living as guests in Andrew and Heather's home. Without their unfailing love and kindness generous Grace and I would not be going anywhere.  My time there has been occupied by applying two dozen TAU firms in England and Scotland while simultaneously trying to finish a project in order to have enough income to pay bills.  After nearly 3 months of job search I received an inquiry from ADAM  Architecture asking my work permission status.  A call to Paul Ridge in London for prayer and advice put me in touch with a lawyer in his firm.  Two weeks before this I had found and scanned all the documents belonging to my parents while they lived in Britain, up to 1959 when they became naturalized US citizens.  After uploading all these documents the law firm told me I did not need to bother applying for a work visa. In fact I was British qualifying for dual citizenship and to go ahead apply for a passport! After very much prayer last this information led me to one job offer to become an urban designer with ADAM Architecture in Winchester, England.  ADAM is the largest traditional firm in Europe working all over the UK including Leith, Edinburgh, the location of their largest urban design project.  We pray God may use this passport and job offer as a means to take a part in God's plan to re-evangelize Britain through revival and end up in Scotland as missionaries.

 

In conclusion I will go back to my title to say as Jacob did when he blessed Joseph’s sons in Genesis 48 that the Lord has been my Shepherd each day of my life. As I am in the process of moving to begin a new job in Winchester, I believe he will open doors in the future as he has faithfully demonstrated in throughout my lifetime.