Easy Decision
We were well into our first term in Côte d’Ivoire when I realized that I would never get to be an agricultural missionary. I had this calling on my life to be an agricultural missionary after two events. One of the events was an Agricultural Missions Foundation presentation at First Baptist Church, Vicksburg, by Owen Cooper and Gene Triggs. These men were the President and Executive Vice President of Mississippi Chemical Corporation, the largest farmer’s cooperative in the USA at that time. They loved Jesus and they loved mobilizing people to work as agricultural missionaries all over the world. They presented the plight of villagers living in the Sahel of West Africa. After their presentation, I was ready to go—just needed for my wife to feel the same way.
Months later as we began the process to become missionaries, there were no requests for agricultural workers. I was matched with a position in Côte d’Ivoire where I began leading the publishing house for French-speaking countries in the Caribbean and Africa. During that first term I realized that my leaders were happy about the progress of the publishing ministry, so I thought they might have a problem with me switching over to become an agricultural missionary. When we were appointed missionaries, Dr. Cornell Goerner, the Secretary for Africa, had told me that once I arrived on the field, I could become an agricultural worker. After all, I was born on the farm and spent most of my early years either living on the farm or working on the farms of my relatives.
Dr. Goerner did not tell me that he would be retiring before we finished our year of living in France to learn the French language, and he was replaced by John Mills as the Area Director for West Africa. Our new leadership wanted me to continue turning out the theological training materials that we were producing. But I made the formal transfer request anyhow through my dear friend, Bill Bullington, who was the Associate Area Director.
After a few weeks I had a message from Bill saying that my request had been denied because I did not have a degree in agriculture. No one had mentioned a degree in agriculture until that time. I think that John Mills thought that I would accept that and forget about becoming an agricultural missionary. But he was wrong. I replied that following a short furlough I would pursue a degree in agriculture. It was an easy decision because we were doing what we believed the Lord wanted us to do.
The words of the old hymn “Trust and Obey” describe our thoughts in making this life-changing decision: “What He says we will do;
Where He sends we will go,
Never fear, only trust and obey.”
“And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” (Isaiah 30:21)