Mrs. Jamie, Pastor and I just returned from a week at Heartland Baptist Bible College in Oklahoma City. We were able to catch up with several old friends, and Bro. Aaron wrote this note to you…
Dear Teens of Faith,
What an adventure bible college turned out to be! We miss all of you,
and are still praying for you. Any news we get, we are so proud!! We
still consider you all “our teens” and really want nothing but God’s blessings for you.
However, this isn’t a note just to tell you how good you all are, I want to challenge each and every one of you. I would love nothing more than to see you all graduate and come to OKC and enroll in HBBC. We have a special bunch of people here. It truly feels like a second family. The friends we have from CBC make it even more special.
Pastor Rench is a very respected pastor, because he is truly a man of God. Our church has a reputation out here of being God centered, and being servants of God. We do not walk around campus with some big-shot attitude, but rather the awareness that we are here to study bible truth, discipline ourselves to serve, and show the true love of Jesus Christ to friends, complete strangers, and even people who hate us. The burden of lost souls has ignited our hearts to become everything God wants us to be, whether that is a call to preach, being a missionary, a musician, a teacher, or secretary.
But, if you are unsure if God has even called you to serve in the ministry, God still has a plan for you. So my challenge is simple, ask God what He wants from you. I’m not saying that flippantly. Get to a quiet place, and pray earnestly for God to show you what He wants from you. It may not be Heartland, it may not be college at all.
But what if it is?
What if God has a future you can’t even imagine in store for you. What if you are the next ‘Giant of the Missionary Trail’, what if it is you that translates a Bible in an unreached people’s tongue, what if it’s you that takes over playing piano when a little old lady just can’t do it anymore in some small Baptist church your future husband just started preaching at? (whew, that was a mouthful)
What will God call you to do?
You will never know if you don’t ask God. You will never know if you are too scared to tell your parents what God wants from your life, you will never know if your friends opinions are more important than God’s call. I’m not challenging you to run off to the Amazon, I’m simply challenging you to talk with God. Once you are serious with that, He will challenge you with the rest.
I prayed and asked God, that if just one of you could see why I packed up my family and moved to OKC, why I gave up a comfortable life and willing to trade it for a church planters life, if only one of you thinks “If Bro Aaron was willing to do all of that, maybe I am willing too…” then I will feel like I did something in ToF.
That isn’t supposed to sound selfish, but it would be an answer to prayer. From when I began in ToF and prayed that God would use me somehow! I wonder how He could use you…
Love God, Love Others, Do Right
-Bro. Aaron