Even though I'm the English major, Larry out-reads me 3 to 1.

When we fell in love, we were sitting next to each other on a plane from Houston to St. Louis, returning from our first mission trip.  Larry was reading a Max Lucado book, and we read silently together, stopping to discuss anything we thought important.  I had found the person who I wanted to share my life with:  willing to serve Jesus on a mission trip, never complaining under the work and weather, and wanting to read about God and share his thoughts with me!

Several months before we received the call to full-time mission work in Liberia, God was preparing our hearts.  It started when his uncle Phil told him about a video series his church did, Kyle Idleman's Not a Fan.  Our church worked through the series and I was so challenged personally.  The premise is this:  are we just fans of Jesus, giving him appreciation from time to time, or are we really followers? 

Uncle Phil continued his life-changing reading assignments with David Platt's Radical.  Platt compares the modern American church to a de-commissioned battle ship:  created for spiritual battle, but cruising pointlessly in calm waters.  He reminded us that Jesus' call to discipleship should produce a radically changed lifestyle.  Little did we know we were about to have a life-changing opportunity ourselves...

Next, Phil recommended John MacArthur's Slave.  In it, MacArthur claims the King James Version watered-down the gospel challenge by translating the Greek word doulos as "servant" instead of the more accurate "slave."  MacArthur says the distinction is subtle but deadly:  Jesus isn't looking for 40-hour a week paid staff who does their own thing the rest of the week, but rather those who have given their whole lives, body and soul, to him.  The popular scripture should be read, "Well done, my good and faithful slave." 

These three authors challenged us to consider a deeper commitment to Jesus.  We believe the Holy Spirit led us to these to prepare us for following His call to Liberia.

After hearing and accepting the call to serve at Ricks, we were given Richard Stearns' The Hole in Our Gospel.  This is one of the best books I've ever read.  Stearns candidly shares his own life crisis of resigning as CEO of Lennox China (including turning over the keys to the company Jaguar!) and accepting the call to lead World Vision.  He shares the stats about American giving:  only 2% of those who claim to be Christian actually tithe; a portion of the money we spend on pets, entertainment, cosmetics, and clothing could end world hunger, educate the uneducated, end most preventable childhood diseases and solve the world water crisis.  He humanizes the stats with stories of women who have been helped in war refugee camps (see the chapter, "The Smile with No Lips"), those who are being lifted out of desperate poverty and crushing lack of opportunity through the love of Jesus.  This book made me want to get up and shout!  And move to Africa right away.

Shortly before we left for our vision trip, we received a copy of an awesome book called Hoping Liberia by John Michael Helms.  This book educated us about the history of Liberia while also telling the story of Olu Menjay, the current principal of Ricks.  If you want to know about our mission field, please read this book.

Larry is continually reading.  I hope to catch up to him some day.  Others he has read and recommends:

Radical Together and Follow Me by David Platt

Crazy Love by Francis Chan

The Gospel According to Jesus by John MacArthur

The Story, Zondervan's chronological Bible

Finding Our Way Through the Wilderness, a Lenten devotion by John Michael Helms

10-Second Rule by Clare de Graaf

An interesting epilogue to this journal entry was written last week:  Larry met both Michael Helms and David Platt!  Platt had a conference for pastors and lay people called "Radical Intensive: The Local Church and Global Disciple-Making” in Birmingham, Alabama, and Larry and our pastor John Pitchford got to attend.  Larry reasoned that, on the way, they might as well drive over to Jefferson, Georgia to attend Michael Helms' church and thank them for a generous donation they made to our ministry.  Helms has been in love with Liberia for years, and all proceeds from his book, Hoping Liberia, go to the Bricks for Ricks Foundation.  He’s the one who asked Larry to go to Haiti to receive training to run the Vermeer block making machine.  Helms met Larry at six a.m. Sunday morning and they talked for over two hours about God's work in Liberia. 

Larry and John left Michael Helms' church and drove to Birmingham.  Along with 100 other pastors and lay people, they discussed real strategies for making disciples and reaching specific lost people groups around the world.  Larry said Platt taught at high-speed for hours at a time and would be overcome with emotion when sharing statistics about how many thousands of people die each day without knowing Jesus, to start an eternity without Him.

We are so blessed to have met two hugely inspirational men of God.  Thanks and glory, honor and praise be to our loving Father who saves us, feeds us, and sends and equips us for service in His Kingdom!