My Philosophy of Missions

A paper that I had to write for Missions Class:

My philosophy of missions is essentially wrapped up in a statement that Professor Jeff made in class. He basically said that “If you are not one hundred percent sure that you are called to do it, then you shouldn’t be doing it.” However, I do think that God is calling me to missions somewhere down the line.

First, I believe that in whatever way that we serve God, He will use us according to the spiritual gifts and talents that He has given us. If God has given a person an extraordinary gift or talent, I believe that God will use that gift or talent to further His kingdom, and it may very well be through missions. At this present time, I am unsure as to what my spiritual gifting truly is. I have a good deal of time to figure it out, though. Whatever that spiritual gift is, I am certain that God will make that gift a great asset on the mission field. I believe that our talents also play a large role in the equation. For instance, I really feel as if I am called to the area of, how shall I put it, “mountain athletics” or “adventure sports.” I am very passionately attracted to many of the athletic sports that are focused in and around the mountains. For instance, I absolutely love to downhill ski. I am certain that God has given me a natural, raw talent for skiing, and a passion to do it and use that raw talent. During the summer time, I pursue the sport of mountain biking with almost the same drive and passion. I believe that there is a good chance that God will call me to a mission field where I will be able to use my passion for sports, not necessarily those two, but “adventure sports” in general to further the kingdom of God in some way.

Now, how I will go about this over the course of the next 5 years. First, I will complete my education at Big Sky Bible Institute. BSBI has been an excellent place of learning, and this learning will serve me well as I continue to serve God for the rest of my life. My aim in coming here was to have a firm, Biblical foundation at the base of my adult life, and this year will provide excellent knowledge that will be useful in the mission field. Second, over the course of the next 3 to 4 years I am going to focus on becoming a backcountry guide, with a skiing as the primary discipline, to begin with. In order to effect this, I am going to work a number of different jobs that will give me experience in the field, and I have a variety of courses that I am looking at taking which will give me knowledge that I sorely need. This summer I sincerely hope that I will get hired at camp ID-RA-HA-JE (I’d Rather Have Jesus) in Bailey, Colorado. I applied for a position on Adventure Staff, and if I get the job I will be leading mountain biking, rock climbing, whitewater rafting, backpacking, and ropes course trips and activities. This will give me a taste of a true guiding experience, and will help to, hopefully, solidify my goal of becoming a professional guide. Camp ID-RA-HA-JE itself will be an amazing way for me to use my life for the furtherance of God’s kingdom. I think that it may, in fact, qualify as a mission field… even though the cultural boundaries that I will be crossing will not be very difficult to surpass. Nevertheless, I think they (the boundaries) could definitely be there, qualifying this camp as mission field. Regardless, next winter I am going to attempt to end up in Jackson Hole, most likely working at the ski resort. Over the course of the winter I will take several avalanche certification courses, and receive my level I and level II certifications. Assuming I get hired this summer at camp ID-RA-HA-JE, it requires a two-year commitment, so I will most likely be working there again in summer of 2009. After next summer, my plans assume a lot more fluidity, as a great deal can change over the course of a year and a half. I really want to intern at Silverton Mountain one winter sometime in the near future. That would provide me with an amazing amount of practical, hands on experience that could help me to get a job as a professional guide. I also am striving to save money so that sometime in the near future I will be able to take an outdoor semester, either at NOLS or IWLS. Either of those courses would give me an incredible amount of knowledge to do with guiding, and the hard skills of several different disciplines, which I might be leading. But, if the amount of money proves too great to achieve in a timely fashion, I may resort to just taking a 24 day long backcountry ski guide training course, offered by IWLS. All of these things will most likely help me on my way to becoming a professional guide.

So, how does becoming a professional backcountry guide have anything to do with missions? As I stated in the first paragraph, I sincerely believe that God will use our talents, abilities, and gifts to further His kingdom. It is my goal to use guiding and sports as a ministry. Exactly what form it will take, of that I am not sure. I was thinking of working with a Christian camp during all but the winter months, and ministering in that venue. In fact, my classmate, Priyanke, is founding the first Christian camp in the country of Sri Lanka. I have seriously been considering that, maybe in 4 years or so once I have the skills amassed, I will be able to join him in Sri Lanka and set up an adventure branch of ministry in conjunction with his organization, Miracle Valley Ministries. That would truly be missions work, crossing an enormous cultural (and geographical) boundary. But in the end, all of these plans rest in the hands of God. The only thing that I can truly do is to continually make myself pliable and receptive to His leading, something that I am not really all that good at most of the time. Ultimately, my philosophy of missions is that God will use me how He wants, and whatever God wants, I want!