Nate and Joanna Whitmire* told God they would go anywhere if he called them to missions. “It’s not like he’d ever call us to Africa,” they thought.
But he did.
“We had a heart that was, in theory, open to whatever God wanted to do, but for whatever reason – Africa was this big, black hole that was just not a place that we would consider,” Nate said.
Laura Moritz interprets for deaf members of the congregation as new missionaries share stories of obedience.However, after the Whitmires, both from South Carolina, attended a Catalyst conference five years ago, their outlook changed.
“God really just hit us with the realization that our hearts had been hard in that area and that we didn’t love who he loved,” Joanna said of what she and her husband experienced at the conference.
The Whitmires, along with their four children, will serve in sub-Saharan Africa.
They are two of 101 International Mission Board missionaries appointed May 23 during a service at Brentwood (Tenn.) Baptist Church. Forty-one of the missionaries have served previous terms, bringing the current missionary count to 4,919.
Many of the appointees recounted that their call to be God’s heart, hands and voice to unreached people groups overseas was a matter of obedience – no matter the cost.
From fear to joy
Both Mike and Rachael Kims’* parents immigrated to California from Korea to give their children the American Dream – a better education, good jobs and lots of money. God gave Mike and Rachael another dream – to share the gospel with those who have never heard.
Raised in a Southern Baptist church, Rachael was both fascinated and horrified by missionaries’ stories, which led her to associate missions with suffering, hardship and martyrdom.
But when she was in high school, a missionary spoke at her church about the number of unreached people groups in the world, and Rachael’s heart became burdened for the lost. After a short-term mission trip to South America, she felt God’s calling loud and clear.
Mike did not submit so easily to God’s call. Among other things, he did not want to leave the comfortable lifestyle his parents had worked so hard to provide for him.
“My biggest fear in life was becoming a missionary,” he said.
But on a mission trip to East Asia during college, Mike was troubled when he saw people worshipping false gods. For the first time in his life, he became angry with God – how could God let these people who had never heard of him go to hell? Who would God send to tell these people about Jesus? God clearly answered that it was Mike’s own task.
“My biggest fear has become my greatest joy – just sharing the gospel and taking it to people who have never heard of Jesus Christ,” he said.
The Kims, along with their two children, will serve in East Asia.
The IMB’s next appointment service will be Sept. 12 at First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, N.C., during the trustee meeting Sept. 11-12 in Ridgecrest, N.C. Both will be held during Emeritus Recognition Week, Sept. 7-13, at LifeWay’s Ridgecrest Conference Center. – IMB
*Names changed.