Choose My Own Adventure

This post is in honor of the Choose Your Own Adventure Books I had when I was younger. Did anybody read those like me growing up?

In my own quest for adventure and to gain more wisdom and council surrounding my potential career change I set up a meeting with the director of training and equipping at the World Missions department for the church I attend – Buckhead Church. I met with him on Tuesday to basically just tell him my story, share how I got to where I am today and see what he had to say.

Although I did not know this going into the meeting, it quickly became clear that they have an application process for becoming a career missionary as well. Maybe in my heart I knew that and that is why I wanted to meet with them in the first place.

The interesting thing is that the two agencies that are now on the table present two different primary missions strategies. I kinda feel like my life has really become like one of my old Choose Your Own Adventure books…

Like if I turn to page 25 I get…

South American Missionary Society

• Guarantees I would serve in South America (I like this because I could definitely use my Spanish and God has really placed a love for the people of Bolivia in my heart)
• Serves the Anglican Church which means I would be under the authority and direction of the leaders and bishop of the Anglican Church
• Would lead to a more probable chance of me returning to Cochabamba, the city in Bolivia I visited for two weeks this past summer (And the city that lit this whole missionary flame in my heart in the first place)
• More social/community outreach and a more likely chance that my primary mission would be to orphanages/children’s homes (I would help the local church there but my primary mission would probably be to help meet the basic needs of children who don’t have a chance and showing them the love of Christ in the process)
• More freedom to choose my exact ministry and more flexibility within that ministry
  
• Faster process (I could leave sometime next summer)
• More of a guarantee that I will even be offered a position as a long-term missionary
• The ability to begin raising funds sooner

And if I turn to page 35 I get…

North Point Ministries World Missions Department

• Could possibly serve in South America but I might not (They have strategic partners all around the world)
• More focus on church growth – taking the relevant environments that are leading a large number of people into a growing relationship with Christ here in Atlanta and figuring out how to translate those environments into another culture somewhere in the world
• Still working with children but feels like I could be a part of impacting a larger number of children by helping setup relevant church environments for kids in another culture (Feels like both quantity and quality)
• More corporate, more structured and although each culture is different I would be trying to figure out how to apply similar ministry strategies/principles that have been proven successes here in Atlanta
• Slower process (I could leave by next fall at the earliest)
• Would need to go on a short-term trip with them first to see how they do things (probably late Spring or early Summer)
• The selection process seems more involved/more like a traditional job interview and it seems like it would be more difficult to actually get offered a position as a long-term missionary
• Probably less fund-raising needed
  

Anyone know which page I should turn to?

Better yet, anyone know what page God will turn me to?