I admit it. Sometimes I allow feelings of failure and discouragement to take over. I often feel stuck in the “now.” My faith knows better, but my feelings occasionally win. When I look in the rear-view mirror, however, I see God played the scene beautifully, and I missed it.
Just this month Authenticity Book House announced God’s leading to narrow the concentration of our ministry, to provide simplified pastoral training in bite-sized books, with an immediate focus on Swahili-speaking pastors. While it took a couple businessmen to challenge our direction, I now realize God began pointing us down this path a long time ago.
At a writer’s conference in 2015, my husband, Howard, and I met a couple who recently experienced a significant loss. We connected initially because of shared familiarity with grief, but quickly discovered their business could impact our ministry. They peddle tiny books trademarked as “Minibük.” Fascinated by the possibility of marketing our books in mini-format, we opted to publish the last two chapters of Howard’s work, Honest Wrestling, in a Minibük.
We realized translating smaller books could significantly decrease our cost while increasing our chance for impact in other countries. Slowly we began focusing our funds on the translation of bite-sized books.
In the Fall of 2015, I received an invitation to attend a GProCongress meeting with Dr. Ramesh Richard. In that encounter, a statistic pierced my heart: 95% of pastors worldwide receive no pastoral training whatsoever. I came home compelled to strategically change this number.
Our social media marketing coordinator later insisted we meet her friend, Yusuph Emmanuel, a Tanzanian who speaks both English and Swahili. Honestly, I didn’t want to meet Yusuph. “We can’t afford to take on another translation project,” I thought. But I complied.
Yusuph became excited about two of our bite-sized books and wanted to start translation immediately. I told him we couldn’t afford to pay him. His response? “If it’s God’s will, it’s God’s bill.” Within 24 hours I received a check in the mail for $1000.00. I knew it must pay for the Swahili translation. We handed out 6,000 Swahili books in Tanzania that summer and people begged for more.
Then came the 2016 GProCongress in Bangkok, Thailand. ABH offered a downloadable app on which attendees could receive all our books for free. As an example of available downloads, I took one of each of our books to use as a display on my table. The very first morning, I arrived to find every book gone. My display table sat practically bare.
Stripped of the ability to show attendees available books on our app, I looked around and noticed many other organizations displaying large quantities of resources, curriculum, and training materials. In discouraged confusion, I asked the Lord, “What are we doing? If all these other organizations produce pastoral training materials, what makes us different?” Ironically, I dug through my suitcase and found only two books remaining: Minibüks in the Swahili language. For the rest of the week, I showed visitors what we could accomplish with Minibüks.
Through the rear-view mirror, I see God orchestrating his plan. What felt like failure, frustration, and humiliation in Bangkok, served to fuel our vision. Most other organizations displayed training resources written on a Bible college level or above. What appeared lacking? Pastoral training for those without a high school education. Training for those who eagerly serve the Lord, but lack access to higher learning.
Two gifted businessmen in Dallas put it into clear words for us this year: align your publishing and missions heart into one. Focus on bite-sized books and training for pastors at a 3rd to 5th-grade reading level, beginning with the Swahili language. It took a while for us to hear God’s message, but as we examine the scene in the rear-view mirror, we see God beautifully and miraculously set the scene and lit our path.
Thank you, Lord, for clarity and direction, and for allowing us a peek into the rear-view mirror, which gives us confidence that we walk in your will.