Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Apollos

Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

I had the opportunity to eat brunch with Mr. and Mrs. Apollos (not their real identity!) today. I have only known them for a short while (4 years max) and have only spent a few weeks with them during that time- and most of that time was just spent working along side of them in their ministry in the Pacific Northwest. But as I drove up to meet them for brunch, I realized that they had acted as Apollos to me and my family.

A few years ago, Marti and I realized that we really wanted to involve our kids in purposeful service oriented activities. So, we decided that we would spend a week of our vacation time serving together as a family, ie we wanted to do a short term mission trip. It was an interesting process to find a ministry that would allow us to bring our kids and INVOLVE them in the work. Many groups were interested in my skills as a physician, but every agency had a age guideline that excluded my family. They were knocked off the list. Finally, we came across Mr. and Mrs. Apollos.

Mr. Apollos runs a youth ministry geared towards Native American teens; this ministry is associated with North American Indian Ministries. When I explained my desire to come and serve and I also explained my stipulation that I wanted my whole family involved. Without hesitation, he invited us. As they say (and by the way, who is "they"?) "the rest is history".

For two consecutive summers we went as a family to assist in this ministry. Marti helped work in the kitchen, while I helped oversee the work crews (yeah, picture me as the "foreman" of a maintenance and landscaping crew - scary thought!). Sarah and Ben worked along side of the teens in these workteams (sadly, Sarah and Ben were some of my best workers!). Sam, well he was Sam! We worked hard during these trips, but we all have such great memories. And more importantly, Mr. and Mrs. Apollos provided an opportunity that the Lord has used to prepare us as a FAMILY to serve together. Others had planted the seed of missionary service, but the Apollos watered that seed.

As we visited today, I realized that there were a few other "fruits" of their ministry to us. First, they have impacted Ben in a very positive way. When you ask Ben what he wants to do when he grows up, he says he wants to be a football player, but if he doesn't do that he wants to do a Camp Ministry (like Mr. Apollos!). Second, I have taken up playing the guitar because of Mr. Apollos. Finally, these dear friends gave us the best advice in regards to the "process" of becoming a missionary. They first encouraged us to make sure that others in spiritual authority over us CONFIRM the call to missions in our lives (which we have done). And second, they strongly suggested that we have as much fun DURING the process of raising support that we could. We have endeavored to do this as well; during trips out of town, we have tried to see the sights of the new place and make the trips fun for the under 30 crowd in our family.

As I was leaving brunch today, I was struck by how God had used them in our lives. They live 3000 miles from our home. We have not had long term communication with them. We did not even have long heart to heart conversations with them. But, what we did was work along side of them in a ministry of service. We observed the commitment, zeal, and authenicity of their work. And so, having seed watered, God gave the increase. Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Apollos for your small but important work of watering the seed.

Comments

[John Carney]

When I went on my first foreign mission trip, a short-term trip to Nicaragua in 2003, we had an 11-year-old and a 13-year-old along. I was, to be honest with you, skeptical when I first found out about this, but the kids held their own during our training and during the trip itself. I was incredibly impressed. In the series of stories I wrote for the newspaper after the trip, I referred to them as my heroes.

From the other side, however, I'm on the board of a short-term missions group that works domestically. We have a ministry that involves church youth groups, a ministry for college groups, and a ministry for adults (who can attend individually or with a group).

For years, we had a long-term goal of setting up some sort of family ministry program. We finally dropped it. Trying to do something like that in an organized fashion raises a host of logistical questions -- do you accept any age child? Do you provide child care for very young children? What will the impact be on liability insurance? How do you make sure there will be meaningful activities for children of various ages and levels of maturity -- most of whom you won't get to meet in advance?

You've shown that family ministry like this is possible, and desirable, but I think it tends to take place in smaller, less-formal settings.

[TulipGirl]

We have friends who were in Japan with MTW for two years, following several family summer missions trips. They were such an encouragment and inspiration to me!

[TulipGirl]

We have friends who were in Japan with MTW for two years, following several family summer missions trips. They were such an encouragment and inspiration to me!