When International Mission Board missionary Moses knew that God was calling him to go make disciples on islands near Senegal, his knee-jerk response was no. His hesitance had nothing to do with disobedience or uncertainty about the islanders.
It was simply that he can’t swim making ministry on an island very difficult and dangerous.
Moses wasn’t usually hesitant to follow God’s will. He’d obeyed it when he felt God calling him to salvation in his early 20s. He’d listened to God’s voice to travel to the US from West Africa to attend Bible college. After college, he followed God’s call to seminary and to marry his now wife, Beth. And when the Lord led the couple back to West Africa – specifically Senegal, the place where his wife served as a Journeyman, he obeyed.
But he clung to Isaiah 43: 1-2, that says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.…”
He clung to that verse and his very own orange life jacket as he arrived at the islands to witness to the people that so desperately needed the Gospel.
And that’s when he started a ministry to churches in the rural areas of the islands.
His ministry on the islands is thriving leading Moses to reflect that his most important steps were abiding in Christ and prayer.