Church Life: Remembering God’s Faithfulness to Fuel Obedient Mission

Introduction

God has been faithful to send and sustain gospel work through our church for decades, and He’s calling us to remember His deeds, give thanks, and step into the next season of mission with obedient faith. That’s why a missions focus is so fitting for us right now. Many of you are new to this church, and it’s impossible to separate our church from the story of our mission. In God’s timing, we realized we’re approaching a milestone: the first mission trip our church ever took was in 1985, and by 2025 we are celebrating nearly 40 years of foreign missions, “40 years of faithfulness.”

Scripture teaches us how to respond to that kind of testimony:

• Psalm 105:1–2: “Oh, give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the people! Sing to him… tell of all his wondrous works.”

Part of worship is storytelling, recounting God’s goodness so thanksgiving turns into praise. Whether you’ve been here since the 1980s or since August, you’re walking into a story: a record of prayer, giving, trials, and God’s steady hand directing His people.

Main Points

Are you willing to let God lead you beyond what’s comfortable, beyond your own “Boise,” into His heart for the nations? God has been faithful to send and sustain gospel work through our church for decades, and He’s calling us to remember His deeds, give thanks, and step into the next season of mission with obedient faith.

That’s why a missions focus is so fitting for us right now. Many of you are new to this church, and it’s impossible to separate our church from the story of our mission. In God’s timing, we realized we’re approaching a milestone: the first mission trip our church ever took was in 1985, and by 2025 we are celebrating nearly 40 years of foreign missions, “40 years of faithfulness.”

Scripture teaches us how to respond to that kind of testimony:

• Psalm 105:1–2: “Oh, give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the people! Sing to him… tell of all his wondrous works.”

Part of worship is storytelling, recounting God’s goodness so thanksgiving turns into praise. Whether you’ve been here since the 1980s or since August, you’re walking into a story: a record of prayer, giving, trials, and God’s steady hand directing His people.

Give Thanks By Telling God’s Deeds

I want you to see that mission isn’t a side program; it’s one of the ways God has made Himself known through the people He has called and sent from this church. That’s why Psalm 105 doesn’t only say “give thanks” privately, it says to make known His deeds among the peoples.

So as we remember, we aren’t bragging about ourselves. We’re practicing worship. We’re training our hearts to say, “Look what God has done,” and to let that memory fuel fresh obedience.

And this matters for you personally: when you join a church, you don’t just attend a service, you join a gospel story God is writing through a specific family of believers.

God Directs Steps More Than We Plan

A key thread through every decade is this: we did not build missions like a human blueprint. The elders were not in a “strategy room” trying to engineer world impact. Instead, God consistently opened doors through relationships, burdens, and providential timing.

That’s Proverbs 16:9 in real life: “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

This should both humble and free you:

• Humble you, because God doesn’t need our genius to accomplish His work.
• Free you, because obedience is often the next step, not the whole map.

India: A Foundational Work Of Providential Timing

One of the most foundational works for our church began in India, with early connections forming in 1988. A woman named Naen (still part of our church family) became the first person our church supported in “on the move for Jesus” work, one of those early links God used to connect our congregation to India.

Then in 1989, God wrote one of those stories you couldn’t plan:

• A man named Gona had a sister living in Garden Valley, Idaho.
• He ended up in Boise, involved in flower delivery work, carrying a burden for his people in India.
• He walked into our old church location (Cole and Fairview) asking, “Can I talk to the pastor?”
• And the answer: “Our pastor is in Bangalore, India right now trying to figure out how to reach people for Jesus.”

Only God does that.

When Pastor Bob returned, he and Gona connected, prayed, and fasted. Over time, Gona became part of the church family, then returned to India, opening what became a lasting work. From one baptism in one slum church, the ministry grew into churches across regions, orphanages, and child sponsorships. What started as a step of obedience became a long story of God’s faithfulness.

The discipleship lesson for you: don’t despise the “small beginning.” God loves to grow big fruit from humble obedience.

Europe: Seeds Planted Through Student Faith

In the 1990s, the world was shifting, Europe was changing after the Cold War, and God stirred Pastor Bob to “go see what’s going on.” He began leading trips, often with college students, driving from place to place doing outreach, tracts, and gospel presentations.

Those trips were nicknamed the “Magical Mystery Tours.” But behind the humor was a serious reality: God was planting seeds in people who realized, “This isn’t just short-term for me.”

Out of those early trips came enduring partnerships and callings, including:

• Rome, Italy: Brent and Hope Herrell sensed God calling them to Rome, leading to a lasting connection we still support.
• Romania: During the “tent” days of our church, the Fouts family heard about Europe and both sensed, “Are we supposed to do that?” They left good jobs and a comfortable life to serve in Romania, leading to ongoing ministry connections (including Calvary Chapel Bistritza and workers like Natalie Bridges).
• England: Kirk Krager went to Italy (I still remember him learning Italian faithfully), and later the Lord transferred him to serve with Calvary Chapel in England, giving us connection to Stockport for many years.
• Germany / House of Nazareth: Through relationships in our college-age ministry and missionary connections, God formed long-term partnership with House of Nazareth (Clark and Anne Pedacord).
• Slovenia: A youth trip led Whitney to meet her future husband Alish, who now pastors the church we support in Slovenia.

Here’s what I want you to learn: gospel work often grows through ordinary steps, trips, conversations, prayer, and willingness. God uses the faithful “yes” of students, parents, pastors, and families to open nations.

“Someone Goes First” And God Brings Increase

Another pattern keeps repeating: someone goes first, then others follow, and God multiplies.

That’s the logic of 1 Corinthians 3:6: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.”

You see this in Canada:

• In 2005, our first mission trip to Canada began through our junior high pastor, Reggie Ethridge, who heard about fruitful YWAM work in Vancouver.
• Reggie took youth trips and returned with reports of what God was doing.
• Those reports stirred Marlon Brown, who had been thinking about a different field, and the Lord redirected him. He moved his family to Canada around 2014–2015, and has now served faithfully for about a decade.
• And now, even years later, God is drawing Reggie back into partnership again, another reminder that mission stories don’t always move in straight lines.

So here’s my exhortation to you: don’t underestimate the power of sharing “reports of God’s work.” Your testimony can become the spark God uses to call someone else.

Africa And The Underground Church: Wide Doors, Careful Stewardship

In the 2010s, God opened additional doors into Africa:

• Beginning around 2013, connections formed through work in Liberia connected to Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, leading to practical service trips.
• Later, a brother from our church, Jason Zwigel, helped connect us to a mission in Sierra Leone. In 2018, a team went to Sierra Leone and connected with a work that helps get kids off the street and into education, support we continue today.
• God also raised up long-term sending through Mission Aviation Fellowship. A local seventh grader visited MAF, saw the mission, and thought, “Someday I’m going to do that.” By God’s grace, that boy is now supported by our church with his family in the Congo, serving in aviation logistics in Kinshasa.

And beyond what we can publicly detail, we also support and pray for believers connected to the underground church in the Middle East. Some mission fields require extra wisdom and discretion, but they still deserve real prayer, informed support, and faithful partnership.

Application for you:

• Be willing to pray for places you may never visit.
• Be faithful in giving, because quiet gospel work still has real needs.
• Be careful with words when security is at stake, love protects.

Mexico: Old Seed, New Stirring

We come full circle to Mexico, because our first mission trip (back in the early days) went to pass out Bibles in Mexicali, small beginnings that planted seeds.

In more recent years (around 2013–2014), as the Lord grew Spanish-speaking outreach locally, God re-opened Mexico connections:

• We sent Saul and his family to serve in Topec (still serving there).
• We developed a strong connection with Misel in Waka, where a church chose to associate as a Calvary Chapel, and we’ve been sending teams since the early 2020s.
• Right now there’s a noticeable stirring: active youth involvement, teams going, testimonies coming back, and practical mercy efforts (like delivering mercy boxes).

The invitation to you is clear: don’t settle into comfort. God may be nudging you to go, to support, or to help mobilize others.

A New Season Needs Faithful Oversight

As we step into a new “40-year work,” the church needs faithful care and organization for missionaries and partnerships. Over the decades, the forms and structures have changed, but the need remains: someone must help coordinate support, communication, prayer, and wise stewardship.

So we are appointing a missions pastor to shepherd this ongoing work. This role was previously filled by Kirk Krager, and now it is being entrusted to Noah Beamer, who has been part of our church family for many years and has prayed about this calling.

This matters for discipleship because mission isn’t only about inspiring stories, it’s also about sustained care. Faithfulness requires both sending and shepherding.

Conclusion

When I trace these decades, India, Europe, Canada, Africa, Mexico, and sensitive work in the Middle East, the dominant theme isn’t our cleverness. It is the steady goodness of God. He directed steps we couldn’t have orchestrated, opened doors we didn’t even know existed, and sustained long obedience through ordinary people.

So here’s what I want from you as your discipler:

• Give thanks and learn to “talk of all His wondrous works” (Psalm 105:1–2).
• Pray for the nations and for the people we send.
• Give faithfully, because partnership is real ministry.
• Stay open-handed with your life, God may write the next chapter through you.
• Step into the next season with expectancy: God is still sending, still saving, still building His church.

We’re not just remembering 40 years of faithfulness. We’re asking God for fresh faithfulness in the next 40 years, until Christ is known and worshiped among the peoples.

Lord, we give You thanks. You are faithful from generation to generation, and You have shown Your goodness to our church in ways we could never have planned. Teach us to make known Your deeds among the peoples, to tell of Your wondrous works, and to let our gratitude turn into worship.

Father, strengthen every missionary and ministry partner connected to this church, those in India, throughout Europe, Canada, Africa, Mexico, and in sensitive fields where the gospel advances quietly. Protect them, provide for them, and give them open doors for the Word and courage to proclaim Christ.

Stir our hearts to pray, to give, and to go as You lead. Keep us from comfort-driven Christianity. Direct our steps as we submit our plans to You. And as we enter this new season, raise up new laborers, wise leaders, and faithful servants, so that Jesus would be known, loved, and followed in our city and among the nations.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclusion

When I trace these decades, India, Europe, Canada, Africa, Mexico, and sensitive work in the Middle East, the dominant theme isn’t our cleverness. It is the steady goodness of God. He directed steps we couldn’t have orchestrated, opened doors we didn’t even know existed, and sustained long obedience through ordinary people.

So here’s what I want from you as your discipler:

• Give thanks and learn to “talk of all His wondrous works” (Psalm 105:1–2).
• Pray for the nations and for the people we send.
• Give faithfully, because partnership is real ministry.
• Stay open-handed with your life, God may write the next chapter through you.
• Step into the next season with expectancy: God is still sending, still saving, still building His church.

We’re not just remembering 40 years of faithfulness. We’re asking God for fresh faithfulness in the next 40 years, until Christ is known and worshiped among the peoples.

Closing Prayer

Lord, we give You thanks. You are faithful from generation to generation, and You have shown Your goodness to our church in ways we could never have planned. Teach us to make known Your deeds among the peoples, to tell of Your wondrous works, and to let our gratitude turn into worship.

Father, strengthen every missionary and ministry partner connected to this church, those in India, throughout Europe, Canada, Africa, Mexico, and in sensitive fields where the gospel advances quietly. Protect them, provide for them, and give them open doors for the Word and courage to proclaim Christ.

Stir our hearts to pray, to give, and to go as You lead. Keep us from comfort-driven Christianity. Direct our steps as we submit our plans to You. And as we enter this new season, raise up new laborers, wise leaders, and faithful servants, so that Jesus would be known, loved, and followed in our city and among the nations.

In Jesus’ name, amen.