Mobilization—Constantly on the Move!

by Donna Messenger

You might remember them as the Enlistment Department. Or maybe the older term is the one you understand—Recruitment. Today’s term is “Mobilization”—with an active staff committed to do whatever it takes to “mobilize” people for involvement in world evangelism. Don Trott energetically leads the Mobilization Division, which includes Expedition (trips for high school students), Impact (trips for college students), Assistant Missionary Program (AMP—for short-termers), Pre-field Ministries, and Career Recruitment.

God has richly blessed over the last few years with phenomenal growth in the numbers of people who are becoming involved in missions—the opportunities for service are about as endless as the types of people who participate. The Mobilization Division encourages people through every stage of the process of decision-making and preparation for missionary ministry.

Linda Morgan is the administrative assistant in the Mobilization Division. She describes their work as “gatekeepers for those interested in entering into missionary service with ABWE. Prospects, applicants, and candidates are so thankful for the information they receive from our office.”

Making a decision for career missions is no small task in the life of a missionary. Much prayer, godly counsel, and research into opportunities around the world takes months of determined effort. Ultimately, each candidate seeks God’s leading in their lives. For the Mobilization team, this often involves hours of visits, phone calls, and emails, both with prospective missionaries and with their sending pastors. As people work through this decision-making process, it’s important to them to talk with people who have gone through this decision in their lives—ones who have lived on a mission field and know the path ahead.

Mobilization Means Many Miles

In the last year, some key players have been added to the Mobilization team. Geoff and Beth Williams, after two terms of ministry in Colombia, South America, have moved to California to set up a west coast office for ABWE. Geoff serves as the Director of Mobilization for the western region of the U.S. Dan and Deb Branda, finishing two terms in Brazil, have relocated to the Harrisburg area. Dan and Geoff both travel extensive miles for Mobilization, speaking in colleges and churches, following up on contacts with people who could potentially attend next year’s Candidate Seminar.

Getting From Here to There

In the last ten years 630 people have been appointed by the ABWE Board to serve full-time in missions either in North America or on another continent. About 440 of those have gained full support and are on their fields of service. Loren and Barbara Andersen assist missionaries as they travel the path from Candidate Seminar to arrival on the field—Pre-field Ministries.

Loren’s years of pastoral ministry helps him understand that it takes a truly committed home church to expediently send a missionary to his field of service. Loren and Barbara have walked with scores of pre-field missionaries through the intense process of raising support. One missionary who recently left for the field wrote Loren the following letter:

Thanks so much for coming down to speak at our commissioning service. It was a good time, and pretty emotional for us as we said goodbye to everyone. Thanks for sharing this special moment with us.

Most of all, we want to thank you for the friendship and guidance you have given us over the past five years. Your encouragement and exhortation has had a big impact on our spiritual growth during this time, and this certainly has been a great time of growth for us.

As we get closer toward being in Australia , we will keep you updated as to how we are doing. We will continue to pray for you, as we hope you will for us. Keep praying that our visa situation will be resolved quickly. Have a great two weeks of Candidate Seminar. God bless you!

In Christ,
Paul & Rachel Weber & boys

Pre-field Ministry is a distinctive time of growth and learning in the life of a missionary—an important time of faith-building, when the missionary learns to trust God for the provision of his support and outfit needs. It’s like a final exam before graduation. If the missionary can’t learn to trust God in his home country in his own language, how will he ever know to trust God when he moves out of the known into the unknown?

One pastor wrote, “This has been an incredible experience for our church. It has built our faith and given our people new insight into the faith missions process. The commissioning service was well attended last Sunday night and was a great blessing. We are grateful for your partnership and wisdom.” (Pastor Bruce McLain, Pine Grove Baptist Church, Santa Maria, California)

Impact and Expedition = Expeditions that Impact Lives

As each new group of missionaries is added to the ABWE family, we discover that as many as 90% of them have already participated in short-term missions trips of some sort. Every year teens, college students, and career adults are discovering the next step in God’s plan for their lives through short-term ministry opportunities.

ABWE realizes the effectiveness of these kinds of trips, and about a year ago named Rick Caynor as Director of Student Mobilization. Rick’s passion is youth and missions—he is thrilled for the opportunity to do both at ABWE.

Pray for the Team!

As administrators define a strategy for ministry—open new countries, determine personnel needs, make decisions about projects and funds needed—information for the personnel needs are passed along to the Mobilization staff for recruitment purposes. Pray for the Mobilization team as they seek God’s people for God’s work around the world!