What Does An Area Director Do?

This is a question many ask us which does not have one 'pat answer'.  We could list what our written job description states we do, but this would give but a glimpse into our day to day lives.  Over these next few posts we would like to share one aspect of our job description that is probably the most important aspect of our position - pastoral care.

Many of you who pastor a church know the importance of being available to your congregation.  Those under our care need to know we are accessible to them and to their families.  We presently have close to 170 (this includes missionaries, missionary associates, and their families) working alongside us in Southern Europe.  As a congregation this number may not be hard to care for as a pastor, but spread those 170 across 5 countries and 3 time zones and it becomes a bit more challenging.  Missionaries and their families need to know we are available when they are in crisis whether that be a ministry, physical or emotional need or to also visit and see the ministries they are involved that we may be a sounding board, give encouragement or counsel when needed.  Distance can be challenging in this regard especially while we are presently itinerating in the United States to raise our funds to return to the field.

Imagine being the pastor of a church and having to live an ocean away for one year while your church body needs you.  We are grateful to serve in an age which lends to us the tools of video calls which helps us to have face to face times of meeting and prayer with our colleagues as well.  Thankfully we have very capable missionaries in place on each of our fields who work closely with us to bridge the gap during our absence.  This also puts an added burden on those in these positions as they have full time ministry themselves, but regardless, they willingly to put the needs of others first.  We are indebted to them and thankful to work alongside a body of missionaries that are  kingdom minded.

We would ask you to pray for us that God would through his Spirit allow us to continue to minister to our missionary body as Paul writes in Romans 2:4 "..with a demonstration of the Spirit's power.."
What we do as we serve our missionary family as pastors cannot be done on our own strength nor guided by our own thoughts or emotion, it must be done with the Spirit's power.

Thank you for your prayers on our behalf as well as for our missionaries and their families in Southern Europe!