My journey to international missions began in the most ordinary of places — a middle school Bible study at Hoffmantown Baptist Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was leading students before school when a question stirred in my heart: Could I serve overseas with Southern Baptists? What began as a simple question while leading a middle school Bible study would change the course of my life forever. My pastor introduced me to the Journeyman Program — a doorway to a future I never imagined.
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When I began the application process to serve in Aberdeen, Scotland, at the Bridge of Don Baptist Church, I discovered something extraordinary: I didn’t have to raise my own support. Southern Baptists had already chosen to link arms, partner together and send missionaries to the nations. Every dollar given through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering made it possible for me to step directly into the mission field after in-depth missionary training. That offering wasn’t just a fund – it was a lifeline, a tangible expression of God’s provision.
‘More than an adventure’
Scotland was more than an adventure; it was a calling. In those misty streets and narrow lanes in the city where I lived, the Lord whispered that this wasn’t a temporary detour before returning to corporate life in America. This was my life’s mission — my life’s calling. Returning to the States, I knew preparation was essential. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary became the next step — and there, God gave me another gift: a relationship with Susan Ingouf, who became my wife.
Susan had grown up in Indonesia, where her parents served faithfully for 29 years with the International Mission Board. She had seen firsthand how the Lottie Moon Offering sustained her family year after year. Together, we dreamed of serving wherever God would send us.
Toward the end of my coursework, history shifted — the wall fell in Eastern Europe. We prayed and planned to go there, but every door slammed shut. Frustrated yet hopeful, we prayed a simple prayer: “Lord, where in the world do You want us to go?”
Just two days later, Clyde Meador visited Southwestern and shared that the No. 1 need at the IMB was in a large South Asian city. We had seen that job description before and dismissed it. The Soviets were still fighting nearby, and the language looked impossibly hard — written right to left in an Arabic-like script. Honestly, it felt like a job for a “converted Indiana Jones,” not for us.
‘God had other plans’
But God had other plans. One Thanksgiving, driving through the wide-open spaces of West Texas, the Lord spoke clearly: South Asia was the place. When we finally arrived, it felt strangely familiar — like West Texas on the Arabian Sea. We left for the field with our first daughter, born just three weeks after missionary training ended.
The Lottie Moon Offering was there every step of the way — covering medical care for her birth, plane tickets to Bangkok, a guesthouse and other temporary housing while we waited for visas for the South Asian country, and even an English-language ministry to Thai government officials and students during that waiting season. When our visas finally came through, the Lottie Moon Offering provided our first vehicle — a used white Toyota Corolla — and funded language school in Asia.
I will never forget that first Christmas Eve in that new city. We gathered on a rooftop under a colorful shamiana tent, bright lights strung across poles, casting a warm glow over more than 100 believers. The cool night air carried the sound of Christmas hymns as we retold the miracle of Christ’s birth. In that moment, under the stars, we celebrated the Light of the World shining in the darkness.
Over the years, the Lottie Moon Offering paid for the births of two more children in South Asia, their schooling, moves to four different countries and countless opportunities to serve in ways we never dreamed possible when we first said, “Yes, Lord. Send us.”
Every gift to the Lottie Moon Offering changes lives — ours and countless others. Will you join us in sending the light of Christ to the nations?
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Todd Lafferty and originally published by the International Mission Board.
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