Called to America, but didn't like it.

I’ve lived in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, South Africa. It’s a beautiful part of the world, and the peoples of those nations are beautiful people. I felt in prayer one time that God was saying he wanted me to come to America. I was not happy with the idea because I had visited America before. I saw a side of America that just wasn’t pleasant to me. It was an America that presented everything superficial. I visited all the parks, and it wasn’t real. It was an America that was not based in reality. I saw the American people as being very superficial, loud, brash, and arrogant. People that really didn’t have a heart to do anything for anybody else. It was all about themselves. I didn’t want to be a part of that kind of culture. So when I received the calling from God, I was really taken aback by the idea.

I called my wife and said, “I think we’ve been called to America. I don’t know why. America has tons of churches. Why would God send us to America?” She said, “Please be quiet. Don’t tell anyone about this. Let’s keep it between just the two of us, pray it through, and see what God wants.” I agreed with her, and we kept quiet. About three months later, my pastor called me over after a meeting. He sat down with me and said, “Mark, I don’t know how to tell you this, but for three months God has been telling me that you need to go to America and start churches there.” I became completely incredulous. I looked at him and my mouth dropped.

When I came to America, I fell in love with America. I actually fell in love with its peoples and realized that the side of America that I had seen was the commercial side. It wasn’t the real America. I discovered something. America is great, and America is great only because her people are great. America has good people. I discovered that I wanted to be a part of this culture because it’s a good culture to belong to. It’s an effective culture that affects the world with the good news of Jesus Christ. So if there is any way I can be a benefit or help to the American people then that is my goal.