Heroes

a man of distinguished courage or ability,

admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities

Cohabiting in society with persons whose lives are guided by that of their heroes brings diverse values even to our churches. Heroes are often wealthy, in public view, trendsetters, ballplayers, movie stars, rock stars, or sharp dressers and the list goes on and on. While many in our congregations follow these heroes it is challenging for us to admonish these dear people to adhere to Romans 12:2.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed….”

Many adults find it easy to complain about youth feeling peer pressure and having heroes while in fact the same adults are guided by a different set of heroes. Adult heroes are often persons who better prepared for retirement, someone with smoother skin, persons with a more disciplined lifestyle and etc. Preachers and wives have heroes, too. Often these heroes are the ones who are on the conference platforms, the elected leaders, the dynamic orator, the talented musician or singer, the sharp dressers, and this list continues.

I, too, have a few heroes. My heroes are home missionary families. While these may not possess the qualities of the heroes I spoke of in the first paragraph they do fulfill the true definition that I quoted from dictionary.com. Church planting requires a very distinguished courage and ability. Bravery is also required to uproot a family and take on the financial responsibility of not only your family but that of a church. These heroes are selfless. They recognize for their church to prosper personal desires and needs often must be set aside. Home missionary children find themselves involved in things the average child would never do. These children assist with building projects, baby sit for bible studies, and become church workers while they are only adolescents just to name a few.

Though some may feel the duties of home missionaries are negative be assured a true home missionary rarely feels negative about these duties. A brief lonely or tired feeling may enter the thought process but then the burden resurfaces and off to work he will go!

Inspiration for this post is from our friends, Gene and Karla Holley’s blog and a comment made by another friend, Kenny Prince, on the same blog. Each of these families is involved in home missions. Join me in prayer for an outpouring of the Spirit this weekend in Pflugerville and Bullard. Having been a home missionary’s wife I realize the home missionary wife feels the weight for not only the church and her children but also the husband. Join me specifically in praying for my friends, Karla and Karen. Girls, you are my heroes!!!! I know this weekend God is going to do something special for each of you.