Making Jesus your satisfaction
We look forward to welcoming Mark and Debbie MacLachlan to Grace on Sunday, March 1. The MacLachlan's have been members of Grace Church since 1985 and we are grateful for the mission partnership that we have had with them all of these years! When asked to share a bit of their story as well as speak about their current goals and projects, Debbie began by reflecting on her origins with Grace.
"As I was finishing up graduate school at UGA in social work, I felt that the Lord was leading me into overseas missions. I realized that I hardly knew anything about missions and prayed that God would lead me to a mission's minded church where I might learn. I visited Grace and knew it was obviously an answer to that prayer and within a week had secured a job and a place to live! Amazing! Steve Pearce was the Mission committee chairman at that time, and he told me that mission candidates needed to have stateside cross-cultural experience. I and several others at Grace began volunteering at a local refugee church, and I also became a refugee sponsor with World Relief which is where I met Mark who became my husband. Long story made short: Mark and I served in Ethiopia with SIM for 30 years with an agricultural project and also supervised SIM Ethiopia's work throughout the northern half of the country. We were given four wonderful children to journey with, and we had the huge privilege of living 23 years in close proximity to our Orthodox subsistence farming neighbors whose lives often seemed like Biblical times come alive.
"As I was finishing up graduate school at UGA in social work, I felt that the Lord was leading me into overseas missions. I realized that I hardly knew anything about missions and prayed that God would lead me to a mission's minded church where I might learn. I visited Grace and knew it was obviously an answer to that prayer and within a week had secured a job and a place to live! Amazing! Steve Pearce was the Mission committee chairman at that time, and he told me that mission candidates needed to have stateside cross-cultural experience. I and several others at Grace began volunteering at a local refugee church, and I also became a refugee sponsor with World Relief which is where I met Mark who became my husband. Long story made short: Mark and I served in Ethiopia with SIM for 30 years with an agricultural project and also supervised SIM Ethiopia's work throughout the northern half of the country. We were given four wonderful children to journey with, and we had the huge privilege of living 23 years in close proximity to our Orthodox subsistence farming neighbors whose lives often seemed like Biblical times come alive.
We have returned to the States in order to give my elderly mother support as well as to begin our own transition to life in America. SIM Ethiopia has requested that we continue as assigned to Ethiopia with the current job being spearheading a new agricultural outreach countrywide introducing a Gospel focused regenerative agriculture methodology. We are combining remote work with visits back to Ethiopia. Just this week, Mark returned from the first of those trips. Our other major ministry focus is to continue walking with, mentoring, and coaching younger missionaries."
The MacLachlan's share a valuable truth that we can all learn from when asked to share something that God has taught them. " We have often in Ethiopia said to each other, "Someone else could surely do a better job than we are doing!" The next remark was usually, "But they are not here, so I guess we have to carry on!" And we learned that in our inadequacies what was really needed was more reliance on God. Before we arrived in Ethiopia in 1993, our Bible school director told us, "Unless you make Jesus Christ your satisfaction, you will never last on the mission field." That proved so true, and now back in the States, it is just as true."
To wrap up, Mark and Debbie shared about a project they are excited to develop and grow here at Grace! "As we have begun exploring regenerative agriculture with a Gospel focus, we are seeing surprising indications that there are people in the States who are also keen to learn and apply the principles. That includes Grace, and we will be reaching out to form a team at Grace to think about the Grace back property and pray about next steps together. That this work could be both here and there astounds us! "
To wrap up, Mark and Debbie shared about a project they are excited to develop and grow here at Grace! "As we have begun exploring regenerative agriculture with a Gospel focus, we are seeing surprising indications that there are people in the States who are also keen to learn and apply the principles. That includes Grace, and we will be reaching out to form a team at Grace to think about the Grace back property and pray about next steps together. That this work could be both here and there astounds us! "