Oh the places they will go

north american missionaries are crossing barriers to share his story across north america

By Carolyn Curtis

Tonight is chilly, especially for Texas. Maki Amemiya shivers near the outdoor hot tub, ready to take the plunge—both physically and spiritually. Thirty or so friends wait expectantly. Many share her Buddhist background and see Christianity in a whole new light because of Maki’s willingness—no, eagerness—to be born again, to publicly declare her faith in Jesus as her Savior, to be baptized in the presence of witnesses.

At 26, Maki is two years older than her pastor, Andy Wood, a collegiate church planting missionary and founder of Breakthrough Church on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), where Maki studies nursing. Andy is young, but Maki sees him as wise—and she knows wise. A Japanese woman, Maki grew up in a culture that reveres its older population, recognizing wisdom as the hard-won result of experience. Andy helped Maki to “break through” the common misconception of Christ’s promises shared by most from her island nation of fiercely competitive people who look down on Christianity as a cult because of the predominance of churches established there by Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Andy helped Maki discover the truth.

Andy and Maki step from the 45-degree temperature into the welcome waters of the hot tub that is protected from the winter wind by apartment housing at UTA, a campus of mostly commuters and a high number of internationals. Andy explains the biblical basis for baptism—a review for Maki, an evangelism outreach for unbelievers in attendance. They invite into the water Karis Wong, a Christian Chinese woman who’s been a role model and special friend to Maki. Together they lower Maki, and she emerges wet, happy and tearful. Tonight there’s much rejoicing.

Andy Wood is one of more than 5,300 North American missionaries who are serving in the United States and Canada. The task of telling Christ’s story to lost people in North America is a great challenge and an exciting journey. Andy is quick to point out that he’s just beginning the journey. “I’m 24, way too young and inexperienced to know how to do so much of what’s necessary to reach people for Christ. But I want to learn.”

Andy sees himself as standing on the shoulders of people who came before him, and he’s on a personal mission to share that image among fellow seminarians and other young missionaries. “I pray that I’ll be a voice for my generation, to help them see the value of what previous generations have accomplished and to make those who went ahead of us aware of our respect and awe for their achievements. It’s because of people much older than me that the Southern Baptist Convention is so successful.”

Andy serves as a Mission Service Corps (MSC) missionary approved by the North American Mission Board. His support comes from resources he generates plus the Tarrant County Baptist Association, the Dallas Baptist Association and the two Texas state conventions.
As an MSC missionary, Andy is experiencing first-hand the effective and time-honored Southern Baptist practices of cooperation and partnership.

He credits his mentors, professors at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) where he’s a student, and two men in particular. One is Dr. John Worcester, pastor of Team Church in Fort Worth, whose fruitful ministry has included the planting of six churches. The second is Dan Morgan, who heads the Nehemiah Project at Southwestern, identifying promising students like Andy who can reach a specific population and organize them into a church body—missional church planters who study the people God sends them to reach in North America like missionaries on other continents. For Andy, being missional is a particularly apt approach.

“I’m available.”

A native of Michigan and a Christ follower at a young age, Andy began sensing God’s call in middle school. By high school, the call became more specific. Football teammates came to him for spiritual help, and Andy told God: “I’m available, if You want to use me to reach people who don’t trust Your Son as Savior.”

Little did he know how specifically God would answer his prayer.

Andy attended Charleston Southern University, a Southern Baptist school in South Carolina, where he met Stacie. They married and headed to SWBTS, Stacie teaching kindergarten and Andy studying for the pastorate and serving as a NAMB missionary. 

Breakthrough launched in October of 2004 with a core team including adult children of Andy’s two main mentors. By January 2005 it began meeting on campus every week. Attendance would ebb and flow, depending on factors such as spring break or the excitement of returning after summer vacation.

Andy prayed to blast through the 50-attendees barrier. Finally, they reached 50 and prayed for more. During the fall of 2005 attendance gained momentum and jumped to the 90 mark, even during exams.

Besides attendance goals, Andy met baptism and financial goals. But funding remains a challenge. More important, he and Breakthrough Church’s other leaders began realizing they were making an impact on campus and beyond.

His young church is a microcosm of the UTA campus population—about half Anglo, half other ethnic groups. Says Andy: “I’m happy with every baptism, but with internationals you have the potential to reach the world.”

“I’m teachable.”

As the year melts into 2006 Andy finds himself preaching to 90 or so per Sunday who gather at UTA’s Activities Building. White candles, paper lanterns and a small arrangement of flowers tastefully decorate the front where he speaks and the worship band plays. An artist draws a stylized image of Christ as Andy tells what it means to be available, using the example of Jesus’ mother, the young woman who risked everything to follow the Lord. 

In today’s attentive crowd is Murali Chitteboyina, a Ph.D. candidate in electrical engineering from India who regularly attends Breakthrough and often helps with setting up and dismantling the stage and seating components. Although Murali attended Catholic private schools and saw representations of Christ’s body on a crucifix, he somehow missed the message that Jesus “was a real, live person. I thought what I saw was symbolic.” The understanding fit into his background of Hinduism, which worships numerous unseen gods. But Murali questioned it when he came to America to study, and he decided to dig deeper “while I was in a learning mode. I liked Breakthrough Church’s slogan, ‘Leading students to live Christ-centered lives,’ and I wanted to see what that looks like.”

As Andy promised to God in high school, he’s reaching out to people who don’t trust Jesus as Savior. He cites Matthew 20:20-28 and Romans 13:1-7 as passages about submitting to authority, a leadership style he tries to model to a generation that sometimes resists it.

He’s also learned “the importance of coaching and following through. I want to be teachable. Among my fellow seminary students I can see a difference in fruitfulness in those who submit to mentoring.”

Andy was encouraged by coach John Worcester to put a stronger emphasis on evangelistic Bible study, and that strategy has proved helpful to Murali, who cites his favorite passage as The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-12). So far, he’s convinced that Jesus is a way to God, but he’s not sure Jesus is the only way—Murali says he won’t commit his life to Jesus until he’s certain.

Yet he’s intrigued by what he’s learning about people at Breakthrough who follow Jesus. “They love without judging, and they treat others with kindness. There’s definitely something different about Christians.”

When he saw his friend’s teeshirt depicting Jesus washing the feet of His disciples, Murali was stunned. “Here’s the main guy of this religion and instead of putting himself on a pedestal, the man is serving others—amazing and exactly the opposite of what I expected!”

The North American Mission Board has identified the deployment of missionaries as a key strategy for reaching the lost in North America. Missionaries like Andy are called by God to move out of their comfort zones to live as witnesses for Christ. God uniquely gifts each one to serve in a particular area and with a specific people group or population segment. While one may work with college students, another works with the homeless, another with native Americans and another with children.

“It’s exciting to see the number of missionaries on the field in North America increase,” says Jane Bishop, director of Missionary Mobilization, NAMB. “We are proud of the men and women who make great sacrifices in order to commit their lives to spreading the gospel across our continent.”

Of course, the amazing work done by missionaries wouldn’t be possible without the support of Southern Baptists. Through the hands and feet of missionaries, Southern Baptists are going to all the peoples of North America.

For more about Breakthrough Church, go to www.breakthroughchurch.org.

For more about NAMB missionaries, go to www.namb.net.

Carolyn Curtis is a contributing editor of On Mission.