A New Era

I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.
—Acts 20:24 (NIV)

If it be possible, let us try to set some work going that will glorify Him when we are dead and gone. Let us scatter some seed that may spring up when we are sleeping beneath the hillock in the cemetery.
—Charles H. Spurgeon

A few years after my father passed away in 1964, I visited his old Kentucky home. When I knocked on the door of the neighbors’ house, the first thing they said to me was, “Orville Fletcher’s eyes.” Without knowing exactly who I was, they remembered my father’s eyes and saw those same eyes in me.

I don’t know if I ever resembled Dad that much outwardly, but as his namesake son, I was destined to carry his name through life. For me, it wasn’t his eyes that captivated me as much as his heart. I longed to be like Dad inwardly, a man of strong character. Yet at times Dad seemed to be everything that I was not and everything I wanted to be. I was the ordinary son of a great father and a great mother who raised five sons and two daughters. In their steps I would follow, but I was certain I would never be as great as they were.

Many years later, Peggy and I spent Christmas in Indonesia with our daughter, Ginny, and her husband, Ken Mauger. By this time, they had already been in Indonesia several years, following a term in South Africa working among Hindus and Muslims. Their eldest son, Kenny, who was just a youngster at the time, asked me one of those direct questions that only kids are bold enough to ask: “Grandpa, am I going to get an inheritance someday?”

I chuckled and shared with him about the riches that we have in Christ—one of the many lessons I had learned long ago from my father. The morning I had that talk with Kenny, I came across Proverbs 13:22 in my quiet time with the Lord: “A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children” (NIV).

But what inheritance do Peggy and I have to pass on to our children and our children’s children? I wondered. We certainly don’t have much in terms of material possessions or dollars and cents. But our parents didn’t either. Beyond earthly treasures is something of far greater significance and worth: the lasting treasure of a ministry to unreached peoples, “treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20 NIV).

What an inheritance to leave for the next generation!

I’m so grateful to the Lord that He came calling in four generations of our family. Today, our four children and their spouses are all in full-time ministry. Many of our grandchildren were born on the field—in countries that Peggy and I prayed for decades ago. Just as God gave our family a heart for the unreached, He faithfully linked us with like-minded people all over the globe.

Today, the international family of Pioneers works in more than 100 countries—more than 3,200 international members serve on 340 ministry teams among 500 unreached people groups in some of the most remote places on the planet.

With the psalmist, we can truly say, “The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:23 NIV).

In early 1999, our son, John, concluded it was time to step down as executive director. During his ten and one-half years in office, he did a foundational work in taking the mission from infancy to maturity—something I could not have done. John wanted to stay involved with the mission, but felt that God had another role for him, and another person to serve as president.

When John stepped down, the board appointed Steve Richardson to take his place as president of the U.S. operations of Pioneers. Steve had already served with us for eight years as team leader, and five years as area director for Island Southeast Asia and Oceania, supervising 15 of our missionary teams. The board knew he was a gifted man, still in his 30s yet with a proven track record of leadership on the field, and dedicated to the Lord as well as to the vision and values of Pioneers.

When Steve was a boy growing up in the jungles of Irian Jaya, he remembers spending time with his father under the stars at night. His dad would point out various constellations and talk about God’s promise to Abraham 4,000 years earlier—that all nations would be blessed through him and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. Steve was impressed by the impact of the gospel on the tribal people around him, by his parents’ faith, and by God’s redemptive plan in the Scriptures, and he determined that he, too, wanted to be a blessing to the world. Throughout his youth and college years, he unwaveringly pursued this missionary call.

God’s promise to Abraham—His redemptive plan for the nations—is a two-fold promise: “I will bless you” and “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:1,3 NIV). You and I are the ones whom God has called to take Abraham’s blessing to the world. We are in the midst of an incredible era of need, but also an incredible era of harvest. Many people lament the fact that the “dark is getting darker”—and it is:

• Worldwide, there are 500 million orphans and 120 million street children
• 18 million children under the age of 5 die annually due to hunger
• 2.2 billion do not have safe water to drink
• 500 million are on the verge of starvation
• 2.2 billion live in countries that frequently use torture¹⁰

Yes, the dark is getting darker, but thanks be to our God, the light is also getting brighter. In the last 35 years, evangelical Christians have nearly tripled in number—from 98 million to 254 million worldwide.¹¹

The Bible promises, “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn” (Isaiah 60:3 NIV). As I look at the miracles God has worked during Pioneers’ first two decades, I am excited to anticipate what He’s going to do in the future. The next 20 years—if the Lord should tarry that long—will prove to be an even greater chronicle of His working with us and through us. I am convinced we are on the edge of an unbelievable era of harvest such as the world has never before seen.

Led by a Straight Way

To prepare for this harvest, the Lord led us to move our headquarters from outside Washington, D.C., to Orlando, Florida, in 1992. We were blessed by our time in Washington, particularly by our close relationship with Faith Bible Church (FBC) in Sterling, Virginia, which was a lifeline to us. The church has been with us since the very founding of the ministry, and over the years has given more than $2 million in support for Pioneers missionaries and projects—an astounding figure for a local church. In addition, FBC has sent countless missionaries our way, and served as a constant source of wisdom, direction and counsel.

As much as we valued our location in Washington, it was clear financially that we had to make a move. The cost of living in the capital area is high. In order to expand our reach overseas, we needed land where our home ministry base could grow, which would be difficult in the Washington area because of cost and availability of land and office space.

The Lord gave us Psalm 107:7 as both direction and a promise: “He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle” (NIV). After surveying more than 100 possible sites, we purchased 40 acres of land in southeast Orlando on the shores of Lake Whippoorwill. Our relocation to Orlando has enabled us to grow and expand. The first phase of our facilities, dedicated in February 1999, includes the Missionary Service Center with its striking Prayer Tower. This and other facilities on the property help us better serve our missionaries and those they reach.

Blazing New Paths

For Pioneers to be true to its name and heritage, wherever we are in our history should always be just the beginning—the beginning to:

• Challenge new frontiers
• Seek new impossibilities
• Undertake giant ventures for God
• Discover and penetrate new unreached people groups with the message of Christ’s love

I'm grateful that God opened my eyes to see that the most significant thing happening in the world is not taking place in the U.S. military or on Wall Street. It is God’s program of world evangelization. It is a continuation of Genesis chapter 12 when He set in motion a vast plan to redeem the world back to Himself.

The history of Pioneers is really “His-story”—God’s story. He happened to use people who were ordinary Christians willing to be His vessels—thousands of Pioneers missionaries, staff, leaders, supporters, intercessors and volunteers around the world. Each of us started with a dream, something God called us to do that seemed absolutely impossible.

When God came calling in my life, I knew I wanted to be a part of a movement that was stamped by a sense of destiny. I still want nothing less. My passion is to see the Lord of the harvest raise up a body of men and women who are an elite force, risking all and willing to die to take Christ where He is not known.

Jesus commenced this extraordinary work when He came calling on a group of fishermen—ordinary people with normal, everyday lives. “Follow Me,” He said to them, “and I will make you fishers of men” (see Matthew 4:19). He gave them a dream to be pioneers.

What about you? Do you sense that God has come calling in your own life? What pioneering dream has He given you to help get the task done? Maybe you don’t feel worthy or trained or adequate for the job. Neither did I! God uses all kinds of people. What a thrill it is to see people offer themselves to God as broken, empty vessels, and watch Him use them to play a significant role in world evangelization.

When God came calling on Peggy and me, it was a lot like those tall ships I once saw gracing New York Harbor. We left the safe port to sail on unknown seas, not really knowing where God would take us. But in obedience, we went, trusting Him to bless us, and through us to “bless all the peoples of the earth.” What an adventure it has been! You can be a part of that adventure, too. God has given you special gifts, skills and interests that He gave to no one else on the planet. Has He also given you a vision for the unreached? You can be a vital part of the final era of world evangelization, either by going yourself, or by mobilizing, sending, praying or giving.

The growth of Christianity in the past two decades has been nothing short of miraculous. Yet, an astonishing two billion people remain unreached.

A young man on a college campus once asked me, “Why are the Muslims making such progress in Africa?”

“Because you’re sitting here,” I replied.

God has given us open doors, and we need to move through them as fast as we can. I encourage you to step outside what is known and comfortable, to press ahead in spite of objections, to think outside the box and off the beaten path. If you can’t see very far ahead, go ahead as far as you can see. This is the time to leave the harbor, to be a pioneer. Somewhere a life is waiting to be touched and changed—in the mountains of Bolivia, inside a Bedouin tent in Egypt, in a bamboo hut in Papua New Guinea or within the walls of an English-language class in China. It can happen through you or someone like you.

Jesus gave us a word of warning: “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4 NIV).

Today we have an unprecedented—and urgent—opportunity to work while it is still day. “Closed doors” mean nothing to the Lord. In country after country, God has given access to the people who are on His heart. How will we respond? Will we go through the doors that He has opened before us?

“Rescue the perishing; don’t hesitate to step in and help. If you say, ‘Hey, that’s none of my business,’ will that get you off the hook?” (Proverbs 24:12, TMB).

You and I must live with the end in mind, that one day we will meet the Father and give an answer for how we responded to Him when He came calling in our lives. My goal is to please Him and hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!  . . . Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21 NIV).

As I look to the future, I pray that our greatest years—and yours—are ahead:

• that our trust will remain in God alone
• that our vision will remain clear
• that our zeal will be as strong as in the days of our youth
• and that we will not lose the boldness to choose the road less traveled, to blaze new paths and to risk great things for God.

On a recent trip to Egypt, I traveled overland across the desert of the Sinai Peninsula with a Pioneers missionary as my guide. The long day ended with a midnight swim in the Red Sea, not far from our team’s base of ministry to the Bedouins. I rejoiced that our workers have already blazed a path enabling them to reach these Muslim nomads. Yet just across the Gulf of Aqaba, I could see the lights of Saudi Arabia twinkling a mere eleven miles away. The distance is not far physically, but spiritually a chasm exists that makes Saudi Arabia one of the least evangelized countries on earth. No Christian workers are permitted, all Christian literature is banned and Saudis who confess Christ face death if discovered.

What will it take to reach Saudi Arabia for Christ? What will it take to see Saudi Arabians—and Kurds and Fulani and Sundanese—worshiping around the throne of God someday, bowing not toward a dead god or a merciless prophet, but to the holy and righteous King of kings?

It will take a generation of international pioneers—bold men and women who hear the footsteps of God when He comes calling in their lives, who hear Him asking, “Will you go where no one has gone before? Will you help send the gospel to the ends of the earth?” I trust you will be ready to answer His call.