Denver Seminary

Fred's family spent a term in Japan and another in Kenya. Heather's family spent two-and-a- half years in Pakistan when she was a pre-teen. She also has two uncles and several cousins in missions. So international ministry is in the DNA of both of our families, and it was part of our hopes for our married lives together. In fact, one of our Canadian family members quipped that when we moved to Denver Seminary in 2005, we were just trading one mission field— the Philippines—for another—the US. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to imagine how our training in counseling could be used cross-culturally. Counseling requires exceptional ability to read nonverbal behavior and to understand the nuances of spoken language. How could we possibly attain such high-level communication skills in a second language? We were also aware that in non-Western contexts, counseling was less appreciated. And, at least in the 1990s, counseling was even more suspect in many church contexts if it had any connection to psychology. While we were open to the possibility of living overseas, we didn't expect any opportunities to do so. To our amazement, in response to an employment ad in Christianity Today, we left for the Philippines in 1997 with our three- and four-year- old sons to teach in a graduate-level Christian counseling program in Manila. What unfolded over the next eight years involved surprise after surprise. But looking back, these were all part of God's larger plan. OPEN DOORS FOR MINISTRY Our first surprise was discovering that a seminary overseas was actually recruiting counseling professors. Not only did they want to develop a counseling program to better equip pastors and lay ministry leaders, but the language of instruction was English! While we would still face the challenge of teaching students who were learning in a second or third language, our concern about learning the nuances of a new language was virtually eliminated. What unfolded over the next eight years involved surprise after surprise. But looking back, these were all part of God's larger plan. Our second surprise was being accepted into the missionary family of a denominational mission board when we had no previous connection to the denomination. While most sending agencies required missionary candidates to raise their own support, this denomination provided missionary allowances that covered our basic living expenses, freeing up our time and energy to focus exclusively on our ministry. Our next surprise was the speed at which we were deployed. A mere 10 months after we first became aware of the opportunity, we found ourselves teaching our first classes in Manila. This was possible because we didn't have to fundraise, and because of the encouragement of our loved ones. Our families' prior experiences in missions and cross-cultural living allowed us to relax about this major transition and trust that things would work out. We had initially planned to spend a two-year term (you can do just about anything for two years), but we ended up staying for eight— another surprise. Not only did we find a critical ministry niche, but we fell in love with the amazing students we had the privilege of teaching and supervising. A MISSION FIELD FAR AND WIDE Professionally, we were surprised that what at first seemed like career suicide—heading into a context in which Christian counseling was almost non-existent—turned into rich, deep experiences of developing global networks and ministry opportunities. Just when Christian counseling (and the counseling field in general) was becoming significantly more aware of cross- cultural dynamics, we were teaching, counseling, and training people for counseling ministry. 8 SPRING 2017 MAKES YOU THINK WE ARE MISSIONARIES AT HEART.

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