A View From the Country with Brian Wechsler, Executive Director Every Missionary Is Different While over 220 Village Missionaries serve in churches around the United States and Canada, I am always amazed how each of them is unique. Each couple has a different set of skills and strengths. Some feel most comfortable and impassioned from behind a pulpit. Others feel most comfortable in a combine talking one-onone. Some join Village Missions fresh out of Bible College and others join after a full career elsewhere. There s no secret formula to becoming a Village Missionary no type of family, region or denomination you must have come from. We have a number of Village Missionaries who were once VM kids themselves, but I know others who are the only Christians in their entire family. No, the only common denominator is a love for Jesus
Christ and a heart for reaching rural North America with that gospel message. I think it s best this way, because just as every Village Missionary is different, so is every rural community or small town. These out-of-the-way places have their own strengths and challenges, and having such a diverse group of Village Missionaries allows us to better meet the leadership needs of each community. In this issue, you will read about two couples who came to Village Missions after many years in non-ministry employment. Their stories are fantastic reminders that God s timing is perfect, and He will lead us exactly where we need to be, exactly when we need to be there. I hope this story is an encouragement to you, and I encourage you to learn more about Second Career Village Missionaries by visiting villagemissions.org/ second-career. Standing with the country church, Brian Wechsler Executive Director, Village Missions READ MORE: We will also feature three more second-career stories in May, June and July. You can find these by visiting our Country Matters Online page at villagemissions.org/blog.
Becoming a Lawyer Dan Wuthrich felt the call to ministry at 16, but nearly 40 years passed before that calling became a reality. When Dan enrolled in college, he wanted to become a pastor, but the liberal teaching and the denial of Scriptural authority in class would deter Dan s path. I wasn t able to defend my faith, and it shook me, Dan remembers. Dan left college and served six years in the Navy. The call to full-time ministry echoed in his mind, but the timing didn t feel right. I was just not ready. My life didn t reflect a true follower of Christ. He soon felt the need to change careers and began studying law at Baylor University in Texas. After graduation he began his law practice in Fresno, California. First Qualified, then Confirmed Dan excelled in his new path in life, yet still knew he was meant to do something else. There was just so little truth in the law, and it was incredibly
frustrating. For 21 years, it wasn t a matter of doing what was right. It was a matter of winning. For the first 10 years of marriage, Dan and Cheryl had mostly abandoned any thought of full-time ministry. In 1996, the two were invited by a couple at their local church to go on a mission trip to Bogota, Colombia. In the process of seeking support for this mission, God strengthened Dan and Cheryl s faith by supplying support from unexpected donors. Perhaps the Lord had ministry plans for them after all! One of the things we learned so early on if God is calling you in a particular direction, He s going to provide for it. After that mission trip, all the puzzle pieces seemed to fall into place. Dan and Cheryl were asked to lead a mission team to Ukraine, where Dan preached multiple times. He then became an elder, preaching both in his own church and filling the pulpit at a nearby church. Preaching became a passion. I loved the idea of bringing God s Word to bear on
people s hearts and in the life of the body. Dan s pastor and fellow elders would eventually affirm Dan in the direction of pastoral ministry. God s Timing Initially, Dan expected to get a college Bible degree and teach in a Spanish-speaking country, where Cheryl had a passion for the culture. Yet, as the years passed, the Lord began to change both of their desires. Cheryl began working with a small Hispanic church in Delray, CA, with poor farmers. There, she began to learn a lot about ministry in a rural setting. At the same time, Dan became burdened for the United States, which he saw as a spiritually endangered country. It was only after their mutual change of hearts that Dan first heard about Village Missions. Dan and Cheryl read about the ministry online, watched every video and immediately agreed. Village Missions is
what the Lord had been preparing them for all those years. What they didn t realize was that at the same time they were applying to become Village Missionaries, a small church in Mayer, Arizona, was applying to receive leadership from Village Missions. Nine months later, that is exactly where Dan and Cheryl were sent. Everything was confirmed one step after another, said Dan. Transitions While serving in their local church prior to joining Village Missions was a big benefit for Dan and Cheryl, nothing could prepare them fully for the life of rural ministry. Dan still leans on some of the skills he learned as a lawyer, such as resolving conflict and thinking on his feet, but he s had to unlearn some skills. In the legal system, you might get into a pretty heated exchange and then go
out for a cup of coffee afterward. You just leave it all behind you. People in the real world don t handle conflict like that. As a pastor, it is far less important that I m right and I win than I handle it well, because I can win the point and lose the person. Never Too Late Looking back on God s calling on his life at 16, Dan feels a bit like Moses, who spent 40 years in the wilderness before God called him to lead the people of Israel. I thought I d be in a church at 26, but that s okay. We never waste our life. There s no such thing in the Christian life as retirement anyway. We never stop being faithful witnesses of Christ. We never waste our life.
A Small, Rural Church As a young boy, Noble Weeks grew up in the suburbs, but his heart always longed for the country. As a teenager, he would drive to the out of the way places as often as possible. He dreamed of a career helping rural people through personal relationships. So, he entered law enforcement. It was during this time he married Megan, and they began their lives together. As Noble and Megan began their married life, they never would have dreamed of serving in ministry. We didn t grow up in the church, and I was agnostic and highly critical of Christianity. At no time would I have ever thought of going into Christian service, said Noble. After about seven years of marriage, Noble and Megan began attending a small, rural church. Noble still remembers
sitting in the front row with his arms crossed throughout each sermon. I told the preacher, I m not here for religion or God. I m just here because I like you people. Just over a year later, both Megan and Noble had come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. The two continued to learn and grow in their faith, and eventually felt drawn to Christian ministry. As Noble and Megan were considering where and how they might serve, different people began asking the couple if they had ever considered Village Missions. A short while later, they found themselves Village Missionaries in Pine Valley, CA. Lasting Change With 15 years of experience in law enforcement, Noble was forced to unlearn many of the skills he had been taught. Law enforcement was a huge benefit for me, but being a police officer is not the same thing as being a pastor being vulnerable and looking for good in people and letting down my walls and getting personally involved in their lives is not something you do in law enforcement. For Noble, ministry allowed him to be a part of something law enforcement had never allowed him the joy seeing lasting change. In law enforcement, Noble was trained to deal with the surface problems.
He would address violations of the law and enforce due consequences. Yet, he was never able to address the root causes of these actions: sin. In pastoral ministry, it s not me dealing with an acute problem. It s the Holy Spirit reaching into people s lives continually, making lasting change. Challenges and Rewards Noble and Megan recently reached their two-year anniversary as Village Missionaries at Pine Valley. In those two years, they have experienced both challenges and rewards. You must be committed to serving God even when you don t understand exactly how God is going to work through a situation. All you can do is be obedient and love them as you wait for God to work in their lives. Yet, with those trials come great joys too. The rewards of being able to be on the front lines watching God work into people s lives are tremendous. I wouldn t trade them for anything.
A Second Career in Ministry The Wuthrichs and Weeks are just two of the many couples who have begun second careers in ministry with Village Missions. Many of them never had a clue they would end up in rural ministry, but at some point in their lives, they felt the call. P.O. Box 197 Dallas, OR 97338-0197 Keeping Country Churches Alive If you feel this calling in your life, visit our Second Career page at villagemissions.org/second-career, or call us directly at 1-800-617-9905. We would love to connect with you and work together to see if Village Missions is right for you.