I don’t know about you, but since I decided to do missions full-time, a few years ago, I get antsy if after several months I haven’t gotten my butt overseas to serve. I am thinking this is part of God’s plan in converting our hearts, turning us from focusing on ourselves to focusing on the world. I recall in my class, Biblical Foundation of Missions, Dr. “Chuckâ€? Van Engen describing a process that the apostle Peter went through in Luke and Acts. It was a transformation of Peter’s heart first to Jesus, then to the Church, then to the World. This echoed true in my life as well.

About 8 years ago, I went through a re-commitment to Christ after a luke-warm, non-committal Christian life through most of my twenties. I was raised Catholic, and decided to join a Vineyard Church after I moved to Austin, TX. After a short few months attending services, I decided following Jesus needed to be central in my life and I committed to pursue my life’s purpose as a follower of Christ. This was the first phase.

Once I began to read scripture and obey God, the next obvious thing was the decision and desire to commit to a church. This began a gradual process of deepening my engagement. I attended Alpha, joined a small group, became a children’s minister, and really got to know others in my church. Phase two became a reality as I no longer was an anonymous ‘pew sitter’ but an engaged and committed member.

Phase three just seemed a natural progression (though I realize many never move to this level) as I felt a tug to join our church’s missions efforts and went to Mexico for a weekend outreach. This began my final phase. Here I saw abject poverty, and witnessed oppression and darkness in stark contrast, just 45 minutes over the border of the wealthiest nation in the world. Over the next year, I served in Mexico, then made a rather quick decision to join a small team on medical missions to the Philippines. Once I returned, I was deeply struck by the third and final phase of my conversion. This is the one that would most profoundly affect my future. And it was the following year that I quit my phat corporate job to come to Fuller.

So, now, that itch I was talking about, comes after I have not traveled overseas for a period of time. I felt it last summer after about a year of now travel abroad. This time, it has been about 11 months, and I gotta go!! Fortunately, I’ll be heading to Lebanon next week with my church for a short-term medical and relief trip.

Clearly those seasoned missionaries who helped design Fuller’s School of Intercultural Studies MACCS degree, understood what I am talking about. It was their foresight by which we are able (and required) to scratch this itch in our program. They have built in a required 8 credit cross-cultural practicum that demands you to go abroad and participate in ministry at some point for 5 weeks during your degree. (http://www.fuller.edu/sis/main/advising/practicum_overview.asp)

So, those of you who are settled in one place too long, and have the missional itch, you are not alone. If you care to share your thoughts or experiences, I’d love to hear them. I am honestly very new to this life, and I cannot wait to touch my feet on every continent, in countless nations!

Posted by Sharon at 9:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Welcome to my blog! I suppose this will particularly appeal to those of you interested in Fuller’s School of Intercultural Studies (SIS, formerly known as the School for World Missions), but also those interested in a non-traditional missions path. I have a passion to do international emergency relief work as a Christian vocation. I plan to write more about my path to Fuller from the corporate world to give you some background, or maybe to inspire some of you stuck in the mundane, uninspiring corporate muck, wondering "isn’t there more to life than this?"

More excitingly, I invite you to join me as a Fuller graduate, traversing the world of relief and development work as missions. The areas I want to reflect upon are how exactly did my time at Fuller prepare me for my ministry, and what are the key professors, courses, books, and other experiences that equipped me. Of course, this also means I need to discuss where the program may have fallen short or where I could have made different choices to enrich my experiences while at Fuller. Overall, my time at Fuller was precious. It powerfully shaped me spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, and theologically. My courses opened my eyes to the realities of global poverty and injustice, while deepening my compassion to pursue a vocation in relief and development as missions. I have confronted my own innermost fears and weaknesses and faced them alongside a rich, loving community offered through the School of Intercultural Studies cohort program. My professors have prepared me with a biblical foundation for cross-cultural ministry and a wealth of invaluable mentoring.

So I’ll start with a bit of background…I was drawn to Fuller when I heard that the School of Intercultural Studies would prepare me in theology, missions, and relief and development work. I was specifically sold when I heard a very seasoned expert, and former executive with World Vision International, Dr. Bryant Myers, was joining Fuller full-time to advance the international development concentration. My degree is a Master of Arts in Crosscultural Studies (MACCS) and I had a concentration in International Development. I started in the Fall of 2005 and took courses through the Summer of 2007, thus completing my degree in two years. The first year, I was a bit insane/naive and took 4 classes each quarter (I didn’t have a job either) and in retrospect, was very happy I did that because it lightened up my second year. I was able to take an easy summer and take on a part-time job during my second year, working in the SIS office on a Career Placement strategy for SIS grads (that is a whole other topic that I can share on later).

I came to Fuller with a dog and a cat and thus had to live off campus. I am still based in Altadena, CA just a few miles from Fuller but am currently seeking to secure a leadership position in emergency relief with an international Christian nonprofit or humanitarian organization. I can’t say I have a particular region I prefer, but rather a heart for the whole world. My immediate family resides in St. Louis, Missouri, and my extended family lives in and around New England. I have personally lived in Massachusetts, Alabama, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, Missouri, and California. I suppose all of this moving around in my early life prepared me for a missionary life. Outside of a trip to London England, and Paris, France when I was in high school, I’ve just begun to see the world in the last several years, including missions work in Mexico, Belize, and the Philippines; a business school trip to China; and a recent two-week journey with World Vision to Kenya, Zambia, and Ghana.

Well, this is just a brief initial introduction. Welcome, and please, stay tuned for much more to come!!

Posted by Sharon at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)