A successful launch involves alot of people.
This is just as true for missionaries as it is for the people at NASA.
We thought we’d take some time on the blog to pull the curtain back and show what goes on behind the scenes as we prepare to leave. In particular, we want to introduce you to some of the team that is helping us as we prepare to go.
Meet Lee and Joanne Freace.
Lee and Joanne serve as our official “coaches”. We met them the first day we set foot on the campus of Crossworld’s headquarters and they have been walking with us ever since.
Who they are
Lee
Lee grew up in church (every Sunday no matter what) and learned a lot about the BIble while attending Sunday School as a child. After getting married and having children, they started helping out as Sunday school teachers and youth group leaders.
Although he had been around church his whole life and knew about Jesus, he still didn’t know him.
During this time, Joanne became a believer in Christ and started sharing with him about what it meant to have a relationship with Jesus. He deflected her approaches and managed to keep her off balance for a few years. But, that only lasted so long. He says: ” It was during that time that I realized that I was missing something. I had a beautiful wife and two great kids but I was lacking something that I couldn’t put my finger on.”
They started attending a couples Bible study and over time as the Lord worked on his heart, it began to click. Eventually, he accepted Christ. He says: “It was when I put my trust in Jesus finished work on the cross that I came to realize what I was missing in my life, a relationship with God, something that formal tradition could never supply.”
Joanne
Joanne was raised in a non-Christian, but moral home.
As a child, she remembers watching her grandmother read her Bible every day. She didn’t realize it at the time, but as she watched this, a seed was being planted.
After they were married and began starting a family, a neighbor invited her to a neighborhood Bible study “so she could get to know the neighborhood ladies”. One day at that study, she heard the story about Nicodemus learning that he needed to be born again (John 3:1-15). A couple weeks later, God used that story to lift the veil – she finally understood she needed to have a relationship with Jesus based on his death and resurrection. On that day, in October of 1974, she gave her life to Christ.
Where they serve
For over 28 years they served in Cork, Ireland as church planters doing evangelism, discipleship and leadership training. Over the years, they were able to be a part of starting five new churches in that country.
Just over two years ago, they returned to the States to help care for Joannes parents. While stateside, they continue to serve Ireland as field coordinators for Crossworld, traveling back and forth a couple of times a year and overseeing the ministry there.
Their role for us
Assessment team
We met Lee and Joanne for the first time on day one of Candidate Orientation at Crossworld’s headquarters in Kansas City. They served on the team that helped to assess us and see if we were ready to be appointed for service in Haiti. This process took two weeks as the team peaked into just about every nook and cranny of our lives. As painful as that may sound, it was a great experience as the team got to know us and as we got to know them.
Coaching
Since then, Lee and Joanne have served as our official Crossworld coaches and have been a tremendous help to us as we get ready to leave. At Crossworld, coaches generally do a few key things:
Skype Meetings
On a regular basis, we meet with them over Skype and talk about how things are going as we work to build our support team. During these times we’re able to share the joys and struggles we face. The questions they ask and the insight they provide during these sessions is invaluable.
Accountability
Each month we submit a report to them describing what we’ve been up to over the previous month and what we plan for the next one. This helps us ensure we stay on track with the goals we’ve set for ourselves and gives them a sense of how we’re progressing.
Interface with the Home Office
Lee and Joanne serve as our key contact at Crossworld. There is a lot going on at the home office and it would be easy for us to get lost. Having Lee and Joanne as a starting point has been a great help.
Why we love them
Experience
Lee and Joanne are battle tested. They have given their lives to serving Christ as missionaries and have learned a ton along the way. I don’t think there is an issue we’ve faced that they have not faced themselves. Every time we meet with them, they bring with them decades of valuable experience that has been a great help to us.
Encouragement
Even though Lee is a Yankee’s fan, he’s still a great guy. 🙂 Seriously though, they have provided not just professional experience, but loving care as they have walked with us in this process. They ask about our kids. They want to know how we’re doing as a couple. Our meetings aren’t all business – we laugh together, we pray together and every time we come away from a meeting with them we think, “OK – the Lord has got this. He has us just where he wants us.”
Launching successfully into a ministry like this is an undertaking in and of itself. Without people like Lee and Joanne on our team, there is no way this process would be going as smoothly as it is.
Are you curious about what goes on behind the scenes in the process of launching a new missionary? Leave us a question in the comments and we may answer it in a future post.
