How to Become a Missionary

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Welcome to Grace at the Fray, a podcast that explores the many dimensions of God’s grace that we find at the frayed edges of life. Come explore how God’s grace works to renew your life and send you on mission in His kingdom.

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0:00:23.0 Jim Lovelady: Hello, beloved. Welcome to another episode of Grace at the Fray. And do you know the Pixar movie Ratatouille? I love this movie for a lot of reasons. One of them being that it is a beautiful treatise on sacramental theology, but that’s for another time. This movie is about finding greatness in the most unlikely of places, right? And I think there’s a line in the movie that is perfect for today’s episode. Anyone can cook. Remember Ego, the food critic in his review of Gusteau’s restaurant. He has this surprising revelation. Not everyone can be a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. Well, for this episode today, it should be anyone can be a missionary. And that doesn’t mean that just anyone should become a missionary. It means God can call seemingly unlikely people to a seemingly unlikely vocation in the most unlikely of places because we worship a joyful victorious king who loves to do the unlikely. My guests today are Serge missionaries, Patrick and Alexis McClure, and they are educators who found themselves surprised that their gifts were ideal for the mission field. They saw a need, they felt compelled to go and participate in meeting that need. This episode is all about how to become a missionary. So if you or someone you know is thinking about international ministry, praying about it, feeling the nudge, this episode is for you. So how can you become a missionary? Well, here’s the answer from Matthew 9:35-38. It says “Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area teaching in the synagogues and announcing the good news about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. And when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So, pray to the Lord who’s in charge of the harvest. Ask him to send more workers into his fields.” Jesus saw, he had compassion and he healed, and he invites us to participate in that; see, have compassion and heal. Look for these things in my conversation with Patrick and Alexis as they share the story of how they followed God’s call to the mission field.

0:02:41.7 Jim Lovelady: Patrick, Alexis, I keep saying welcome to Grace at the Fray while I’m a guest at people’s houses. So, hey, thanks for having me.

0:02:53.1 Patrick McClure: Hey, welcome.

0:02:54.2 Alexis McClure: We’re glad you’re here.

0:02:55.8 Jim Lovelady: Yeah. And welcome to the podcast.

0:02:56.4 Alexis McClure: Thank you.

0:02:57.4 Jim Lovelady: It’s really cool to be in Nairobi. The fruit has been amazing. [laughter]

0:03:01.5 Patrick McClure: Yeah.

0:03:02.1 Alexis McClure: Top notch.

0:03:03.4 Jim Lovelady: The bananas. When I was up in Chogoria. Just from the front yard, I was given.

0:03:10.6 Alexis McClure: Right there.

0:03:11.4 Jim Lovelady: Break off a bunch of bananas. And so here’s what I was going to say. I have very few things on my bucket list. Do you have a bucket list? 

0:03:19.3 Alexis McClure: Okay.

0:03:19.7 Patrick McClure: Not officially.

0:03:19.8 Alexis McClure: Not officially.

0:03:21.6 Patrick McClure: Yeah.

0:03:21.9 Alexis McClure: A few.

0:03:22.6 Patrick McClure: Subconsciously we need to.

0:03:22.8 Jim Lovelady: I’m a little, I’m a little.

0:03:23.7 Alexis McClure: Bananas made it on your bucket list?

0:03:25.3 Jim Lovelady: Well, okay, [laughter] So my bucket list. Here’s my bucket list. Drink a Guinness in the Guinness Factory in Dublin.

0:03:31.9 Alexis McClure: Okay. Okay.

0:03:32.6 Jim Lovelady: That’s like number one. Number two is never eat at Wendy’s again.

0:03:37.6 Alexis McClure: That’s a good goal.

0:03:39.1 Jim Lovelady: So that’s.

0:03:39.6 Patrick McClure: That’s a, yeah, that’s doable.

0:03:42.5 Jim Lovelady: I’m doing a good job.

0:03:43.4 Alexis McClure: Holding, holding to it.

0:03:44.2 Jim Lovelady: I’m holding to it. Not even a Frostie. I’m done. I’m done. I know.

0:03:47.6 Alexis McClure: That’s funny.

0:03:49.2 Jim Lovelady: That’s the only thing that’s enticing. The square patties. That’s done.

0:03:53.3 Patrick McClure: Yeah, that’s fine.

0:03:55.1 Jim Lovelady: That’s done. But the third thing was to eat a banana, like fresh right off of the tree.

0:04:00.0 Alexis McClure: There you go.

0:04:00.4 Jim Lovelady: And so I did that.

0:04:00.5 Patrick McClure: Wow.

0:04:01.1 Alexis McClure: That’s great.

0:04:01.1 Jim Lovelady: I did that.

0:04:01.5 Alexis McClure: That’s great.

0:04:02.3 Jim Lovelady: It’s amazing. So, and you guys get that all the time.

0:04:04.5 Patrick McClure: I know. Avocados. Mangoes.

0:04:06.5 Alexis McClure: Yeah.

0:04:06.6 Jim Lovelady: Do you have a monkey problem here? 

0:04:08.2 Alexis McClure: Not as bad as some people, but we do get them.

0:04:10.7 Patrick McClure: Before Rwenzori brought Rwenzori from back over from Uganda is worse. But now they.

0:04:15.5 Alexis McClure: They don’t come down.

0:04:16.3 Patrick McClure: They stay up and…

0:04:17.5 Jim Lovelady: In these trees? 

0:04:18.3 Alexis McClure: Yeah. Yeah.

0:04:19.3 Patrick McClure: Just right here.

0:04:20.3 Jim Lovelady: Seen one lately.

0:04:20.3 Alexis McClure: No, just, just yesterday. One right there. And making a…

0:04:23.0 Patrick McClure: They make a weird, they make a…

0:04:23.9 Alexis McClure: A very different sound.

0:04:25.8 Patrick McClure: A unique sound. Not like a monkey sound like, you know, the kids do in America.

0:04:31.0 Alexis McClure: It’s still, it’s still very novel. We never had monkeys like this in Uganda.

0:04:34.5 Jim Lovelady: I’m not going to ask you to make the monkey sound.

0:04:35.9 Alexis McClure: No. No, I can’t.

0:04:36.4 Patrick McClure: I don’t think I could, my voice is too low.

0:04:39.1 Alexis McClure: No, we all ran outside.

0:04:40.4 Patrick McClure: It’s like a squeal. It’s like a squeak. Squeaky squeal.

0:04:42.4 Jim Lovelady: Interesting.

0:04:42.9 Patrick McClure: It’s weird.

0:04:43.1 Alexis McClure: Yeah.

0:04:44.2 Jim Lovelady: So who are you? Where have you been and how did you get to Nairobi? Ready, set, go.

0:04:48.9 Patrick McClure: Wow.

0:04:50.6 Alexis McClure: Ready, set, go. Okay. Who are we? We’re Patrick and Alexis McClure. We have four kids. They are here with us in Nairobi.

0:05:00.4 Jim Lovelady: That’s good.

0:05:00.9 Alexis McClure: It’s good. It’s good to bring your kids.

0:05:01.7 Patrick McClure: A lot Kenyans and Ugandan to ask us that. If our family’s with us.

0:05:04.2 Alexis McClure: Yeah. Our kids are on mission with us. Beckett’s 14, Adrian is 12. Zane is 10 and Hadley is seven. So we are in the thick of those school years.

0:05:16.7 Patrick McClure: We hail from Washington state. North of Seattle, about two hours north of Seattle. A little town called Linden. A beautiful community. We’ve been there. We were there for eight years before becoming missionaries. So, yeah. Our journey, everybody’s journey is different. We were not, we did not want to be, we were not trying to be missionaries like that. We were not looking to be missionaries. It was not on our radar at all. We were just living the dream.

0:05:42.0 Alexis McClure: We meet lots of people who are like, oh, we both wanted to go into missions or medical or church planting or these different things.

0:05:48.8 Patrick McClure: Since they were kids or college or whatever. But…

0:05:50.6 Alexis McClure: Some people even got set up, or, you know, found each other in those circles.

0:05:55.0 Patrick McClure: Mutual interests. Yeah,nope, not for us.

0:05:57.3 Alexis McClure: And so we learned pretty quickly in this journey. Oh yeah. We were never on that path. But God had us, in education in Washington State.

0:06:07.2 Patrick McClure: We were just living the dream. I was a, we had been teachers.

0:06:09.1 Jim Lovelady: You were both educators.

0:06:10.0 Patrick McClure: Yeah. Yeah. Both edu… Alexis taught kindergarten. I taught junior high for a while. Then I became an administrator. Public schools, we were both working in public schools. And, I was a principal at the time when God just turned it all around about five years ago. So yeah, there’s other Serge missionaries who were in Burundi. They’re now actually in Kenya. They’re medical, they’re doctors, medical missionaries, and yeah, they shared with our Bible study. We were in the same church back in America. And…

0:06:37.7 Alexis McClure: They were raising support to go, on a turn to Burundi and train anesthesiologists and support that work there. And so…

0:06:45.7 Patrick McClure: But he was talking about just how few anesthesiologists there were in Burundi. And now he’s just there training others to do that work for the people. And it was like this, I really remember this moment ’cause we were in this barn, this big barn in Linden, Washington, with all of our friends. And that’s where we had, we had barn nights together. And it was like the Holy Spirit just sort of kind of unveiled something to me ’cause I’ve been a christian since I was a kid. And it was like, I knew missionaries are all types of things.

0:07:16.2 Jim Lovelady: Right.

0:07:16.2 Patrick McClure: I knew that.

0:07:16.9 Jim Lovelady: Yeah. In general, not specifically.

0:07:19.5 Patrick McClure: But I didn’t really know that, I guess. That didn’t become real until that moment when it was like, oh, like this guy, this family, they love medicine, they’re trained, they’re educated, and they’re being missionaries to do that, what they love and are passionate about and skill that, and to do that in a way that develops others to do that. They’re not Bible translators, they’re not church planters, they’re not missionaries in that sense. And it was like, of course I knew that. But in that moment, I really thought the Holy Spirit was like, hey, maybe you could do that too. You don’t need to forsake or move away from education.

0:07:56.8 Jim Lovelady: Right.

0:07:57.2 Patrick McClure: What you love or passionate about, have been involved in, have been educated in.

0:08:01.0 Alexis McClure: And had that training and schooling. I think that’s what we saw with our friends was that they had received all this great training and instruction and schooling. And it was like, yeah, the Lord could use all of that and use it in a place that was really needy.

0:08:17.0 Patrick McClure: Yeah. And that’s kind of, I felt like if I left my school that I was currently the principal at in this one small town, in this one school, in this one small town, this one corner of America, there’d be 20 highly qualified applicants.

0:08:30.1 Jim Lovelady: Ready to jump in.

0:08:31.7 Patrick McClure: Who would apply and they’d find someone at least as good, probably better than me. And so it was like, it was just interesting. And I had never really… I was three, no, at that point, I was only a year, I think, into that job ’cause it took a while to kind of move down that path. But it was like, I was in my dream job. We were mid 30s, four kids, bought a house, had a puppy, had a great church, community, all that. We felt like we were serving. We felt like we were plugged in. We weren’t just coasting.

0:08:57.6 Alexis McClure: Yeah, we felt like we were on mission. And I think to fast forward our story, I think it’s one of the things that continues to happen for us in our life is just this time of discerning and God having many different opportunities of ways you can be on mission. And we felt passionate that we were on mission by God’s grace there.

0:09:22.4 Patrick McClure: But the funny, so the funny thing was that night we left the barn, I didn’t say anything to her, but I was just like, the Holy Spirit was stirring stuff up and I go on Serge’s… Well, you know, I’d never heard of Serge. We’re like west coast. There’s not a lot of mission like, you know, our churches don’t have…

0:09:34.1 Alexis McClure: No, we took one of their supporting packets. And he went home and was like, “Serge, what’s this?”

0:09:37.4 Patrick McClure: Mission organization, these aren’t like big in the west coast generally. And it was, I looked up Serge and the front page, I remember the like serge.org and the front page said, Urgent need: Director at Christ School, Bundibugyo. And I was like, they do, they do school. Like I was just like curious about.

0:09:52.2 Alexis McClure: He said, Oh, they have schools. Oh, they have this school in Uganda.

0:09:55.7 Jim Lovelady: Oh, my goodness.

0:09:56.7 Patrick McClure: So I start clicking and that was like a deep dive for, for many months into, you know, Jennifer Myhre’s blog and every link and every possible thing I could find online about Bundibugyo and Christ School and Serge. And, I still didn’t tell, mention that to her for a while. Wise enough, we’ve been married long enough, but yeah, at some point, I mean, at some point, it just, that feeling wasn’t going away. I was loving my job. And yet my heart was just constantly like, not even, more than curious, like just drawn to this other thing. Anyway, so it was a long process, lots of conversations. I mean, ultimately a couple of years until we like moved to Uganda, but it definitely, the Lord kind of went, nope. But again, it wasn’t like just completely different. It was like, all of this was good and we’ve used that and it’s been great in our life. And I want this to happen over here. That kind of builds on all of that or utilize all that.

0:10:53.8 Jim Lovelady: I love that you said we were living a life on mission. You know, I love that when Derek and Lauren Webber were in the States, I interviewed them for the podcast. And one of the things, one of the things that they said, which was wonderful was, Hey, if you’re not living life on mission, wherever you are, do that first. Because just the idea of like going somewhere far away.

0:11:21.1 Alexis McClure: I’m going to do that better there. I’m going to be more…

0:11:24.5 Jim Lovelady: Exactly.

0:11:24.5 Alexis McClure: That’s going to be more sole focus or that’s where mission happens. Yeah. So yeah. I mean, to fast forward, how do we get to Kenya? God had a robust experience and time. That’s a huge part of our story is our life in Bundibugyo and serving at Christ School. And yeah, it was transformative. It changed us. And something we always say after living there is like, once you see, you can’t unsee. Like it just, it changes you. And sometimes like family or friends who out of best intentions, you know, want to hope that maybe you’re coming back or maybe this is a season. It’s hard to even put into words how the Lord just starts to change your life through these things. I mean, it’s hard to even put into words, but that your heart expands. And I think that’s what happened in Uganda is, and I mean, there’s a lot of details in that, but COVID was part of that because as COVID shut down schools for a very long time, how many weeks, like? 

0:12:33.8 Patrick McClure: Yeah, 89 or something.

0:12:35.8 Alexis McClure: Like the longest, if not one of the longest school closures in the world was in.

0:12:40.8 Jim Lovelady: 89 weeks, you thought of it in weeks? I thought of it in terms of decades.

0:12:42.9 Patrick McClure: Yeah, it felt a way.

0:12:43.3 Jim Lovelady: 2020 was four decades.

0:12:46.8 Patrick McClure: CNN posted like the other ranking of longest closures in the world and Uganda was number one.

0:12:49.9 Jim Lovelady: Really? Interesting.

0:12:50.1 Alexis McClure: It was so long.

0:12:52.9 Patrick McClure: Yeah, it was like, oh, but yeah.

0:12:55.4 Alexis McClure: So as we’re there and we were starting to get plugged into Christ School and he did continue to do like a lot of relational and discipleship and teacher training and ministry. But through that, what did we have? All over the mission and all over our porch were just kids, kids, kids, kids. They’re playing with our kids. They’re playing, they’re around and they’re not in school.

0:13:20.1 Patrick McClure: Yeah, our kids had a little like…

0:13:20.3 Alexis McClure: Our kids continued to do the little mission school. And we…

0:13:23.6 Patrick McClure: With teachers, you know.

0:13:23.9 Alexis McClure: Yeah, and we continued to benefit from that blessing and from Zuri Mission School. And yet these kids are here. And so the teacher in me, Hadley at that point was learning how to read. And I remember she’d be sitting on the porch at five. She was in kindergarten and she was learning how to read. And we were so proud of her. She’s sitting there and all these kids are around and they’re like our oldest son’s age and they can’t read.

0:13:48.4 Patrick McClure: Yeah, 13, 14, 15 year old boys, Ugandan boys who they play soccer together.

0:13:52.9 Alexis McClure: And they were just in awe that Hadley was sitting there reading. And so then I started…

0:13:57.9 Patrick McClure: They were just gathered around just staring and they’re like, “She’s reading that?”

0:14:00.9 Alexis McClure: It was pretty shocking. So out of that, the teacher in me started giving these like reading inventories of sounds and letters and beginning blending and all of that to these kids on our porch. And I think I just was like, “Where are they at?” And it was heartbreaking. It was really, really heartbreaking.

0:14:21.9 Patrick McClure: 15-year-olds trying to sound out basic sounds and blends and things that, like I said our 5-year-old’s doing.

0:14:27.4 Alexis McClure: And even though you might say, well, maybe they can read in their local language. Most of the time they can’t. And actually by grade four, it’s already transitioning to like all in English.

0:14:37.5 Patrick McClure: Well, there’s almost no like printed materials…

0:14:40.0 Alexis McClure: And there aren’t a lot of printed materials. But anyway, the point is out of that, the Lord just really used that, those moments. And then we got involved with some literature.

0:14:49.5 Patrick McClure: Well, she comes to me, she’s like, “We gotta do something.” Like we’re educators. This is what we do. We have all the time on our hands, sort of, I mean, life was hectic in its own way, but I mean…

0:14:58.3 Alexis McClure: You’re just like, what can we do? 

0:15:00.5 Patrick McClure: Like schools are shut down.

0:15:00.8 Alexis McClure: What can we do? We’re here for such a time as this.

0:15:03.3 Jim Lovelady: You have to. You can’t not.

0:15:03.5 Alexis McClure: No.

0:15:06.0 Patrick McClure: I felt that way.

0:15:06.3 Jim Lovelady: I’m a pastor, I can’t help myself. You guys are educators, you can’t help yourself.

0:15:08.1 Alexis McClure: No. So we started like doing, I started doing some tutoring with boys after school and we’re just like, “This is not sustainable.” Like I can’t tutor all these kids. And so out of that bore camps and out of that bore partnership with Read for Life, which is another organization. But anyway, all of that…

0:15:23.5 Patrick McClure: We had Ugandan friends who were teachers and we’re like, we don’t need… Like, and they’re out of work. So it was like, let’s partner with them, give them some work while they can, I mean, they’re going to better teach the kids directly, but we can help resource and oversee and make a plan.

0:15:36.1 Alexis McClure: It definitely wasn’t us, we partnered with these teachers. But I think like our involvement at Christ School and seeing the life-changing experience that those students had by getting…

0:15:49.3 Patrick McClure: Which was a secondary school.

0:15:51.0 Alexis McClure: A secondary, like getting an exemplary education, a Christian education, discipleship. It was changing lives and it’s just changing Bundibugyo community.

0:16:00.8 Patrick McClure: Well, ’cause most of those kids would go off to university, which very few in other schools in Bundibugyo qualify, like do well enough or, you know, through exams to get into university. But almost all of Christ School kids are going to university and a lot of them are coming back. I mean, it’s that communal, you know, nature of this place. It’s like you said, you just can’t, you can’t just go back. You can’t just flip the switch and go like, this is so needed, meaningful. And I think our connection with that, like we said about developing and coming alongside, like the heart for, like at Christ School, I was the director, so I work alongside and with the leadership team. I wasn’t acting like it when I was a principal in America and doing all of the work I was doing in that way. It was really like mentoring, guiding, collaborating with, kind of overseeing, which I just, I really enjoy that and love that. Same with the literacy work. She began working with teachers who they would then put on a training for 50 teachers and she would interact and engage, but kind of oversee that and…

0:17:04.2 Alexis McClure: And as a team.

0:17:06.0 Patrick McClure: That grew our heart. We weren’t in there like doing, you know, reading with all the kids per se, but it was like, we were helping others to reach hundreds, thousands of kids through literacy and it was like, that for us is really a good fit.

0:17:18.8 Alexis McClure: And I think through our time there, like we really identified with the wing of Serge that was like, this is a glimpse of like restoration and putting things right. That like in your heart, it’s gut-wrenching. And I remember like talking to Jennifer ’cause they were our team leaders and Jennifer Myhre. And she would tell me like, “That’s a good thing because some days you’re so exhausted that you don’t have that. Like your heart isn’t broken in that moment because you’re just, you’re struggling to get through the day.” And so coming back to those moments where you are reminded of like God’s heart breaking for these children, God’s heart wanting equal access to education and this life-changing path that can happen through understanding your identity as a child of God, receiving excellent education and how that transforms individuals, families, communities. And so I think just out of that, as we felt like that season of living in Bundibugyo was coming to a close, like that was really difficult, but we were feeling like for our family and for the next phase… we really entered a time of like discernment and prayer, like, okay, Lord, do you have us continuing this? And so…

0:18:46.2 Patrick McClure: There was this tension, there was this like emotional, psychological, I mean, physical… in every way, there was this like internal tension, collectively of, this is so meaningful, this is so beautiful, hard. Bundibugyo is challenging…

0:19:01.2 Jim Lovelady: Of course. 

0:19:02.1 Patrick McClure: Challenging place to live. But in that challenge, we just think for ourselves, for our family, yeah, it’s just transformed our view of so many things in our experience. And yet there’s just this tension of our kids getting older, nearing high school, like, socially, it was challenging. Academically, it had been great but yeah, they’re getting older and it was just challenging for especially our two oldest…

0:19:27.4 Jim Lovelady: One of my vocational philosophy of ministry kind of ideas is that I’m constantly trying to work myself out of a job. That ministry is working yourself out of a job, ’cause it’s another way of talking about equipping others and it sounds like that’s what you did. But every time I’ve “worked myself out of a job” leaving is always painful. And I think it’s supposed to be painful. Part of love and giving of yourself in that way is that when you leave, a piece of you stays and so there’s this like, oh, ripping of your, a part of your soul is always going to be there.

0:20:09.2 Alexis McClure: Absolutely. And as we’re still new, like here in Kenya, we’re coming up on five, six months of being here.

0:20:16.1 Jim Lovelady: Hey, welcome to Kenya.

0:20:19.0 Alexis McClure: Thank you.

[foreign language]

0:20:19.1 Alexis McClure: Welcome to Kenya to you.

[foreign language] We are still like wrestling through all of that like…

0:20:27.7 Patrick McClure: Yeah. Like you said, you talk about working yourself out of a job. Yeah, I agree with that. That wasn’t fully the case in Bundibugyo. Like when we were wrestling with it and it wasn’t like, well, this project’s complete, it’s done what we came to do. Like, not at all. I mean, it’s relational, first of all, so it’s never done, but also like, the school is not at a place where I would want it to be when I stepped away. Like, that’s just true. That’s just a reality.

0:20:51.1 Alexis McClure: And there’s just grief in that.

0:20:52.1 Patrick McClure: And that was a big wrestle of like knowing that’s true and yet also knowing, and then knowing like the role I was doing and the roles that we were doing. And then that’s like, people aren’t just coming through Bundi.

0:21:06.7 Jim Lovelady: Yeah, it seems like.

0:21:07.6 Patrick McClure: So there’s this relational weight of like, what we were kind of carrying, the part that we were carrying is left to others and people that we’re very close to and we love and that’s its own heaviness. That’s like…

0:21:20.5 Alexis McClure: Yeah. That was heavy.

0:21:23.1 Jim Lovelady: Jesus has always been the one that said, All right, your work here is done. And I’m like, I disagree. And Jesus is like, Trust me…

0:21:27.0 Patrick McClure: On paper, it’s not.

0:21:30.4 Jim Lovelady: Like, it doesn’t look like it. And Jesus is always like this is mine, this belongs to me. And I love that you love this. I love that you are participating in this, you and all your brokenness, you and all your sinfulness. And all those reminders, those painful reminders are like, oh yeah, it has been a privilege and an honor. And okay, part of what makes this hard is that I’m going to have to trust that you are going to be taking care of these people that I’ve been pouring my life out to. And I think that’s the way that Jesus has been rescuing me from thinking that I’m the savior. And that’s been a thing. It’s totally been a thing in me.

0:22:06.5 Patrick McClure: That’s real.

0:22:07.3 Jim Lovelady: It’s totally real.

0:22:08.0 Alexis McClure: It’s real. And I think that’s one of the things that, like, we’ve always loved about Serge and we continue to cling to is that it’s ministry out of weakness and that I am not the savior of that situation. And the Lord was working there and he’ll continue to work there. And now as we invest in a new place, like once again, you’re in a real ministry from weakness position ’cause you’re starting over. And you’re building those relationships and you’re casting new vision and you’re asking the Lord, okay, Lord, what do you have for me here? 

0:22:49.9 Jim Lovelady: I’m going to pause this conversation and invite you to join us in prayer for the Serge field workers that we at the headquarters here in Philadelphia are praying for each week. We meet on Tuesday and Friday mornings to pray. And this week we are praying for the teams in Romania and all the missionaries who are currently raising support and preparing to go to the field. Would you pray with me? Lord, we pray your blessing over these folks. Give them joy in their work in your Kingdom and the pleasure of your joy as they follow you. Give them wisdom and let your grace abound in their relationships with one another, with family members and children and with the people they serve. Provide for them, heal sicknesses, liberate the enslaved, protect them from the powers and principalities of darkness, restore the joy of their salvation and let your Kingdom come and your will be done in these places as it is in heaven. We pray in your name. Amen. Now, back to the conversation. 

0:23:50.0 Jim Lovelady: So why Kenya? 

0:23:50.9 Alexis McClure: Yeah, why Kenya? 

0:23:51.9 Patrick McClure: So why Kenya? 

0:23:54.2 Jim Lovelady: Yeah, Patrick.

0:23:56.1 Patrick McClure: When we started to feel that pull to, kind of away from Bundi, Bundibugyo it was like we just felt like we talked about the once you see, you can’t unsee. And I think the work was meaningful, the relationships, the culture. I mean, it was really transformative for us, truly. And that was really our heart was like, we feel like we need to leave Bundibugyo and Christ School specifically. We don’t feel like our heart is ready or called to leave East Africa specifically…

0:24:26.8 Alexis McClure: Leave Serge.

0:24:31.7 Patrick McClure: To leave Serge, truly to leave education development. Those three were kind of, I want to say close handed, but that was kind of, that’s what we asked God. It was like, we want to continue in this type of work and we need something different that you have for us for our kids. I mean, that really became the prayer. We prayed for, there was a 21 day stretch where we didn’t talk about things. We didn’t process.

0:24:50.8 Alexis McClure: Well, you know how it is, you get to the point where you’re like talking about it everyday, and it just feels like you’re like… And so, we were like, Okay, let’s just stop. And it was Joanna, the first round that when we were praying about Uganda, that was like, take 10 days. And so we took 20, we were like, we need more time. We took 21 days this time. And we were like, we’re not going to talk about it. And that was really hard when you’re in the heat of trying to make that decision and then you’re like, we’re just going to wait.

0:25:20.3 Jim Lovelady: Yeah. My neighbor has a T-shirt that says, Give me a second while I overthink this. And It’s like, Okay, kid, let me pause.

0:25:24.1 Alexis McClure: No, it was, it was gut wrenching. It still is, like in part. And so we really wanted to like bathe that in prayer. And so that was our prayer like, Lord. And God in his graciousness and mercy, you were talking about where is that just sweetness of Christ? And we felt extremely overwhelmed that the Lord started opening these doors.

0:25:48.8 Patrick McClure: Well, I just felt like I love leadership development, specifically in education. Leadership in general but it’s always been expressed kind of through schools and through that avenue. And I love teacher training and all that. And we’d seen the impact of a quality Christian school. And it felt like that’s what I want to do. How do I do that? I don’t really know, do I just show up somewhere like, hey? 

0:26:14.5 Alexis McClure: How do I find the right thing? 

0:26:16.8 Patrick McClure: Can I help you lead and teach… As I was exploring different opportunities or kind of what could that look like, I came across ACSI Association of Christian Schools International and found out that they have a new Kenya office. And so I was like…

0:26:33.7 Jim Lovelady: Was it on their website? 

0:26:34.3 Patrick McClure: No. It wasn’t even a website. It was through ACSI Africa. South Africa whatever. It was email this guy, connects me to this guy, set up a Zoom call, and so…

0:26:43.5 Jim Lovelady: But once again discovering a need.

0:26:46.0 Patrick McClure: Yeah. Well, it started to feel like as I was looking at the ACSI website. Oh, they do, they don’t operate Christian schools but they support Christian schools through leadership development, teacher training, it seemed like. I call up this guy Herbert from Kenya, who’s the national director, have a little Zoom call in our backyard, kinda like this. And was just like, Herbert, what’s your vision for Kenya? You’re a Kenyan, you’re the national director. What’s your hope? And he is like there’s a lot of Christian schools in Kenya but a lot of them are kind of in name only. They don’t look a lot different from other schools but they say such and such Christian academy or Christian school.

0:27:23.9 Patrick McClure: And really our vision as an association is to come alongside to help develop their leaders, train their teachers and help them grow in biblical authenticity. And I’m on my phone just going, Herbert, that’s what I want to do.

0:27:36.9 Jim Lovelady: That’s what I do.

0:27:40.4 Patrick McClure: That’s what I love to do. What if we partner on this? What do you think? And it started some dialogue and some open doors and where he was at with the organization and kind of the next steps and kind of the needs and where they were headed and kind of what I loved to do and wanted to do were just the same thing. And it was this crazy. God’s just kicking these doors open. And with that it was based out of Nairobi. There’s a Serge team here. There’s a school that an international Christian school that our kids could attend. And it was I had prayed like do you have something in this realm for us? Or do you have something for our kids? We’re going to have to do what’s best for our kids but it’d be nice to also do this. And God was like, it’s not an either or.

0:28:23.4 Alexis McClure: Yeah. That that’s the sweetness that…

0:28:25.7 Patrick McClure: It doesn’t have to be an either or.

0:28:26.1 Alexis McClure: We were talking about. It’s just like God being like, No, you can do both. And I am a good Father. And I have loved your kids. I will continue to take care of them. And I’d love for you to keep serving me in this way and kind of bringing those opportunities together. And it was just…

0:28:43.9 Patrick McClure: It felt pretty overwhelming.

0:28:44.6 Alexis McClure: Yeah. It was really overwhelming. Especially ’cause you’re going through grief of leaving. And it’s exciting to open new doors and it’s overwhelming a little bit. And we had to wait it’s a process. You have to wait, you have to get invited from this team and you have to have the association and the kids gotta get into the school and just all the things. And one by one the Lord just every door was opening. And our biggest and…

0:29:15.2 Patrick McClure: Well, supporters affirming, pastors, friends, family back in America. Helping you discern like, is this crazy? Is this a good idea? But seeing yeah, it feels like this is really, God’s just moving this thing in this direction.

0:29:33.8 Jim Lovelady: You took the proverbial leap of faith.

0:29:35.3 Alexis McClure: Leap of faith. Yeah.

0:29:36.3 Jim Lovelady: And maybe the Grace at the Fray bingo game is how many missionary proverbial trite phrase things can we live through? But you guys are basically a testament to this very much is a leap of faith. You’re five months in. And I can tell, I get a sense that it’s like, yes, this is a good decision. Was this a good decision? And clearly Jesus is in all of this. Lord, are you in this? All of that. Talk about that. Talk about that tension.

0:30:15.8 Alexis McClure: Yeah. The fact that you can sniff that out is scary and impressive. I think that Serge and even just this life of living 8000 miles away from where we spent our… where we grew up and how we lived. You enter into this journey of grief and loss, and I didn’t even know much about that until I started immersing myself in being a missionary and raising TCKs and all of that. And then you’re like, Oh, but I’m also, it’s not just my kids, it’s us. And that became just rhetoric that we started using all the time through leadership that we were in Serge, through our experience. And now we’re bringing that here too. Because once again you’re entering into asking the Lord and waiting on him. When we went to Bundi, I didn’t know I’d get involved with literacy. At the time our youngest was three and I had been home for 10 years with the kids and I was really really fulfilled with that. And I just felt like, Oh, we’re moving to Africa. I don’t need a specific job description. I’m good. We got a lot going on at home.

0:31:35.9 Patrick McClure: Yeah. Manage Africa was the…

0:31:36.0 Alexis McClure: That experience… Right. Manage…

0:31:37.4 Patrick McClure: Figure out how to do life.

0:31:40.3 Alexis McClure: Manage this. And for the first year I was heavily involved in teaching so that ended up being mostly with our missionary kids. Anyway, but through that the Lord brought these open doors for getting involved in literacy. And that experience just has showed me to now of, I’m in a period where I’m really waiting on the Lord. And this is something we talk about a lot of I don’t have the answer And I don’t know exactly, will I get involved more with ACSI? When I met all of them they’re like, Come, we have a huge need. And I’m like, okay, I’m not committing to anything quite yet. And it’s just been this kind of physical almost manifestation of just…It’s actually been a blessing to mentally commit and say like, I’m going to take a year and I’m really going to every time this feeling comes of like, okay, what am I doing here? What do you have for me Lord? I’m just being like I’m going to sit in this and I’m going to grieve. I’m going to pray. I’m going to pray for vision. I’m going to… We talk a lot about it and we don’t know, but it… I don’t know what will happen with all of that. For me, on my side of things. But it is a tension. And…

0:32:54.3 Patrick McClure: Yeah. There’s a very real aspect of, and we’re still wrestling through it. It’s not like we’ve completely come to the other side, but our only experience as missionaries has prior to this, has been in Bundibugyo, Uganda. Which is like one of the first or second sites within World Harvest Mission/Serge. And it’s very challenging and it’s very beautiful and it’s all that. It’s quintessential tropical Africa village et cetera, which is wonderful. And as hard as it was, there’s still things we loved about it, even as we are glad there’s certain things we don’t do… like that paradox of those can both be true at the same time. We can miss certain things. And we cannot miss certain things. But I think then coming to Nairobi, which is more developed. There was a struggle beforehand within just…I’m just saying between within us, not against each other. Just like that wrestling of and Serge and Sonship has a lot of blank righteousness. Like you kind of put your righteous into things and we’ve kind of sort of coined or within ourselves like this sort of like, I don’t know, it’s not like a word. I can’t think of a word that fits but it’s just that sense of that is it. Like that is the cat’s meow of missionary work and that kind of thing ’cause it’s just so… So epic.

0:34:16.2 Alexis McClure: It can start to feel like that difficulty that you’re feeling that struggle just for survival. It is like you can start to gain some missionary righteousness, a little bit and you don’t even realize it just creeps in. And then you’re like, of course I’m not better ’cause I’m doing this. But it is a struggle of like, Okay, he would always say, everybody needs the gospel everywhere. And transformation and identity drives and…

0:34:44.5 Patrick McClure: Some of the direct relief work and some of the immediate needs are so stark that it then become it’s so urgent and then so impactful. And then we would joke like, there’s missionaries in Congo. It’s like, well, they got it even harder. And then you, it is like, you’re starting to like do…

0:34:57.6 Alexis McClure: Saying this is just…

0:35:01.4 Patrick McClure: And you wouldn’t say it, ’cause we know the truth of the gospel everywhere and these different expressions, but functionally you start to, you can feel that a bit. And so you’re like, Oh, what’s it going to look like in a city versus.

0:35:10.7 Jim Lovelady: It functions below language. And whenever it sneaks out in your language, you go, Oh my goodness, I think I’m better than everyone. Oh my goodness. And so following those emotions wherever, just a little dopamine hit of satisfaction where you’re like, oh, my prayer letter is way better than that one. Or…

0:35:34.3 Alexis McClure: Yeah it Just.

0:35:35.7 Patrick McClure: I know for sure.

0:35:36.8 Alexis McClure: Well, and I don’t even know if, like, and I think those are the layers that were still unpacking. ’cause when you’re in a place where ministry is, like, okay, of course we lived on a compound. It’s just this holistic life where ministry was on our front porch. And now we’re in a context which is probably more similar to most people in Serge where it isn’t like right here. It’s, okay, what church are you going to get plugged into? And what commitments are you going to do? And what are the choices? Which we all weigh those no matter where you live, what choices…

0:36:09.4 Patrick McClure: There weren’t a lot of choices in Bundi.

0:36:10.7 Alexis McClure: Right. It was just this…

0:36:11.1 Patrick McClure: This is how they and you’re in it. And so you just react.

0:36:12.9 Alexis McClure: And you’re trying to respond and you’re trying to not get too involved with it ’cause it’s just, it’s the abject poverty is right in your face, right there.

0:36:22.5 Patrick McClure: Which has its beauty and has the connection to biblical stories, I’m like, Oh, we’re just living in modern day, you know, there’s just so much of that community that’s…

0:36:32.0 Jim Lovelady: Well, so speaking of that, as you guys are talking, it really does remind me of the story of Abraham when God’s like, hey, I want you to move out of Ur of the Chaldeans, Uganda of the Chaldeans. I want you to go, come follow me. And what’s funny is, we’ll always look at the Old Testament characters like, what a buffoon that guy is. Why doesn’t he just trust Jesus? And it’s like Abraham’s constantly going, hey, are you going to keep your promise to me? Hey, prove it to me. Could you like, give me some sign that you’re going to keep your promise to me. Could you give me something? Are you going to keep your promise? Are you going to keep your promise? And that seems to be like that the tension is this place where it’s like, I haven’t seen it quite yet. I’ve seen enough to where I’m looking in the direction, Lord, I’m looking in your direction. Just so that if like lightning strikes, I see it. You know, we were at the Schaps’ last night and Salem, she goes, “I saw shootings, I saw two shooting stars.” You know, and no one else did. Well, because she was looking at the sky… and so she saw it. You know, and it’s like, that’s what it is. Okay. Lord, I want to see that your promise to follow you out of Uganda into this other place that’s unfamiliar and we’re, we don’t have this super confident thing. We definitely feel like a nomad. As we’re just wandering around waiting for you to show up in some, like, what am I waiting? What are we looking for? I don’t know. Something amazing, I guess.

0:38:07.1 Alexis McClure: Well, and when you’re saying that, I think the thing that resonates with me is like the Lord, I always joke like, Lord, are you going to have me be like a support coach someday? Because literally support raising both times, God has really used to be like, I’m in this and this is nothing you could do. And everyone feels that their first time. But like, we felt that again, we had a significant mountain to climb to, to transition from Uganda to Kenya and to live in Nairobi. And it’s just an expensive city. And our kids were going to go to a school that required tuition and all those things. And so in that, I think that’s that feeling of like, “Okay, Lord, if you are in this, like, I, that’s exactly where I want to be.” But like, can you just, can you show me that you’re in this, Lord? And so actually it, that’s why I feel like it’s so gracious because he allowed, it’s not just about the money, it’s about the fact that when you sit down with people and you’re sharing, they’re, they, I mean, everyone was like, this is an amazing building on what you got to experience firsthand in Uganda. And now you’re taking that and going like, we want to help schools. We want to pour into teacher training.

0:39:22.2 Patrick McClure: Our experience from one, I mean, I’ve always been at, you know, you’re always at a school.

0:39:26.3 Alexis McClure: Normally you work for one school and you’re all about that and now…

0:39:27.5 Patrick McClure: And taking that…

0:39:28.4 Jim Lovelady: Schools.

0:39:29.3 Patrick McClure: And now it’s like, we want to see, you know, Christ Schools, so to speak, all over Kenya, right? Like, not exactly that, but just that, the impact of what that school is like. That’s our heart across Kenya and to come alongside Kenya. So that’s their heart. And so then how do we do this thing together? And so as we’re sharing with people back in America, it’s like so many are seeing that as like, well, that’s an amazing, like God’s open… Even some people who’ve even been in Serge for a long time and in Kenya are like, You don’t just, you don’t often just get like national level organizations saying, Hey, will you come, like, inviting you into at the national level. That just is so, feels like such an honor. And then the other side is our kids where we’re like sharing with people like, Hey, Uganda’s been great, and here’s where we’re at with our kids. And everybody’s like, of course.

0:40:14.3 Jim Lovelady: That makes total sense.

0:40:16.1 Patrick McClure: That makes total sense. We all do, we all do stuff our, it’s like, oh, okay. We were feeling like guilt. Like, oh, this is a great thing like…

0:40:21.5 Alexis McClure: Well, you struggling now.

0:40:23.0 Patrick McClure: For making a decision, like largely like, largely far. Like, ’cause where our kids are at, that felt almost like a Yeah, you’re, we’re wrestling with like, is that okay? And then everybody’s like, yes, that’s okay. That’s 100% like.

0:40:32.5 Jim Lovelady: Like is it okay? Yeah. It is.

0:40:34.6 Patrick McClure: Called, you know so…

0:40:35.7 Jim Lovelady: So well, so here’s the fruit of, of repentance from those self-righteous. Like a missionary righteousness. Where, so often we go, Hey, look how amazing it is, how little we can live on. Look how amazing I am that I’m making the sacrifice. Look at how, you know, and all of those little things that creep up. And then Jesus goes, Well, you know, my grace is so like amazing. I can actually give you a life of joy. And I can provide for you abundantly. And more than you can ask or imagine, more than your self-righteousness can ask or imagine ’cause your self-righteousness has limits where it’s like, Well, we can’t do that. We can’t enjoy that. Or we would be breaking our rule. You know how your mind works out. Yeah. And so the way…

[overlapping conversation] Yeah. It’s so… Yeah, and how Jesus goes, No, I want you to have all of these things. And you’re like, really? 

0:41:34.9 Patrick McClure: Yeah.

0:41:35.4 Alexis McClure: Really? 

0:41:35.7 Jim Lovelady: Really? You…

0:41:36.8 Alexis McClure: I know, and I spent the whole first week of the kids starting school just crying every day. Like, I can’t.

0:41:41.7 Patrick McClure: First week, I was just like…

0:41:42.1 Alexis McClure: Yeah. I mean, every event right now…

0:41:44.1 Patrick McClure: Two weeks ago, there was a…

0:41:45.2 Alexis McClure: It’s like, I can’t believe that we get to participate in this community.

0:41:49.9 Jim Lovelady: Amen.

0:41:50.4 Alexis McClure: And, it, that is just so, like, such a blessing. So sweet. So yeah. It’s, there’s a lot wrapped up in there, but…

0:42:00.2 Jim Lovelady: And the biggest antidote to self-righteousness is gratitude. And if you’re like me, gratitude has to sneak up on you. ’cause I can’t like will myself into gratitude. I want to, and I’m learning how to repent of that slowly, super slowly, but it really is just like the first week of school, you’re like, “Oh my Lord, I’m so thankful.” I love that. Well, my prayer for you is that as the Lord, as you wander around following the lightning strikes, you know that, that the Lord would bless all of these little steps of faith, these timid, it’s, it is totally timid. You know, and I think that that’s how it’s supposed to be. It’s supposed to be timid. It’s supposed to be totally dependent on Jesus. Yeah. So my prayer is that you would see more and more of those lightning strikes. And I’m going to be reading your newsletters.

Waiting, waiting for those.

0:43:00.8 Alexis McClure: Thanks.

0:43:00.9 Jim Lovelady: So what would, one last question. What would you say to educators in the United States who, I know a lot of educators who are frustrated with the way that the education system works in the States, and they feel limited, they want to be on mission. Now, I don’t want to just totally negate everything that we talked about in terms of, you are on mission everywhere you go. But there’s a sense in which I have a few friends, who are like, I feel so limited in my ability. And then I have some other friends who are like, “No, this is where the Lord has called me to be a light in the darkness.” And so I have a little bit of both, but what would you say to educators who are, I don’t know, give me a little pic, give me a picture of what things could be.

0:43:48.4 Alexis McClure: I think the encouragement to anyone in any sphere is just like, there are all these different facets of like, living out the calling of being on mission. And part, like, the expression that I think can happen in any context, even if you can’t overtly share your faith. Is just like, you are bringing, you are bringing like a glimpse of things. All things being made new. You are bringing like justice for children. You are bringing, you’re educating the next generation if you’re an educator or a teacher or whatever. And so, I just, that’s our, like, encouragement. But I do, there’s a lot of red tape these days and it’s very complicated. So I recognize that it’s, yeah.

0:44:34.5 Jim Lovelady: So, so I’m going to add to your job description, because this podcast, this podcast episode makes me think that you guys would be a great, it would be great for educators. When they, if they’re listening to this to be able to track you guys down. And it seems like there’s a lot of wisdom for how you can help, how you can help an educator be about the Kingdom of God. If they’re going to stay, or if they’re going to go. Either way. You guys seem to have this way of, of bringing wisdom into that and the experience that you’ve had is it’s really beautiful. And so I’m… I’m excited, I’m excited for this because I haven’t gotten to interview any educators. And there’s…

[laughter]

0:45:19.6 Patrick McClure: It’s a small, it’s a small part of Serge, but [laughter] it’s our mission to grow. You know, 20 years ago, there weren’t that many doctors, and now there’s a lot of doctors.

0:45:27.8 Alexis McClure: Someone told us 20 years ago there weren’t that many medical people. And now, right. Look at Serge, it’s heavy. And we’re like, no.

[overlapping conversation]

0:45:40.6 Jim Lovelady: That’s awesome. Well, thank you so much.

0:45:42.4 Alexis McClure: Yeah, thank you.

0:45:43.8 Jim Lovelady: It’s been, it’s been awesome.

0:45:45.8 Alexis McClure: Thanks, Jim. Appreciate it.

0:45:53.1 Jim Lovelady: Did you catch it when Alexis said, Once you see, you can’t unsee. It changes everything. That’s where participation in the kingdom begins. In Matthew 11, the disciples of John the Baptist relay a question to Jesus on his behalf. Are you the one who’s to come? Or should we wait for another? And Jesus answered them. “Go and tell John what you hear and what you see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk. Lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.” We have to be on the lookout for these things, the activity of the Kingdom. Where are you seeing Matthew 11 stuff happening in your life? In what ways are you moved by that? And how can you participate with your gifts? If you don’t know where to begin, go to serge.org and start exploring. And if you have an idea that you don’t see on the website, contact one of the members of our mobilization team and they’ll start a conversation with you that could lead to some really fun new ways of building God’s Kingdom. We love thinking outside the box when it comes to helping folks see, have compassion and participate in God’s Kingdom. One opportunity that I want to make you aware of is our continual need for educators. Specifically, we need missionary kid teachers. When missionaries don’t have education options for their kids, they often have to leave the field, or they have to pull back significantly from their ministries. To support our missionaries, Serge sends teachers to provide high quality education for missionary kids or third culture kids, and enable missionaries to focus on their ministry. Teaching MKs is a unique opportunity to serve missionary teams in a vital way and and to make a massive impact on the academic, personal, and spiritual development of these children. If you’re passionate about teaching kids and caring for third culture kids in particular, if you’re flexible, adaptable, collaborative, and excited to be in a close-knit community of MKs and their families, we want to talk to you. Go to the show notes, follow the link in our website to start that conversation. For a deeper dive into what education looks like overseas, follow the link in the show notes to a blog post about Christ School in Bundibugyo, by one of our missionaries named Jennifer Myhre. So be sure to explore all the show notes, our website and, and, and share this episode with someone. Leave a rating. All that stuff really helps us get more people to see, have compassion and participate in God’s Kingdom. And don’t you want to be where Jesus is moving in this world? I mean, is there really any other option? Jesus, you alone have the words of eternal life. And as soon as you get to where Jesus is, you discover he’s very present in the messy, complicated, frayed edges of life. And you’ll discover that you are as confused and helpless and in need of the good shepherd today as the people that you’re seeking to serve. And when you see, have compassion and participate, you’ll discover just how deeply broken you are and how even deeper is God’s grace and how much he delights in you. So keep your eyes open for where God is moving. Experience the compassion of Christ for a broken world, and go participate in the healing, the renewal of all things, and go with his blessing. May the Lord bless you and keep you and make his face to smile down on you. May the Lord be gracious to you. Turn his bright eyes to you and give you his peace. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, life everlasting. Amen.

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