Among our many partners in ministry throughout the world, we come across stories of how God is impacting people through people. Many times we think we, as the missionary, are placed in certain opportunities to impact others, but many times God uses those around us, those we think we’re ministering to, to minister to us. Wesley White from Glasgow, Scotland has a story of such a situation and these are his own words:
A significant part of the joy in my life comes from the rich diversity of people I get to work beside. The attached photo is of one such person. His name is Barry Murphy, and he has given me full permission to share his name, photo, a wee bit of his background, and his current role(s). I am deeply honored to know him and now work with him.
Now, Barry works in Family Services and Ministries in the very prison in which he had spent time on two separate occasions. His testimony for Christ is strong and his faith in God is contagious. He is also stepping into leadership of Recovery Church, an amazing church-plant (out of Parkhead Nazarene Church where I am blessed to serve in an associate role) for people struggling with addictions of every sort. As Barry assumes more and more leadership in Recovery Church, he is now joining the Missional Laboratory that I head up, where we experiment with missional postures, projects, and possible new church-plants.
And beyond all of that, Barry is now studying theology through the Westminster Theological Centre, out of London for which I am his supervisor for his essay writing! He is a very good student, learning the craft and language of theological discourse and the rigors of academic research. He has a very sharp mind to go along with his passionate heart.
Would you join me in prayer for Barry? I am humbled to be his friend, colleague, and mentor.
We at Communitas come across stories of transformation and can’t NOT be moved by how God works in the world to remind us of His transformative power, love, and grace. He is able to change the hardest hearts and the most desperate sinners… and that is often us. In serving Him, we get the enjoyment of seeing some of these redemption stories in the world and our own hearts are continually transformed. We are compelled to worship and know Him more. May we always be in awe of how God moves in such powerful, merciful ways!
