By Steve Moitozo

 This October I was invited to attend my first missionary fund raising banquet. I wasn’t sure what to expect. As I took my seat at the table Ron, who was sitting directly across from me, saw my name tag and said, “So, you’re a missionary with Wycliffe?” “Yes”, I said. Immediately he said, “Great. I have some questions for you.” He explained that he was a Dentist and had been on several short term mission trips to Uganda where he used his skills to help people with their medical needs as a way of opening the door to sharing the Gospel. Then he said, “I’m starting to think that we are being called to full time missions. Do you know if missions agencies like Wycliffe let people go self-funded? I can’t bear the thought of begging people for money.”

 I said. “Yeah, they probably would. I know where you’re coming from. In fact, not long ago I would have been asking the same question. Let me tell you Ron, no one was more self-sufficient than me. Nine years ago I was living a block from the beach on a barrier island in Florida, where I drove brand new cars and made a huge salary. I had been recruited into my last two jobs and my income had tripled in one year. But that was about to change. God, in His infinite wisdom, had brought me to that point so that He could take it all away. The dot-com I worked for closed its doors. So did many others at that time, which made it hard for me to find a job as a Software Architect. We moved to Maine where He eventually provided a good job at a private College. Two years later we lost our first child to miscarriage. Four years later my parents marriage began to fall apart. A year after that the church where I was an Elder experienced a split. But through it

all God grew my faith in Him. As He would take things away He would replace them with the peace and hope that come from relying on His promises in Scripture. It’s hard to explain, but I got to the point where I trusted God to provide the necessary hope and peace to get me

through any difficult situation. I came to realize that God would always provide whatever I needed because I am His and while all things may not be pleasant I can believe that they are for my ultimate good.”

“Ron”, I said, “As I’ve studied the Bible, and dealt with my own journey, I have come to the conclusion that God’s design for any endeavor, especially missions, is such that no one should be able to take all the credit for the work they do. We cannot be Lone Rangers. If this were permitted God would not get the glory. Instead, God has put us all in positions of dependence on each other. In order for Him to get the glory for the work we do He has made it so that we must

depend on the prayer and financial support of many, many people. But as a result, each and every one of them will share in the eternal reward for the work we do. By telling people what God is doing and sharing our needs with them we are giving them a front row seat in God’s theater as well as an opportunity to participate in His mission. In this way God’s Name is made great and His blessing is spread across His Church. If we all acted like missionary Lone Rangers, going it

alone, then this would not happen. Worse yet, we might be tempted to take the credit for ourselves. If we do this we will be robbing God of His glory and robbing His people of His blessing for being part of the fulfillment of His Great Commission.”

A minute or two later the main presentation began and my conversation with Ron ended. The speaker took the stage and as he shared his incredible story of translating the Bible for a remote people group in Brazil he unwittingly reinforced every single point I had made to Ron. After the speaker was done the MC took the stage again and introduced Glenda and me. We spoke briefly about our ministry with Wycliffe and when we were done we took our seats near our display. At the end of the banquet the MC was guiding the audience through the particulars of making out their faith promise cards. Just then Ron walked over to us, grabbed a chair, and plunked it down in front of me. He said, “Steve, I love this ministry of Bible translation, but I don’t want to send my money to some company’s general fund. I want my money to go to a person who will communicate with me and involve me in their ministry. My wife and I have decided we are going to support you. What do we do?”