February 22, 2019
Kazakhstan. Kyrgyzstan. Tajikistan. Turkmenistan. Uzbekistan. Many people have a tough time even spelling the names of these Central Asian countries, but to John (pseudonym), they were fascinating and the main reason why he chose Russian and Eurasian Studies for his major.
But sometimes he couldn’t help wondering what God had in mind for him with such a specialized degree. “It was like I was partially in the dark,” John said. “I knew what I was studying but wasn’t sure why.”
Besides school, John served as the president of his college’s InterVarsity chapter and helped recruit a group of students to join him for Urbana 15. During the conference, God used powerful testimonies from the persecuted church to convict him to reconsider what he was willing to do for his faith. Though he was still a little uncertain about specifics, John decided to commit to mid-term missions.
As he browsed Urbana’s list of seminars, Challenges of the Church in Central Asia immediately caught his attention—especially since he would be there studying abroad in a couple weeks. The seminar’s speaker, Speaker V, shared about many of the challenges and opportunities that this Muslim-majority region affords missionaries, all of which deeply resonated with John.
“I really felt like God had a few divine appointments for me at Urbana and got me thinking about my semester abroad as a missions opportunity, as opposed to just studying,” John said.
After the seminar, John went up to meet Speaker V and share about his upcoming semester in Central Asia. Both their faces lit up when they realized they’d be staying in the same city while John studied at the speaker’s alma mater.
A few weeks later, John was wandering the streets of Central Asia, soaking up its unique blend of Russian and Asian cultures and sampling food like plov—a savory blend of rice, meat, and vegetables—and naan—thick wheels of bread—made fresh and piping hot.
He also began to notice deeper trends. “I saw a lot of love and community that were really encouraging and very different from North American culture, something to look up to,” he said. “But then there were parts of their society that seemed broken. I think a big part of that is because people haven’t heard the gospel and don’t know Jesus. I wanted to share my faith with them, so they could understand God in a personal way.”
In addition to his studies at the local university, John became a student leader in the city’s International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) ministry. He often shared meals with students, playing games and discussing American culture and language—John vaguely felt like a celebrity. He was also struck by their openness to discussions of faith and how natural it felt to share about his relationship with Christ.
Toward the end of the semester, Speaker V invited John to an IFES conference, where he sensed God calling him to serve with IFES after graduation.
“In a way, I feel like God sneakily ordered my steps,” John said. “He allowed me to pursue my passions and then turned my interests in Eurasia, Russia, and student ministry for his purposes. Urbana helped me understand that I don’t have to have a missionary label to be doing missions in God’s world.”