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For the last fourteen and a half weeks I’ve been taking a class called Perspectives. The focus of the class is on world missions, although Ralph Winters the creator of the curriculum suggested that it was an essential class for anyone who wanted to take their walk with Christ seriously –missions is a loaded word and I think he wants to get away from it being called a ‘missions class.’

The Perspectives curriculum is divided into four major sections, the biblical mandate for missions, the history of missions, and the cultural and strategic aspects of missions. These four areas of study create a frame that a believer can use to see the world through Christ’s eyes and understand His heart cry for the lost.

To say that this class has been transforming for me would be an understatement, I have been incredibly blessed by this class and can see how God led me to this class by his providence.

While at the University of Washington I started out my International Studies major on the Japan track and switched over to general Asia with a focus on Korea. A lot of this had to do with the other people I saw doing the Japan track and a certain amount of pride I took over being better than them –or not wanting to be associated with them.

After college I decided not to pursue a career in my field of study because it would require traveling abroad, I was comfortable at my church and made the decision to stay and serve as best as I could in Seattle. I took a job with an Insurance company and put my passion for the world in my back pocket for a rainy day.

While working for the insurance company I read Keith Green’s Why You Should Go to the Missions Field and realized that I had used many of the excuses that it had outlined. I found a ministry, Gospel for Asia that I greatly admired and applied for an internship only to be turned down because I had too much debt.

Through a course of events, both fated and fumbling I ended up leaving my job at the insurance company and took a job with a Christian ministry with a missions emphasis. God was allowing me to get exposure to the mission field while at the same time making money in order to pay off my debts.

Within the first few weeks of starting my new jobs, a woman from one of the broader missions that my organization is involved in found out about my interest in missions and urged me to take Perspectives. The only problem was that she told me about perspectives the day before the first class and I didn’t have the money. Despite my excuses God showed his hand and I found that I did have the money and could take the class.

This Thursday will be the last Perspectives class session and next Friday the commissioning service. I’m so blessed and excited to use and share what I’ve learned in this class. The door has also been opened for me to attend the summer mission trip to Japan with my church. I’m really excited to see how God will expand my heart for His people.