05 Jan Our story

The first time we knew that God had called our family to spend the next season of our lives as missionaries, we thought we must be crazy. It wasn’t a feeling of surprise, for we have traveled around the world sharing the gospel with people since we were in our teens. It wasn’t a feeling of fear either because in addition to the call to missions God gave us courage by His Spirit. The feeling that came to the surface of our hearts was more like the feeling you get when something, or some long-awaited moment, finally arrives. In 2019, we finished our second trip to Grenoble, France, concluding a 9-week stint as interim pastors at Refuge International Church. I remember Vanessa and I looking at each other, both knowing that our future was here. 

Abraham comes to mind as I think about our story. In Genesis 12, God calls Abraham seemingly out of nowhere and for no reason known to Abraham. God calls Abraham to a place he has never been to do a work he has never seen, and God promises to bless him in the midst of all of it. There are moments as we reflect on our lives that remind us of this moment for Abraham. We aren’t the most qualified or the most talented, but we do represent the adventure that awaits those who go on the journey with Jesus.

In 2004, Vanessa and I found Christ at Destiny Church in Rocklin, California, when we were 17 years old. In less than a few months after making that decision, we found ourselves in Peru sharing the gospel with people of a different language and culture. I remember being on drums (which I had never played before this moment) watching Vanessa share her testimony in front of more than 25k people. It’s a memory forever woven into the fabric of our lives. It was the beginning of something, something incredible. Little did we know, as kids, that we would one day be moving to a country not our own, with our three kids, to share the gospel again. 

In 2017, as we were serving as associate pastors in Napa, California at Hillside Church, Vanessa and I took a small group of adults to Grenoble, France to partner with the local missionary team, Mark & Dalene Good. It was on this trip the seed that was planted in us as teenagers began to sprout and grow at a rapid pace. There was something to the place and the people, something God was doing in us as we were there that was different than anything we’d experienced thus far. A fire in our bones, as Jeremiah would say. We knew God was at work but not very clear about what our next steps were. I can tell you this: it didn’t match the “plan” I had made for my life. But as the Proverb says, “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.” 

We came home and committed to praying and asking God for direction; we wanted to hear the voice of our Father with clarity before we dropped our life and went for this new adventure. But in all honestly, we didn’t hear anything. Nothing! Isn’t that the worst? In hearing no real clear direction, we just went back to our lives and continued to obey and serve God where He had us planted. In 2018, I sent an email to the missionaries in France asking when we could come back with another team to serve. Since traveling there the first time, we were eager and better prepared to minister to those in Grenoble. Grenoble is a city of over 600k people and 60k of those people being university students. It is a beautiful place, with beautiful people, who are missing and completely disconnected from the Beautiful Savior. The response to my inquiry was quick, which is not the norm when communicating in France (as we learned quite quickly). The email was a page long, sharing their heart and asking us to come and serve in Grenoble for a year as they returned to the States to itinerate. Although we would’ve loved to go for a year, we were only able to go for 9 weeks, but as it turns out, that was enough.

Many people have asked us how we’ve gone from kids in the youth group, to pastors, and to now becoming missionaries in France, and our answer is quite simple. We’ve said yes. When God has called us to something, whomever or whatever it may be, we’ve done our best to say yes. I don’t think we need to ask God to give us direction for our lives as much as we need to ask Him to point us in the direction that He’s already headed. Any life that follows God on a journey will be the best version of life we could ever imagine. We don’t know what lays ahead, but we know God has spoken, and so we’re going. Thank you for your love and support, thank you for watering the seed on two kids years ago, and thank you for now supporting the Abina family as we follow God to France. 

Merci Beaucoup.