Raised in a Christian home, I thought I knew all there was to know about Christianity, the only problem was, I wasn’t a Christian. Even though I was a religious person raised with biblical morals and standards, I always felt like I lacked something in life. It wasn’t until I was fifteen years old that under the conviction of the Holy Spirit I realized that I was a sinner on my way to hell and I accepted the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
My story isn’t like that of a prodigal son where I left my family and tried to “live it up” with drugs, alcohol, and sex, until I realized how desperate I was for a Savior. In fact, it wasn’t really like that at all. Though I don’t want to minimize the amazing testimonies that some have who have come out of all of that by the grace of God, my life of sin consisted mostly of wicked thoughts, pride, self-righteousness, and fear. I went the church twice on Sunday and at least once in the middle of the week, and I memorized tons of Bible verses for Sunday School and AWANA. My family was Christian, and that, I thought, helped a little at least.
From kindergarten through twelfth grade I attended Middletown Christian Schools, and most of my friends at least claimed to be Christians. During my Sophomore year in high school, the Lord began to work in my heart. In Bible class at MCS Mr. Craft was casually talking about the tragedy of p want to pray and tell Him that I believe it and ask Him to save me.” I sat there in the stairway of a Christian school and asked the Lord to forgive me of my sins and make me His child. Immediately after saying Amen, I had peace, and knew that I was His. That’s it! That’s how it happened. No thunder, no lightening, no strange visions, no shouting, no out-of-the-body experience, and honestly not even tears. I just had the promise from the Word of God that if I confessed Jesus Christ as my Lord and believed that God raised Him from the dead that I would without a doubt be saved. And His Word was all I needed.
From Salvation to Missions:
Mrs. Lewis gave me a verse that day to memorize and take to heart: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify you Father which is in heaven.” -Matthew 5:16- I told everybody what had happened as soon as I could. It was the most amazing thing that had ever happened to me. My life finally had purpose! I was created and saved to glorify Him.
The thought of ministry scared me to death. I am as introverted as they come, and the thought of becoming a pastor or missionary just didn’t seem possible. But I wanted to do something to let other people know how they could have the same peace that I had, so I began working on a bus route at Grace Baptist Church. I have some of the craziest experiences through that ministry, and I just loved telling the kids about Jesus Christ. Eventually, I taught a Sunday School class with a good friend of mine who is now a missionary in China. Sunday after Sunday I faced the fear of public speaking, and actually grew to enjoy it. By the end of my Senior year in high school, I became consumed with a desire to teach the Word of God, and as unpopular as the decision was, I surrendered to full time ministry (vocational ministry for all of those critics out there).
The next step, obviously, was to get Bible training, so I enrolled at the Grace Baptist Bible Institute which was and still is a ministry of my local church. Toward the end of my second year at GBBI, the Lord began to work in my heart about missions. As I was reading through the book of Romans in my devotions, I came across two verses that the Lord used to get me thinking seriously about becoming a missionary.
“Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation: But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand.” -Romans 15:20,21-
Where in the world has the gospel not been preached in our generation? That thought bugged me for a while until another friend of mine who is also working in North Africa called me and told me about a month long trip to Peru, South America. It was my first mission trip, and actually my first time outside of the United States.
It was eye-opening. All throughout the trip I knew the Lord was wanting me to become a missionary, but I didn’t know what step to take next or how to take it. The ministry we worked with during the trip was under the leadership of Austin Gardner at the time and I was introduced to a mission program called BCWE. They told me that I could train for missions while living on the mission field in Peru. After praying about it, I believed that that was the next step I needed to take. So within two months, I raised my needed support and headed back to Peru.
I learned what it was like to live life as a missionary while I studied under Austin Gardner for seven months. I also met my wife there who was working as a short term secretary. Later that same year we got married and started deputation together. The words of Romans 15:20-21 continued to come back to me as I prayed about the Lord’s direction in my life. Gretchen and I would pray everyday for a different country around the world, and one day we studied and prayed for Morocco.
Our hearts were burdened for the 35 million people who lived there, and we began to research it even further. It is a country that is more than 99% Muslim and preaching within its borders is still illegal. The rest of North Africa is just like that, millions of people without the Word of God and almost nobody taking it to them. After praying about it for a while, and asking the Lord to give us a strategy for that area of the world, we took the next step. We made the decision public (which was again not a very popular decision - but who cares), and laid out the plan we believe God gave us.
Working from the city of Ceuta in northern Morocco, we will have the opportunity to work with over a million Muslims directly and train men to impact all of North Africa with the gospel. Because Ceuta is a part of Spain, we will need to learn Spanish before we get there. That is why Gretchen and I are currently living in Peru, South America, working our way through language school and training under veteran missionary Chris Gardner. After our time here we will be able to take our next step in getting set up in North Africa, learning Arabic, and starting a church.
Please continue to pray for us as we “strive to preach the gospel, not where Christ is named.”
Tyler Masters |
