Why? (the long version)

As missionaries waiting to go to the mission field we have a unique ministry to our family and friends here at home. One of the things we have been able to do is share about how God has called us into full-time mission work. I (Dave) would like to show you a timeline of the path God has brought me along. I hope this serves to encourage you that God is also at work in your life and that He is guiding you through your life's journey in a similar way. I also hope this helps you to better understand me and why I am confident and passionate about serving the Lord overseas.

• May 15, 1977: Born to Dick and Carol Sterken, godly parents committed to raising their children for the Lord.
• Summer, 1982: Born again. This term has gotten a little bit of a bad connotation in the news, but I find it to be best description of God's work in salvation through Jesus Christ (and so did He in John 3).
• Summer, 1990: Made a commitment to serve God with my whole life. In my jr. high years our church hosted week-long and weekend missions conferences. During the last missions conference in the "old" sanctuary at Baldwin Heights (before they build the octagon that you see today on Baldwin St.), I told God that I would rather have Him direct my life than me. Back at school I wrote an essay about being a missionary pilot when I grew up.
  
• Summer, 1991: Held a microphone, and used the opportunity to call others to action, too. I am not sure if these mission conferences happened in the summer, but I feel like I didn't have to worry about staying up later on a school night. Anyway, at the first missions conference in the octagon sanctuary I stood up and pointed to a map on the overhead projector that showed the countries of the world that have a small witness or no witness for Good News of Christ. I am sure that my presentation was not nearly as moving for those who heard my words as it was for me. The missionary for that evening encouraged me to write down what I said and keep it, because it was God speaking to me and through me.
• Summer, 1994: Went on my first international missions trip. The summer before my senior year, our church youth group went to Brazil and God confirmed that international ministry is what I was made for. I had no complaints. I loved hearing people praise God in a different language, trying different foods, and seeing how other people lived. I also felt a deep pain in my heart at the spiritual lostness and the physical needs of people (especially children) that I had not experienced before. In the face of a street child who tried to pick my pocket I may have seen what God sees when He looks at the lost.
• Senior Year, 1995: Challenged by a teacher I respected to consider becoming a teacher myself. I figured I was good student, and as I considered my years of involvement in children's ministries at church it seemed like elementary education would be a good way for me to serve the community by serving kids. That year I was awarded a scholarship for an essay about my desire to help kids overseas.
• Senior Year, 1999: Experienced the biggest disappointment in my 22-year life. As I neared the end of my time at Grand Valley State University there were two things that I really loved: 1) competing on the track and field team, and 2) doing ministry at Lake Ann Camp during the summer. But my last semester was not ultimately defined by those things, but rather by my student teaching experience. My professor said to me, "I would not want you to be my granddaughter's teacher." I received a C- and no teaching certificate. This led me to Cornerstone University.
• Winter, 2000: Completed international student teaching at Faith Academy in the Philippines. After getting a glowing review from my second student teaching experience, I felt God had more in store for my teaching career.
  
• January, 2001: Asked my church if they would like to send me to help missionaries. I was (finally) a certified elementary school teacher, but, since schools hire teachers in the spring and summer, I looked for a way to use a few months to serve. I was motivated by the idea that the Philippian church sent not only money, but Epaphroditus, to help Paul. I ended up going back to Faith Academy to help a teacher recovering from illness and to fill in for a teacher that needed to leave for furlough before the school year ended. From there I went to Okinawa to fill slots in a similar way at Okinawa Christian School. By far, these were the best months I have ever had as a classroom teacher.
  
• Summer, 2001: In a way that only God can, He provided me with my first teaching job.
  
• Summer, 2003: Another summer missions trip. My two years in the classroom burned me out and led me to look for renewal of my spirit through ministry. I contacted SEND International (who had helped me get to the Philippines and Okinawa) and got set up to go to Croatia to help with a new camp ministry for missionary kids (MKs). This amazing summer left me questioning why I loved teaching internationally, yet struggled to teach in the US.
• Fall, 2003: Took at job teaching at Grace Christian Academy in Taiwan. A financial crisis hit Michigan schools, and I saw my opportunity to explore other teaching options. I took a leave of absence for one year and went off to see if I could rediscover the joy in teaching I experienced in 2001.
  
• Summer, 2005: Headed to Moody Bible Institute for the training I would need to serve the Church full-time. I had arrived in Taiwan hoping and expecting that I would be there for a long time. Yet, after two years I felt like teaching was not the right fit. I thought going to Taiwan would be like missionary service, but without the support raising. By this time I better understood my gifts and passions as well as my need for spiritual accountability so far from home. After much prayer and soul-searching I didn't know if God was leading towards being a better teacher, becoming a pastor, or heading me towards career missionary service.
• Summer, 2007: Married Erika Noble! While at Moody, God revived my spirit, renewed my calling to missions, and introduced me to Erika. (Our first date included visiting several Indian grocery stores to buy things that we had either never heard of or that we remembered from overseas.)
• Fall, 2007: We headed back to West Michigan were I expected (grudgingly) to get a teaching job. We would live the "normal" life of work and bills for a while and then be off to the mission field in two or three years. Surprisingly, I did not get a teaching job! It was at this time that I finally admitted that I did not really want a teaching job and began to look for work in a slightly different field.
• January, 2008: We signed on with SEND International and began "partnership development." After a lot of searching, praying, listening, and volunteering we understood that our gifts, desires, and experiences were pushing us toward career missionary service. It seemed like it might be too soon to expose a young marriage to the stresses of an international move, but God's direction was evident. Almost immediately, we heard that new visa laws would make it harder for us to get into Croatia.
  
• Fall, 2008: God provided for our immediate needs in amazing ways. We watched our monthly support pledges come in quickly (up to about 30%). We loved the excellent trainings that we attended.
• December 9, 2008: Rolland Pax Sterken was born! A huge blessing to our lives. Also, with the new visa laws, he represented another hurdle to us getting to Croatia. Our support need was re-evaluated and, in light of the global economic crisis, our projected financial need was increased.
  
• Summer, 2009: There was a reasonable plan in place to overcome the visa issues, however, our support raising plateaued. We wondered why and asked God if were on the wrong path or if we were not pursuing the goal hard enough. As clearly as we could tell, God was encouraging us to press on and our support level jumped to 40% (half of our original goal).
• Fall, 2009: Our support raising plateaued again. We were encouraged to see God continuing to meet our current needs (apartment, car, food, etc.), and we trusted that He could bring us up to 50% by 2010 and get our ministry needs back on track financially.
• January, 2010: While emotional and prayer support are high, financial support continues to come in slowly. A lot of pieces seem to line up, but it is hard to guess how God might provide the finances needed for this ministry to happen. We are confident that God is directing us to serve Him as career missionaries. We are confident that SEND International is the right mission agency for us to be working with. We are asking God for direction and trying to listen closely for His plan.
  

Merry Christmas

We were able to come to Colorado Springs for Christmas again this year. The travel went smoothly and the time with family has been great.

God surely provided us with a wonderful gift! The gift that I am referring to, however, is not the gift of family. It is the gift of Jesus Christ. I have noticed this year that the "non-commercial" message of Christmas is "family." I love my family, and I thank God for each one of them. Yet, Christmas is a time to remember that God loved us so much that He sent Himself to earth to rescue us. Jesus Christ, the God-man, is the greatest gift, and the best way we can spend this holiday is to meditate on His love for us, seek His will, and trust Him to be everything we need.

Rollie and Mommy

Merry Christmas!

It's Here!

Our mission agency, SEND International, has launched it's new website! The new site includes some short and insightful videos and interviews about missions, as well as updated information about ministries around the world, prayer requests, and missionaries. The format is easy to navigate and well designed. You can follow the link on our blog and then search for us!

Another new feature that is available through the website is on-line giving. I know this is a welcome change to many people.

Birthday 1: December 9, 2009

The Party

Last Saturday evening we celebrated Rolland's first birthday! More than a dozen of Rollie's friends and family gathered in our little apartment, with Grandma and Grandpa Noble joining us live via Skype. (Welcome to the future!) Rollie got a play tent with a matching tunnel, several new bath toys, and cowboy-style snow boots.


Erika made a delicious birthday buffet including, but not limited to, bacon-wrapped chestnuts, turkey-cranberry dip, squash canapes, and both a Smore cake and pumpkin-streusel cupcakes...


...which Rolland greatly enjoyed.

It was fun.


After the guests left (of course), Rolland had a lot of fun playing in his new tent/tunnel.


*The next day he took his first steps (see Erika's facebook page for the video), just to make sure he can claim that before his first birthday.*

The Day

Today (Dec. 9) Rolland is marking the day of his birth with his first ever fever. He's been incredible sleepy and cuddly...kind of like he was last year at this time. At least it should be easy to have an even better birthday next year. :-) (Notice he's playing with the "emergency" toy--he only gets Mommy's cell phone when she's desperate...or when her baby is pitifully adorable.)

Are We Pitiful?

What would someone like Richard Dawkins (who has thoroughly convinced himself there is neither God nor life after death) look at my life and say? "What a waste! What a pitiful life! That guy could be use a lot rougher language, if only he believed me."

Philosophical questions about God, life, and death have real implication on how we life and how we evaluate the lives of others. 1 Corinthians 15 addreses some of the arguments about life after death, which was a divisive issue during Paul's ministry, and even during Jesus's ministry. I have been challenged by an inference from verse 19.

1 Corinthians 15: 17-19 "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men."

I think that Paul and the apostles might have been pitied by some of the people they met. People who did not believe in a life beyond this one must have looked at the hardships faced by followers of The Way and shaken their heads.

What about us? Are people seeing my life (our lives) and asking, "why is he doing that?" Passages like Romans 12:2 compare the standards and the wisdom of the World to the standards and wisdom of the Kingdom. Even the briefest of glances at these passages reveal that God's Kingdom -- and those who would be in His Kingdom -- stands in striking contrast to the culture of the day. What does that look like the life of the believer today? They use "clean" language while worldly people have a potty mouth?

What I infer from 1 Corinthians 15:19 is that Paul's life looked like a ridiculous waste to those who did not believe. They pitied him. And Paul admits that if Jesus Christ is not risen from the dead, they should pity him -- he would even pity himself. How are we different from the World? Are we making "pitiable" choices, or we "nice" people who are trying to live "clean." Clean-livin' is sometimes respected by non-believers.

I am not planning on telling more dirty joke or integrating more four-letter words into my daily conversations, and I don't suggest you do either. What I am suggesting is that Kingdom Living is about much, much more than just those surface issues. I would challenge you to consider the life of Paul (or anyone else that really believed Jesus was waiting to welcome him into the Kingdom with open arms) and imagine how he would live today. What is keeping you from living a life like that?

1 Corinthians 15: 59 "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."