From the Comforts of Home to the Challenge of Ministry
by Randall Murphree
September 22, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Edna Edwards never wanted to move to Arkansas. She was comfortable living with her husband Scott and their three children near Locust Fork, Alabama. They attended Union Chapel Baptist Church where she had grown up, been baptized and married Scott. Life was good. But sometimes, circumstances -- and a call -- can change a person's focus from comfort to challenge.
Both Scott and Edna had been sensing that God had a major change planned for them, a ministry opportunity. They assumed it might be full-time youth ministry or serving as house parents at a children's ranch not far from home. They had already worked as volunteers in both capacities.
But their life took a very different turn from what they anticipated. Scott remembers well his excitement at receiving a response from the resume he sent to FamilyLife Ministries in 2004.
"I told Edna about it," Scott said. "It sounded so awesome. She cut me off cold turkey."
"In Little Rock, Arkansas?" she asked in dismay.
"Yeah, how did you know?" Edna then told Scott about her own contact with FamilyLife.
Abandoning the Comforts
During 2003, Edna had been listening to the radio program "FamilyLife Today" as she commuted to her nursing job in nearby Birmingham each day.
She remembers: "On the program, they would always say, 'If you want more information, go to www.familylife.com.' And I did that -- several times. I knew God was calling us into full-time service, so I filled out a little form online. A couple of days later, someone called me and mentioned that one of the first things would be to relocate to Little Rock."
Well, that was the end of that. Or so Edna thought.
"That's about as far as it went," she said. "I thought, 'FamilyLife. Little Rock, Arkansas. Hmmmm. That's not for us!' I knew God was calling us into full-time ministry. I was saying, 'Lord, what is it you want me to do? I want to serve you wholeheartedly, but I know it's not in Little Rock, Arkansas!'"
Meanwhile, Scott and Edna had served as relief house parents occasionally at John Crowell's Big Oak Ranch, a youth home in North Alabama. At Big Oak, they worked with couples who were attending a FamilyLife Weekend to Remember conference. Also during that time, one of Scott's Christmas gifts was the book Rekindling the Romance by FamilyLife president Dennis Rainey and his wife Barbara.
Finally, Scott and Edna got the message. God was bringing FamilyLife into their lives in too many ways to ignore.
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The Scott Edwards family will be moving to Little Rock as missionary staff with FamilyLife Ministries. Pictured above (clockwise from upper left): Scott, Harrison, Adam, Edna and McKayla |
Accepting the Challenge
"So we started our application process with FamilyLife in February 2005," Scott said. "In September [after attending a FamilyLife ministry preview weekend] we were accepted to come onboard as missionary staff." For the past year, they've been making preparations for the transition. As missionary staff at FamilyLife, they fall into the category of staffers who must raise their own financial support from churches, family and friends.
Now, it's a matter of faith on several levels for the whole Edwards family as they prepare to leave all things familiar -- family, home, the church of Edna's youth, secure jobs and lifelong friends. They hope to make the move to Little Rock near the end of 2006. (Visit the Edwards' ministry website)
The parents say the Edwards children have mixed emotions about the move. "Harrison, who's nine, and McKayla, who's seven, are excited," Scott said, "and Adam is ..."
"Nervous!" Edna completes the thought. "He's 14. He's got his friends here. That's his big thing. But he's trying to completely trust in the Lord. This is a huge step of faith for him."
And speaking of faith, they don't even know exactly what their job will be once they arrive in Little Rock. Jeff Walchshauser, manager of new staff resources, said that once FamilyLife and a couple determine that God is orchestrating their partnership, the ministry stays in close contact for the transition period.
"We give them some training," Walchshauser said, "basic theological training, some ministry skills training and how to raise support."
Read about the Walchshauser's role at FamilyLife in Part 1 of this article
After their ministry preview, Edna's prayer was for a clear understanding of God's plan. She opened her Bible to Psalm 32 and found reassurance in verses 8 and 10 with their promise of God's direction and His love. Then she read verse 9.
"Verse 9 gets even better," she said. "It says, 'Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle, or they will not come to you.'" Finally, she relinquished all control, willing and eager to follow God's direction.
"We want to follow Him," Edna said, "because we love Him so much. We want to be near Him and to serve Him, no matter what it is He wants us to do."
Randall Murphree, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is editor of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association. For more information on FamilyLife, call 1-800-358-6329 or e-mail newstaff@familylife.com.
