Musings on missions and other matters
Field notes is both wordplay and a description of the purpose and plan for this blog. By definition, field notes are a written record of observations made, experiences had, and insights gleaned while in the field.
As a church-planter, God has allowed me to labour in the mission fields of Siberia, Russia and now Newfoundland, Canada. In both of these fields, there are things I have observed and experienced that I wish to record, both for my benefit and to possibly be a blessing to others.
But field notes are not just cold, sterile descriptions of things that have occurred, they also include interpretations of what is observed, and personal reflections – essentially trying to answer what it means to you as the observer.
As a Christian, my desire is not just to share what something subjectively means to me, although that will happen at times; but to also share what that something means in light of the objective truth of God’s Word. Therefore, what I write will be filtered through and based upon what God has taught or is teaching me through His Word.
So feel free to sort through the notes and even leave one of your own, if you wish. My prayer is that God will use this blog in some small way to encourage others and bring glory to His name!
During Army Air Cadet training, Nate had a childhood leg injury (osteomyelitis) flare up, dashing his hopes and dreams of becoming an Army pilot. He tersely recorded his sentiments about the medical checkup and ensuing hospitalization. “The doc says I can’t fly for the Army and that’s that!” 1 “In the following days pending hospitalization,” he told a friend several years later, “I fought...
In 1943, at the height of World War II, a nineteen-year-old Nate Saint enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps both out of a sense of duty and a desire for pilot training. In his diary he stated, “The fact that fathers were being drafted and that I had no dependents made the idea make sense to me.” 1 He would go on to spend a total of three years in the Army Air Corps before being discharged in...
Shortly after his salvation at age 13, Nate Saint gave this testimony at a young people’s meeting at his church, using the following notes: Paul said in Acts, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” I believe, therefore I am saved and heaven-bound. Being saved, I have a purpose because Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature...
Nate was a pilot and a mechanic, but he was a missionary too, one in mind and spirit with the missionary families of the jungle. Some time before he had written of his feeling for the pioneering missionaries he loved to serve: “Their call of God is to the regions behind the ends of civilization’s roads — where there is no other form of transportation. They have probed the frontiers to the...
Missions has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. While there is no doubt that I have much to be thankful for about my childhood, one of the things that I most grateful for is that my parents did their best to keep missions and world evangelism before me and my sister, even from a young age. Dad and mom were never in vocational ministry, but they faithfully modeled serving the...
I am a husband, father, and independent Baptist church-planting missionary in that order. The Lord has blessed me with a far better wife than I deserve and two wonderful children.
Beginning in 2009, the Lord allowed our family to serve Him in Siberia, Russia for 9 years in both large city and remote village ministries. In 2018, the Lord clearly directed us to make a field change to Newfoundland, Canada where we are currently working to establish Grace Baptist Church in the city of Corner Brook.