By Paul F. South
NEW ORLEANS -- In 2002, Alan Henderson's first missionary journey got off to a rocky start. He was in the back country of Burkina Faso as part of short-term mission trip to the West African nation sponsored by Union University.
"We went out into the bush and tried to share with this local little village," Alan said. "It was just a disaster. As we shared the gospel, people just got up and left. They were just leaving in droves. It kind of rocked my world. I was confused about "How can people dedicate their lives to this?"
But on the plane ride home, somewhere in the air between Burkina Faso and Paris, Henderson heard the call of God to the mission field.
"I didn't know where or how or who or how long," he said. "But I knew that if I didn't say yes, I'd never say yes."
Alan Henderson and his wife Lindsey (not their real names) now serve North Africa-Middle East people groups as Team Strategy Leaders, seeking to plant Southern Baptist churches in an area spreading from Morocco to Iraq to Yemen, the heart of the Muslim world.
On the missionary road, following in the footsteps of William Carey, Lottie Moon, Jim Elliott and countless servants of God, the Hendersons learned not to be content to sit in the pew, but to put feet on Christ's Great Commission call. Now, only three-tenths of 1 percent of Southern Baptists go to the mission field.
"I came to find out how few Southern Baptists actually go," he said. "There's a huge need... if we can get our people over there just to taste it and smell it. They can't taste in and smell it through pictures. Once we get that far, (they get) to see the lostness and their impact on it."
"If we had 1 percent of Southern Baptists going out as IMB missionaries, we'd have over 100,000 missionaries," he said. "That's a pretty bug chunk."
God solidified the Hendersons' call during a Thursday night service at Union. As Alan Henderson searched the dark-eyed faces on the screen, God spoke again.
"He said ‘This is where I want you to go; and this is where I want you to serve,'" he said. "The images were of people from North Africa and the Middle East. I didn't say anything to Lindsey at the time."
The couple had been called to the mission field, but at different times. In their prayers, they sought God's direction, and had started paperwork to join the International Mission Board's Journeyman initiative. After that Thursday meeting, Alan shared with Lindsey what God had said.
"I said, I think God really shared with me where we need to go together and serve," He said. Lindsey responded, "Yeah, I know: The Muslim people of the Middle East."
Their call came, even as the wounds of Sept. 11, 2001 were still fresh. But Alan's greatest fear was not going into the crackling, sparking cauldron of anti-Western sentiment.
"When I heard the Lord say that, I said, Lord, if you're calling me to go to the Middle East and you're calling me to go to the Muslim people, I'll go," he said. "But how am I going to tell Lindsey's mom?"
With that burden on his heart, Alan and his future wife shared their concerns with their pastor at a small country church near Jackson, Tenn., and the Union campus.
"He told us, ‘Look, you're much safer being wherever God wants you to be than you are being disobedient to Him.' We knew that if we did what He asked, He'd be faithful."
The couple tore up their journeyman applications, and Alan enrolled at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and received his master of divinity with an emphasis in international church planting. He graduated in 2008 through the two-plus-three program, which allows degree candidates to complete 60 hours of coursework in the classroom, the remainder on the mission field.
Lindsey also earned her master of divinity in international church planting. She was the first woman at NOBTS to complete the degree after having children on the mission field.
Throughout their journey, Henderson said, God has continually shaped the couple, through natural disaster, and other dramatic means. While at Union, the endured a tornado. In New Orleans in 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit with full fury. Henderson sensed the Lord was preparing them for a different challenge
"About a year ago, we were kicked out of our country of service and forced to leave, Henderson said. "We didn't realize at the time what was involved with all the loss - loss of ministry and all that stuff. I think that we look at that now . . . He was continually preparing us. We don't know what crisis is right around the corner. But he is continually growing us and shaping us."
Now, as Team Strategy Leaders, the Hendersons are trying to reach a city with four distinct people groups for Christ.
"We have to map out the city and look at pockets of population. We have to map out where they are living. Then we have to understand there may be a different strategy for each different people group," Henderson, a native of Knoxville, Tenn., said. "Most of those people groups have different economic standards, so they have a different way of getting involved in their lives."
The Hendersons are on stateside furlough until January. But even now, team members are testing the waters, searching for "people of peace" who will accept them into their homes and communities.
"What we're praying for is a community that's ready," to receive the gospel, Henderson said.
For now, the couple and their two children are on the NOBTS campus, as Alan Henderson works toward his doctor of ministry degree. But they will also recruit for the IMB and speak at area churches, sharing what God is doing in the Middle East.
What initial advice does he offer students considering a call to the mission field?
"The first piece of advice or encouragement I give is for them to remain open," he said. "A lot of people think there's this Damascus Road experience and for some people there is. But it's not for everybody, and some people are just wiling to go."
That willingness requires rare dedication, Henderson said. He told the story of a missionary who was asked by his commissioning agency (a non-SBC agency) to say that he was specifically called to serve a certain people group.
"He didn't understand the language and finally he said, ‘Look the Bible says Go. I'm going. That's all.' That kind of dedication is not real common."
There is a great need for men to serve in missions, Henderson said. Single women outnumber single men in the mission field 6 to 1. And in the Middle East, female mission workers suffer sexual harassment and belittlement in male-dominated cultures, where women are seen as second-class citizens, if citizens at all.
"Girls see the lostness. They're compassionate and they go out of the compassion of their hearts. Men are not so compassionate sometimes, and they're unwilling to go to the hard places. So I encourage men to go to those hard places because it's easier for them. They don't deal with the baggage," Henderson said.
Alan and Lindsey Henderson were willing to go to the hard places years ago. Times have changed since that disastrous day in the African bush. And confirmation that the Hendersons were on the right road came through what was supposed to be a language lesson with a Muslim background believer grounded in his Christian faith.
On a white board, Alan Henderson began to show his teacher how he could reach his neighbors for Christ. They, in turn, could reach their apartment building, and that building the city with the gospel. The language lesson became instruction in basic church planting.
"I sat back for a second and just looked at him. He kind of took it all in. Then, the man said ‘We can do this. We can really do this,'" Henderson said. "It was at that moment that I realized this is why I'm here. This was confirming everything. It was a good day, a good day."
GET INVOLVED
Students who would like to meet with Alan and Lindsey Henderson, or churches who would like to hear the couple speak, should contact the Dean of Students office at deansec@nobts.edu.
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