Unleashed by the Gospel
My name is Owen Ewan, and I am a sophomore studying at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. I was baptized at Bethel Lutheran Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and now attend its campus in Battle Lake, MN. I am grateful to say that I grew up in a Christian home, and have been surrounded by believers throughout my life who have encouraged me in my faith. About two years ago, I was blessed with the opportunity to stay with Nathanael Szobody and his family in Boudamasa, Chad, for about 4 months. That experience had a very powerful effect on my desire to serve God in ministry, and was one of the reasons I decided to pursue a higher education in Biblical Studies.
While I was a sophomore at Hillcrest Lutheran Academy, I felt that God was nudging me to pursue evangelism―to reach others for Christ. This desire matured into a decision to serve on the summer staff at Inspiration Point Christian Camp, where I learned the importance of a personal faith in Christ. Then, in my senior year of high school, I was asked by my parents what I wanted to do post-graduation. I replied that I wanted to pursue mission work. This was a packed statement, but my parents were very supportive of me and put me in contact with Dan Venberg, Director of LBIM. Dan offered me the opportunity of a short-term stay with missionaries in Chad. As time went on, the plan was set, and Bethel Lutheran Church’s Missions Board graciously provided the finances needed for my time there.
I arrived in Chad on January 10, and welcomed the warm climate. But I learned that this was only the winter for Chadians, and soon it would get much hotter. I traveled to Chad with Danny Bronson, LBIM Ministry Coordinator, and was able to spend lots of time with him on our six-day journey to Boudamasa. It was all very new to me and felt almost other-worldy, as I heard different languages spoken by different-looking people in a very different place.
On January 18, I was welcomed by the Szobodys at their home. I was nervous, especially considering the fact that I was supposed to stay four months with a family I had only met once before in an entirely different setting. Thankfully, they were very kind and instantly brought me in as family. Soon I was playing board games, washing dishes, and singing songs alongside them.
Nathanael brought me along as he visited Chadians, taught at Gethsemane de Meube school, and went to the market. Living among the Chadians and experiencing their culture was eye opening for me. The course of the day was not dictated by time, but by encounters with people. In all honesty, I felt insecure about my own productivity because I was used to the American value of a full schedule. But I learned over time that while physical building projects were part of the mission work, that was just a small part. The real meat of the work was in building relationships. Nathanael wisely told me that I was not there to make more houses or put up solar panels, but instead to learn what it means to be a light among the Chadians.
This freed me from the idea that I was there to save or change things in a great way, and I could instead focus on what God was teaching me through spending time with the Szobody family and the Chadians around me. I got involved in teaching English with my friend Levi, who is a teacher at the school in Boudamasa, and becoming friends with Hassan, the Szobody’s neighbor. I read my Bible, the book “Pilgrims’ Progress,” and Nabeel Qureshi’s “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus.” And I spent time learning from Nathanael, Carrie, and their children about what it meant to serve faithfully in a difficult field.
I learned many things from the Szobodys, but I received the biggest lesson when I asked them why they continued so willingly in a ministry that was difficult and slow. Nathanael told me that obedience was not measured in the fruit of his labor, nor was he at all responsible for the harvest. He told me that he was simply following God’s calling on him and his family to remain in Boudamasa in faith, waiting on God’s timing. What he said reminded me of 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 (ESV):
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
Nathanael told me that he may plant and water, but the growth comes from God alone, and, in relying on God for that growth, he was faithfully following God’s commands. This then led me to think of John 15:5 which reads “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Fruit comes from God alone, apart from him we can do nothing.” This truth has major implications, not only for the Szobodys’ ministry, but for my own life.
I have always struggled with having confidence in my salvation. Although I knew the truth that salvation was a gift, inwardly I felt that it somehow depended on me and my faithfulness to God. These Scripture verses, and many others I read while in Chad, shattered this lie and showed me that my salvation was given to me by God alone, completed by Christ alone on the cross. I found freedom in this truth, and in that freedom a new love for Christ was growing in me―not by my own doing, but by God’s.
During my time in Chad, I also quickly recognized that I had a desire to serve God in ministry. The Szobodys encouraged me to pursue this. I returned from Chad to Minnesota in April, then enrolled at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago to earn a bachelor’s degree in Biblical Languages.
Now in my second year at Moody, I have been encouraged every step of the way to continue toward full-time ministry, Lord willing. I hope to serve either as a pastor or missionary, and plan to finish my degree here at Moody.
Looking back on my time in Chad, I realize that I had gone with intent to serve and do great things for God, but I received much more than I gave. I received love from the Szobodys and freedom in the gospel. And I received a greater desire to pursue God’s calling to ministry. I hope this testimony of God’s work encourages you as it has encouraged me, and that he would remind you, as he has reminded me, of his free, unmerited love for all people.
Owen Ewan is a second year student at Moody Bible Institute, feeling called into full-time ministry.