One Wednesday night—way back in the old days—Frank Sheppet turned to me and asked, "So pastor, whatcha gonna do here?"

I was a ministerial intern in Arizona, and the conference had assigned me to the church family in Wickenberg. All of the members were AARP certified and on Social Security. I was their leader, and about the age of their grandkids.

"What would you like to have done?" I asked Frank.

He leaned forward and spoke for the entire congregation. "We'd like to have an elementary school goin' right here beside our church. How else is this building gonna be full of families ready for Jesus to come?"

The members started on the school, working with God to make a miracle happen. They talked with the conference, planned with the county, and sent fliers in the community inviting every kid within ten miles to come to VBS. "That's so we'll have their names and addresses," Frank said. "We'll need those when the school opens next year."

I thought about Frank a couple months ago when I was standing with Ron Kelly, a pastor from Cicero, Indiana, while on the scaffolding of a new church building in Palugo, Ecuador.

"This is the 11th Maranatha Mission trip for our congregation," Ron reminisced. "And those yearly trips have certainly changed the members in our Cicero, Indiana, church!"

Ron continued laying blocks as he spoke. "I think what people are really hungering for is a chance to make a difference. We've got about everything you can get in America, but we're missing out on what life really needs, and that's purpose!"

Ron's dream for his church sounds a lot like Frank's dream for Wickenburg; he sees it filled with members who are on fire for God and who are active in service to others. "We go on mission trips," Ron says, "because mission trips make the difference. Our mission trips are a jump start on our sense of mission everywhere and because we engage in them seriously, we've become generous, purposeful, and joyful. When you become a missionary somewhere else, it reminds you that you need to be a missionary back at home."

"There's another benefit," Ron smiled above his trowel, "my people are so into the mission of the church that I don't have to deal with most of the griping that goes on when people don't feel they're being served right. Serving others takes care of that!"

"God's called us to do this," that's what both Frank and Ron would say!

Dick Duerksen is the official "storyteller" for Maranatha Volunteers International. Readers may contact Dick at dduerksen@maranatha.org.

PS: Frank helped cut the ribbon on the new Wickenburg school.