I had the wonderful opportunity of visiting with Mariana (alias for the real name of the user), one of the users on our platform. Mariana is filling a critical role for an international missions organization. She helps provide technical support to field workers in her organization. Each of these workers strives to run their own ministries, relying on her for IT support if they ever run into technical trouble.
As she shared her story, she highlighted that she did not have a background in technology. Mariana has a background in elementary education. However, a friend and mentor who served in her current missions organization asked her to come and serve in this IT role, supporting global missions. With some initial hesitancy, for she worried how that role might go given her lack of a technical background, she accepted the call. Mariana was obedient to the Lord's calling on her life.
She described this moment in her life as "God equipping the called," as opposed to God calling the equipped. She leapt into this IT space feeling quite overwhelmed early on in the process. After all, she had trained to help with elementary education! She needed some additional support and assistance. She had one IT mentor who could help out, but this mentor was only able to help out on a part-time volunteer basis. This meant she would go sometimes days or even weeks waiting on some feedback or advice as she tried to make critical technical decisions for herself and for the organizations and ministries that she was serving.
"If only I had something like Switchboard four years ago," Mariana said. She wished that she had access to something like Switchboard when she was just getting started and trying to figure out answers to so many different questions. Of course, there won't always be an answer to every question and she had to figure some stuff out along the way. She admitted that she made a few mistakes as any of us would if we jumped in with full faith to something that wasn't our expertise or our professional background.
So now the question is, how does Switchboard fit into this? Well, at Switchboard, we trust that there are workers out there serving the Kingdom by placing their faith in Jesus. That doesn't mean they're experts in what they're doing. The business they're running or the ministry they're helping to lead doesn't necessarily reflect their professional background or their academic training. Instead, it reflects their faithfulness to say, "Yes" to God's call, knowing that God would provide what they need to fill that role.
For Moses, who struggled with God's initial calling, God provided Aaron. Moses was anxious about his ability to speak, to deliver these great speeches and pronouncements to Pharaoh and the Hebrew people. For workers out in the field, God is providing relationships, just like God provided Aaron to help be the mouthpiece for Moses. These workers are building new relationships through Switchboard with fellow believers. These fellow believers can help support and equip those who have been called to go into full-time ministry and work in capacities that are outside of their original training or background.
Where workers like Mariana have answered in faith, Kingdom Consultants around the world are answering in faith, bringing their unique gifts to help strengthen and equip those who have been called to full-time ministry. God is bringing Kingdom Consultants to serve as Aaron served Moses.
We turn then to our field workers, to everyone who's out there working in a role that's not exactly a great fit for their specific training or expertise, where they have knowledge gaps or just want advice or to ask questions.
Are you feeling like Mariana?
Do you trust in God enough to serve when it goes outside of your core strengths and expertise?
We invite you to become a part of Switchboard, where you who have answered God's calling in full faith to serve the nations can continue to be equipped and strengthened by a community of believers who want to labor with you for the sake of the Kingdom.
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