Cedarville Magazine, Fall 2018

BEYOND WHAT WE ASKED OR IMAGINED JIM ’75 AND RACHEL (MAYO) CHAMBERS ’78 Reaching into an untouched territory of Africa was my childhood dream. My husband simply wanted to be used in missions in an everyday way, serving with his hands. We met at Cedarville College in 1974 and there began to plan life together and to prepare for usefulness to God. Whether we were likely candidates for pioneering the Zambian outback is debatable, but God was initiating our story; so, two ordinary people eventually found themselves venturing beyond what they’d asked or ever imagined. That’s what happens when ordinary meets God. We loved Cedarville! It wasn’t ordinary. After Jim’s graduation, we made the town our home and the local church our own. The spirit at The ’Ville fostered enthusiastic service, imbedded God’s truth, and made Christianity observable. Most enduring were the friendships: our professors, classmates, coaches, alumni, and administration. These shared their heart for God and knowledge of Him — beyond the classroom, beyond the years of study, beyond the dorms, oceans, and cultures. When our family of eight left for Africa in July 1992, the prayers and passions of our families, lifelong friends, and church body accompanied us. God had written Cedarville into our story, The first 11 years, we were part of a church- planting team reaching the Zambian capital of Lusaka. The city was hard-hit by poverty, death, HIV, and disintegrating family units. Church planting did not follow all the textbook rules. We integrated compassion ministries into discipleship, equipping churches to address their own destitute in practical ways. The next 15 years, God transplanted us into rural soil. We reached into a traditional village through Community Health Evangelism, starting a Bible study and sprouting a church. A polygamist wife attending the group was from the outback. Her eventual conversion and pleas for her family drew us to a remote people group, polygamist families, and hard-core spiritual darkness. What a chapter! Today, God is still writing the story. Five church plants are just beginning to blossom in the bush, sending out their own gospel runners to new villages. Three of these host Bible literacy schools for their communities. A Christian- staffed clinic shares Jesus’ love and a training center His truth. A mature, Zambian missionary oversees this region’s development, and a Zambian mission board is the goal of our final page. Cedarville’s impact on us is in permanent ink. Its message of Truth is being published, and it remains in each chapter of our lives! Cedarville Magazine | 23