by the Rev. Tad de Bordenave

Isn’t this a bit cheeky? I mean, doing a series to Showcase the goodness of God and… “My Story?” Who would place this midget tale alongside what we saw of refugees and Tibetans? I am, by reputation, a mild-mannered, self-effacing Virginia gentleman, but taking a place in the God’s Showcase is, we must agree, cheeky. However, with a picture like that above, who is going to deny such a cute boy?

I give my story in four parts, beginning with:

I. I used to think…

• That everyone was an Episcopalian. They were all I knew. I mean, I grew up in a family with eight Episcopal clergy. My world was Episcopalians.
• Ministry was taking care of the people in the pews. I trained in a mountain hollow with a road that ended at the mountain. My ministry was to the people who lived on the road. That was my model.
• That the text of “The Great Commission” was only to give a rousing finish to a sermon. Beyond that I had no idea what it meant.
• That when I went on the Board of the South American Society many years later, I was sure I was involved in the ends of the earth.
  and if there were people who had yet to hear the Gospel, they would hear it through Baptists or angels.

Then I got involved with Anglican Frontier Missions, really involved. First Director. This leads to the second phase of my story:

II. I was surprised to learn…

1. Ethne was the Greek word in the Bible for nations, but that did not mean United Nation nations, but ethno-linguistic people groups.
2. The Perspectives course that I took showed that over 7,000 “nations” have no church large and strong enough to grow and reproduce. I had no clue.
3. After I discovered that, I discovered that most Episcopalians also had no clue.
4. So I opened up shop. And nobody called. No influx of people eager to go to one of these ethnic groups.
5. I learned from #3 and #4 that my calling as new director of a new missionary society working in new areas and with new methods that my calling was advocacy—to be a voice for the millions of unreached peoples to the churches.

Looking back there were many mentors and stellar models along the way. These are but a slight few.

III. I fondly remember:

• David Barrett. David was “the man upstairs.” That is, his office was right above ours and there he and his team edited the World Christian Encyclopedia. David was the leading researcher on the unreached world and the leading mentor I had in my office one story below. Above all, he was a friend.
• Bishop Inyom. AFM in Richmond sent Nigerian bishops to a Baptist office in Singapore for their leadership with the unreached in Nigeria and North Africa. Bishop Inyom was the lead bishop for the teams. On October 6, 2008, Bishiop Lee transferred me to the Diocese of Makurdi, under Bishop Inyom, my Father in God.
• Bishops Court, Makurdi That is where I spent many days and nights during my stays in Nigeria. I got to be almost a family member with Mrs. Inyom, Charity, Isaiah, Gideon, and a lovely daughter who is late. Those were fine days with a lovely family.
• Prem and Rita James, friends and mentors in Bangalore. Rita’s school for special needs children touches many children as it touched Constance and me on a visit. Prem epitomizes the values and strengths of unity in mission. Unity, as he can tell us, is easy to honor but challenging to put in place.
• Pradeep Singh, the mayor of the village on the way from Delhi to Jodhpur. His wisdom and diplomacy stabilized his village, and his friendship was always welcoming to us.
• The missionaries. These are the ones who did ring up, sign up, and set out for distant lands, multiple surprises, and challenges to faith.
• Constance has a place by herself. She comes under and totally fills the category of gratitude and thankfulness. Not only was I frequently gone, preoccupied when at home, and hiding stress unsuccessfully. This was crazy! So many said, and she must have often thought so. But she went and went along, and she made the journey delightful.

IV. Did I learn anything? Not as much as I needed to. I bounced into many situations where I was knocked down and humbled–a wild assortment of circumstance that I never saw coming. Besides, it was always a personal jolt to be in wonderful conversations, laced with my stuttering.

One thing I did learn was that the quality of humility must be linked to confidence in the will of God. Or maybe it is better to say it the other way around–confidence in the sovereignty of God and his goodness ought to shape humility. I’m not cheeky to hold up my humility as exemplary.  I will declare that the best part was God letting me see glimpses of his character. I saw his leaning down to hear our prayers, extending his patience with our erratic efforts, and displaying his wisdom for us to follow. Above all, I learned his clear desire that his goodness and grace be known and settled in each and every ethnic group.