Visibly trembling, Sarah* drifted into the counseling room and cautiously positioned herself in the corner chair. Fear and exhaustion had embedded dark circles around her young eyes as Sarah glanced down and began to tell her story. The experience she relayed was so horrific, it was difficult for us to listen, and our hearts wept with her. Finally, Sarah paused, lifted her head, and with a new air of determination shared her reason for coming to counseling. “I want to be able to deal with my trauma and know how to never get hurt again.”
When Laura and I arrived with our three children in Cardston, Alberta in 2009, little did we know just how grafted into the lives of the First Nations people we would become. We first served at a camp ministry for First Nations kids and teens in the summer. As the years went on, we built relationships in the community. I was a teacher and a leader at a local multicultural fellowship in Cardston and the surrounding reserves. Early on, we realized that many in our community had severe emotional wounds and like all of us, needed the Healer of the soul. Soon we trained in biblical counseling, and it became the primary tool we used in our discipleship ministry.
Several weeks before meeting with Sarah, we were asked to counsel someone who had a dreadful past. We didn’t know quite what to expect. I had connected with Sarah multiple times before, during summers when we helped run First Nations youth camps, but I did not know her story.
Experiencing severe trauma often skews our view of truth and a true sense of personal identity. As Christians, we know that our identity is found in Christ alone, but traumatic events can open the doors to our minds, triggering us to believe the enemy’s lies. God says His Word does not go out void. “…so is my Word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty,” (Isaiah 55:11-12, NIV). When Scripture addresses the deep wounds of trauma (biblical counseling), we often find it brings true and lasting transformation. Romans 12:2 clarifies this, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (ESV).
Gently, over the course of the next few weeks, her pastor, my wife and I walked Sarah through the Bible to show her who God is and who she is in Christ. Passages from 1 and 2 Corinthians, Zephaniah and Psalms expressed how God delights in His people and how He has washed, purified, sanctified and justified her.
2 Corinthians 5:17 speaks of redemption through Christ, so we are presented as pure and spotless before the Lord. This was a difficult concept for Sarah to believe due to her past influences. Yet, as she saw God in the Scriptures, she was drawn more and more to Him—to trust what He accomplished on the cross.
Sarah continued to grow in her faith and trust in Christ. During one counseling session, she realized that she carried a grudge against those who hurt her. So, we began working through Romans 12:14-21 and several other passages, which call us to respond with kindness and love to those who hurt us, because of Christ’s love for us. Sarah began to understand Jesus’ sacrifice—that He bore her guilt and shame on the cross. Now she sees those who hurt her through Jesus’ eyes.
Two months after our first counseling session with Sarah, Laura and I received a call from Sarah’s friend Lisa*, who quizzically asked, “Can I meet with you? There are some things I need to work through.” Meeting with Lisa was a joy and confirmation that God was at work, as she excitedly relayed her recent observations of Sarah.
“I’ve known Sarah for a while, and she was never like this before. Now she’s always reading the Bible and shares about it in Bible study. She’s so eager to help other people; she constantly looks for new opportunities! Please tell me what happened to change her. Maybe I could have that in my life?”
God continually advances His work in Sarah and Lisa. Recently, Sarah stated, “I have no fear now. God is with me and has a bigger plan for me, and I can’t wait to know it.” We prayed, thanking God for what He had done and is doing. I hope that Sarah will grow in the ability to counsel others biblically, particularly those with severe trauma.
After almost thirteen years of serving in Cardston, we had become friends and family to many. I even considered one man to be my adopted father for many years. Thus, it was not without heaviness of heart that we chose to resign from InterAct Ministries and move back to New Jersey in December 2021.
God has started a new chapter in our lives with a new calling and the opportunity to be closer to family needs. I am forever grateful for our time at InterAct and the eternal impact of our ministry with First Nations people in lower Alberta. We have seen God transform people from the inside out. We trust God will continue the good work He started there.
* Name changed
InterAct Ministries experienced many changes and transitions in 2021. One of these was new leadership for the Canada field. Over a year ago, Greg Hamilton stepped into the field director role for Canada, and Dan Mayerle moved to a part-time assistant field director and part-time discipling missionary role. In a brief interview, Greg recently reflected on this transition and his first year leading the field.
Has your transition been what you expected?
“When I was teaching interns through EnGage!, I used an analogy to help them understand transitions. I would have them put one arm on top of the other and then raise the top arm to create a 45-degree angle. The bottom arm represents reality, and the extended arm represents expectations. The distance between the two is our level of frustration. The greater our expectations are removed from reality, the greater our frustration.
I expected the transition from assistant director to director to be seamless. My expectations did not match up with reality. I thought I was more prepared. Dan Mayerle and I have worked together closely for the past ten years. However, this change involved a significant level of attention and learning I did not anticipate.”
Where have you seen God at work in this transition?
“Throughout the process, God called me to focus on Him. I have been more intentional in my relationship with the Lord than at any other point in life. I must ultimately rely on Him for wisdom and direction as we move forward into this new era. This passage of Scripture has greatly encouraged me on this journey:
‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…’ (1 Peter 1:3-4, ESV)
Disappointment, discouragement and hopelessness are easy to find amid constant change. The challenge for me continues to be carefully guarding where I look for hope. Our hope will only be realized as we seek our sufficiency in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. I love the words above. ‘An inheritance that is imperishable.’ ‘Undefiled.’ ‘Unfading.’ Even more importantly, our inheritance is not dependent on anything we do. God keeps it safe!”
Where do you see God leading the Canada field?
“The present reality of the Canada field is diversified by people groups and locations, as well as ministry approaches. While there are strengths found in diversification, it becomes an increasing challenge to support with a small team. The piece that continues to unite everyone on the Canada field is one of discipling people in their understanding and application of the gospel. I believe as we develop as Christ-followers in our grasp of the gospel and its application to our own lives and the lives of those we are discipling—we will then be a greater reflection of who God intends His church to be. Pray for us that we would be sensitive to the leading of our Lord as we seek to see lives transformed by the Good News.”
BECOME A PRAYER PARTNER
Today, millions of underserved and unreached people live in Alaska, western Canada, and Siberia. They are lost and unaware of how deeply God loves them. Will you join us in praying for those in need of the hope found in Jesus?
Partner with us in praying for our missionaries and the people we serve with our monthly prayer newsletter, the InterCessor. You can make a difference with prayer.
Jonathan and Amy DeVries joined the InterAct Alaska field in early 2021 with a mission to glorify God by reaching the least-reached people groups of Alaska through aviation, hospitality and missionary support. During the summer of 2015, they met at Kingdom Air Corps in Sutton-Alpine, AK. Amy was volunteering for the summer and Jonathan came to teach flying for a few weeks. The two hit it off, and both of their visions for ministry lined up. Ten months later they were married. They spent the next several years gaining experience in aviation and logistics while paying off the last of their school debt.
The DeVries family welcomed a new member in January 2022—baby Ezekiel. He joins his older brother, Benaiah, and sister, Charese, keeping mom and dad busy with three children under 4 years old! Yet, Jonathan and Amy continue to use their home as a pitstop where people from villages and outlying towns can rest, regroup and gather supplies around Anchorage. They’ve connected volunteers from partnering churches to send short-term teams to support the Alaska field conference and other projects. They also are leaders at SonRise Community Church (a multi-cultural church in Anchorage’s urban core), ministering through the food shelf, discipleship and prayer team.
Above all, Jonathan and Amy seek to equip and encourage the missionaries of InterAct. Whether that be in the form of hospitality, flying missionaries in and out of remote villages, pitching in at the Lazy Mountain Campus, or helping new missionaries build arctic entryways onto their homes, Jonathan and Amy’s servant hearts have blessed InterAct.
Sometimes wisdom springs from unusual sources. The author of “Alice in Wonderland,” Lewis Carroll, has been credited with saying, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” The inverse is also true: If you do know where you should be going, then taking the right road is essential.
To provide clarity to all InterAct missionaries and staff, we operate under a set of guiding principles. The forms these principles take are called our Mission, Vision and Values. On the surface, this may not sound as exciting as frontline missionary work, but clarity about these issues makes clarity on the frontlines much easier. In this and upcoming editions of the InterACTION, I will take you on a journey to unpack the foundational principles embedded in these statements.
A mission statement speaks to the “business we are in.” Ours states: InterAct Ministries exists to make disciples among the least-reached peoples in cooperation with like-minded churches and organizations. In other words:
• We make disciples. We feel called to live out Christ’s Great Commission, making disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19-20).
• We do this among the least-reached. Many places and peoples around the world already have access to the gospel. We work with those who have little to no discipleship opportunities.
• We cooperate with appropriate partners. We know we are small players in the big picture of God’s worldwide work. Therefore, we aim to multiply our effectiveness through appropriate partnerships.
InterAct’s mission statement provides clear direction for everyone serving through this organization. Reflect on the mission and vision unpacked above as you read this InterACTION. With careful observation you will hear expressed the themes flowing out of our Mission and Vision statements – discipling the least reached, who then reproduce and gather as a church!
Stay tuned as I unpack the impact of InterAct’s “Vision” and “Values” on our ministries and ministry decisions.
InterACTION is a publication of InterAct Ministries
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Created with an image by Anton Ivanov Photo - "Rock in Antarctica"