Saturday, May 01, 2004

Back to Towers Online E-mail Story

Pornography perverts God's plan for human sexuality, Mohler says
March 22, 2004
By James Dotson

God first began working in John and Kim Piepmeier’s lives through their local church but, over time, He led them to a land that’s about as close to “the ends of the earth” as anywhere.

Their ministry in the remote Native Alaskan village of Kiana, above the Arctic Circle where the only Hondas around are small “four-wheeler” all-terrain vehicles. In the wintertime -- when temperatures can reach 50 degrees below zero -- a snowmobile is the family car.

For the Eskimos who comprise 16 percent of Alaska’s population, this is life as usual. For these Missouri natives -- as with any missionaries called to a radically different environment -- it is the certainty of God’s call that has helped them adjust.

“The Bible tells us that the Lord has many offices and places where He wants each of us, and I feel that’s what He’s done with us,” John said. “He’s equipped us with the ability to handle it and enjoy it here. I don’t think it takes any kind of special person. It was just being available, and really seeking after the Lord.”

The Piep-meiers, who lead the Kiana Baptist Mission, are among nearly 5,200 missionaries in the United States and Canada supported by the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions. They are featured during the SBC’s 2004 North American Missions Emphasis, which this year focuses on “The World at Our Doorstep.”

John and Kim were 36 years-old when they accepted Christ, and it was three or four years later that they began to feel God might be calling them to fulltime ministry as Mission Service Corps missionaries. The program allows missionaries to serve under the auspices of the SBC’s North American Mission Board but with responsibility for raising their own personal financial support. In their case, God worked through the circumstances of a motorcycle accident that left John partially paralyzed and on a disability pen-sion. The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering provides supplementary support for some MSC missionaries, including the Piepmeiers. All MSC missionaries receive training, materials and other assistance.

The Piepmeiers first served in resort ministry at Lake of the Ozarks in their home state, and by August 1999 they felt God wanted them in Alaska.

“We just knew that the Lord had directed us there,” John said. “Some people say, ‘Well, how can you be away from your family?’ But the Lord just kind of prepared our hearts for everything, including the remoteness of Kiana.”

And, the Piepmeiers are making a difference. Since they arrived 73 people have accepted Christ as Lord of their lives.

“That’s a wonderful blessing to see those things happening in the village,” John said. “You start with one, and soon we know we will have two, and four, and eight as it keeps multiplying.”

It is that kind of evidence of God at work that keeps the Piepmeiers committed, willing to make the sacrifices for the opportunity of making a lasting difference.

“We believe that there’s going to be a great revival,” John said. “... We believe that because of all the recent salvations that we’ve had we’re seeing a spark of what the Lord is about to do.

“We would ask that all Southern Baptists pray for the Kiana Baptist Mission, all the people, and for revival to come to the region.” (BP)