In this episode, Pastor Phil interviews international workers Andy & Quinn. They discuss how they met, how they chose where to serve, and how the Lord is working in North Africa.
Intro
I’m Pastor Phil, Pastor of Missions at Providence Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. You’re listening to “Reach the Nations,” a series dedicated to keeping the people of Providence connected with what the Lord is doing in the lives of missionaries and church planters we support around the world.
Phil
Today we’re joined by Andy and Quinn, and they are working in North Africa. They’ve been living there for a couple of years now, mainly learning language. But we want to hear from them and what’s going on there, and let you hear about how they came to the point of moving to North Africa. So Andy and Quinn, welcome.
Andy
Thank you.
Quinn
Thank you.
Phil
So tell me a little bit about your calling to be an international worker. How did you come to that point?
Andy
I grew up in Atlanta, and I was a believer, going to church in my mid-twenties, and I thought there has to be something more than this. As I was finally, diving into the Bible, I realized, God cares for the nations, peoples all over the world. Then somebody recommended that I read “Operation World,” so I read through that in a couple of weeks, and I came across a couple of countries in North Africa, the Middle East, where there’s very few believers.
That just started pressing on my heart, that region. I picked a country in North Africa, then I visited it a couple of times, and wow, there’s very little light here, and 700 years ago, it was all light. There was light of Jesus everywhere in this country, but Islam came in and the light is very covered.
Phil
Yeah. Yeah. Quinn, what about you?
Quinn
Yeah. A little bit, maybe around the same time as Andy was in Atlanta, I was here in Raleigh, growing up at Providence. I think, majority of my exposure to international ministry happened through Providence, growing up here. I think first, experiencing the Missions Festival, and when I was little, we would get to listen to workers coming home from all over the world and hear their stories.
Just something in my little girl heart resonated with their stories, and what they were saying, and the people that they were talking about. Then as a teenager, I was able to go overseas for the first time with Providence, and some buddies here in youth group, and just see that God is working all over the world, and God doesn’t just live in Raleigh, North Carolina, at Providence Baptist Church.
So I just feel very blessed that I got so much exposure to short-term missions, and I think as I got older, into my twenties, there was something in me that wanted to give my life, or career, or however you want to say it, to going long-term. To be totally honest with you guys, I think I was waiting for a husband to do that with me.
The Lord continued to just expose me through different books and people, and even, I took a class called Perspectives on World Missions…
Phil
Great class.
Quinn
… and learned more about the history of the world Christian movement. I think the Lord, in his timing, just wanted to continue to prepare me. So then that leads into, when I met Andy, I felt ready to go.
Phil
Okay. So Andy’s serving and you’re doing your thing. God’s working in both of your hearts to go long-term. So tell us, how did you meet? How did that come about?
Andy
Well, I’m going to be really honest. I was serving in North Africa for a year. I didn’t want to be single anymore. So…
Quinn
It was a little lonely for you. It was a little hard, right?
Andy
Yes. I was sad. I wanted to be married. So I ended up coming back to the U.S. for a period, and the leader of the organization recommended a website called “Called Together.” It’s for cross-cultural workers who want to get married.
Quinn
So just to be clear, this is a dating website for people that want to live overseas as workers.
Andy
I signed up May 29th, five years ago, and I woke up, and I had a message.
Quinn
So I obviously had also heard about that website. A friend of mine that was serving overseas told me about, “Hey, Quinn, there’s a … ” essentially, a dating app. It wasn’t an app yet. It was a website for people like us. So I hopped on, and I was looking around on that site for about three months, and then saw Andy’s information and sent him a message.
Andy
Best $7 ever.
Phil
That’s such an awesome story, and amazing providence of the Lord that he put the two of you together.
Quinn
Yeah.
Phil
So now you get married, and you now feel the call to go. You’re saying, we’re going to go. You pick an organization and now you have to pick a place. You had two places that you were looking at, areas, North Africa and Middle East. How did you come to the decision of choosing North Africa?
Andy
Well, I gave all that up to Jesus, whatever. We were married, just married. I wanted just a fresh start. I let Quinn make that decision.
Quinn
Yeah, he did a really good job with that one. As he said, he had previously served in the city where we now live, and Andy did a wonderful job of not making me feel like we have to go back there. He allowed me to feel like we have an open slate. We both, our hearts were moved for the Arab people, and our hearts were moved for places in the world where there’s the least witness for Christ. So we aligned on those. So then it was really just trying to find out, well, Lord, what country and what city do you want us to live in?
So we went on a vision trip and we visited North Africa, where Andy had previously lived, and we visited another city in the Middle East. I think it just took several months for really me to work through the process of where I wanted to live. The biggest conflict in my heart was I felt more physically comfortable in the other city. There was just some things I had to work through and give up to the Lord.
I finally came to the conclusion that we should go back to North Africa, where Andy lived, and it is 100% the right decision. So Andy did a great job, early on in our marriage, of leading me and then letting me have that time with the Lord to feel confident about where we would go.
Phil
Amen. That’s great. So the place you live now in North Africa, tell me a little bit about the lostness that exists there.
Andy
It’s 99.99% Muslim. There’s very few believers in the country. I’d say 5,000 to 10,000 nationals. There’s probably 5,000 to 10,000 foreigners, ex-pats, who are believers. They’re there for work, usually. There’s maybe 300 workers in the country who are there sharing Jesus, proclaiming him. It’s sad. I mean, it’s an open country, ish. Internet’s wide open. You can only have one wife there. It’s not like other neighboring countries, where you’re required to go to pray on Friday, or you have to fast during Ramadan. You don’t have to, but there’s social pressures from family.
Phil
Yeah.
Quinn
Yeah. I would agree with Andy, and I would just add that we currently live in the capital city. So Andy mentioned there’s probably 300 workers in the country, and the majority of them live in the capital, where we currently live. So when we talk about lostness, as soon as you get out of the capital and you go further south, you start to hit the Sahara Desert, and many, many people, and cities, and communities, and towns that have no witness for Christ. So while we currently live in the capital, it’s our desire that we have the opportunity to go south and live where there’s another layer of lostness as you move out of the big city.
Phil
Right. Certainly, that’s one of the prayer requests, right, because you need another unit, whether it be a single person or a couple, to go with you. So maybe somebody’s listening right now…
Quinn
That’s right.
Phil
… and God’s impressing upon their heart of lostness in North Africa, and they’d love to join your team. So the last two years, you spent pretty much all of your time learning the language. You’ve had a baby, and then COVID hit, and you’re stuck in your home. So, Andy, you told me a story recently about one thing the Lord had done in some social media ministry, that you got to be a part of and see what God had done. Tell us a little bit about that.
Andy
That was right before COVID, so February. A friend of mine, or actually our language coach, he asked me to accompany him four hours south to another city. A lot of locals search the internet when they’re just bored out of their minds, or they’re just exploring what else is out there, because they don’t travel outside the country.
Phil
Right.
Andy
Some people have dreams about Jesus, and they just look it up. Like, “I had a dream. What does this mean?” They come across, there are a couple of websites and Facebook pages that are designed to attract people, to answer their questions. Some people send their contact information, such as this one guy we met in the desert, and we drove out to visit him.
My friend’s language ability is amazing. I understood probably 85% of the conversation back then, but I could follow along. So we met with a man, I’m just going to call him Ahmed, and he believed on that day. So we talked there for a few hours. Then we went back to his house. He had three kids. His wife was out, and he told his kids, “This house is going to follow Jesus.”
Phil
Amen.
Andy
He started reading an Arabic Bible to them.
Phil
Sounds like something that might happen in the New Testament, right?
Andy
Yes. It was exciting. I’ve heard of these things happening, but I actually saw it.
Phil
Right. Yeah, what an amazing story, and a privilege that God allowed you to be a part of that. I think many of us dream and have an excitement about that particular thing happening. I know many times when I’ve gone overseas, my prayer has been, “God, would you allow me to be able to witness to somebody who you have shown yourself to in a dream,” and there you go. You were obedient to go, and there you are, you get to experience that.
So, Quinn, you have had some opportunities to minister as well in your city. Tell us maybe an example of that.
Quinn
I have kind of a, it’s kind of funny, but something really neat that happened right, actually, before we came to the States on this trip. Like you said, I’d had a baby in December. I had just had several months of feeling cooped up in the house, had a baby, and then COVID happened. That afforded us a lot of time to just study Arabic. Not necessarily speak it out on the streets, but we got to open up our books and crack down on reading, writing. We started reading through the Bible in Arabic with a believing friend on the phone.
So really, for us, we are already being able to see how good that lockdown was for us. I know sometimes we can’t always see this quickly what God’s doing, but for Andy and I, we were able to really advance in our spiritual language, our conversational ability through just staying home, and studying, and reading God’s word. Every day, we were talking on the phone with our believing friend, and discussing faith and the Lord.
So as a result, we came out of lockdown in June, and I was able to enter back into society and felt a lot more equipped than I had beforehand to talk about Jesus. So I just really thank the Lord for that time to study. Then I actually was preparing to come home and go on a beach vacation with my family. So I thought I would go to a nail salon and get my nails done.
Phil
Right.
Quinn
So I actually was not thinking in that moment about sharing about Jesus, but I went to get my nails done, and the lady that was preparing the little station to paint my nails, she turned her back to me to wash her hands at a sink, and I realized her t-shirt had a Bible verse on it in English. It was Romans 12:12, to be devoted, I think, devoted to prayer and to each other. I can’t remember exactly what it was.
I’m so thankful that the Lord opened my eyes to actually see her t-shirt, because I was tired that day, and I was just trying to get my nails done before coming back. I just blinked and did a double-take, because I couldn’t believe she had a verse on her t-shirt. When she turned back around, I said, “Do you know what is on your t-shirt?” She said, “I have no idea what’s on my t-shirt. We have to wear a black t-shirt to work, and I found this at the equivalent of a flea market.” They call them freeps.
So she just found a black shirt and she had no idea what she was wearing. I was able to open up The Bible App, the YouVersion app, which has the New Testament in their dialect of Arabic, and I was able to read to her the verse that was on her t-shirt. Her eyes filled up with tears, and I told her, “These are God’s words for you today.” She told me that her uncle had died the day before.
Phil
Wow.
Quinn
In that moment, she didn’t come to faith, and I did not give her a full gospel presentation, but I left her with God’s word opened on her phone. So I just felt very encouraged and also a big part, I think, of what Andy and I are doing in North Africa, and what I know many of you are doing here in Raleigh, is just trying to keep our eyes open.
God’s doing the work right in front of us and putting the pieces together right in front of us. I just had to open my eyes, and see the t-shirt, and connect the dots. So I think, for me, sometimes I feel like it has to be a lot more complicated than it actually is, and God’s just telling us to open up our mouth and speak simple truths about him to people.
Phil
Amen.
Quinn
So I’m excited about having more of those opportunities, Lord willing, when we go back.
Phil
Absolutely. So maybe somebody is listening, and they are feeling somewhat of a tug towards the nations, and towards going, maybe mid-term, long-term. How would you encourage them to take the next step?
Andy
One, read “Operation World.” It’s a prayer guide for all the nations of the world. Two, make a friend who doesn’t look like you.
Phil
There you go.
Andy
Say, “Hello. My name is … What’s yours?”
Phil
Yeah, that’s good.
Quinn
We actually met a man from the city where we currently live, at Panera in Raleigh, North Carolina, before we moved. So our point is, these people are also here in Raleigh. The Lord’s brought the nations right here to Raleigh, North Carolina. So start making friendships with people here. They have relatives and friends and family that are in these communities, in these least-reached communities as well. So it’s an awesome opportunity to share with people right here, too.
Phil
Awesome. Well, that’s great. Well, it’s been good having you here with us, and I know our people are going to be encouraged to hear what’s going on. Obviously, once you learn, you’re proficient in your language, and it’s time for us to send some teams, and COVID is beyond us, we’ll look forward to getting some teams there and coming alongside your ministry. So as we finish up, Andy, give me one prayer request, and Quinn, give me another one, and we’ll close it down.
Andy
Pray for us to be able to return back to North Africa. America is on the bad list of countries, so we can not return currently.
Phil
Yeah.
Andy
I’m praying we go back before Christmas.
Phil
Amen. Yeah. We’ll be praying for that. Quinn?
Quinn
Yeah, and I think once the Lord allows us to go back, that we just continue in our language abilities, and then that he would guide our next steps in wanting to move out, down south, outside of the capital, and that he would bring us teammates.
Phil
Okay. That’s good. Well, let me close. Let me close in prayer. Let’s pray. Father, thank you for Andy and Quinn, and Lord, just how you have used them already in this place, in North Africa. We pray for North Africa. We pray for the lostness there. We pray that you would raise up more workers to go. We pray, Lord, that you would allow them to get back quickly.
We pray for their language learning, that that would continue, and we pray you would raise up a unit, a couple, a single person, to go serve with them so that they can move to a place that has even more lostness, and that they could use that for your glory. We’re grateful for them, and we pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Quinn
Amen.
Phil
So, Providence, if you are listening to this and you feel maybe a sense that God is calling you to the nations, we’d love for you to contact the missions office. You can contact me at [email protected], and we’d love to have a conversation with you about going to the nations. So thank you, and until next time.