It’s all about Him!

Okay so here goes.  My first blog.  You are probably wondering why my blog is called Bigfala Mike.  Well I was blessed to be a missionary in the South Pacific islands for five years.  We had a bible college in a place called Vanuatu on the island of Santo.  The national language is Bislama hence bigfala Mike means Big Mike.  Mi no save from wanem yufala i no undastanem mifala.  ( I don’t understand why you guys wouldn’t know that)  Anyway my home church Applegate Christian Fellowship sent us there to run Searchlight Bible College where we would invite native men to spend one year learning the Word.  We would give them a bible in English or French and then one in their native tongue and just teach them thru the scriptures.  Our heart being when they went back to their villages they would be better citizens, husbands, fathers and ultimately Christians.
My pastor asked me to teach the Word and love the people.  I found the opposite happened.  I fell in love with the Word and I was taught by the people.  They are called ni-vanuatu (Ni-vans for short) and they taught me what it truly means to be hospitable.  Paul says in Romans 12 to be given to hospitality.  It means to pursue it.  To look for opportunities to bless others and I truly learned that from these precious folks.  They would go out of their way to bless you.  Whether you were a Christian or not.  Just an awesome time to live in a very primitive culture, no running water, no electricity, but lots of people hungry to learn God’s word and to fellowship.
Fast forward a few years later and I am back from the mission field and wondering what is next.  I prayed about getting my degree which I was close to receiving in P.E.with a minor in Speech Communication so I could be a PE teacher, sports announcer, and coach.  In the desire to do that the Lord kept telling me to submit to my pastor of which one day as I was in his office he told me I should go start a church.  I said “I don’t know how to do that” of which he replied “Great.  Your ready.”  Meaning the Lord would definitely have to be in this for it to succeed.  Well it’s been a radical ride these last nine years but after that first Sunday at Harris Beach in Brookings, Oregon the following Sunday someone let me use their building and “Brookings Christian Fellowship” was started.  We have had many trials and I even was away for a season back in Vanuatu starting churches there but God with his incredible grace led me back to this wonderful coastal city to ground his people in the Word of God, to see lives changed and people rejoicing because of the Good news of Jesus Christ.  Truly God is good and I am being stretched and challenged by the reality of what it truly means to have church.

Just a place where you can go and feel comfortable and learn God’s word.  Some of the hardest things that I have come across is bickering amongst god’s people.  Power struggles, and a lot of it is I just did not give everything to the Lord and ask him what his heart was behind what he wanted  I have found myself listening more intently, learning and loving the scriptures,  praying and interceding on behalf of his sheep and of course not taking everything too seriously.  God’s people should laugh more, cry more, share more,love more, and complain less.  I have found often what God wants to teach his people he has to teach me first.  Oh Lord help me to learn.  Well that is just the beginning of my blogs but it is my heart that God’s people can come here and be refreshed by my blunders, mistakes, and hopefully encouragements on what our Saviour is working in and thru me.

truly we are his workmanship created for good works and he does want us to walk in them…

be blessed,    Pastor Mike   aka  Bigfala Mike