John's Missionary Journey
My first encounter with missionaries was at Sussex Christian School.
The school sponsored a couple doing missionary work in Chile. The
missionaries would visit the school it seemed like once every two
years and share with us how God is working in the country of Chile.
They shared about how this exotic Spanish speaking country was in need
of hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Some where along the way it was planted in me that I wanted everyone
to know Jesus. I envisioned implementing this goal by going up and
down the street from our home, Route 23, knocking on doors and giving
away my little bible story books. It brought joy to my heart that
Jesus would enter those homes to bring life and destroy the work of
the devil.
As a teenager, I took a trip to Urbana, Illinois to attend a Student
Missions Conference hosted by InterVarsity/USA & Canada. This
conference meets every three years with the emphasis on world
evangelization at the University of Champagne. This huge event caught
my imagination that collectively we are working to share the Good News
of Jesus Christ around the world and students are being targeted to
carry this work forward.
The heavenly salt shaker continued to pour over me creating in me a
thirst to know God. This thirst was filled by reading the Bible and
books that opened up a deeper understanding of God. I was also
privileged to attend a Reformed Bible College in Grand Rapids,
Michigan for one year giving me a richer understanding of God's Word.
My mission journey took me into the market place, where I started a
feed and pet store. The store gave me contact with people and
situations where I could communicate the love of Jesus and make him
known. My untaught way of evangelism was that others will know that
we are Christians by our love. My approached changed as I heard Jesus
say "For whoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall
the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in
his Father's, and of the holy angels" (Luke 9:26). I was not ashamed
of Jesus and began speaking of my Savior and Lord.
In time, I observed my passion was to know where people were at
spiritually while selling them feed or pet supplies was secondary.
This resulted in my desire to be full time in ministry to make Jesus
known. As I followed my passion, it resulted in me returning to
school for more theological training. This training brought me to
Jerusalem, Israel, Pasadena, California and Grand Rapids, Michigan.
After my training, a door opened up for me to be a pastor in Blyth,
Ontario to be pastor of Blyth Christian Reformed Church.
Leading the congregation in Blyth was a privilege and honor. This
was our home and community. I was privileged to meditate on God's
Word during the week and share with the congregation what I heard from
God for us as a community. Then I sensed God releasing me from Blyth
CRC, while being unsure what our next step was.
We eased into a transition by doing a Crossroads Discipleship
Training School with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in 2010 with an
outreach to India. As we went through the school, we were trained to
expect people to be saved and people would be healed as we prayed for
them. On our outreach, we implemented what we were taught with the
greatest reward was our ministry to the temple prostitutes.
A wonderful testimony we share is God's provision. God clearly spoke
to me before I left Blyth that his arm had not grown weak even though
the cost of doing the school was about $60,000. We had to borrow
$21,000 to do the outreach, yet God promised provision. The
provisions came through when we returned to Blyth in the summer of
2011, and received tax money, donations and sale of some of our
household stuff, we had more than $21,000 to repay the entire debt.
God was faithful to his promise.
What I discovered is that God's revelation that his arm is strong
continues to be true. As we returned to YWAM to serve on staff, God
continues to provide. We have entered a new level of trusting him as
our cost have increased by renting a house, tuition cost and all the
other living cost. We are over our heads and this brings us to our
knees seeking God's help.
My inspiration is from the greatest missionary of all time, Jesus.
His mission was to bring heaven to earth, which resulted in healing of
the sick, raising of the dead and casting out of demons. He came to
seek and save the lost and destroy the work of the devil. Jesus meets
with his disciples in the last days of his life and said "I tell you
the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.
He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the
Father" (John 14:12).
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Kuperus family

Items for prayer:
-Thanks for Jesus meeting students in a powerful way bringing transformation.
-Thanks for God giving us a house in Kona for our home.
-That the fire of God deposited in the hearts of students may continue
to burn in the nations of the world where they are sent.
-For Helen and Alisha as they are on a trip to India.
-Continued direction in our lives and with the mission.