Connie Yates always felt a pull toward volunteering. Even while she worked as a full-time insurance agent, she spent free time mentoring public school children and reading children’s stories at public libraries. When Yates retired, she wanted to continue serving others, but it was heavy on her heart to integrate sharing the Gospel into her volunteer work.
She thought to herself, “How can I, as a layperson, do this?” That’s when Yates looked up the definition of the word “missionary,” which is defined as “a person sent out to do religious or charitable work.” Yates knew she would not be able to travel to a different area or country to be a missionary, so she began praying and asking around for local avenues. What she did not yet know is that she would later serve as a missionary from her own home.
In 2022, LeClare Litchfield, pastor of Collegedale Church, Yates’ home church, introduced her to Ronnie Stewart-Campbell, who is in charge of the church’s prayer ministries. Stewart-Campbell asked Yates to join the prayer ministries, and she excitedly accepted. Every couple of weeks, she is given a list of 10-20 names of church members who have specific prayer requests, and then she contacts and prays for them. She even bought a second cell phone just for prayer ministries, since her regular cell phone does not have a 423 area code and some people may have assumed it was a wrong number.
“So many people are hungry for the word and long to be heard and accepted,” said Yates. “I want to be part of feeding them.”
In early 2023, Yates had the opportunity to be a volunteer for It Is Written, and began receiving a weekly list of 50-100 no-contact names and prayer requests. A little later in the year, she was asked to give Bible studies via email to a new pastor located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) named Elie Kakudji. He had felt the voice of God calling him to be a pastor in a small town and to help revive a dying church. Gathering 30 members, Kakudji began to study the Bible with his church, and reached out to “It Is Written” for assistance, which is how he and Yates made contact.
When Yates emails Kakudji a Bible study, Kakudji is able to ask questions and dialogue with Yates about the Bible study in order to prepare and translate it into French to share with his congregation. After each Bible study with the church, Kakudji gathers questions from the participants to discuss with Yates. The congregation has grown to 40 adults and 15 children, and Yates now also includes lessons for children in her emails. Kakudji is in the process of writing a book from the studies they have been doing together.
“All we can do is the possible,” Yates wrote to Kakudji in an email. “God will magnify that and do the impossible.”
To Yates, the last couple years have shown her that she and others can be involved in ministry without even having to leave home. “Some people think we have to go out to another country, but we can share Jesus with others through phone calls, texts, and emails,” said Yates. “At the end of the day, it’s still evangelism — I’m evangelizing to the DRC from my living room.”
Yates’ prayer ministries and Bible studies show that sharing Christ and serving others can be achieved with just a cell phone or computer.
Georgia-Cumberland | December 2024
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