When I was a college student in Oxford, Ohio, I knew “Lottie Moon” only as the name of a local popular bar named after a Confederate spy during the Civil War – not the missionary whose name our annual missions offering bears. During my first pastorate, I regret that “Lottie” still meant little to me, as our church gave scant attention to what was then known as the Lottie Moon Offering for Foreign Missions.
During my second pastorate, though, Lottie Moon took on more significance. Confronted by a Woman’s Missionary Union director who challenged me to love missions “if you’re going to be my pastor,” I began to learn about God’s work around the world. It was also during that ministry that I married my wife, Pam, who had been raised as a GA and an Acteen, and who greatly loved the story of missionary Lottie Moon. Knowing Lottie and promoting the offering named after her were no longer optional.
Now many years later, Lottie Moon is increasingly important to me – not because of stories I have read, but because of people I have met. I think often of a van driver in an Asian country where Pam and I traveled in my role as consultant for the International Mission Board. Were a man judged eternally on his willingness to assist others, this man would be first into heaven. But, this kind man did not yet know Jesus – and apart from Christ, he had no hope. Who will continue to reach out to him?
