By Danny Ballard, BMA Missionary to the Philippines

Scripture is filled with examples of how the Lord will use the weak, the unlikely, and those whom you would never foresee Him using to accomplish His will and purpose in the world. I would like to begin my story by saying I am one of those examples. 

As a young teenager my dream was to become an archeologist. I love history and trying to understand things from the past. I pursued that dream until one day I found out that part of the requirements of being an archeologist was to be a teacher. My dreams were crushed at the time for one simple reason: I was afraid to speak in front of anyone. I had a fear of public speaking. That fear literally gripped me to the point that I would stutter, lose all train of thought, and shake all over. 

Little did I know at that time that God had a special plan for me and my life that would bring me to do the one thing I feared the most. The lesson to be learned was that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  

My family attended Vardaman Street Baptist Church in Wiggins, MS. I loved helping with the youth and was always volunteering to help, never leading, always just a helper. One day our youth director came to me and asked me if I would be willing to be the Awana Commander at our church because we were implementing the program for the first time. She told me that I would just be the figurehead and she would take care of everything. I thought about it and prayed about it for several weeks and again was reassured that I would basically be the figurehead as commander, so I said yes. Little did I know that was the beginning of God’s plan for my ministry and the beginning of my story that led me to be a missionary to the Philippines. 

You already can imagine that I was not just the figurehead but actually I was the leader, the commander of the Awana program. Mrs. Robbie later told me that she saw something in me that no one else had seen and how the Lord laid it on her heart to ask me and convince me to be the commander. During my seven years as the Awana commander I worked with several youth pastors. I always loved working with the youth and helped in any way that I could. The current youth pastor had resigned and the church had been searching for a replacement for months. Each candidate would come in view of a call, preach before the church, and one by one the church always voted not to call them. 

One particular Sunday evening another candidate had just come in view of a call and that night the church voted; again it was a no. I was up in the balcony of the church, at that time kneeling down on the floor leaning against the rail and was praying asking “Lord, why won’t you give us a youth pastor?” At that moment as I prayed, something happened that would alter my life forever. It felt like the Lord had placed His hand on my shoulder, leaned over and spoke into my ear, “because I want you to do it.” 

At that moment I turned around to see who was behind me and no one was there. I remember it just like it was yesterday. I said, “Lord, you know I can’t do that. You know I can’t speak in front of people. You know I am not smart enough to be the youth pastor.” I was scared to death to be honest but I began to pray about it for many weeks and then asked our pastor to pray as well. I knew the Lord was calling me but I was afraid to say yes. Then I finally prayed, “Lord, you know I can’t speak in front of a crowd. You know I am a very shy person at heart but I am willing to surrender. It is You who will have to do the work in me and give me the ability to speak in front of people.” 

As I began my journey as the youth/missions pastor, my idea of missions was to give money. But all that was soon to change. I volunteered to lead a VSM mission team one year. I was assigned to co-lead a team to China. The trip to China was the beginning of the Lord calling me to full-time mission work. I knew at that time while I was in China that one day, I would be back in Asia somewhere doing some kind of mission work. Over the next several years I would lead teams from our church on mission trips in the states and globally. Year after year God was working on my heart, but at that time, I was not sure if it was to continue doing what I was doing or to surrender to be a full-time missionary, but I would soon find out.

One day our pastor, Bro Eugene Anderson, was going to the missions office for some training they were offering. There were several missionaries going through the same training at that time. He asked me if I would come along to help with the driving and keep him company. I agreed to go and asked if I could go through the training also. God was busily working all along in all of this to get me there to the training. At the training there was a missionary to the Philippines, Bro Robert Murphy. This was the first time I had met him and it was like our spirits were drawn together. We would sit up until 2-3 am just talking about the ministry and people of the Philippines. I was a sponge and his words were a vast amount of water that I was soaking up and could not get enough of. The burden continually grew and grew.

The following summer I had planned three different mission trips. One was to Trinidad and Tobago, one was to Nicaragua, and the last one was to the Philippines. I begin to pray to the Lord, “God, please give me an answer to the question: do I stay where I am and keep doing what I am doing or do I surrender to full-time missions? Please give me an answer before the Nicaragua mission trip is over.” The first trip came and went. It was a great trip and God blessed very much but no answer. Then came the trip to Nicaragua. God again was working and blessing in so many ways. There were just two days left of our two-week trip and still no answer from the Lord. I was laying in my bed that night begging for the Lord to give me an answer before that trip was finished because I already felt like if He was calling me to the mission field full time that it would be to the Philippines. 

When I woke up the next morning, I began my daily devotions. I used the Charles Stanley Life Principles Daily Bible for my devotional. It breaks the Bible down to where you read the Old Testament, Psalms/Proverbs, and the New Testament every day. Normally on a mission trips things are so hectic that it is easy to fall behind on your reading, but this particular morning I was actually ahead by two days. As I sat down, I prayed again, “Lord, please speak to me and answer my prayer about the direction You have for me.” Keep in mind I was ahead two days as I began to read. When I got to the New Testament scripture for that day it was Romans 10:13-15: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

At that moment I knew the answer to my prayer. I began to weep tears of joy, but at the same time I was scared. This was something totally new for me. I prayed and thanked the Lord for His answer and told Him, “Ok Lord, I am willing to go but like I prayed when you called me into the ministry as the youth/missions pastor it is You that has to lead me, guide me, and give me the strength to do what You have called me to do.

My wife, Rita, had been praying with me the entire time for God to give me an answer. I shared with her how the Lord had answered our prayers and it was one of the happiest moments in her life. Rita had felt a call to the mission field when she was a teenager but she had to wait until the Lord trained me and brought me through everything He did to get me to the place that I would be ready also. 

People often say that others can see things about people that the person can’t see themselves. When we returned from the trip I spoke with our pastor and told him that the Lord had called me to be a full-time missionary and his words to me, as well as the entire church were, “I know! I have seen it coming for a long time.” Others saw what God was doing but it just took me a little longer to catch up. 

My family and friends would ask me, “Are you crazy? You are moving to the other side of the globe away from all your family and friends. Are you not worried that something will happen to you?” My reply was simple. I told them, “I am more afraid to stay here out of God’s will than to go to the other side of the globe and be in God’s perfect will.” 

God worked in so many ways, with so many small things and using so many people to accomplish His task of calling a man who gave up on his dream of being an archeologist because he was afraid to speak in front of people, to become a missionary to the Philippines. Rita and I are going on eleven years of ministry here in the Philippines. We should never doubt what the Lord can do with someone who has a willing heart. 

Let me end by saying if you have never been on a mission trip, go! It will open your eyes to this vast world we live in and the great need to reach the masses for the Lord. Allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life and the Lord to use you to do great and mighty things for His kingdom.

He takes the least likely to do His work and ministry. The Lord can do this for you, when you surrender to His calling! “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me” (Isaiah 6:8).