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Its amazing what one picture can do! - Richard Tucker
Growing up in a Christian home I always had an awareness of overseas mission. Some of my relatives had
even been missionaries. However, I dont know that I ever consciously thought I would end up being one. I
had all sorts of other plans for being a microbiologist or an electronic engineer.
When I was about 16 I really sold out for God. It wasnt enough for me to be the son of Christian parents.
This had to mean something for me. I got baptised. The subsequent years were very formative especially
my time at Imperial College in London where I studied Physics. It was whilst I was there that God got my
attention for world mission.
I thought that during my first outrageously long summer break I ought to do something worthy and
started looking into going to France with OM to do street work. But it didnt grab me. However, one
reasonably ordinary evening at the CU, a guy from AIM was speaking and he brought along a pile of
magazines from World Horizons. My room mate and I picked one up and were transfixed by a picture ofsome guys sitting on top of an old Bedford army truck roaring through the desert amidst billows of sand.
It looked brilliant fun. Forget doing something worthy! How cool would a four-week overland trip to the
deserts of North Africa be?!!
So four of us from Imperial signed up for the trip. We went over to Llanelli for a preparation weekend.
World Horizons in those days was in its infancy. Mechanics fixing up trucks. People praying in money to
buy buildings. Nights out on the beach. Being amongst such a vibrant, faith-filled group of people was
inspiring.
The trip itself was no picnic and definitely not for the faint hearted! Four weeks in the back of an old army
truck with a group of smelly students suffering from the trots is not a package holiday. But once we hit
North Africa it was all worthwhile. That first night sleeping out under the stars listening to the insects was
magical. I had never experienced such a different culture. The place looked different, it tasted different (I
love spicy North African food), it sounded different and it certainly smelled different! Something about it
got under my skin. There is no substitute for experiencing something at first hand.
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A few days later we hiked up into the Atlas Mountains to
sleep out under the stars. We perched on a ledge high up
above the valley below. As the sun set we could see the lights
of the Berber villages below beginning to come on one by
one. As darkness descended the stars above were awesome.
What an incredible universe! As we sat down together the
trip leader began to speak. I remember him talking about
the hold that Islam had on the people around about us and
the challenge of bringing the Good News to them. Each one
of these lights you can see in the valley below represents a
Muslim who has never heard about Jesus. And who will go
and tell them? In the darkness I knew that God was speaking
to me. Who would go, if I wouldnt? Several days later sitting
on the side of a very hot, dry wadi (valley) I remember
writing in my diary: If God wants me to come to North Africa
to plant churches, I will do it. And that was it. From thatmoment on I knew that I was coming back to North Africa.
And I did. Not once but many times.
I kept in contact with World Horizons after I got home and often went to Llanelli, enjoying the madcap
atmosphere of reckless faith. The next year I recruited some others from Imperial to form a team. We
travelled back to North Africa in another truck and spent days trekking up a river valley praying and
trying to share our faith in awful French! I dont know if any of them learnt anything but we learnt an
amazing amount about faith. Faith for food, faith for transport, even faith for a place to sleep!
Over the next few years I got involved in leading many small teams out to North Africa from colleges andmy church. God did some wonderful things and we even saw a few people get saved which was brilliant.
However, it was eight years after that first short term trip until I finally moved to North Africa.
God had a lot to do in me before I was ready to go. I needed to re-establish strong links with my home
church and get leadership experience. I also got married and together we did a years course in church
planting based on Cyprus. It seemed like a long time to wait but God knows best and it was worth the wait.
When we finally moved out to North Africa it wasnt with World Horizons but with Frontiers (not New
Frontiers as some of you are thinking)! Although we were being sent out by our church as a church project,
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When we finally moved out to North Africa it
wasnt with World Horizons but with Frontiers
(not New Frontiers as some of you are thinking)!
Although we were being sent out by our
church as a church project, we knew that weneeded the experience of others to help us if
we were going to survive in a hostile, Islamic
environment. Frontiers in common with
other agencies, has a wealth of experience in
supporting people in some of the most difficult
places on earth.
We spent ten years living in North Africa and
although there were hard times we never
regretted our decision to move there and raiseour daughter there. I worked as an English
language teacher. During that time we were
privileged to see a lot of fruit as we worked
with many others for people to come to faith
and churches to be planted. Today the church in North Africa is still small but it is growing and in some parts is
thriving. Certainly a different situation to the one I first encountered over 20 years ago. And to think that I have
played just a small part in that is amazing.
At the moment we are back in the UK and are leading a church in the southwest of England in addition to
having a leadership role in Frontiers. We still have a passion for Muslims and world mission. We pray that we
will never lose that. Looking back at that first taste of mission in North Africa its strange to think that it all came
from picking up a magazine from a CU bookstall! It s funny how God works and speaks.
So next time you pick up some literature - beware! It could be the start of an incredible journey into Gods plan
for your life.
WITH LOVE AND RESPECT,
INVITING ALL MUSLIM PEOPLES TO FOLLOW JESUS
web: www.frontiers.org.uk tel: 0303 333 5051 email: [email protected]
http://www.frontiers.org.uk/http://www.frontiers.org.uk/