VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 11/7/18)—Stacy and Tim Reese from Massillon, Ohio, have been endorsed to serve as American Baptist International Ministries (IM) global servants in Haiti.
The couple will serve in Discipleship and Community Development with IM partner in Haiti the Christian Association for Spreading the Gospel and Economic and Health Development.
Stacy Reese’s professional experience in retail management and interest in writing, music and art have prepared her for service in Haiti alongside women’s cooperatives in ministries of mentoring, discipleship and education. “When I was 11 years old, I felt God calling me to be a missionary, so I went forward at church one Sunday morning and dedicated my life to this call,” she said. “God made me wait more than 20 years to realize this calling on my life because he knew I wasn’t ready and that I needed time to learn to give control of my life up to God. He has a purpose in all things, and even when I felt like I was walking down a different path because of my career and life as a wife and mother, I trusted that his plan for me was perfect and God would set my path straight.”
With a background in marketing, Tim Reese will be collaborating with local Haitian business leaders and entrepreneurs to help them maximize their potential through innovation, business development and fellowship.
He said, “I’ve always sensed God’s call in my life, but I’d always told God what I would do for him rather than allow him to do things through me. As I’ve been stretched and grown over the years, I’ve learned that, until I could entrust God with the gifts he’s given me and give them back to him, I would always be putting God in a box sealed by my own abilities and goals. Surrendering to the call meant breaking down the walls of that self-made box and surrendering all of me, every last part, so that he could use me: a living sacrifice, a workman approved for Christ’s kingdom-building and purpose, all to his glory.”
“I am amazed by the way God called Tim and Stacy at different stages in their lives and brought them together to form a new holistic ministry that will empower our Haitian brothers and sisters,” said the Rev. Adalia Gutiérrez-Lee, IM area director for Iberoamerica and the Caribbean. “Integral mission is a vital part of IM, and Tim and Stacy are great examples of the way God uses our gifts for his glory.”
The Reeses’ journey together stretches back to their childhood. “We were genuine highschool sweethearts,” Stacy Reese said. “Our story began in kindergarten, where we were enrolled at the same Christian school. We began dating at age 15, attended college together and married the day after we finished our final semester. Now—16 years, three kids and a Labrador later—we’re overjoyed knowing that God’s shared calling on our lives has brought us to this place.”
The couple is inspired by this Scripture from John 14:15: “Christ says that if we love him, we will keep his commandments. And what are his commandments? To love, serve and minister to all peoples, especially the ‘least of these.’”
The Reese children, Liam, age seven, Samantha, age four, and Garrett, age two, are IM’s newest missionary kids and will be living with their parents in Haiti.
Please join IM in celebrating this endorsement and praying for the Reese family as they invite others to join them. Learn more about the Reeses’ ministry here.
International Ministries, also known as the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, works cross-culturally to invite people to become disciples of Jesus Christ and to proclaim, through both word and deed, God’s reign of justice, peace and abundant life for all creation.
American Baptist Churches USA is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with approximately 5,000 congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.