Drawing power from a distant source, he clutched a long extension cord. Young and strong, Travis scrambled up a side pole and inched along open rafters, suspended precariously by skilled arms and legs. Grasping a small bulb from a pocket, he screwed it into a makeshift socket on the end of the cord he threw over a plank. All of us in the crowd applauded the pastor’s son.

Instantly, light from one bulb pushed back darkness in the half-completed church building. In that light, we embraced people from the island of Pohnpei in Micronesia on the Asia-Pacific Region. Eerie webs spun by huge spiders formed building boundaries where concrete blocks had not yet been raised above three feet. The partial metal roof and doorless entry provided limited cover from creatures of the thick rain forest from which this bare parcel of land was slashed.  

Dozens of children, youth, women, and men rolled out mats on the bare concrete floor and sat cross-legged. Frankie Santos, the handsome, dark-skinned pastor born and raised in Pohnpei, opened with prayer and songs from homemade songbooks assembled by Wayne and Connie LaForce while they served as field strategy coordinators for Micronesia. Wayne, now World Mission deputation coordinator in Kansas City, and Connie guided us through Pohnpei and across Guam, Saipan, and Chuuk.

No visible instruments accompanied our voices that dark night. But when we listened carefully, we could almost hear heavenly chords and choral echoes. As we preached the Word that night with one light, we called the people to offer their lives to Christ and to the mission of God in the world. Persons of all ages responded readily, characteristic of the way the Holy Spirit moves in most places around the world today. These people are the ones who keep the lights on for Christ and the Church of the Nazarene.

After we hugged farewell to our Pohnpeian family, we journeyed to Okinawa to equip Japanese pastors and to encourage Nazarene missionaries, Dr. Robert and Connie Dunn. We found Japan’s leaders desperately longing for renewal in prayer. They pled with us, “Please petition the Holy Spirit to manifest His presence during prayer meetings in our churches. Please intercede for God to raise young leaders to replace many pastors growing old and weak in health.” We laid our hands on them and prayed urgently in complete agreement with their faith. God is ready, willing, and able to answer their sincere cries. We implore you to pray with them as they keep the light of Christ blazing into next generations.

Robert and Connie have served the Okinawa Church of the Nazarene for more than 12 years with distinction. Prior to expanding this church, they served effectively as principal of our Nazarene Theological College in Queensland, Australia. Disciples they have mentored intentionally now serve internationally where they have scattered into Christian service.

While staying in their Okinawan home with these longtime friends and mission colleagues, the Dunn’s introduced us to their key leaders and asked us to pray with them. Robert and Connie showed us a large notebook of current church members they love and lead in Christian community. Then, they showed us scores of families’ photos deployed from that single, sanctified center to serve globally in Nazarene churches near military installations.

Pohnpeian nationals, Japanese pastors, exemplary missionaries, and international frontliners serve and sacrifice in places where most never visit or send volunteers. Some of these places we dare not even print. Together, we give glory to God and commit to intercede for these whom God has called to multiply Christlike disciples in the nations. They draw power from a distant-present, ancient-future source. They keep the lights on for Christ and all of us.