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[Tim Young]

Well, as a full-time missionary already, I believe I am on the mission 
field the Lord has called me to.

I am a computer missionary. I am not trying to save computers, but 
rather I make sure that the computers that are being used for the Lord's 
ministry are running properly. Because of this, my mission field is 
where the computers are.

We have pinpointed a number of places where it is possible to be very 
effective in fixing computers for missions. I am really called to one of 
these fields, but I will list them all anyway and then explain why I am 
called to the one.

The mission home office usually has a computer guy who manages their 
computers. Usually this is done by a "regular" missionary, a trained 
pastor, an old evangelist, a medical person, etc. They return to the USA 
and get tucked into the home office. Because they have fought computers 
in the past, they become responsible for the computers for the entire 
mission. From managing the LAN, the website, to dealing with remote 
problems over the phone or Internet. (see www.lightsys.com)

When missionaries get together for mission conferences, we have a team 
of IT people gather also. We can fix 50 computers in a 2 day period. 
This is much more effective than sending one IT guy out to the jungle to 
fix a single missionary laptop. (see missionarytechsupport.com)

The next challenge for missions IT will be in servicing the national 
workers. There is a great movement to send workers from the third world, 
many of who are used to living off one to three hundred dollars a year. 
These missionaries want to participate in the various data-collection 
processes that we have been doing for the last 20 years. (part of the 
movement started by AD2000, trying to determine what it means when the 
Bible refers to "every tribe, tongue, and nation") We have target 
working with the Bible training centers around the world, putting in a 
computer infrastructure, so that the national workers will have some 
computer knowledge when they are sent out.

One other part of the ministry is the part that develops computer 
programs for missions. As we work with more and more mission 
organizations, a number of tools that are obviously lacking have sprung 
to the foreground. We are developing open-source solutions for these 
particular mission needs.

My personal mission-field is multi-fold. First, I work with the main 
mission offices, which has me primarily in the USA. I am also involved 
in putting together short-term missions trips for IT people. (let me 
know if this group wants to put together a team ;) And my third 
responsibility is to find new means of IT support that is effective, and 
try to locate people and ministries who will take it on.

Mainly, the reason I have targeted this particular means of ministry is 
because it is the one that I am most suited to be in. My calling was 
fairly generic, I knew it was to be with computers and missions. But 
when I looked at my personal gifting, skills, personality, and 
upbringing, what I am doing now was the perfect fit. I grew up as a 
missionary kid traveling mainly in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, living 
out of a motorhome. By age 14 I was helping missionaries with their 
computer problems. I have been trained as a computer IT guy, I have 
missions built into the core of my being, I have a good idea of the 
whole part of missions, and much more. My personality is the one thing 
that makes it pretty sure that I am called as a field consultant. I do 
not have ADD, but nearly so. I have a very difficult time working on a 
long-term project. But as I travel from one place to the next, each 
location gives me new and different problems. This works to keep me 
interested and involved.

So, to answer the "Location" and "Why" question. I would travel in an 
area which was very cost-effective, working with multiple mission 
organizations, training their IT people, helping them work through their 
current problems, and helping them plan for the future. My wife and I 
would live in a motorhome for parts of the year, doing a circuit of the 
USA to be most effective with time, gas, and finances. There are a few 
locations in this world where this is possible. The largest land-area 
with the highest population of mission headquarters is the USA. Europe 
would probably be second. Since I already have a motorhome, and since I 
am an American, the USA is the simplest and most cost-effective place 
for me to be.

Anyway, enough of an essay for now. :)

- Tim Young

Ed Hurst wrote:

>Let's assume for the sake of discussion you are called to a mission 
>field. God is letting you choose the place. Where would it be? Say why, 
>if you know.
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