Faithfulness Over Fear: Leading in a Mission Field

by Rodney Plunket

 

In 2004 I went backpacking in the Rockies for the first time, and I was hooked. I did it every year but one through 2018.

The second trip was the hardest. It was the same trek as the first, but the snow was much deeper. Avalanches had obliterated trails, burying them under uprooted trees. Streams to cross were flooded with snowmelt. A swing bridge, easily traversed the previous year, was on the ground, mangled and useless.

Finally we ascended above the tree line; it felt liberating. No trail, but our guide knew where the pass was and led us straight to it. I was eager to get there. I could not stay with him, but I was second in the long queue. He dropped his pack near an outcropping, grabbed his camera to photograph every ascending climber, and instructed me to follow a less challenging trajectory.

I was almost to the outcropping when I stepped on a foot of snow concealing a crevasse. Very quickly I was up to my armpits, feet on nothing but snow. Where was terra firma? 

My guide could not physically help me––no way to know where the fissure ran. So he coached me out. 

The stress experienced from the first day of the trek to the crevasse created a divine “Aha.” I became painfully conscious of a controlling force kept hidden within me. Something was more in control than God’s mission, so God was shaping and molding me through this trip. God was working to create awareness of, and growth past, the power of fear.

After decades of preaching for small churches in diverse mission fields–– Alabama, New Zealand, and England––I was serving a large church in Texas. A fall into a crevasse was perfect because I feared getting in over my head. The battle between faithfulness and fear, a battle long present, had actually intensified.

I still experience that internal conflict. I try, now, to know and address it. I want to keep hearing Jesus say, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

About the Author

Rodney Plunket holds the M.Div. from Harding School of Theology and the Ph.D. from Durham University (England). He has served churches in Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, New Zealand, and England. He is a Gallup Certified CliftonStrengths coach. Since retiring from full-time ministry, he serves as an IMP representative and is a shepherd for his home church.

Rodney and Margaret have been married over 50 years. They have two children and five grandchildren. He enjoys backpacking, canoeing, fishing, gardening, and spending time with the grandchildren.