Paul Ress

Lost to Missionary

I spent my childhood being hauled around with my sister from church-to-church by my mom. My dad grew up Catholic and is distant from church. By the time I was in high school I was no longer going to church. I didn’t believe in the bible and didn’t understand what Jesus did for me. Church people were intimidating and I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. I believed that God existed, but I didn’t know that he loved me.

After getting married, my wife convinced me to start going to church. I struggled with the fact that most of the people I knew were lost. It took time for my heart to soften and understand why. My wife baptized me and we got connected to a small group at church. It’s amazing what the support of a Christian community will do for your soul.

One day our pastor pointed to me across the atrium after church service. A staff member and a close friend of mine came over and asked me if I was willing to go on a mission trip to Adjumani, Uganda. An international mission trip wasn’t something that I had planned on doing anytime soon. I prayed about it and went. My world was turned upside down by that mission trip. I feel as if the people I encountered did more for me than I did for them. They had a joy that flowed from them – even amidst their poverty.

Assimilating back to life in the U.S. after going to Uganda was rough. The lens that I viewed the world from had changed and I found that nearly everyone around me couldn’t relate. It was frustrating and I felt compelled to do something. That’s when the Holy Spirit led me to launching workplacemissionary.com to help inspire people to follow Jesus at work. My prayer is that others can see the world from a heavenly lens and know the joy that comes with it.

5 Comments

  1. Mike Henry Sr. 2/8/2020
  2. Staci 2/10/2020
    • Emory 2/10/2020
      • Staci 2/10/2020
    • Paul Ress 10/19/2020

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