Transitions in 2015, part 2: Following God's surprising leading

Our beloved house in Ukarumpa

After all these years in Papua New Guinea, we had become quite settled here. We own a beautiful home, our kids attend a great school, there's no end to the work we can contribute to, we still feel the excitement of living on the other side of the world, and we've invested in close friendships--many friends who we've known for all of our 12 years in PNG. We assumed we would be living in PNG for as many years as health and support allowed. Any job change is difficult, but for us the very thought of leaving PNG is complicated by how much of our professional, public identity is tied to our working anywhere but in the US (we know that we will be losing some of our monthly income simply because we're moving back to America).

So you can imagine how surprising it was when within the first year back from our 2011-2012 furlough, Joyce and I each started sensing that God might be leading us to something different after this field term. It was completely unexpected, and it forced us to seek clearer direction from God in a more deliberate, serious manner than we ever had before.

I began fasting one day each week. During those fasts, I prayed over a variety of issues, but the "what's next" question was always in those prayers as well. I spent time with devotional readings from the church fathers, and also read some insightful books on vocation, calling, and career. It was a difficult but invigorating time. One of my biggest frustrations was feeling that God was leading us away from PNG, but having no idea what I should move on to. You might be surprised how few career doors are flung open for a nearing-middle-age Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology. :)

The most interesting option for me would be teaching at the university level. That is actually the career path I was on when I entered grad school at Kent State University in 1997. Joyce and I imagined that I would complete my doctorate and then I would get a job as a professor. Our "mission field" would be caring for the students, as our professors at Wheaton had mentored us. God changed those plans by directing us instead toward the mission field of Papua New Guinea, and we have no regrets about the years we've spent here. But that dream of being a professor has lingered, and the academic work I've done while we've been in PNG--writing articles, book reviews, presenting at conferences, and teaching classes at GIAL during each furlough--has kept my skills current.

During this soul-searching time, colleagues at the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics (GIAL), in Dallas, Texas, asked if I would ever be available to join the faculty and be a part of the World Arts program. I added that possibility to the mix of options we were considering for our post-PNG move.

Then in February this year, I traveled back to the US for a few meetings--two meetings in Dallas, and one conference in Chicago. While at these meetings, I talked with the head of the World Arts program at GIAL, and she renewed the invitation to join the faculty. In particular, she highlighted some of the big developments in the World Arts program, and how much I could contribute. What meant a lot to me was that they weren't asking for "just anybody" with a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology, but they saw my particular set of skills and experiences as filling the needs that the World Arts program will have over the next few years. So I considered the offer more seriously.

As Joyce and I began to see GIAL as a very good possibility for us, we put our thoughts together in a long letter that we sent to our supporting churches in March. We wanted to allow God to speak to us through the churches that we represent, rather than going to the churches with our plans already set, asking them to give their blessing in an after-the-fact kind of way. With this transition, we don't want to feel that we're forcing our way into some plan that we've created on our own; we want to have the peace of knowing that we're following God, resting in his plan for us.

All of our churches encouraged us to pursue the possibility of joining the GIAL faculty, and so in April I officially accepted the initial invitation to move to Dallas and become Assistant Professor of World Arts. More information about GIAL, the Center for Excellence in World Arts, and my role as Assistant Professor will be in the next post.