When Beka Forney felt called to engage in a missionary journey to Africa, she wasn’t fully aware of what God had in store for her. A member of St. Stephen’s, Sewickley, along with parents Jim and Georgette, Forney did know that it wouldn’t be as simple as getting on a plane and heading to the mission fields. Her first step involved five months of extensive training in a facility run by Youth With a Mission (YWAM), an ecumenical and international organization dedicated to Christian evangelization through short-term missions. "It was a great initial experience, being exposed to different kinds of people who were all searching for the same thing," Forney said.

With her training behind her, Forney and eight missionary teams set out for Africa, with Forney’s team headed for Zambia, in the south-central portion of the continent. Headquartered in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, they would spend the following months providing much needed medical care and evangelical outreach.

Forney reflected honestly on the emotional struggles that were a part of the final weeks of her mission. "We were gone for Christmas, and we were all missing our homes and our families. You could say we ‘weren’t in the mood’ for ministry that particular day." She quickly added, "In spite of that, you always have to remember that God can still use you even when you aren’t in the mood."

Forney went on to relate the story of a day that began with a diversionary trip with a friend to an internet café. "We just wanted to ease some of our homesickness, when another missionary team member found us and asked us to follow him to where the ‘poor’ people were living." She said that she had thought they had been ministering to the poor all along, but nothing could prepare her for the true sight of Lusaka’s deepest poverty, a homeless group of blind outcasts living beyond the railroad tracks that skirted the city.

"We felt moved to lay hands on one of the men, and prayed furiously for him," Forney said. "Suddenly, he looked up at us and started to cry tears of joy. It reminded us immediately of Paul in Acts 9:18, when the scales fell from his eyes. Everyone around us knelt and started to cry with him." Forney said she still isn’t sure whether it was a physical healing or a spiritual renewal that took place that day, but that it didn’t really matter either way. God’s tangible presence in the midst of hopelessness was a miracle regardless.

Forney’s final weeks in Zambia were filled with such fruitful experiences, including the first time someone had ever asked her personally, "How do you get a relationship with Jesus?" She shared her initial fear and hesitation in being asked such a pivotal question. "I just prayed as hard as I could, ‘God, don’t let me mess this up!’" After sharing her faith with the questioner, a torrential downpour sent everyone scattering for cover. "I knew God wasn’t going to let it rain until He had that person’s heart in His hands," she said, laughing.

A very real concern in short-term missions is continuing to maintain the experience in action after returning to familiar surroundings. "It can be easy to forget the zeal when you come home," Forney said. "It’s too easy to become complacent when no one calls you out, when no one challenges you to be accountable."

Forney had her opportunity to address this challenge when Pastor Glen Lisholo, a local minister she had worked with in Lusaka, asked her to help him found an orphanage. Through Forney’s fundraising efforts in the United States and Pastor Glen’s local efforts in Lusaka, the Open Arms Foundation now provides a home for thirty children orphaned by AIDS, poverty and abandonment. Not one to accept praise easily, Forney steadfastly pointed to the real power behind any effective ministry. "Who gets the glory in all this? God. Always."

(ed. note: Donations to the Open Arms Foundation Orphanage can be made through: The Ekklesia Society, PO Box 118526, Carrollton, TX 75011-8526. Please list "Project 311" in the memo line of any donation to insure proper routing.)

-posted June 17, 2008-