In 1994, the song on the radio caught Butch Owen’s attention as he headed to church one Sunday morning in Owings, Md. The words from the Gaither Vocal Band’s “A Few Good Men” told how you don’t have to be a “Billy Graham” to be used by God.
By the time he arrived at the Grace Brethren Church of Calvert County (Robert Wagner, pastor), he had been moved to tears, realizing that God could use him in some way.
That morning, a short-term ministry opportunity was presented in his Sunday school class. A nearby Grace Brethren congregation was sponsoring a team that would travel to Argentina to erect a church building. It was almost like an immediate call from the Lord. “I can do that!” Owens thought.
But before he could sign on, the team filled up and he wasn’t able to go.
Four years later he traveled to Uruguay to help build the initial Grace Brethren church building there. It was his first short term missions trip, but it wasn’t his last. Since 1998, he has made 17 such trips, mostly to Latin America, and taking his children, Lindsay, Patrick, and Jonathan, when possible.
“I fell in love with short term missions,” he admits. In 2009, he and Lindsey, as the Spanish interpreter, served on three teams. That October, he led a group from his home church to Argentina to conduct prayer walks and community outreach in LaPlata, where Nate and Deb Dunlevey, Rich and Jil Elledge, and Brian and Tara Gornik are establishing an inner-city church-planting ministry under the auspices of Grace Brethren International Missions (GBIM).
“This was easily the most challenging trip,” he admits. “It didn’t require physical labor, like constructing a facility. But it did require mental and emotional labor, as the team traversed the neighborhoods praying for the people they met, realizing the hopelessness they have without Christ.”
For nearly ten years, Owens planned to retire from his job as an analyst for the U.S. Navy and pursue missions full-time. He changed his mind last year while making a whitewater, balsawood rafting trip back to civilization after a 19-mile hike to minister in Amazonia, Peru.
“The Lord has given me a good income,” he says. “If I retired, I would lose a valuable ‘tool’ that I like to take on these trips – extra money for serving.”
He has learned that the love of Christ can be shown with extra cash by purchasing Bibles, medications, surgeries, building materials, food, and clothing.
“In Nicaragua, I was able to pay a man’s fine, so he could get out of jail, see the ‘Jesus’ film, be presented with the Gospel, and accept Christ,” he remembers. “[The man’s] father was so happy, and, needless to say, so was I!”
The philosophy of taking the “tools” was evident when the one of the GBIM missionaries in Argentina had major car trouble. Owens’s team pitched in the funds they had left at the end of the trip, and it was just enough to repair the vehicle.
“God provides where He guides!” says Owens.
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