December 10, 2001
Texas couple named Mission Service Corps volunteers of year
___By Judith Sagen
___Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist
___OSHKOSH, Wis.--Unemployment is viewed by most people as a misfortune, but for Texans Jim and Marion Wiersema, the loss of a job was the catalyst that launched them into a new career as Mission Service Corps volunteers.
___The Oshkosh couple, who are volunteer associational church strengtheners for Bay Lakes Baptist Association, were honored as Mission Service Corps Volunteers of the Year in a special chapel service Dec. 6 at the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board.
___Mission Service Corps provides opportunities for adults to be involved in long-term missions assignments in the United States. Volunteers provide their own financial support.
Marion and Jim Wiersema
___For the Wiersemas, the journey to becoming Mission Service Corps volunteers began when Wiersema suddenly lost his job in 1993 as an aviation and electronic equipment mechanic at Boeing in Dallas.
___"God took away a good job and high pay in order to open our minds and hearts to missions," he said. A mutual friend had suggested to a church starter in Oshkosh that the Wiersemas would be good helpers. The church starter invited them to look things over.
___With Wiersema unemployed, the couple thought the trip would be financially impossible, but anonymous gifts covered the cost.
___"We got home with $14 left over," Mrs. Wiersema said. "To this day, we have no idea who gave the money."
___Volunteer missions, however, was not a new concept for the Wiersemas. From First Baptist Church of Lewisville, where they were members, their eyes had been opened by several short-term mission trips to Australia, England, Brazil and Siberia.
___But as they learned about Mission Service Corps, they realized it called for a long-term commitment. During an "Experiencing God" Bible study, they discovered God wants every believer to look to see where God is working and to join in that work.
___"God spoke clearly to both of us at the same time," Wiersema said. "We decided that I could be unemployed in Wisconsin as easily as I could be unemployed in Texas."
___The couple packed up and moved to Wisconsin. That was eight years ago.
___"God worked miracles to get us here," she said. "Even after we got here, God has done so much to keep us here. It boggles our mind how God provides."
___After helping a new church in Oshkosh until it grew strong enough to call a pastor, Wiersema served as interim pastor of Bethany Baptist in Tilleda, Wis. Although he had been a deacon, he had not been a pastor. The church thrived under his leadership.
___Wiersema helped open the church's eyes to the mission field all around them and prepared them to call a pastor who had church starting at heart, church members said. Since calling Larry Polichnia as pastor two years ago, Bethany has started three missions.
___Wiersema's soft voice and fatherly manner, along with Mrs. Wiersema's patience and listening ear, brought healing and hope to the church, members said.
___At the urging of Dennis Hansen, Bay Lakes Association's director of missions, Wiersema completed intentional interim ministry training offered by the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention. He now is certified as an intentional interim pastor/consultant, the first layperson in the Southern Baptist Convention to receive that certification.
___Observing how God is using the Wiersemas, Hansen recently asked them to consider changing from being church strengtheners for a single church to doing the same task on an associational level. Now they visit all the churches of the association.
___"Our assignment has not changed, but the scope of it has," Wiersema said. Currently, they serve at Fellowship Baptist Church in Waupaca, Wis., where Wiersema is pastor.
___The Wiersemas said they feel "completely overwhelmed" to be chosen from more than 2,600 Mission Service Corps missionaries serving in North America. Nominations were made by state coordinators and included recommendations from people who have observed the lives and ministries of nominees.
___"We've done nothing spectacular," the Wiersemas insisted. "We are undeserving. We are just doing what God wants us to do because that's who we are. When you look back and see what God has done for you, how can you say no to him?"
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