Our missions time today is about Shea Hicks, a woman who serves in the U.S. Air Force as an air battle manager at a base in Idaho where she is stationed.
Protecting our country is one struggle she has trained for. The other struggle she is training for is spiritual: She is studying for a master’s degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Students at Southwestern and our five other seminaries across the U.S. have much lower tuition because those schools receive funds from churches like ours through the Cooperative Program.
When fellow airmen learn about Shea’s studies, they frequently ask, “What is a seminary?” or “Why study at a seminary?” This is her opportunity to share the Gospel with her coworkers. After she explains that she is studying the Bible, she typically follows up with a question like, “Have you ever thought about anything like that?”
Her seminary studies have become not just a conversation starter, but an evangelism tool as well. She has found that people tend to respond to someone who is kind and willing to listen to their difficult questions. Then she can point them to answers in Scripture.
Today let’s be thankful for Shea Hicks twice – for her service to our country and for her equally active duty service for Christ in the mission field that is our military. Let’s ask God to protect her and bless her work and her ministry!