Review: Catches the Heart Behind Missions
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 12, 2013
Missionary: An Unexpected Journey of Following God’s Call to the Other Side of the World by Christopher Marco is the delightful, first-person story of how Marco (if that really is his name) goes from Joe Citizen to being a missionary in Asia. It’s like reading a diary of his call, his adjustments—along with his wife and baby—and his first interactions with the people and culture. It’s how he and his family got the life call to missions.Very well written, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Okay, I admit it; I am a missionary, so a lot of the things he expresses hit a chord.The rest of the book is about Marco’s vision, his trip to the field, his cultural and language adjustments, his feeling like a foreigner, his guilt over separation from family, his first attempts at being a missionary and the surprising—and not surprising—responses to his mostly one-on-one ministry to university students. Then, it’s about what God did in his heart through ministry, lessons he learned, and his call to go back, and back, and stay.Except for his infrequent use of a vulgar word, I loved this book. Marco gives us an insight into real missions. He is transparent and lets you understand it all. The style is talky, and the writing is excellent. Though I probably would not worship in exactly the same way he describes and I might have a couple of other differences with him, I think Marco has communicated very well the need, the heartbeat, and the reason for missions, along with his personal dedication to reaching the lost. I recommend it to the discerning reader.