Who will win this Eskimo child to faith in Christ? Sitting atop her Daddy’s four-wheeler alongside the Kobuk River where she lives in Ambler, Alaska, this Eskimo child is one of a population of 307 in this remote village of North Alaska. If she comes to faith in Christ it will likely be through the ministry of a Georgia Baptist couple, Paul and Glenda Worsham.

Recently, in answer to God’s call, Paul and Glenda resigned from their ministry at the Oak Grove Baptist Church in Moultrie to go to Alaska as Missionary Service Corps missionaries with the North American Mission Board. I just returned from Alaska where I had the joy of staying with Paul and Glenda in their home and preaching in the one-room log church building next door.

I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the area surrounding Ambler. Paul rode me on the back of his four-wheeler up to a ridge about two miles from their home where we could see miles and miles of ranges and snow capped mountains. It is a magnificent area where a herd of nearly 100,000 caribou roam freely. It’s not unusual to see a moose or grizzly and black bears feeding in the area around the village or even in the yards of the residents.

My trip to Ambler came as a result of the ministry of John and Terri Forrester, also Georgia Baptists who responded to God’s call to Alaska. While serving as associational missionary for the Middle Baptist Association in Sylvania, Georgia, John led his association to participate in our Georgia/Alaska partnership a few years ago by taking teams of volunteer missionaries from the association to do short-term mission projects in Alaska. Through these experiences, God touched John and Terri Forrester’s heart for missions in Alaska.

Subsequently, John was appointed a North American Mission Board missionary to serve in Kotzebue, Alaska, which is located on the northwest coast. John serves as pastor of First Baptist Church Kotzebue and also has the responsibility of overseeing four mission churches located along the Kobuk River. These churches reach out as far as 220 miles northeast of Kotzebue.

Ambler is one of these villages and is located 150 miles from Kotzebue. During my visit to these northern regions of Alaska, I had the privilege of preaching a revival meeting at First Baptist Church Kotzebue and then flew to Ambler where I preached a second series of revival services.

Along with this article are pictures of Paul and Glenda Worsham standing outside the one-room, log, church house at Ambler and John and Terri Forrester standing in the kitchen of the fellowship hall at First Baptist Church Kotzebue. After the Sunday morning worship service at First Baptist Kotzebue, I enjoyed a covered dish luncheon with the church family in the fellowship hall.

For the first time, I had the opportunity to eat caribou. The associate pastor’s wife prepared caribou in a crock-pot for the luncheon. It was absolutely delicious! It tasted just like pot roast that you might cook in your crock-pot at home. The meat is relatively low in cholesterol and had no wild taste to it whatsoever.

I very much enjoyed this special opportunity to fellowship with the church family at First Baptist Kotzebue. There are some wonderful people in the church and the warm spirit and enthusiasm of the congregation represent the gracious leadership and ministry of John and Terri Forrester. It was also a joy to be with John Mark once again. John Mark is the son of John and Terri and seems to have made the adjustment to life in Alaska very well.

When I reached Kotzebue having left Atlanta, Georgia earlier that day, I went through a cultural adjustment. Kotzebue is a small village of 3,100 people and an hour-and-a-half jet ride from Anchorage. It is a place where the Eskimo people continue to fish and hunt as they have for centuries.

Many of their customs remain the same. Some still speak no English but communicate in their Eskimo language. There are no highways that lead in and out of Kotzebue. The village is reached by air or by boat. It is not a place that you drive to or from.

From Kotzebue, I flew to Ambler, which was an hour’s ride by a small plane. Upon landing in Ambler, I was met by Paul Worsham at the airport. He loaded my bags and me on his four-wheeler and we took off for the house. Shortly after arriving we took a walk through the village. After a little less than one hour, we had pretty much seen the sights and returned to the house. Ambler can be reached only by boat, air, or four-wheeler in the summer time. There are no roads in or out of the village.

In the winter, travel is by snowmobile or airplane. There is a distinct feeling of remoteness to this village. Glenda Worsham puts it this way, “At Ambler, we are two airplane rides away from the nearest Wal-Mart.” That is absolutely true. If you needed to go to a Wal-Mart, you would fly from Ambler in a small plane to Kotzebue where you would board a 737 jet and fly an hour-and-a-half to Anchorage. Then you could go to Wal-Mart.

When one does have the opportunity to shop, it takes a lot of thinking ahead and planning because you can’t simply run back out to the store if you forget something. There is a small hardware store at Ambler. Also in the hardware store is a local restaurant, which amounts to a grill and about six or seven tables. The hardware store is referred to as “The Lodge.”

The restaurant part of the operation was not open for business while I was in town because the lady who normally does the cooking had just flown out to visit family in the lower 48. Therefore, the restaurant was closed, and Glenda prepared all of our meals in the kitchen at the house.

I was so grateful for the wonderful hospitality provided by the Forresters and the Worshams. These are two outstanding Georgia Baptist families who have responded to the call of God to serve in Alaska. I thought to myself several times that this is what our Georgia Baptist Convention is all about. We are made up of wonderful believers in Christ who are ready to go wherever the Lord leads and do whatever God calls us to do.

Going across the country or around the world to be involved in a volunteer mission project is not only a blessing for the moment for you and for those who receive your ministry, it may also be the way through which God intends to call you to the mission field. How thankful I am for John, Terri, and John Mark Forrester and for Paul and Glenda Worsham as they have exemplified for all Georgia Baptists what it means to be completely open to God’s call wherever that may lead.

I encourage you to keep the Forresters and the Worshams in your prayers. Perhaps God will lead you to go on a mission trip to Kotzebue or Ambler or some other place in the world where there are people who need to know that God loves them and has expressed His love in a remarkable way through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.