The N* family is moving north to serve among the North African and Middle Eastern people groups in New York City.
Jamie, who formerly served as the cross-cultural strategist for the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, his wife Jessica and their four children – Sam, Lottie, Livian and Madeleine – left on Monday to follow God’s call to minister in the Empire City, specifically in Queens.
On Sunday, their sending church, The Summit in Saline County, held a commissioning service and prayed over the family as they prepared to embark on this new journey.
“The Lord has called us to New York City to see the Kingdom advanced among people of North Africa and the Middle East,” Jamie told the congregation. “There are over a million and a half Muslims from those nations living across the metro area. … They come from parts of the world where the church is persecuted, access to missionaries is very limited and the consequences and the cost are extremely high for doing what we do in those places. But God seemingly continues to open the back door for those people to come within earshot of the gospel.”
When explaining the “why?” of this move, Jamie referenced Romans 10: 13–15, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.”
Missions always on the mind
From the beginning, Jamie and Jessica had missions on their radar. It was always an option, but the timing never seemed right.
“We never felt the Lord’s release, but He was always giving us opportunity to work with internationals wherever we lived – North Carolina, Texas, and Arkansas,” Jamie said.
That changed during the pandemic. One day, while sitting in the stillness of their backyard, Jamie said he and Jessica almost simultaneously looked at one another and said, “I think, now, we’re supposed to go.” A verse that came to their mind at the time was Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
The couple started praying, asking God where He wanted them to go. They knew they wanted to minister to the people groups of North Africa and the Middle East but did not yet know where.
The Ns* looked at international missions and even started the application process, but in 2022 they decided the Lord was telling them to remain in the states.
“We started praying all throughout the U.S. and Canada. We prayed about Montreal and Toronto. Detroit has more Arabs than anywhere else on the continent,” Jamie said. “We put New York on our prayer list just kind of out of obligation. We knew some people there. It’s kind of a big deal city. We should pray about it.”
Negotiating
The Ns* were leaning toward making the move to Detroit.
“We really thought we were going house hunting in Michigan. We thought this made total sense,” he said. But they could not leave behind the idea of New York.
“We tried negotiating with God. We said, OK, what if we just stay at the ABSC and we’ll spend our summers bringing our kids up to New York and getting involved in the work there. He wouldn’t release us from there,” Jamie said.
“We had a laundry list of reasons no, but we had the name of Jesus saying, ‘I am worth it all.’”
So, in the beginning of 2023, the Ns* committed to New York and began working on a plan.
“We had to spend time figuring out logistics on what it looked like to move. How do we fundraise? Jobs? What do we do there? And then how do we stay connected to the broader SBC family once we are there? … And the Lord just created little ways for all that stuff,” Jamie said.
The Ns* are being sent by their home church, The Summit Church Saline, as long-term global engage field workers, and Jamie is endorsed by the North American Mission Board as an evangelism catalyst for Send Network in New York City.
“Like IMB, we’ll do evangelism and discipleship, training Arab people how to plant churches and raise up leaders so they can do the task,” Jamie said. “Our focus will be mobilizing the Southern Baptist family in New York City to minister cross culturally.”
Prayers
Jamie said they’re asking for three main prayers.
- A thriving home – Pray for their family, especially their kids, to abide in Christ, thrive in life and delight in serving the Lord together.
- Open doors – Pray for the 1.5 million Muslims across New York City and more than 200,000 from the Middle East and North Africa to hear, believe, and advance the Gospel.
- Strategic partnerships – Pray for more prayer warriors, called out laborers, financial partners and a unified team that glorifies God as they all do their part.
For updates on the N* family and ways to partner with them visit here.
*Name changed for security reasons.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Mary Alford and originally published by Arkansas Baptist News.
