Together, the newest group of emeriti who gathered at International Mission Board’s annual Celebration of Emeriti near Richmond, Virginia, April 27–May 1, represent 1,818 years of service. They didn’t reach that milestone alone.
Among the 65 new emeriti who came to Virginia were Mick and Dalese Stockwell, who spent 30 years as IMB missionaries in Ukraine and Czech Republic.
Mick remembers feeling overwhelmed in the first years of their service in Ukraine. He stood atop a hill, overlooking a sprawling city of nearly 2 million people. When the sun shone over that hill onto the concrete apartment buildings, he said it looked like the fields “white for harvest” (John 4:35).
Mick and Dalese were the only IMB missionaries there at that time. How could they alone reach even part of this city, much less every building?
Mick prayed, “Lord, we can’t do this. But I believe that you can.”
That’s when something shifted for the Stockwells. They began focusing on empowering local partners, who proved incredibly effective in reaching their own people. They started working with volunteers from the U.S., who came to Ukraine to help with the work. Mick said he still considers them close friends today.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Emily Hall and originally published by the International Mission Board.
