The Scripture says that
God knows the end from the beginning. Joanne and I sure didn’t
have a clue what trajectory our lives would take when we went to Brazil
40 years ago. We did the normal missionary thing
of that day and went into the jungle and started a church and school. Shortly
thereafter we found ourselves in the City of Belo Horizonte directing the
first city wide crusade ever held, in what was then Brazil’s 3rd
or 4th largest city. This led to coordinating citywide crusades for
the Billy Graham Association. Our first child was born during this
period.
We came back to the U.S., spent a year at the School of World Mission at Fuller seminary and Joined OC Ministries where we served in Sao Paulo with the same team for almost 10 more years. Two more children came into our family during those years.
During that period we taught Church Growth principles, lectured in Seminaries, and served as consultant to various Brazilian and International missional entities. Toward the end of our 14 year Brazilian experience I served as the associate crusade director for Billy Graham’s crusade in Rio - the largest stadium crusade ever held. There were 130,000 people inside the stadium and perhaps 30,000 more on the outside.
As the PCA was being formed we became a part of that exciting pilgrimage. About a year or so later I was asked to direct Mission to the World, the mission arm of the Presbyterian Church in America. Joanne and I served in that capacity for 10 years. It was a time of great growth - personally, as a family, and as a mission.
An unexpected turn of events came when Leighton Ford, President of the Lausanne Committee on World Evangelization, invited us to come serve the global world evangelization movement as the Chief Operations Officer of this international movement. Our time with Lausanne came to a close in 1998 with a congress held in Manila, Philippians for 4,500 Evangelical leaders from almost 200 countries. Coordinating this project was a great privilege.
For the past 14 years Jo and I have had the awesome joy to serve the leadership of over 100 U.S. based missions. These agencies represent over 20,000 fellow Americans serving God around the globe. This position draws on all our 40 years of missionary experience - from church planting in the jungles of Brazil, to guiding our denominations mission program, to directing large events, and consulting with ministries on how to increase their capacity for World Evangelization. When we started out the type of ministry for which we are now responsible was not even on our cognitive maps. Our career in mission has been an exhilarating, ever expanding discovery of God’s plan for our lives.
Paul E. McKaughan
Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies
4201 North Peachtree Road
Suite #300
Atlanta, GA 30342
770-457-6677
paulmckaughan@csi.com