God's timetable

Not ready to retire, David joined OM. “I believe God has continuing purposes for our lives, including into our latter years,” David says.

David (UK) would say he is just an ‘ordinary Christian’, living out his faith in and out of the working environment. “At the age of five, I committed my life to Jesus very simply, was baptised in a pool in a garden with our house church aged 13. Since then, my Christian faith has developed and deepened. I have worked in the business world for over 25 years and for a church in Manchester, UK, for the last 20.”

Not ready to retire yet, David decided to put his experience and work skills in the service of OM in 2023?and now works?alongside Paul Wheatley, OM in the Caribbean team leader, as Operations Director — “The same job title that?‘happened to be’ the one I was about to retire from with LifeChurch,” he shared.

David believes that God’s timing is evident in bringing him into OM at this point. “Many mission organisations obviously value the contribution of those who have already had a career and are officially coming to the end of their working life — but still have energy, gifts and experience to bring to the table,” he said. "I was pleased to hear that OM welcome those over 65 — like me!"

“I believe God has continuing purposes for our lives, including into our latter years,” David continued.?“He doesn’t just ‘finish’ with us, [Romans 8:28] but partners with us, in many avenues of service for Him to build His Kingdom here on earth, through vibrant communities of Jesus followers. My main motivation is to serve Him in the context of my job and life experience. And the Caribbean is not unfamiliar to my wife and me. We have visited it a number of times — just not worked there!”

David is quietly pleased but somewhat surprised by God’s direction. Having spent his early years in Italy with missionary parents who left the UK to live and work in Tuscany with the Italian churches, he is familiar with living outside his native land. “I did wonder whether there was an opening with OM in Italy,” he explained, “as I speak Italian and am familiar with the culture. But God clearly had other ideas, and working alongside Paul seemed a good place to offer my skills as an older, work-seasoned individual. I hope I can enable the team?to be better equipped to do the work God is calling His Jesus followers in the Caribbean to do. If I can play a small part in that, I'll be pleased.”

God's faithfulness was always evident

David was always clear about the message of God’s love from a young age, even when sent to boarding school in the UK. “It gave me a good education after my local Italian school,” he said appreciatively. “Many of my friends had parents living abroad in other countries as Jesus followers, so I wasn’t unusual. The environment also helped deepen my faith; sadly, some of my schoolmates arrived with a faith and left having lost it. I did feel the testing, but that helped me grow spiritually. I had times when I had to make certain decisions to persist despite the challenges around me. But I did also have people around me who encouraged me — even the pastor of our home church took a personal interest in me. Now in his late eighties, we are still in touch,” David smiled.

As David looks back over his career in business, he can clearly see God’s leading — even when he was made redundant from multi-national company-restructuring. God brought about new job opportunities, working for smaller companies with a broader range of tasks within his job description than formerly. This enabled David to expand his skillset, which benefited him later when working in a church context. “I was never unemployed for long. God took good care of us, equipped me for new jobs?and enabled me via new networks to organise events for up to 2,000 people. It was fun but kept me busy, too!”

David is quietly taking up his new challenge to serve, listen and enable OM in the Caribbean, just as the team looks forward to God’s blessing on their future steps together in mobilising His people for His world

Where is God calling you to? Could your next step be a role with OM? Find out what opportunities are available: om.org/opportunities