Tim did not grow up looking like the obvious missionary candidate.
He has joked publicly that people who knew him in high school would have been shocked to hear that he would someday become a missionary. For years, his mental picture of missions was narrow: preachers, teachers, doctors, nurses, pilots, and airplane mechanics. He knew enough about himself to assume he did not belong on the list.
The category was too small
The problem was not that Tim needed to become more impressive before God could use him. The problem was that his picture of missionary service was too small.
A returning missionary began naming ordinary work that mattered on a missionary team: cutting lumber, building cabins, moving supplies, driving through difficult roads, maintaining property, and helping families remain where language learning and Bible teaching were happening.
Suddenly Tim could see connections to the work he already knew.
Willing before impressive
That did not eliminate training. Tim and Joan still spent years preparing biblically, relationally, culturally, and practically before long-term service.
But preparation began with a simpler realization: God was not waiting for them to become a different kind of person before they could take the first step.
Tim returns to this theme in his teaching because he still meets people who quietly assume missions belongs to someone more spiritual, more academic, more adventurous, or more obviously gifted.
The better question is not, “Do I already look like a missionary?”
It is, “Am I willing to let God use what He has placed in my life, and am I willing to prepare for whatever door He opens next?”