richard tucker

8/13/2019 Richard Tucker

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Its amazing what one picture can do! - Richard Tucker

Growing up in a Christian home I always had an awareness of overseas mission. Some of my relatives had

even been missionaries. However, I dont know that I ever consciously thought I would end up being one. I

had all sorts of other plans for being a microbiologist or an electronic engineer.

When I was about 16 I really sold out for God. It wasnt enough for me to be the son of Christian parents.

This had to mean something for me. I got baptised. The subsequent years were very formative especially

my time at Imperial College in London where I studied Physics. It was whilst I was there that God got my

attention for world mission.

I thought that during my first outrageously long summer break I ought to do something worthy and

started looking into going to France with OM to do street work. But it didnt grab me. However, one

reasonably ordinary evening at the CU, a guy from AIM was speaking and he brought along a pile of

magazines from World Horizons. My room mate and I picked one up and were transfixed by a picture ofsome guys sitting on top of an old Bedford army truck roaring through the desert amidst billows of sand.

It looked brilliant fun. Forget doing something worthy! How cool would a four-week overland trip to the

deserts of North Africa be?!!

So four of us from Imperial signed up for the trip. We went over to Llanelli for a preparation weekend.

World Horizons in those days was in its infancy. Mechanics fixing up trucks. People praying in money to

buy buildings. Nights out on the beach. Being amongst such a vibrant, faith-filled group of people was

inspiring.

The trip itself was no picnic and definitely not for the faint hearted! Four weeks in the back of an old army

truck with a group of smelly students suffering from the trots is not a package holiday. But once we hit

North Africa it was all worthwhile. That first night sleeping out under the stars listening to the insects was

magical. I had never experienced such a different culture. The place looked different, it tasted different (I

love spicy North African food), it sounded different and it certainly smelled different! Something about it

got under my skin. There is no substitute for experiencing something at first hand.


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A few days later we hiked up into the Atlas Mountains to

sleep out under the stars. We perched on a ledge high up

above the valley below. As the sun set we could see the lights

of the Berber villages below beginning to come on one by

one. As darkness descended the stars above were awesome.

What an incredible universe! As we sat down together the

trip leader began to speak. I remember him talking about

the hold that Islam had on the people around about us and

the challenge of bringing the Good News to them. Each one

of these lights you can see in the valley below represents a

Muslim who has never heard about Jesus. And who will go

and tell them? In the darkness I knew that God was speaking

to me. Who would go, if I wouldnt? Several days later sitting

on the side of a very hot, dry wadi (valley) I remember

writing in my diary: If God wants me to come to North Africa

to plant churches, I will do it. And that was it. From thatmoment on I knew that I was coming back to North Africa.

And I did. Not once but many times.

I kept in contact with World Horizons after I got home and often went to Llanelli, enjoying the madcap

atmosphere of reckless faith. The next year I recruited some others from Imperial to form a team. We

travelled back to North Africa in another truck and spent days trekking up a river valley praying and

trying to share our faith in awful French! I dont know if any of them learnt anything but we learnt an

amazing amount about faith. Faith for food, faith for transport, even faith for a place to sleep!

Over the next few years I got involved in leading many small teams out to North Africa from colleges andmy church. God did some wonderful things and we even saw a few people get saved which was brilliant.

However, it was eight years after that first short term trip until I finally moved to North Africa.

God had a lot to do in me before I was ready to go. I needed to re-establish strong links with my home

church and get leadership experience. I also got married and together we did a years course in church

planting based on Cyprus. It seemed like a long time to wait but God knows best and it was worth the wait.

When we finally moved out to North Africa it wasnt with World Horizons but with Frontiers (not New

Frontiers as some of you are thinking)! Although we were being sent out by our church as a church project,


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When we finally moved out to North Africa it

wasnt with World Horizons but with Frontiers

(not New Frontiers as some of you are thinking)!

Although we were being sent out by our

church as a church project, we knew that weneeded the experience of others to help us if

we were going to survive in a hostile, Islamic

environment. Frontiers in common with

other agencies, has a wealth of experience in

supporting people in some of the most difficult

places on earth.

We spent ten years living in North Africa and

although there were hard times we never

regretted our decision to move there and raiseour daughter there. I worked as an English

language teacher. During that time we were

privileged to see a lot of fruit as we worked

with many others for people to come to faith

and churches to be planted. Today the church in North Africa is still small but it is growing and in some parts is

thriving. Certainly a different situation to the one I first encountered over 20 years ago. And to think that I have

played just a small part in that is amazing.

At the moment we are back in the UK and are leading a church in the southwest of England in addition to

having a leadership role in Frontiers. We still have a passion for Muslims and world mission. We pray that we

will never lose that. Looking back at that first taste of mission in North Africa its strange to think that it all came

from picking up a magazine from a CU bookstall! It s funny how God works and speaks.

So next time you pick up some literature - beware! It could be the start of an incredible journey into Gods plan

for your life.

WITH LOVE AND RESPECT,

INVITING ALL MUSLIM PEOPLES TO FOLLOW JESUS

web: www.frontiers.org.uk tel: 0303 333 5051 email: [email protected]
http://www.frontiers.org.uk/http://www.frontiers.org.uk/

richard tucker

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