Where he calls you, he will lead you

Twanna Henderson: Welcome to T Time: Spiritual Conversations For, With and About Women. I'm your host, Twanna Henderson and as always, I want to remind you to like this broadcast, and to definitely share it with someone in your life. Well, I have a very special guests and new friend with us on today. Today's guest is Jennifer Frakes. Jennifer and her husband, Tom live in the greater Orlando region, where they serve with Converge Caribbean, where they help to connect pastors and believers in the United States with Converge Caribbean churches for mutual benefit. Jennifer's perspectives and ideas reflect travel to 26 nations, and also months and at times years of living in India, China, England and the Dominican Republic. The Lord led Jennifer to leave a professional career and say yes to the Lord's call to India, and has been in ministry for nearly 30 years. Jennifer earned her master's degree in biblical theology from Wheaton College, and she has a radio program entitled Family Values Forum, which received the United Way's Casper Award. She and Tom have two teenage daughters, aging parents and two granddoggies. And Jennifer is one who has witnessed miracles in prayer. Jennifer, Welcome to T Time.

Jennifer Frakes: Thank you, Twanna. I'm so happy to be with you today.

Twanna Henderson: Well, it's good to have you and I'm so glad that we got this opportunity to connect because we met and we just kind of connected and so I'm just so excited about you sharing on today. Now, I shared in your bio that you left a professional career to say yes to the Lord's call. Tell us what your career was and what the Lord revealed to you about himself, and about his personal call to India.

this time in my life, it was: 1994

Twanna Henderson: Yeah. And so what was it? What was it that, you know, what was the turning point? What was that thing that, you know, caused you to say this, yes? And you know, and what were you saying yes to?

You know, I went to India in: 1985

Twanna Henderson: I love that.

Jennifer Frakes: And he's confirmed it through the years even one site. The church in India, when I finally went leaving on April Fool's Day, sometimes we're fools for Christ. You know this little Indian girl came, and the pastor had said, we're gonna serve the drug addicts and the prostitutes, the down and out of the streets of India. I said, I love this. And I said, I'm giving you everything in my wallet. And the little Indian girl came up afterwards, she said, auntie, auntie, I found this in the offering plate. And it was my little passport size photo. And the Lord reminded me, you gave everything in your wallet. And you gave this photo because that offering is you and I want your life.

Twanna Henderson: Wow.

Jennifer Frakes: Maybe somebody out there can hear that right now.

Twanna Henderson: Oh, my goodness, that is amazing. So how long were you actually in India?

Jennifer Frakes: It was over the course of 14 years, we took a break, where my husband got his master's in theology and we switched organizations a time so but it was over the course of 14 years.

Twanna Henderson: So talk to us about just that journey. I mean, what you were there and then did you decide that your assignment so to speak was up? Or Did something happen to cause you to just finally leave? Or what? How did you, you know, when did you actually leave there? And what was that like?

Jennifer Frakes: Yeah, I feel like I'm having a cup of masala chai with you right now in your T time.

Twanna Henderson: We are, we are.

Jennifer Frakes: Next time your are coming for one. Yeah, so we had a house church along with helping train pastors and an after school tutoring where we helped Indian, Muslim and Hindu kids get their homework done in a safe environment. So one time there was a neighbor that took land that didn't belong to him, and at increasingly high rents rented it out to people in the village. And then there was a, they were in need and in debt. And they brought water buffaloes that were not supposed to squat on this property and it created a health hazard for my family, because the mosquitoes and flies could carry diseases. So when we intervened and told our landlord, it created a false accusation that we were forcing conversions, which wasn't at all true. And because of that, suddenly, we had to leave our country. Immediately our home of 12 and a half years, it was a heartbreaking time but I had to stuff those emotions. And maybe people can relate to that where you have to get a job done, and you can't let your feelings out. But maybe like a pressure cooker they'll pop out for one minute, you know, 30 seconds, and then you're back to work. So we had to leave and I had to pack up in little small carry on suitcases and give everything away. And a song. You'll Never Imagine the Freedom You Find From the Things You Leave Behind, really touched my heart, Michael Card Song. But that day at church, it was just a matter of hours and sleeplessness to get out of there fast. But there was a giant world map in front of my eyes in worship at church and the Lord just took that giant map of India and shrunk it down to its place in a world map. So now India was part of the vision you have for me, but it was something that was broadened now to include India, but it was to be to the to the world. I didn't know what that meant but it freed me so I didn't feel like I was being disobedient to the Lord by leaving but that his presence would go with me to the next place.

Twanna Henderson: Yeah. Oh my goodness. That's amazing. So what guidance did you receive when you left there? I mean, just you know, you packed up and all these carry on bags. And just left?

blic, which we did January of: 2020

Twanna Henderson: Now, I'm sure that with the whole India transition, that that had to be traumatic. I mean, as you said, I mean, it was just sort of like picking up your life and it just goes to show with ministry a lot of times that they are challenges that we have to encounter. How has the Lord inspired you to overcome challenges that you faced in ministry?

Jennifer Frakes: That is a great question Twanna and I hope that in my heart to the listeners heart that I can provide some encouragement that we can do it, we can do it together, the Lord does not want us to be isolated. He wants us to be together and we all go through trauma and trials. And we can help each other overcome by His grace and power. So for me, I've spent a lot of time living in James chapter one, Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kind, because the testing of your faith develops perseverance. You know that one. And perseverance must finish its work that we may be two things, mature and complete, not lacking anything. He'll give us wisdom but I found that when I face challenges and trials that I don't want, and I wouldn't wish on anyone, even my, you know, somebody that would feel like an enemy for a slice of time in life, I wouldn't wish my trials on them. But in those trials, the Lord is with me, he is my comforter, my counselor, and he will walk me through them so that I can be mature and complete. And as I have learned, to mature Twanna, emotionally, that's been a huge development for us, that, that to learn to quiet my negative emotions and return to joy, and to learn to appreciate. To learn that God is with us and for us. And that when we get so that our joy is purified, our heart is pure like that happens when the heat, you know, the heat tests, the gold and the silver and the impurities come out. When people when we feel as women like we're being pressed down heavy and hard, and it just feels like I can't let another thing be shaken. The earth underneath me quakes and I don't want to have this ground move. I want stability. Well, if we can remember that God is stable, he cannot be changed. He is faithful and allow the things that can be shaken to be shaken. So what cannot be shaken may remain. And that to me is the miracle and beauty of pure joy. Consider it pure joy, when the purity of our joy can not be shaken and that is in Christ.

Twanna Henderson: Yeah, I love that. I love that because we do all experience those challenges and those times of shaking, you know, and, you know, that's kind of the time we've got to have that unshakable faith and it can be hard, it can be difficult. But you're so true. That's where we find that joy. You know, I know that now you're in Florida. Tell us a little bit more about your Converge district and what it is that you appreciate about the greater Caribbean region.

Jennifer Frakes: All right. Well, the Converge Caribbean is part of the MSC district which is the Mid America, Southeast and Converge district. I mean, sorry, Mid America, Southeast and Caribbean district. So the Caribbean is a region that has many different nations. And it includes the Central American region with Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua, and also the tip of South America, Venezuela and Colombia but then all of the islands. There are 40 million plus diverse peoples in the Caribbean, and the languages of French, Spanish, Creole, English and many others, including Hindi and smaller areas. But the countries are so diverse because of the Africa and Europe and Asian peoples that live there. So there's socio economic diversity, there's cultural diversity, whether we're talking about Cuba, or Haiti or the Dominican Republic, Antigua, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, all of the St. Croix and the islands cernium and Guiana. And so we have in Belize, we have Converge churches, many people don't know that there are Converge churches in these islands that want to connect, you know that your program your ministry is bridges. And of course, we can't build a bridge that is that long, but we can through the internet. We can through air mail and through visiting. So I love the diversity. I'm a theologian, and the differences in the theology and the cultures, I love to learn, I love interacting with a variety of women and people in the Caribbean. It's not just this stunning scenery, but it's the people that live there and their vibrancy, their resiliency, amidst natural disasters or their creativity. When you get inside, you know, you're in another country.

Twanna Henderson: Yeah. Well, I know you lived in the Dominican Republic for a short while, how has your heart grown, to care about women in the Caribbean, and more broadly, the mission and vision of Converge Caribbean?

Jennifer Frakes: Well, as a woman, I am a daughter, I'm a wife, I'm a mother, I'm a neighbor, a friend, I'm a servant of the Lord and these women are those things too. And so we have a lot in common, and the relationships that are important to us. And for the women who serve the Lord, sometimes their testimonies like people in Haiti who have come out of voodoo. So in the Dominican Republic, prostitution is legal but abortion is illegal.

Twanna Henderson: Oh, wow.

Jennifer Frakes: So you have a lot of challenging situations where the international tourism can come in and take advantage of the poverty of the local people in ways that can devastate marriages or families or just, you know, rob, the local people from some of the dignity that God wants them to have. And so in some ways, the, the women are very tough, because they're able to deal without some of the comforts that we might have here. But they enjoy what they have and they're smart. They see through pretension, and they have to sometimes work a lot harder for some of the things that might come easier in America. School systems that that they feel confident, you know, and so I really feel like when I've been isolated whether it's been in a village in India, or you know, when we had forced masks and forced curfew and the island was shut down during COVID, I understand how it feels to be isolated, you know, cut apart from your, cut away from friends, family, churches, neighbor, in neighborhood language. And I think that on the islands that people, women especially would enjoy the diversity of fellowship with people from abroad.

Twanna Henderson: Yeah, you know, and it lets me know that there are just so many ways that we can, you know, just do more and more ministry, you know, with women, you know, of different cultures that we haven't even really thought about. You know, our theme, or slogan, if you will for Converge is better together. Tell us where the Lord is working through Converge partnerships in the greater Caribbean region that shows that we are better together?

Jennifer Frakes: Yes. So we had the chance during COVID, to host training for pastors and their wives. And we did some marriage seminars, and they just loved joyfilled, marriage luncheons that we had. And it was so wonderful to, to see how they already knowing the language and already knowing the local culture and their neighbors, they were able to become equipped with their own story, how to craft their own testimony of how they came to Christ, the transformation they've experienced and how they can use even just that, as a ministry tool. Their own god given fingerprint, their spiritual fingerprint their history with Jesus, and how they could take the Gospel into their own neighborhoods. And so we saw as my husband was training the leaders because other mission teams couldn't get onto the island because we stayed, we had access to these amazing pastors and worship leaders and women leaders in the church. And they heard each other's stories at length, and they learned together how they could make an impact. So we saw, for example, one group of Haitian Dominicans that multiplied from 19, I'm sorry, one group, one church became 19 churches during this Timothy training, and 26 trainees became 383 trainees.

Twanna Henderson: Oh, my goodness!

eventually, eventually led to: 2000

Twanna Henderson: Oh, wow.

Jennifer Frakes: And in Haiti, we have 300 churches that are affiliated with Converge. We have churches in Cuba and in Mexico, in the Virgin Islands, and Belize. So we're better together when everyone is listening to the Lord and the Lord is orchestrating partnerships. And he says, your gifts can be matched up with this need, and be ready to be ministered to, in the process, because you're gonna reach people who are also mature in the Lord.

Twanna Henderson: Yeah, I love that. I love that, you know, and I'm sure that a lot of our listeners, particularly those who are connected with Converge, may not have been familiar with Converge Caribbean. I mean, I wasn't until you and I met. And so how can listeners get involved in upcoming trips, whether their short term trips or long term missions. How can they get involved with Converge Caribbean?

Jennifer Frakes: Well, that's a great question. Of course, we're very eager to have the Lord raise up servants that are ready to go into the Caribbean. And you know, it's not wrong to say, well, I would like to be connected to an island nation. I mean, there's nothing to feel guilty about. I mean, God made this part of the world. But the reality is, there are tremendous needs, and we need God to raise up people to help. So we're looking for career missionaries who can base in the United States, and then they can travel to these locations and help to put on medical clinics or training up of leaders in discipleship. They're so interested in the Caribbean to have women's conferences. They don't get very many of them and we had the ability not just to help start new churches but to strengthen existing churches and we're very eager to do that as part of our vision at converge Caribbean. So how can, how can women help to start, strengthen and sustain catalytic churches and transformational leaders? How can they help to do that? So if you are a listener and your're a women's ministry leader or a pastor's wife, or you're a motivated member of a church that you think, well, you know, I really have a burden for this particular country and I wonder how I might be able to get my church on board, or how I might be able to get on board. So what you could do is you can look up on the Converge website, the MidAmerica, Southeast and Caribbean district website, you can go there and send an informational inquiry, or you can, so you can contact. The thing to do would be to go through Converge Caribbean and say, I'm interested in exploring as an individual, or as a women's ministry of our church or as a church, how can we maybe adopt a church and have a mutually beneficial relationship with a particular church and find out what their needs are? So I would say the first place to start would be to pray and to ask the Lord, if there's no clear like, Okay, this is where I would be called to serve, just say, like I did in the beginning of our time. You know, I'll go anywhere, Lord, I'll do anything. I choose to follow your plan. I trust you. That's what the women of the Bible did. That's what the Lord wants us to do today, right? That's what you do every day in your role as director of bridges, you are following the Lord's plan, and you're opening yourself up to the Lord. And he's using you mightily. And it's exciting. It's exciting to see. So each person can be empowered to make an impact. And it may be for them and maybe Trinidad, it may be Belize, it may be so there are different levels of involvement. I think it's also part of, if it's a level one, it might be like the Bahamas, or or Belize, if it's if it's a more difficult because of language like the Dominican Republic, you need to know Spanish, or if it's more difficult because of government and riots and things, Haiti might be a level three or level five and intensity. So you have to figure okay, you're a doctor and your services would be needed but I don't want to go at that level because I have kids at home. So I think that all of those questions can be sorted out with kind of the help with Converge Caribbean leadership. Ernie Cabrera is our is our Converge Caribbean director or Gary Rohrmayer is the head of our district. So they can give a lot of guidance. But we have some definite upcoming trips to the Dominican Republic and Haiti that people can get on board with those and Mexico. There's a lot happening in Mexico.

Twanna Henderson: Yeah, that sounds good. I think I'm probably a level one person.

Jennifer Frakes: You know, you gottta get on first base if you're gonna get a home run, you know?

Twanna Henderson: know I gotta start on first base. But I think people can probably start at the converge.org website and look for Converge Caribbean from there, I believe, it sounds like. So well, before we wrap up, this has been so good. I've so enjoyed this and I've learned so much. I would love for you to just pray. Just take a few minutes and just pray for our Caribbean partnerships and for those listeners who may be wrestling with their own yes to the Lord. Can you just take a few moments to do that?

Jennifer Frakes: Sure.

Twanna Henderson: Thank you.

Jennifer Frakes: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Lord, You are so worthy. You gave your blood for your church. You laid down your life for us for each one of us, Lord, that we are of an inestimable, value and worth in your eyes. Thank you that you know who we are and you cover us with your righteousness, with your grace and mercy so that we are before your eyes, we bring you joy and we can look to you and know that we are joyful to you. And we can be filled up with that love that God loves me. God loves me he gave everything for me and what do you want me to give to you? We can trust you Lord, we can let what can be shaken, be shaken so what can not be shaken may remain and Lord you can make women listening to our broadcast, Lord, you can make women to be like gems. They are different colors where the light of Christ can shine unhindered, beautifully through us. And Lord, I pray that whoever is listening and might feel like this is God challenging me to surrender myself to him. That Lord you would allow them in their heart of hearts, in that most holy place inside of them where sin can not stain, say, Lord, even in spite of it all. I choose your plan. And I trust you. There's no suffering that you won't be with me through it. There is no past that I can't redeem by your touch and grace. And so Lord, I pray that you would awaken the ears and the eyes of your servants, Lord, so that there would be no reservation, no condition. I would just say, Lord, Yes, Lord, yes. Whether single or praying for your husband and yourself as a couple that fully we surrender Lord. And whether it's a part time or a full time, yes, that it would be a lifestyle of transformation that Lord I was bought by your blood. I belong to you and I am headed toward heaven. I forget what's behind and press on heavenward in Christ because that day human reason my flawed human reason will be eclipsed by the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and we will see your face. So Lord, I pray for Converge to be ignited with the love of Christ. And I pray for the gospel that go forth, that you would give women listening the ability to say, Yes, Lord, Here am I send me and then the women in the Caribbean would be receiving and empowering and embracing and great friendships and partnerships and love would be mutually beneficial and used by your Glory for Your building up and sustaining of your church until you return Lord. Thank You for Twanna and her giftedness and her zeal and passion for you. And that she is serving and helping in these ways that are so beautiful and wonderful and amazing, Lord. Bless her, in Jesus name, amen.

Twanna Henderson: Amen. Well, Jennifer, thank you so much. And it was so good to see you again. To all of our listeners, thank you for joining us today. I'm Twanna Henderson. Be blessed of the Lord