PERSEVERANCE IN WORK AS GLOBAL MISSION

Jeremy was a freshman in our 2002 student summer program in China. It opened his eyes to serving overseas. He explored many options for going to China while serving on the missions committee of his home church. But nothing panned out. 

After working as a researcher for almost 5 years in Boston and Canada, Jeremy spent another 5 years in the UK to pursue his PhD in international development. 

TEACHING ETHICS & SUSTAINABILITY IN ACADEMIA

Six years ago, Jeremy was ready to come home when the Lord unexpectedly opened the door to work in Latin America, first as a post-doc and then as a professor of marketing doing research in public health and public policy, both at the country’s top two universities.

This enables Jeremy to have a redemptive Christian influence in a society permeated by corruption, as well as witness to students, colleagues, and staff, connecting them with the local faith community:

“In my classes, I emphasize ethics and sustainability in almost every session. This stems from everyone having value because they are made in God’s image and God has entrusted us to take care of this world. I also teach a class called Marketing for Social Change - where I teach business students to use their skills for good to help with campaigns that bring about positive change.”

SERVING THE UNDERPRIVILEGED IN THE FAITH COMMUNITY

Jeremy’s wife, Sarah, is also from the US and teaches English at the university. In addition to leading the Young Married Fellowship and a small group at church, Jeremy and his wife also advise the high school group.

Jeremy serves as a deacon and recently finished a 2-year stint as chair. During the pandemic, deacons have been in charge of helping families inside the church and 600+ families in the surrounding community:

“Students know that I am a deacon at the international church and lead the ministry with the underprivileged children. Colleagues and students have come to visit. We also ran an English-Spanish language exchange ministry at the church which was a draw for students and their families along with other English and Spanish learners. One student and her family became a part of the church.”

“YOU HAVE TO BE OKAY NOT KNOWING”

Jeremy’s journey has not been a smooth ride over the years. Twice, he bought tickets to go home:

“Honestly, sometimes it means you’re just lost. But you have to be okay not knowing and trusting that God has a plan. You do lots of praying and seeking advice from pastors, mentors, and professors. You look for opportunities. For me, opportunities have always been last minute…

“I don’t think I knew how hard it would be. But I remember watching this TED Talk that said: Picture yourself in 5 years. Who do you want to say you are? What do you want to say you tried? I wanted to say I tried to see if there was an opportunity. I wanted to learn Spanish. That’s why I came. It’s been 6 years now. And I’ve learned Spanish. And there have been opportunities.”

In the past year, perseverance has also meant fighting through health issues:

“Sarah had pain issues where it would suddenly hurt once a month, every two weeks--then every day. It’s made it so that she can’t work full-time. We weren’t used to going outside, but we had to see a lot of doctors. Overcoming fear to go get procedures done and still not finding an answer--it’s hard.

Sometimes you think if you do ministry and God’s work, your life is going to be fine. But we’re human. We live in a fallen world. It’s a lot of: Why is this happening? Is it going to end? I don’t know if there’s an answer. God is bigger than us. 

But we’re still here and we’re trying to make things work. For this season, we’re still needed and we like it here. We’re meeting back in person and organizing things again. And I feel like we’re making a difference in peoples’ lives.”

Jeremy and Sarah are with an organization that supports missional academics and are considered self-supporting missionaries for Jeremy’s home church. Due to health issues and other needs, they have recently started raising support and would love to share with others about their ministry. Please contact info@goliveserve.org for more info.