In an era of American Idols, Survivors, millionaires and reality role models, the name Joe Peterson means nothing.

That’s because Peterson, the former assistant basketball coach for Charleston Southern University, is not living his dream, but God’s, a humble choice void of fame and fortune.

At 27, Peterson walked away from his dream. He quit his job, placing his dream of being a college basketball coach on hold, sold all his personal belongings at a garage sale and followed God’s calling half way around the world to Mbita, Kenya in East Africa.

Mbita is a small fishing village off Lake Victoria in Kenya. Here’s are some facts about Kenya: The average life expectancy is 48 years old. Kenya is one of the ten most unequal societies in the world. It has the second worst income disparity in the entire world (10% of the population controls 42% of the income).

The poverty rate in Kenya is 50%, that’s one-half of the population. The AIDS pandemic is alarming. Over 30 million Africans, including 2.2 million people infected with HIV (14% of the population). The rate of infection is over 700 people a day. Currently, there are over 13 million children who have lost at least one parent to AIDS and 3.5 million children who have lost both parents to AIDS. In Kenya, there are over 1.1 million orphans because of this disease and half of the population is under the age of fifteen.

HIV/AIDS, it is not the only prevalent disease in the district. The three most prevalent diseases are: malaria, upper respiratory tract infection, and diarrhea. A staggering statistic is that the Doctor to Patient Ratio is 1 doctor for every 85,036 patients. There are three medical doctors in the entire district, one hospital and nine health centers.

This is what Peterson traded in his comfortable life for. Faith sometimes requires courage, the courage to have discipline to abstain from our own selfishness and personal desires. Faith requires stepping out of our personal comfort zone and into God’s will for our life.

“It’s not about me, it’s not about us … it’s about God and being part of what he’s doing,” Peterson said, confident in his choice. “We can think up, and dream up what we want to do for Him and what we think God wants us to do, but if we just get on board with what God is doing, he can use us to do amazing things.

“We can teach scripture, show them truth and be role models and examples but it’s God working in people’s hearts to change them and transform them,” he said. “Sometimes you just want so badly for someone to ‘get it’ and see their lives transformed but you can’t do it, I can’t do it. You can’t force people to make decisions … we have our own free will to choose to follow God or follow our own desires.”

Hearing God’s Voice

For many people, both seekers and those of faith, God’s voice is a mystery. But, as Peterson experienced, it may be a void in some of our lives, but it does exist.

“God still speaks to us today,” he says. “If you truly and honestly seek him, he will speak – and he will speak clearly to you. I think I knew that before, and I had heard that many times, but I hadn’t experienced it in a real way through that whole process. That was a huge faith-building experience. To experience how God just sees the ‘big picture’ and we can have such tunnel vision and just see such a small part of what’s really happening.

“We can have plans for our lives … as I look back on my life and see how my education, my experiences of the places I’ve lived, the people I’ve known, how all of that has prepared me for what I’m doing now,” said Peterson. “Even though, at the time I had no idea, no clue, no desire, God knew and God was preparing me all along for it.”

Peterson admitted he fought God’s will too. Admittedly, he struggled with the idea of living to satisfy his own dreams and desires.

“It wasn’t ever anything I wanted to do or planned to do,” said Peterson. “I meet a lot of missionaries over here [Kenya] that say, ‘I always wanted to serve in Africa, I always wanted to live in Kenya,’ but with me it wasn’t that way at all. I grew up wanting to be a professional basketball player, when I realized that wasn’t going to happen being 5-foot-9 and white, I decided I wanted to be a college basketball coach. So I was working towards that and I was working my way up the ladder.”

Christ Gift Academy, a mission team based in Kenya, had approached one of Peterson’s close friends about moving to Kenya to help build and grow the Christian mission efforts. That’s when God pointed his finger at Peterson.

“I was discipling him,” Peterson remembers. “He kept coming to asking, ‘How do I listen to God? How do I know God’s voice? I’ve never done this before, but I’m willing to do it if this is God’s will for me … but I don’t know!?’

“One night, he turned on me and said, “Joe, why don’t you go?’ I said, what are you talking about?,” he remembers. “This isn’t about me, it’s about you, I don’t want to go, Africa’s the last place I want to go, I’m a college basketball coach, I’m doing what I love to do, don’t ever say that again, that’s ridiculous.”

Peterson hung up the phone with the question piercing his heart, why not you?

“I was just sitting there, saying, ‘Wow, what just happened to me? Where did that come from?” he remembers.

Peterson did not want to pray about the idea, he didn’t want to think about Kenya, fearing his own prayers would confirm God’s call to serve – literally a world away. But the seed was planted.

The Bible says, Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of the Lord.

The next day Peterson attended a mission conference at Spartanburg Baptist Church. “They interviewed eight missionaries about life as a missionary,” remembers Peterson, “… and three of them were from Kenya.

“I just said to myself, ‘What is happening? What is this?’ At that point I said OK. God if this is you – and it’s pretty obvious it is – then I’m ready to start praying about it and if it’s really what you are calling me to do, I’m willing to do it.”

Visiting Kenya

Peterson contacted Jody Felty, a missions pastor at Seacoast Church in Mount Pleasant, where he to inquire about opportunities. Within a year, Peterson was on a plane for Kenya for a two-week mission trip.

“When I first arrived, it was just how I pictured Africa to be,” remembers Peterson. “Ladies walk around with big pots of water on their heads, there are mud huts, it’s just impoverished.

“After a few days, I remember thinking, I don’t know if I can do this … I don’t know if this is what God is calling me to do, but I don’t know if I can do this.” Peterson began praying, asking God in simple prayer, “Not my will but yours God.”

Judi Cochran, the administrator at Christ Gift Academy, met with Peterson in Mbita and shared the needs of the mission: a staff administrator, a teacher and a male role model for the children. Peterson’s spiritual gift is administration, his passion sports and teaching with a fire for sharing God’s word, Kenya was a perfect fit.

God knew it, now Joe knew it.

When God speaks, listen

Dan Rather once asked Mother Theresa, “What do you say to God when you pray?” Mother Theresa replied quietly, “I listen.” Rather asked, “Well, then, what does God say?” Mother Theresa smiled and said, “He listens.”

On his first day back in the U.S., Peterson opened the book Hearing God’s Voice by Henry Blackeby. “The first chapter, the subtitle reads, ‘Does God Really Call People to be Missionaries in Africa?’ I put the book down and though, God, you are speaking very clearly.”

Before bed, Peterson called Felty to tell her about his experience and plan. He remembers telling her, “I am going to fast for three days, pray, see God, hear his voice and confirm this is what he wants me to do.” Felty agreed to do the same.

The night was unusually restless for Peterson.

“I’m usually a very sound sleeper, but on this night I woke up at three in the morning,” recalls Peterson. “I sat up in bed and God just started speaking into my mind. I got out of bed and began journaling. He brought me to a couple passages in the Bible.”

Peterson opened to Ezekiel 2 …

And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me …”

Then, he turned to Matthew 25:35 …

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in …”

The next day Peterson began having doubts. “As I went through the day, I began having all these doubts,” he recalled. “Is this really God? How do I know it’s God? Just the normal doubts anyone would have when making a big decision like this.

“Then Jody Felty called and as soon as I told her what happened the night before, she stopped and said, ‘Joe, I woke up at the same time, I couldn’t get you off my mind. I just laid awake, praying for you, reading scriptures.’ She began sharing Ezekiel 2 with me and I was in awe … God is incredible. I doubt and He confirms.”

God’s will bears fruit

As television networks introduce another season of reality stars, Peterson is closing in on three years of serving the Lord in Mbita, Kenya, where the focus is on serving those in need.

Christ Gift Academy, the missionary sponsor for Peterson, is beginning to bear the fruit. In its infancy, the school served as a nursery, serving about 20 children. Today, through the work of the team’s mission work, the school serves 300 children and classes from kindergarten to eighth grade.

Peterson’s role has expanded too. He now serves as an administrator and in a leadership role for the school, scheduling and teaching Bible studies and Math. But there is still a lot of work to be done. “Unless something really dramatic happens, I feel like I’m going to be here a while longer,” Peterson said.

Following Peterson’s one-year commitment, he agreed to serve two more years, which officially ends at the end of 2006. For Peterson, that means a return to prayer and fasting, seeking God’s voice.

(as published in CSU Magazine)