15
Taking a Leap of Faith

Sam and Jenny Webster

Sam was a chemical engineer by training who worked for a large chemical company. When his division was acquired by another company and jobs were being eliminated and restructured, he and his wife, Jenny, read a useful book called Halftime by Bob Buford. During the upheaval in his working world, they realized they really needed to be thinking about “second half” issues. The couple was moved by what they read, so they went away for the weekend to reflect and ponder their future. During that weekend they read Buford’s follow-up book, Game Plan, which included more practical and tactical life-planning tips.

Have you ever had a watershed moment like Sam and Jenny? Most of us have from time to time in our lives. That weekend they prayed, “God, what would you have us do next?” They spent time considering the future, looking at the past, seeing how God had gifted them and what passions he had given them. They wrote up a game plan that included moving to Atlanta, Georgia, for a new job that had been offered to Sam by the acquiring company. Although the plan they wrote up that weekend away had some additional bullet points they eventually wanted to pursue, they folded it up, put it into the book, and stuck it up on the shelf.

The Websters moved to Atlanta, where they worked for five more years. Sam had spent his thirty-year career in business leadership and technical management roles, and he loved his job. He kept right on working, though that plan tucked away in the Game Plan book was nudging at their subconscious minds. They could not forget what they had written and what they felt God had impressed on their hearts that weekend.

Their plan had suggested that, in 2009, they would change from full-time business to part-time business and part-time ministry, in an intentional way. But they didn’t know how that was going to happen. Toward the end of 2008, a friend of theirs who was in ministry in China, and whom they had been supporting for thirty years, wrote to them and said, “If you ever want to come to China and hang out with students, I have a place for you to stay.” Sam thought, I would love to do that, but I don’t know how to leave my busy job to go do it. God works in mysterious ways! Just a few months later, when Sam was laid off at age fifty-two due to another acquisition, he realized the opportunity had arrived.

Sam and Jenny pulled the Game Plan book off of the shelf, and realized that five years previously they had decided that in 2009 they would do something very different—and here they were in 2009 with the freedom to pursue something new. He wrote to his friend in China and said, “I’m in! When can I come?” He didn’t know how it was all going to fit together, but was willing to go and see what would happen. (Taking action and moving forward is always the best way to launch your encore.)

As Sam was preparing to go to China for a couple of weeks, he had a plan in mind. When he came back, he would look into several international opportunities that could be job options for him. Then he would lay them on the table before God, and ask him which to do. When he shared this plan with the pastor at his church, the pastor sat back and said, “Do you want to make God laugh?” “What do you mean?” asked Sam. “That is not how you deal with the Creator of the universe,” the pastor answered. “You don’t give the Creator three options and constrain him. What you should do is pray and ask God to put one thing on the table, and then ask him for the courage to obey.”

Sam thought that advice sounded very spiritual, but he didn’t know how to do what his pastor suggested. How does that really work in real life? he thought. And so he walked away that day a bit confused, but figured he would keep pursuing his new dream. Before long Sam was in China for a couple of weeks, and strange and amazing doors began to open. The friend he was visiting in China spent a lot of time at a local Chinese university. That university noticed Sam had a strong business background. They asked him to give some business lectures during the week while he was visiting, which he was happy to do. They set up a different business talk every day at different universities, so he prepared and gave the lectures.

At the end of his visit the president of one of the universities asked him to consider moving to China to become an international trade teacher. That was not on Sam’s radar! He had no idea this might happen. Before he went to China he had prayed, “God, if you have something for us in China that is longer term, open those doors clearly.” But when the offer came, it shocked him! He told the president he had to go home and talk to his wife about it.

Sam and Jenny prayed and talked about it for a while, but still had some reservations. Sam started to do a job search at home in the United States—doing research, filling out applications, having interviews. Over the months it turned out there was only one job being offered: the teaching job in China! They kept waiting and waiting and decided that if, at the end of August, they still didn’t have another job offer, they would have to consider that this was the plan for them, and sure enough, at the end of August it was still the only offer.

Looking at this story from God’s point of view, there was a lot of waiting for Sam and Jenny to finally give in to the obvious. As an engineer, Sam went to his spreadsheets where he kept the records of his job search and saw that he had made one hundred job contacts and had had many interviews all the way to the very end . . . and then nothing. So Sam and Jenny finally believed that God wanted them to go, and decided to take the job in China. Then, true to form for what often happens, in the next few weeks he received many job offers from different places that all seemed like the perfect job . . . and they felt like God was asking them, Are you serious about taking the job I led you to? As they continued on with the process, in obedience, through many confirmations it became more and more clear that this was God’s plan for them.

This is a great story of patience and plodding. We love that, because that is a lot of what launching your encore is all about. Rarely is the decision about what to do next a slam dunk. During an exploratory visit to China, Sam and Jenny realized just how hard this new life was going to be, but still moved forward in their preparations. It is one thing to visit a foreign country for a few weeks as a tourist and quite another to actually move there. When they decided they were going to move for sure, their next priority became recruiting a prayer support team to help them survive what they knew would be very hard, if not impossible!

As of this writing Sam and Jenny have been living in China for five years and their encore move has been a smashing success. They have had a large group back home praying for them, and have kept them informed with weekly emails throughout the years they have been in China. As they shared their story with us, they wanted us to let our readers know that they feel it is impossible to survive without the support of their prayer team. It never gets easier!

Before we get to some lessons drawn from the story of the Websters, we want to give you some insight into the challenges they continue to face living in a foreign country. In China nothing made sense to them and they found it hard to “make things happen,” so Sam felt he was just left to trust in God and watch him show up and work. This lack of clarity and planning was a challenge for Sam, who was trained as an engineer to plan, design, deliver, and measure.

There was a lot of fear that first year caused by living in a country so different from what they were used to. Not only was this not America, but for the first time they were living in a place with restrictions and a very different political system. Over time the fear has diminished and they have seen many amazing things that God has allowed them to be a part of.

Meaning and purpose come to Sam and Jenny when they see changed lives as a result of being there and just being available to interact and share with students as they have opportunity. Their joy comes from seeing what God chooses to do and lets them participate in.

This is how Sam feels today: “I really enjoyed my job before I came to do this, but now that I have experienced what we are doing here in China, I could never go back to the old job.” People who know Sam and Jenny say that they have never seen them so energized about life and their future. If you sit down with Sam he will talk your ear off in his exuberance for their newfound encore. Sam had several words of advice for people who might be thinking of a similar type of encore.

Don’t let false barriers stop you.

Previously Sam had thought that maybe when they were in their sixties they would do this. He didn’t know at the time that in China you can’t be a university teacher after age sixty, but God knew. Sam has seen good friends think they might want to do something similar. But they get to be in their late fifties and for one reason or another barriers rise up to keep them from actually going. “I am so thankful that God interrupted our lives,” said Sam, “because we probably would not have chosen this. If you think this is in your future, don’t wait. Start now. Don’t miss it.”

Don’t let fear about finances stop you.

Sam believes that as people get older, they get stuck in the security trap of thinking they need to keep working and store up more money, especially when faced with a jittery economy. “When we examined our savings and cash flow, we decided that we could stay in China until age sixty-five before running out of money,” said Sam. “But we have seen through various circumstances that all we have spent has been replenished, and we are in good shape.” If you think that God wants you to do something now, don’t wait until you have “enough” money.

Beware of the expectation gap.

Jenny has always been a wonderful homemaker, managing the house (and making lists to help Sam remember what he needs to do). But when they went to China, she worried that people would expect her to instantly become a different person, the kind that you read about in missionary biographies. Regardless of their validity, those perceived expectations can create fear and stress, leading to depression and doubt. During their five years in China, Sam and Jenny have found that their love for each other and for their students opens more doors for ministry than any programs and strategies found in a book. There seems to be an unlimited number of opportunities to serve God when you enter a crosscultural role. They both work hard to stay focused on what they believe God has called them to do and to be, saying no (verbally and in their hearts) to things that are outside of that zone. When fears arise due to an “expectation gap,” they focus on pleasing God, not men. While God will stretch them, he will not expect them to be someone other than who he made them to be.

Learn to work as a team if you are married.

As a couple, it is important to understand each other’s differences and capacities. Sam, an extrovert, can handle way more social engagements than his wife, and he has learned to manage that to protect Jenny from getting overly stressed to a point that she is not able to thrive or even endure in the situation. Sometimes this has meant hard choices when it seemed like great opportunities had to be turned down, but it has been very important for them to understand their limits. They have also used these boundaries to communicate a good example of how to keep a marriage strong to the students they are working with.