“What attracted you to Asian Access?"

I was speaking to an A2 leader during a break at one of our training sessions. He leads A2 in what we call a restricted-access country, so I won’t mention his name or location. I was chatting with this leader about how he first connected with A2.

First, some context: Understand that this man is a dynamic, courageous leader. He became a believer at a time when, in his country, “You could count all of the Christians on two hands.” He and his family have weathered opposition, ostracism, and persecution. They have also helped to lead a dynamic wave of Kingdom growth in their country, where Christians now comprise 8% of the population. To top it all off, he is a successful businessman, able to fund much of the ministry he is involved with, which includes church planting, pastoral training and sponsorship, a children’s home, a Bible college, and on and on. He is constantly in demand, sought after by everyone—including foreigners like us.

“After all,” I continued, “You’re busy; you are doing lots of ministry—“

He cut me off. “We were busy, but with no priorities. Doing lots of ‘ministry’, but it was superficial. Nine years wasted. It was ‘Preach here! Evangelize there! Plant that church!’ We were all running around on our own. We were not reproducing ourselves. It was all we that we knew.

“Then we got involved with Asian Access. We learned how to have a deep, love relationship with God. We learned how to spend time with God, to enjoy prayer, to just enjoy being with Jesus. We learned how we could serve God without our families having to be sacrificed.

“We also learned how we could become colleagues and even deep friends with our fellow leaders. We learned that we could trust one another and collaborate rather than compete. And we learned how to prioritize, how to use our time well—how to discern God’s strategic will for our ministries. The results, in terms of fruitful ministry in our country, have been phenomenal.

“I was so attracted to A2, I sponsored the first session myself.”

Noel Becchetti