July 3 - Second Orientation - Part Three - Beginning a Good Work

The fifth and sixth people that we better acquainted ourselves with were Dr. Randy Jessen, Dean of the Beeson Pastor Program and his wife Sue. They are the co-founders of the Global Hope organization. They have also been working with Romanian mission ministry since 1991.

Sue's background is in the area of mental health. She worked for over ten years at Fort Logan Mental Health Center in Denver, Colorado. She provided care for emotionally disturbed children, working with local school systems as well as individual therapist.

Sue is now is the primary care giver for their daughter Ana. Ana has extensive developmental delays from her first five years in the Romanian orphanage system. She also received a small amount of contaminated blood as an infant which infected her with the virus that causes AIDS. Randy wrote a book about Ana’s life, their struggle to adopt her in a book entitled Ana’s Voice: When God Speaks Through a Silent Child. Becca read the whole book in one sitting. I have asked her to write her thoughts and feelings about it in a blog entry soon.

In the mid-1970's, Randy and Sue purchased a small grocery business in Genoa, Colorado. While there, the church they joined basically “loved them to the Lord.” They both make commitments to Christ and began the search for opportunities to serve. Answering a call to full-time ministry, Randy came Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, graduating with a Master's of Divinity degree in 1984. Like Jack Connell, Randy also is a Beeson Pastor, receiving his Doctor of Ministry degree in 1997.

Randy and Sue have served the Fort Morgan United Methodist Church in Fort Morgan, Colorado, Longs Peak United Methodist Church in Longmont, Colorado, and Broomfield United Methodist Church in Broomfield, Colorado. Before coming to Asbury to lead the Beeson Pastor Program, they also served First United Methodist Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado for three years while Randy was appointed to serve as the lead pastor.

So who are or have been the mentors in your life? What did they plant in you that God is bringing to completion? How are you a mentor, a planter in the lives of other people? How are you working diligently, mentoring, planting in the great ChristGarden?