“I had a new lens, and I could never go back. It was like living on a whole new planet.”

DEREK SMITH* ALL ABOUT JESUS

HOW ONE AMBASSADOR SERVES A WORLD AWAY Amy Storms

“I didn’t go to church much as a kid,” says OCC grad Derek Smith.* Derek’s parents divorced when he was just two years old, and Derek lived with his mom in a small Missouri town. But when Derek was in sixth grade, a friend invited him to a play—a drama—performed at a church.

“I didn’t know what I was going to,” Derek recalls, “but the play was all about Jesus. At the end, I heard the gospel for the first time. I knew what I was hearing was good and true and for me. ”

“So, I responded. I became a believer. At age 12, I said, ‘Well, I think I’m supposed to go to church now.’” Derek chose a church near his house and walked there alone every Sunday. “After attending a while, I had seen people get baptized, so I thought, ‘I should probably do that, too.’ It was a Baptist church,” Derek smiles, “but even then, I guess I was a Restorationist at heart.”

All About Jesus

And ever since, Derek’s life—like the play he had seen in church—has been all about Jesus. From attending church camp to leading in his youth group, to preaching his first sermon at age 16, to attending Bible college and now serving overseas, Derek has remained devoted to the Jesus he loves.

“My senior year of high school, I decided I wanted to study theology and God’s Word,” Derek remembers. “I wanted to really understand what I believed and why I believed it. I didn’t know Bible college even existed. When I found Ozark, they told me their focus was on hermeneutics—the process of learning how to interpret the Bible and how to understand it. I said, ‘That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do!’”

Derek enrolled at Ozark alongside two of his high school classmates. “In our years at OCC, I had such a growth of knowledge—the growth of experience, serving in several areas till I knew the direction I wanted to take, and of course the growth in my skills and character as I matured and pursued Christ as the main thing.”

“In class, I learned so much from Kenny Boles,” Derek says, “the most brilliant professor who could teach even the hardest subjects in a simple way I could understand. And Chris DeWelt was the professor who impacted my life the most.” As Chris taught about global outreach, Derek was fascinated. “Growing up in rural Missouri,” Derek admits, “I was pretty much unaware of the rest of the world…and I was unaware that I was unaware of the rest of the world.”

At that moment, something hit me. It struck my heart that there were actually real people in all those countries, and many of them had never heard the gospel.

One day in class, as Derek looked at a map, the Holy Spirit moved. “At that moment, something hit me. It struck my heart that there were real people in all those countries, and many of them had never heard the gospel.”

And the gospel, Derek knew, was good and true and for them—just as it had been for him years earlier when he heard it presented in that simple church play. Immediately, the young Midwest man who had never left the States signed up for an internship in Southeast Asia. That summer, Derek’s world turned upside down. “I had a new lens, and I could never go back. It was like living on a whole new planet.”

When Derek returned to Ozark that fall, he started to serve the international community in Joplin. From there, he continued to travel and serve around the world—including in another internship in Africa—before moving overseas full time. Today, Derek works among an animistic, unreached people group in Southeast Asia. (Animism is the belief that all objects, places, and animals have a spirit.) This people group lives across multiple countries in the region, so Derek travels from urban areas to rural villages as a “tentmaker” (Acts 18:1-3), making the most of every gospel opportunity afforded to him as he consults in language acquisition and teaches English to young adults.

“Can Jesus Help Us Here?”

Derek now speaks three languages—the national language as well as minority languages in the region. “I live in an urban area,” he says, “where I can reach out to young adults, university students, and construction workers who are recruited from rural areas to work in the city.” Derek also visits small villages to build relationships there. In the animistic culture, he has encountered demonic possession and spiritual warfare. On one occasion, when Derek shared stories about Jesus’ power over spirits, the villagers asked, “Can Jesus help us here?”

“We prayed for a few days,” Derek recalls, “and asked God for deliverance. His Spirit showed up in incredible ways. Powerful

things happened. People in the village gathered around us to ask questions, and a small handful said they wanted to follow this God who made the spirits leave.” Jesus had helped! The gospel was for them. Derek saw a great need for gospel resources in the region, so he went to work developing audio, written, and media materials to share the good news in the heart language of the people he serves. Derek’s gospel resources include Scripture, worship music, testimonies, I had a new lens, and and teaching on basic ideas like, “What is prayer?” and “What is the Bible?” I could never go back. Derek observes, “People who haven’t heard of Jesus often hear the good news It was like living on a as a foreigner’s American religion, so whole new planet. they reject it. But they’re not rejecting God—they’re rejecting a threat to their heritage and culture.” Derek’s media presentations explore the difference. “We explain that it’s possible to say, ‘I love my people, I love my culture, and I love God.’” Derek holds two bachelor’s degrees from OCC—a Bachelor of Biblical Literature and a Bachelor of Arts in Intercultural Studies—and he recently earned a Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies from Biola University. The boy from Missouri who “didn’t go to church much” is now an Ambassador for Christ in cities and villages a world away, teaching all about Jesus and sharing the same gospel he heard in a church play…the gospel that is good and true and for everyone.