Learning is an active process, as Wendy Chasteen’s testimony indicates. Wendy learned by doing, whether it was riding a horse, sewing, or serving God. She learned because she wanted to learn.

I’ve had an opportunity to observe some of the learning experiences in Wendy and Jack Chasteen’s lives. Most of their growing up years, Jack Chasteen and Wendy Broughton lived just outside of Roseburg, Oregon, less than five miles from where I grew up on Quail Lane. Only a few farms, country roads, and the South Umpqua River separated us. We didn’t know each other at the time, though my family ate at the Broughton’s pizza restaurant occasionally. We didn’t know the Apostolic Faith Church where the Chasteens attended, even though it was located just a block from the Broughton’s restaurant, nor were we acquainted with their God.

However, all that changed when Wendy was saved. Wendy began learning to be a missionary at home; in fact, her invitation introduced my family to the Apostolic Faith Church. Wendy and Jack were both in attendance the Sunday I first visited there on March 17, 1974. The presence of the Lord was also there, and later that night, I asked forgiveness for my sins and was dramatically saved.

During my first Portland camp meeting a few months later, Jack invited me to share a cabin with him. He was learning to reach out to new converts when he loaned me one of his neckties, taught me how to tie it, and then stood next to me in the young adult choir.

Exactly one year after the Chasteens were married on Valentine’s Day in 1975, Debbie and I were married, and Jack was one of the ushers at our wedding. Through the years, we watched the Chasteens continue to learn by doing. When the call came for Brother Jack to move from Roseburg to serve as a pastor, the two of them learned how to be a pastor and pastor’s wife by answering the call and simply beginning to do it. More than two decades after our respective weddings, he and I learned many new things together when we visited our churches in Nigeria for the first time.

You may never have the learning experiences that the Chasteens have had, but you will have some of your own. We pray that the contents of this magazine will encourage you to learn from the experiences that God sends your way by...well, by simply moving forward!