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Keith and Beth Lamb
Willing to Serve
By Leah Stanley
In the eyes of non-believers, a family who announces they’re going on the mission field may be perceived as pious "do-gooders" who are wasting their lives and giving up a comfortable lifestyle for no good reason. But thank God the Lord has a different perspective, and in His sight a family who is dedicated to bringing the love of Jesus into the darkest corners of the world is both holy and precious. Having recently made the commitment to go on the foreign mission field, Keith and Beth Lamb are preparing themselves for the inevitable lifestyle changes which lie ahead, as well as the eternal blessings which will result from obedience to God’s call.
Keith and Beth met when they were both students at Mid-South Bible College (now Crichton College). They have been married for nine years and have three children, Jonah, 6; Rose, 4; and Joses, 3.
"We have always wanted to go into missions," Keith said, "but the doors always seemed closed."
Keith, the director of teacher training for Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), said he had contented himself to stay in Memphis in a supporting role rather than trying to push himself into the front lines of mission work. Everything changed, however, when he and Beth heard a rather sternly worded sermon about the need for missionaries--in Uganda!
"We didn’t really want to go to Uganda," Beth said with a smile, "but we were willing to go if that’s where God wanted us to go."
Keith agreed. He said they looked into going to Uganda through the CEF International office, but were told that CEF could probably better use them somewhere else. While they were waiting to see where God would put them, their children began talking about going to the beach for a vacation. For Keith and Beth, it was heartbreaking to have to explain to their kids that they just didn’t have the money to go to the beach. Then they heard back from the folks at CEF.
"They wanted to know if we’d be interested in going someplace in the Caribbean!" Keith said. "It excited us so much to know that God cared enough about the desires of our children to put us in a place where going to the
beach could be a regular part of our lives!"
The exact Caribbean location for the Lamb family is still not known, but CEF International is already working closely with them in preparation for what lies ahead.
"We will both have to take a course on Spiritual warfare," Beth said, "and they’ve given us a lot of books that we need to read before we can go."
Keith said he looks forward to doing the same type of work in the Caribbean that he’s been doing in Memphis for the past six years.
"At CEF we share the Gospel with children during backyard Bible clubs and we do a lot of face painting where we’re able to talk to the children about Jesus one-on-one," Keith said.
The Lambs agreed that one of the greatest things the members of Central Church can do for them is to pray for them as they prepare themselves to be used by God on the foreign mission field.
"We’ve experienced a lot of Spiritual warfare since we’ve committed to go," Keith said, "but we know God is greater and He can handle it."
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