Our Journey
Both Harry and Nancy sensed God’s call into ministry as teens. Harry’s call came when he was sixteen. Since his definition of “ministry” was synonymous with “preacher,” he felt sure he would be a preacher. As he observed, “Being a preacher did not appear to be hard work since all I saw of the preacher was what he did in the pulpit.” From the time Nancy was thirteen, she felt God wanted her to be a pastor’s wife. Like Harry, she did not understand what that entailed.
Harry and Nancy met and married while at Baylor University. During their Baylor years, Harry began his first pastorate at a wide place in the road with few more than a handful of people who saw their ministry as “giving preachers a start.” In a short amount of time, he discovered preaching twice on Sunday required preparation, and that was work.
From School to Ministry
After they graduated from Baylor, Harry completed two advanced degrees at Southern Baptist seminaries. He also pastored churches in diverse areas—from rural to urban and places in between. Upon completion of his doctoral work, he and Nancy, along with their young children, moved to Temple Baptist Church, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, for their initial work outside the Central and North Texas areas. For the first time, they faced the challenges of a growing church, staff management, budget expansion, a building program, and racial integration. They took part in short-term mission projects both inside and outside the United States. The flexibility of the congregation enabled them to engage their community creatively and expand their ministries. Harry also did limited adjunct teaching on the graduate level in college and seminary. Never again did he think about ministry as limited to a day or day and a half of work.
Changing Ministries
In 1988, they moved to First Baptist Church, San Antonio, Texas. Located in the heart of downtown, the church had a history of active community ministries. The painful parting with the previous pastor included a decline in membership and financial support. Restructuring required reestablishing trust and healing their identity. Nevertheless, the church had expansive facilities and a strong television ministry. The work involved strengthening the foundation of that historic congregation.
Harry and Nancy’s move to Longview, Texas, allowed them to join their people in mission projects. Through the Bridges initiative that Nancy started at Partners in Prevention, the church partnered with an African American congregation in the city. While focusing on their mutual bond in Christ, the churches sought to address historical issues. A mission trip to Malawi helped members experience the hunger for the gospel in foreign fields. And once again, Harry and Nancy took part in designing and raising funds for a building project.
From the US to Overseas
Responding to the call of Kowloon International Baptist Church (KIBC), Hong Kong, the Lucenays little knew what lay in front of them. Over 30 nationalities called this strategic church home. Preaching, teaching, sharing life, and reaching out to mission fields changed their lives. The diversity of the congregation taught them to listen to the Bible with different ears. Maybe it was because they were older. Perhaps it was because they began to see and hear God’s message through the eyes and ears of different cultures. Whatever the reason, they became ardent students of biblical context and culture. How did these words, these stories, meet the ears and hearts of those who first encountered them? The people of biblical cultures lived in collectivist societies. Their primary worldview was through the lens of honor and shame or fear and power. How did they interpret what they saw and heard? Confronted with the fact that Harry and Nancy’s worldview is individualist and influenced by guilt and innocence, they found the culture of their congregants to be more like the biblical culture than Western. They had to rediscover the Bible they had read and studied over the years. Why should people need to become Western in their views before understanding the claims of Jesus Christ?
New Opportunities
The leadership of the Baptist World Alliance asked KIBC if she would underwrite the Baptist World Alliance Kowloon International Baptist Church Evangelism Award. During the discussion of this award, church leaders emphasized their belief that Jesus’ invitation to “follow me” involved more than a prayer for salvation. Following Jesus involves turning away from a self-centered approach to life and the sins that go with it. We turn to Jesus with an expression of commitment, a commitment that involves growing as disciples of Christ through an ongoing relationship of discovery. The Evangelism Award recognizes innovative congregations whose forms of evangelism marry decisions for Christ with discipleship.
Harry and Nancy’s ministry in Hong Kong carried them to mission projects in Mongolia, Nepal, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Myanmar, in addition to other countries. They worked in both large cities and rural areas. This involvement became the inspiration for the design of Way Walkers Worldwide.
Way Walkers Worldwide teams work with pastors and church leaders in areas where little or no training in preaching, teaching, and church ministry is available. Way Walkers offer coaching and introduce resources that can assist attendees’ ministries. Working with established church, education, and para-church groups in the areas served, teams want to ensure participants will continue to receive ongoing counsel. Donations to Way Walkers Worldwide make it possible to meet these needs without cost to those served.
Our Journey
Both Harry and Nancy sensed God’s call into ministry as teens. Harry’s call came when he was sixteen. Since his definition of “ministry” was synonymous with “preacher,” he felt sure he would be a preacher. As he observed, “Being a preacher did not appear to be hard work since all I saw of the preacher was what he did in the pulpit.” From the time Nancy was thirteen, she felt God wanted her to be a pastor’s wife. Like Harry, she did not understand what that entailed.
Harry and Nancy met and married while at Baylor University. During their Baylor years, Harry began his first pastorate at a wide place in the road with few more than a handful of people who saw their ministry as “giving preachers a start.” In a short amount of time, he discovered preaching twice on Sunday required preparation, and that was work.
From School to Ministry
After they graduated from Baylor, Harry completed two advanced degrees at Southern Baptist seminaries. He also pastored churches in diverse areas—from rural to urban and places in between. Upon completion of his doctoral work, he and Nancy, along with their young children, moved to Temple Baptist Church, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, for their initial work outside the Central and North Texas areas. For the first time, they faced the challenges of a growing church, staff management, budget expansion, a building program, and racial integration. They took part in short-term mission projects both inside and outside the United States. The flexibility of the congregation enabled them to engage their community creatively and expand their ministries. Harry also did limited adjunct teaching on the graduate level in college and seminary. Never again did he think about ministry as limited to a day or day and a half of work.
Changing Ministries
In 1988, they moved to First Baptist Church, San Antonio, Texas. Located in the heart of downtown, the church had a history of active community ministries. The painful parting with the previous pastor included a decline in membership and financial support. Restructuring required reestablishing trust and healing their identity. Nevertheless, the church had expansive facilities and a strong television ministry. The work involved strengthening the foundation of that historic congregation.
Harry and Nancy’s move to Longview, Texas, allowed them to join their people in mission projects. Through the Bridges initiative that Nancy started at Partners in Prevention, the church partnered with an African American congregation in the city. While focusing on their mutual bond in Christ, the churches sought to address historical issues. A mission trip to Malawi helped members experience the hunger for the gospel in foreign fields. And once again, Harry and Nancy took part in designing and raising funds for a building project.
From the US to Overseas
Responding to the call of Kowloon International Baptist Church (KIBC), Hong Kong, the Lucenays little knew what lay in front of them. Over 30 nationalities called this strategic church home. Preaching, teaching, sharing life, and reaching out to mission fields changed their lives. The diversity of the congregation taught them to listen to the Bible with different ears. Maybe it was because they were older. Perhaps it was because they began to see and hear God’s message through the eyes and ears of different cultures. Whatever the reason, they became ardent students of biblical context and culture. How did these words, these stories, meet the ears and hearts of those who first encountered them? The people of biblical cultures lived in collectivist societies. Their primary worldview was through the lens of honor and shame or fear and power. How did they interpret what they saw and heard? Confronted with the fact that Harry and Nancy’s worldview is individualist and influenced by guilt and innocence, they found the culture of their congregants to be more like the biblical culture than Western. They had to rediscover the Bible they had read and studied over the years. Why should people need to become Western in their views before understanding the claims of Jesus Christ?
New Opportunities
The leadership of the Baptist World Alliance asked KIBC if she would underwrite the Baptist World Alliance Kowloon International Baptist Church Evangelism Award. During the discussion of this award, church leaders emphasized their belief that Jesus’ invitation to “follow me” involved more than a prayer for salvation. Following Jesus involves turning away from a self-centered approach to life and the sins that go with it. We turn to Jesus with an expression of commitment, a commitment that involves growing as disciples of Christ through an ongoing relationship of discovery. The Evangelism Award recognizes innovative congregations whose forms of evangelism marry decisions for Christ with discipleship.
Harry and Nancy’s ministry in Hong Kong carried them to mission projects in Mongolia, Nepal, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Myanmar, in addition to other countries. They worked in both large cities and rural areas. This involvement became the inspiration for the design of Way Walkers Worldwide.
Way Walkers Worldwide teams work with pastors and church leaders in areas where little or no training in preaching, teaching, and church ministry is available. Way Walkers offer coaching and introduce resources that can assist attendees’ ministries. Working with established church, education, and para-church groups in the areas served, teams want to ensure participants will continue to receive ongoing counsel. Donations to Way Walkers Worldwide make it possible to meet these needs without cost to those served.
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