forces of darkness with blind-

ing speed as you preach with

power & precision the glori-
ous gospel?? Ahhh, me too! I
know how you feel. But I had
to learn something fromour
timeless, long-suffering God.
He has aheavenly agendaHe
is working out on His watch.
My watch tickstoofast. I want
things done & now. But
(excuse my candidness), that
aint the way HE works. Ive
learned more than I frankly
cared to know. I know now
that I didnt know anything
back in 2003. God is so
wonderfully kind and merci-
ful to use us! I would say
that Ive tried to map it out
pretty good for the past 5
years, attempting to realize
& fulfill what I believed I saw
the Lord doing...developthis
particular ministry, that minis-
try...lookslikeGodisblessingin
thisway, etc. But all that has
changed, again & again.
Ive had to return home to
the basics: preaching the gos-
pel & praying for the power
of Christ. Confidence in this
base is where it all started
anyway. How do I put this?
Well, you can understand by
reading missionary biogra-
phies. Things take time.
(Continued on page 3)
Eleven years ago, July
2003, I began coming to
Mekele, Ethiopia. At the
time, I was serving as in-
terim chaplain at the
Shreveport-Bossier Rescue
Mission. I remember nearly
8 months prior, I was
speaking with avolunteer at
the MissionKendra
about afriend of mine living
in Ethiopia. Joe Spell had
gone to serve in foreign
missions, and had taken his
family to live in Mekele as
far back as 2002. The vol-
unteer asked me where
exactly on the map was his
city located. We both
glared at the map as I
pointed to it, in the large
mountain-terrained nation
in the Horn of Africa. She
probed, Why dont you go
there?...Of course, I was
quite matter-of-fact, saying,
I belonghere...Imnot cut out
for foreign missions.The vol-
unteer rebutted: You dont
know thatwhy dont you
pray bout it?I did. I prayed
a lot for Tigray for 6
months before a mission-
trip opportunity availed
itself. I had never before
prayed for 6 months for
anything, especially world-
missions. And I remember
the first time I came here. I
was intense for the glory of
God and ecstatic at the
providences availing to
preach the gospel to people
of an entirely different na-
tion and culture. It was
amazing, and God was the
author of every step of that
first foreign missions en-
counter. Here I amtoday,
eleven years later, with a
family, quite entrenched,
and rather willingly. There
have been ups & downs,
though. Tears, brokenness,
disappointment, estrange-
ment and redirection have
been my lot. Ive learned a
lot about patience, too: that
I dont have a lot?? You
learn to wait here...and
wait more. Especially
Americans learn about wait-
ingalot more than Ethio-
pian counterparts, for sure.
That means everything:
daily life, water, electricity,
taxi, internet, etc. If your
reading this and you think,
We wait here in the US,
too Let me correct you.
You have no idea! Its eve-
rything & its long & cum-
bersome: it includes minis-
try. On fire for missions?
Cant wait to blaze the trail
& watch God assail the
11 YEARS & WAITING...
LA ST C A LL M IN IST R IES
JULY 2014
ISSUE XIV
Q U A R T ER LY : D O U G &
M ESI
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
11 Y EA R S
cover
M A R R IA G E ST U FF
2
G EN ER O SIT Y 10 1
2
V ISIO N FO O T B A LL
3
11 Y EA R S (C O N T D )
3
A B O U T LC M
4
IN SID E ST O R Y
4
Ive often wondered if we could continue
the extended capacity of this ministry,
when money seemed tight. But generosity
never betrayed me, not once, never ever.
The more we gave, the more God gave to
us. Seems too clich aprinciple, but its
true & proven in the fires of sacrifice. We
continue to give to our poor friends in
Mekele, in obedience to the command of
the Lord to remember them. You, our
supporters, are Gods instruments in His
own project of manifesting His kindness to
I love the verse, Thegenerous soul will
bemaderich, andhewhowaterswill also
bewateredhimself.Its not classic pros-
perity gospel I want to convey here,
just the plain word of God. One of my
main foci in ministry is outreach to the
poor. This is mostly practiced in sim-
ple, cheerful giving. Flour for the
poor, for bread on their tables. It pre-
sents us with the opportunity to preach
the gospel. Kindness goes along way.
the poor. Your generosity to us is Gods
smiling countenance on our generosity to
the poor. Gods generous Spirit in us all
be praised! The glory of Gods generosity
in the gospel message is such a potent
starting point. It is only reasonable for us
to say, with bolstered confidence, For
Godsolovedtheworld, that HegaveHisonly
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but haveeverlasting life.
The generosity of heaven in the gospel is
illustrious in our common generosity!
MARRIAGE FELLOWSHIP
GENEROSITY 101
PA G E 2 Q U A R T ER LY : D O U G & M ESI
Every Sunday night, faithfully, Mesi & I have had the delight-
ful privilege of fellowshipping together with asuper sweet
Christian couple, Evan & Nardos. Evan & Nardos are excited
newlyweds who want their marriage to shine with the beau-
ties of Christs relationship to His bride, the church. For
months, weve been studying, praying together & submitting
our marriages to God for His glory. Learning more about
love, marriage, family, roles & responsibilities, the hearts
involvement, and communication has been an overflow
of blessing!
Finding myself in sports ministry has
its tension. I know Ive heard
preachers in the past bringing into
question the validity & effectiveness
of agospel ministry that uses sports
as its thrust. Some might even
frown upon putting sports & gospel
in the same sentence. Gospel
preaching unadulterated & un-
tainted by lesser things is what is
sought after by those noble-hearted
contenders of the faith. It is surpris-
ing, however, to discover the num-
ber of times Paul the Apostle makes
an allusion to the Olympic Games
to get his point across. And, as Bav-
inck would remind us, it is the na-
ture of grace to restore and illumi-
nate the glory of nature. Sports is
not some creation of the evil one.
Only the obsession over it which
fails to glory in its Creator is evil
and worthy of damnation. God
fearfully & wonderfully made us.
Sports emphasizes the powerful and
beautiful capacities of which God
made His image capable. Vision
Sports Club is not necessarily my
ministry. I amthe evangelist to the
players, and the so-called sponsor.
But thats really you. The head of
the club is amember of alocal evan-
gelical church. His vision is similar to
mine. Getting involved and close enough
to people to be able to share the gospel in
depth. In ahard place like Tigray, you
dont get but ahandful of relevant op-
portunities. Paul in his letter to the Phi-
lippians encourages looking toward the
interests of others to stimulate the joy &
affection of Christ among them. Rele-
vant interest prefaces evangelismto this
culture like smiles do introductions. The
one grand interest of almost everyone is
sportsfootball, i.e., soccer. Admit-
tedly, it is one of the more costly minis-
tries, requiring constant sponsorship.
But I see the bigger picture: avision of a
multitude confronted with the gospel
made relevant to their minds. Writers
and preachers in the past communicated
with relevance to their times & cultures.
The emerging generation in this urban cen-
ter of northern Ethiopiahas enjoined devel-
oping its own subculture integrated with the
rest of the globethrough sports. The big-
ger picture herethe vision, so to speak
is the ever-broadening venue of sports evan-
gelism. One has the opportunity in sports to
find acommon ground for building arela-
tionship with others, for sharing his/ her
faith, for glorifying Christ through ethical &
exemplary leadership/ friendship, and for
channeling the love & mercy of God to a
global culture with identity issues. I need
your help. I mean that. Pray for us, help us,
and get involved. We have 5 teams now, and
the next season is coming up. DM
the coming-to of whats really hap-
pening. No, Imfar fromdiscour-
aged. See, Imlearning to trust in the
sovereign freedomof God as I accept
who He is, & who I am, & where I
am, & how its going down. God
knows, and fellow missionaries un-
derstand. Imstill in it 11 years and
counting, waiting, learning to wait. I
amchewing on this psalmthese days:
Rest in theLORD, andwait patiently for
Him; donot fret becauseof himwhopros-
There is loss, betrayal fromwithin
your own fellowship, sudden &
unwanted uncontrollable factors
pressing you from without, the
sting of marginalization and perse-
cution, the that-didnt-work re-
covery, the countless seeming
duds of preaching attempts, the
cloudiness of starting-over and
reconstruction days. The hum-
bling and de-Americanization
process within the mind, as well as
persin hisway, becauseof theman who
bringswickedschemestopass. Ceasefrom
anger, andforsakewrath; donot fretit
only causesharm. For evildoersshall be
cut off; but thosewhowait on theLORD,
they shall inherit the earth. (Psalm
37:79). Verses 3 up to 6 are the
more popular, but Imstill waiting.
Imgoing to inherit the earth, along
with you, my fellow pilgrims in this
world. I amnot languishing here, but
learning the delight of waiting. DM
VISIONSEEING THE BIGGER PICTURE
11 YEARS & WAITING (CONTINUED FROM COVER)
PA G E 3 ISSU E X IV
Vision SportsClub(Left) &ShalomClub(Right) prior togame2 of an inter-clubtournament.
Both teamsarea part of Vision Football Club. Coach Rezene(blue/ black windsuit) isregistered
with theSportsCommission of Tigray andisa well-known &trustedin thecommunity.
About LCM: Last Call Ministries is a 501c3 Organiza-
tion which began in 1997. Its inception rose out of a
growing fellowship of believers interested in gospel
evangelism primarily within the inner city of Shreve-
port, Louisiana. Currently LCM partners with several
gospel mission works around the world, including
Brazil, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Mexico, & Bayou Du
Large (S. Louisiana). LCM is currently sponsoring
Doug & Mesi, who are commissioned by their home
church: Heritage Baptist Church in Shreveport, Louisi-
ana. All monies received are currently in the support
of the budgeted work underway in Mekele, Ethiopia.
ToSupport: PO Box 4203, Shreveport,
LA 71134 USA
ToContact: Phone: 318-458-9602;
Email: joespell@keptprivate.com
ToCorrespondw/ Doug&Mesi: PO Box
1944, Mekele, Tigray, Ethiopia;
Email: dglsmerrick@yahoo.com
mornings, we sing songs
with him(for him). His fa-
vorite is Jesus Loves Me
This I Know. I amso proud
of how gracefully Mesi has
transformed into a young
mother. She is really great!
In September we will travel
to Addis Abebato report the
birth of Noah to the US Em-
bassy, apply for his US Pass-
port there, and renew my
residence permit at the Im-
migration Bureau. This will
be our second family trip to
the capital. Within the year,
we will also try to obtain
Mesis visa to the US, for a
possible trip in 2015, Lord
willing. Of course, those are
tentative plans. The Lord
Nearing the two-year mark
after Mesis graduation from
nursing school, Noah-Sarang,
our son, is almost 1 year old.
What does Mesi do these
days? She can be found joy-
fully serving in our rented
home; sometimes overheard
laughing & playing with
Noah; sometimes helping
himwalk down the hallway;
or trying to keep himfrom
knocking over something or
grabbing some important
paper or item! She carries
himeverywhere we go, the
traditional way, on her back.
He loves ityou should see
himlight up when he gets up
there as he knows he going
somewhere! On Sunday
knows our steps! DM
THE MESI-SPHERE
LAST CALL MINISTRIES
LCM
Proclaiming t he Gospel of Jesus Christ , unt il He ret urns,
in word, lett er and deed!!!
Were on
Facebook! Go to:
Partnership-
Doug & Mesi
Merrick-Last
Call Ministries
Mission
Workers