The Lord used Jack and Imogene, through prayer, at the start of Mission Arlington. They still serve faithfully today, nearly 29 years later.

People across the globe pray for Mission Arlington®; daily, but no one has been praying for the work here longer than Jack and Imogene plus the small group that gathered in their house weekly to pray about the seed that God had planted in Tillie Burgin’s heart.

Jack remembers Tillie coming and asking them to pray about doing missions in Arlington, although they weren’t exactly sure where it would lead or what it would look like, they knew they needed to pray, down on their faces – and they did for two years until God revealed his will.

Shortly after Mission Arlington began, volunteers reached out to local apartment complexes to teach God’s word.  For 22 years, Jack and Imogene led a weekly Bible study in a community near their house. Once per year, the Bible Study team would hold a three-day revival on site with food, songs, and a sermon. During their two decades, they saw small children learn about God, be baptized, and grow to serve God as adults.

Jack is now 91 years old. He says his life was changed when he heard this true story about a group of missionaries in Japan that planned to lead country-wide revival services. Some pastors from the United States planned to come support them, but as the travel date arrived, the Korean War intensified leading most of the state-side pastors to back out. The missionaries, who had spent years in Japan, sometimes in unsafe conditions, wondered why the pastors would not come. The missionaries asked, “Is it that you think we are expendable, and you are not?”

Upon hearing this story, Jack told God, “Whether I want to be expendable or not, Jesus came to the cross, and I’m expendable for you.” From that day on, Jack has sought to let God use him completely. God is eternal, and humans are temporary, so why wouldn’t one dedicate his earthly life to furthering God’s eternal will? Whatever God has asked of them, Jack and Imogene have tried to follow, no matter the cost.

They have wanted to, and still want to, live in a way that shows their lives are being totally used for the living God.