As a teenager, Lowell Wertz tinkered in ham radio and had a goal — to one day talk to his uncle, a missionary serving in the Congo.
Quite a few missionary families had a radio setup, and while Wertz eventually did realize that goal of speaking with his uncle, along the way he began to also talk to other missionaries in the field. Sometimes they needed things — aircraft parts, or lids for pots and pans — and Wertz could help buy them and ship them overseas.
Other times he learned about the flow of their daily life and what the big events were for them. There was typically a revival around Christmastime, for example, and one evening, the radio conversation was about how powerful that had been.
“They communicated in their voices the excitement they were feeling,” Wertz said. “It was like the Lord spoke to me, ‘I want you to go.’”
Wertz had already built his schedule of junior college classes around his radio hours. Responding to a call to missions would influence other decisions along the way. When he proposed to his wife, Claudia, he was upfront about that call to missions. When they went to the Urbana missions convention at the University of Illinois and different agencies said they needed more schooling to be assigned to the field, they embarked on more education.
It was about 10 years before they made it to the mission field. They arrived in 1980 in the Congo, then known as Zaire. In the more than 40 years since, they’ve escaped political unrest, started Joy in the Harvest mission organization, and relocated in Tanzania.
On Sept. 19, the Wertzes will be keynote speakers at the annual Mission Celebration at Trinity Park United Methodist Church in Greenfield.
“That church has been supporting us yearly for about 30+ years,” Claudia Wertz said. “I like to say we’re there to say thank you for their trust in us … to write that check that they could use for something else.”
Lowell Wertz chimes in that prayer support has been vital as well. He thinks of the family’s dramatic air escape from Zaire in 1990, after lying on the floor of their house to avoid being hit by gunfire, and is confident there were people praying for them.
After he finished piloting evacuation flights, the Wertzes regrouped in the United States. Their house in Zaire was looted; Lowell Wertz said they were stripped of everything but their call.
They established Joy in the Harvest in 1993 and began ministering in Tanzania. Neighboring countries have experienced civil wars in recent years, and so thousands of refugees have streamed into the Wertzes’ area.
Over the years, they’ve developed ministries in refugee camps, launched a radio station and overseen the building of a two-story community center. A computer school offers job training for people.
“Project by project, as the Lord has led us … It’s just fantastic to see what God has accomplished,” Wertz said.
And that’s maybe the part people don’t think about when they picture being a missionary in Africa, he said. Instead, they may think about a house like their first one in Zaire — one uninhabited for years, with painted-over windows and a single spigot in the yard. Or they may think of wars or illness.
“What they don’t understand is that all of that is worth it for the blessings,” Lowell Wertz said. “To know the reality of God — to see God at work. That is what the mission field has done for me.”
Now in his 70s, he thinks of the teen he once was with his ham radio.
“I would tell him, ‘You made the right decision.’”
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Mission Celebration is an annual event to highlight ministry happening locally and globally. The congregation of Trinity Park United Methodist Church commits each year to Faith Promise giving to support the various types of work. Anyone interested in hearing the mission updates, though, is welcome to attend.
When: Services are at 9 a.m. and 11:15 a.m., with keynote speakers the Rev. Lowell and Claudia Wertz, missionaries to Tanzania. Children ages 3 and older meet in Room 10 with Crystal Baker.
At 10 a.m., Stephen and Haley Weiland will speak with Faith Groups about their upcoming work with Mission Aviation Fellowship in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Refreshments will be served.
Where: Trinity Park United Methodist Church, 207 W. Park Ave.
Also featuring: music by Indiana Wesleyan University Praise Team
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