We are the Stahl family, and this is our story. Our story began several years ago when God started stirring our family in many ways.
At that time, we were living in Minnesota, where I, Ryan, worked as an engineer. Our family had been part of a non-denominational church in Minnesota for 20 years. I also had the privilege to serve as a bi-vocational pastor at that church for almost ten years.
We were content with where we were at. I was happy with my job, my house and family, and my church. A part of my personality is that I am consistent, and I like when things stay the same. I had been at the same church for 20 years, working at the same company for 20 years, and living in the same house for 20 years. But all of that was about to change.
Video version of our story
It Started with a Stirring
In the fall of 2018, God started to stir our hearts and give us a care and love for the persecuted church. There are many places in the world where it is illegal (or at least very difficult) to be a Christian. Sometimes the persecution comes from governmental restrictions. Other times it is persecution from other religious groups. Persecution can also simply come from intense societal pressures. In America, we don’t face persecution, or at least not like it is experienced in many places around the world. The persecution in many countries causes many problems. For example, many people need Bibles because they are either too expensive or illegal to own.
With God stirring our hearts, we were prompted to start selling our possessions and giving the money to support persecuted Christians. There are organizations where you can donate $5 to get a Bible to someone who doesn’t have one. One organization prints Bibles in China, and they say that for every Bible that gets distributed in the country, two or three people get saved. It is amazing that such an impact can be made with just $5.
Knowing this, it was then easy to look around our house to see what we could sell to get more money for Bibles. We started selling our possessions that we didn’t need and continued to sell our possessions for the next several months. Then we wondered whether we should sell our house. Our logic was that if we could live more simply, then we could give more generously to our brothers and sisters. As we thought about it, it became clearer. It wasn’t a matter of if, but when we would sell our home.
What is Stopping Us?
As we continued to walk in obedience to what God was asking us to do, God prompted us with a question: “What is stopping you from going overseas to serve the persecuted church?” Our answer was, “Nothing we can think of”.
The next questions we had were, “Where would we go?” and “What organization would we go with?” We contacted a few organizations, one being Wycliffe Bible Translators. They helped me to realize that it wasn’t a good fit for us. They, themselves, also had concerns about our family, too, because of the ages of our kids. At least statistically, it doesn’t typically go well for older kids of families wanting to be missionaries.
Around this time, I attended a regional pastors meeting with many other pastors from the area. I was talking with a pastor friend over lunch one day, and he mentioned that RUN Global was looking for help. I was already aware of RUN Global at that time. In fact, I had been on their email list for many years. I knew the founder and president of the company loosely because he was also a pastor in our church movement.
An Email Introduction
I sent a long email to the President of RUN Global, Mike Keator. I explained who I was, about my family, and how God was stirring us. We had many conversations over the next few months about how I could help RUN Global. The biggest thing I was offering was simply my help. I didn’t know how God wanted to use me. Mike was very welcoming to the idea of us helping RUN Global. He said, “I don’t want to be your boss, but I want you to find your place in ministry”. He told me, “Why don’t you come to Nepal?”
By the fall of 2019, we had sold all our possessions, sold our house, and I resigned from my work as an engineer. On October 1st, 2019, we were on a plane to India! We spent three months in Nepal and then about three months in India. A lot happened over there, and you can read about many of those stories HERE!
Covid-19
In late February, we started making our way across India to get to New Delhi. We decided to make a couple of “tourist” stops on our way since our visas were for tourism. Then in March of 2020, COVID-19 started hitting India. We found ourselves experiencing lockdown in New Delhi. Our visas were canceled, and now we needed to get back home. That was a story in itself.
Now What?
We arrived back in America in early April of 2020. We spent five weeks in Alabama at Laura’s dad’s home. It was a reflective time. It was a hard time. God had stirred us to make a big change in our lives to be more purposeful for him. But now what? What do you want us to do Lord?
We still had a return ticket to India in July. We weren’t sure how long Covid would last. We thought we would perhaps be able to go back to India in July. So before then, we wanted to take some time to visit some family and friends. But we also felt God telling us to travel beyond just visiting family and friends. We had people we knew across the country and in many different churches. We felt God reminding us of several things:
- We have a passion for the church.
- We have a passion for the lost.
- We have an amazing testimony that we can tell many people, a testimony of how God changed us in such a crazy way.
So, we began to travel around the U.S. in our trailer for several months.
Many Months of Travel…
Our travels took us through many western states. In many places we had contacts and worked with them to meet new people and share our story. In other places, we spent time researching churches and emailing them to see if we could meet.
The emails allowed us to make contact with many people and also helped us to find places to camp for the night.
The road eventually led us to southern California to the city of Escondido. We didn’t have any contacts in this city, but we saw a church that looked interesting so we pulled into the parking lot on Sunday morning!
This “chance” visit turned into a seven month stay. The church was in a pastoral transition, but the interim pastor and elders were inspired by our story and asked us to stay for a while.
The church building has been around for 60+ years, and the church needed help cleaning it out. They had a power hookup in the corner of their parking lot and gave us access to the building.
After being there for about two months, we were feeling like we needed to do more. We were certainly providing help to this church in transition, and I (Ryan) was doing remote work for RUN Global. But there was something missing. We still had a lot of free time, and there are many souls that need Jesus!
Our time in Escondido was during-Covid and post-Covid. This was a time when many people were not venturing out of their homes. We had the idea of starting to knock on doors and pray for people. We thought that if people were not coming out and certainly not coming back to church, then at least we could go to their door and minister to them.
We Thought We Were Going to Die
We started going out in the neighborhoods around the church, house by house, street by street, reaching people in the neighborhoods. We would go out for a little over an hour several times a week. (Photo of Escondido map highlighted on the wall)
We had a lot of fears. Fears of being rejected. Fears of being yelled at. Fears of not saying the right things. We honestly thought we were going to die because it was so hard to step out of our comfort zone and go door-to-door meeting people.
When we got done each night, we would recap our conversations. We would celebrate when someone actually wanted to talk with us! With a sigh of relief, we were excited about the opportunity to share about Christ, but in my body I was just relieved it was over, at least for that night.
The next night we would have the same range of emotions: fear, anxiety and not wanting to go out and do it. But we showed up, and so did God.
And, in case it isn’t obvious, we didn’t die.
Some interesting observations
We knocked on about 8,000 doors in Escondido. We found many responsive people interested in talking about God. What was surprising during that time is that people from the Mexican/Latino culture were much more open to talk about God.
The Mexican/Latino culture is very warm and familial. They also have a strong cultural Catholic background. They weren’t opposed to talking about God, so we took this as an open door! We aren’t exactly sure why we were having such good conversations with them, but God was opening doors physically and spiritually.
While we had many conversations with them in English, we were ill-equipped to speak Spanish; so we started learning.
At some point in our stay in Escondido, we asked ourselves, “If we ever leave Escondido, where could we go to talk to more Mexicans?”
Moving to Yuma
God answered our question about where we should move to reach others for Christ. Yuma is a border town with a large Mexican population. We moved to Yuma in June of 2021.
There are a few smaller towns south of Yuma closer to the border that have 95% Mexican heritage living there. We started attending a Spanish-speaking church in a town south of Yuma called Somerton (population 16,000) and knocked on all the doors there.
We then moved on to San Luis, AZ (population 36,000), which is right on the border of Mexico, and we knocked on all the doors there.
We have now been knocking on doors in Yuma since about May of 2023.
Stories from Knocking on Doors
Do you want to hear about some of the conversations we’ve had while knocking on doors?
We are the Stahl family, and this is our story. Our story began several years ago when God started stirring our family in many ways.
At that time, we were living in Minnesota, where I, Ryan, worked as an engineer. Our family had been part of a non-denominational church in Minnesota for 20 years. I also had the privilege to serve as a bi-vocational pastor at that church for almost ten years.
We were content with where we were at. I was happy with my job, my house and family, and my church. A part of my personality is that I am consistent, and I like when things stay the same. I had been at the same church for 20 years, working at the same company for 20 years, and living in the same house for 20 years. But all of that was about to change.
Video version of our story
It Started with a Stirring
In the fall of 2018, God started to stir our hearts and give us a care and love for the persecuted church. There are many places in the world where it is illegal (or at least very difficult) to be a Christian. Sometimes the persecution comes from governmental restrictions. Other times it is persecution from other religious groups. Persecution can also simply come from intense societal pressures. In America, we don’t face persecution, or at least not like it is experienced in many places around the world. The persecution in many countries causes many problems. For example, many people need Bibles because they are either too expensive or illegal to own.
With God stirring our hearts, we were prompted to start selling our possessions and giving the money to support persecuted Christians. There are organizations where you can donate $5 to get a Bible to someone who doesn’t have one. One organization prints Bibles in China, and they say that for every Bible that gets distributed in the country, two or three people get saved. It is amazing that such an impact can be made with just $5.
Knowing this, it was then easy to look around our house to see what we could sell to get more money for Bibles. We started selling our possessions that we didn’t need and continued to sell our possessions for the next several months. Then we wondered whether we should sell our house. Our logic was that if we could live more simply, then we could give more generously to our brothers and sisters. As we thought about it, it became clearer. It wasn’t a matter of if, but when we would sell our home.
What is Stopping Us?
Knowing this, it was then easy to look around our house to see what we could sell to get more money for Bibles. We started selling our possessions that we didn’t need and continued to sell our possessions for the next several months. Then we wondered whether we should sell our house. Our logic was that if we could live more simply, then we could give more generously to our brothers and sisters. As we thought about it, it became clearer. It wasn’t a matter of if, but when we would sell our home.
The next questions we had were, “Where would we go?” and “What organization would we go with?” We contacted a few organizations, one being Wycliffe Bible Translators. They helped me to realize that it wasn’t a good fit for us. They, themselves, also had concerns about our family, too, because of the ages of our kids. At least statistically, it doesn’t typically go well for older kids of families wanting to be missionaries.
Around this time, I attended a regional pastors meeting with many other pastors from the area. I was talking with a pastor friend over lunch one day, and he mentioned that RUN Global was looking for help. I was already aware of RUN Global at that time. In fact, I had been on their email list for many years. I knew the founder and president of the company loosely because he was also a pastor in our church movement.
An Email Introduction
Around this time, I attended a regional pastors meeting with many other pastors from the area. I was talking with a pastor friend over lunch one day, and he mentioned that RUN Global was looking for help. I was already aware of RUN Global at that time. In fact, I had been on their email list for many years. I knew the founder and president of the company loosely because he was also a pastor in our church movement.
By the fall of 2019, we had sold all our possessions, sold our house, and I resigned from my work as an engineer. On October 1st, 2019, we were on a plane to India! We spent three months in Nepal and then about three months in India. A lot happened over there, and you can read about many of those stories HERE!
Covid-19
In late February, we started making our way across India to get to New Delhi. We decided to make a couple of “tourist” stops on our way since our visas were for tourism. Then in March of 2020, COVID-19 started hitting India. We found ourselves experiencing lockdown in New Delhi. Our visas were canceled, and now we needed to get back home. That was a story in itself.
Now What?
We arrived back in America in early April of 2020. We spent five weeks in Alabama at Laura’s dad’s home. It was a reflective time. It was a hard time. God had stirred us to make a big change in our lives to be more purposeful for him. But now what? What do you want us to do Lord?
We still had a return ticket to India in July. We weren’t sure how long Covid would last. We thought we would perhaps be able to go back to India in July. So before then, we wanted to take some time to visit some family and friends. But we also felt God telling us to travel beyond just visiting family and friends. We had people we knew across the country and in many different churches. We felt God reminding us of several things:
- We have a passion for the church.
- We have a passion for the lost.
- We have an amazing testimony that we can tell many people, a testimony of how God changed us in such a crazy way.
So, we began to travel around the U.S. in our trailer for several months.
Many Months of Travel…
Our travels took us through many western states. In many places we had contacts and worked with them to meet new people and share our story. In other places, we spent time researching churches and emailing them to see if we could meet.
The emails allowed us to make contact with many people and also helped us to find places to camp for the night.
The road eventually led us to southern California to the city of Escondido. We didn’t have any contacts in this city, but we saw a church that looked interesting so we pulled into the parking lot on Sunday morning!
This “chance” visit turned into a seven month stay. The church was in a pastoral transition, but the interim pastor and elders were inspired by our story and asked us to stay for a while.
The church building has been around for 60+ years, and the church needed help cleaning it out. They had a power hookup in the corner of their parking lot and gave us access to the building.
After being there for about two months, we were feeling like we needed to do more. We were certainly providing help to this church in transition, and I (Ryan) was doing remote work for RUN Global. But there was something missing. We still had a lot of free time, and there are many souls that need Jesus!
Our time in Escondido was during-Covid and post-Covid. This was a time when many people were not venturing out of their homes. We had the idea of starting to knock on doors and pray for people. We thought that if people were not coming out and certainly not coming back to church, then at least we could go to their door and minister to them.
We Thought We Were Going to Die
We started going out in the neighborhoods around the church, house by house, street by street, reaching people in the neighborhoods. We would go out for a little over an hour several times a week. (Photo of Escondido map highlighted on the wall)
We had a lot of fears. Fears of being rejected. Fears of being yelled at. Fears of not saying the right things. We honestly thought we were going to die because it was so hard to step out of our comfort zone and go door-to-door meeting people.
When we got done each night, we would recap our conversations. We would celebrate when someone actually wanted to talk with us! With a sigh of relief, we were excited about the opportunity to share about Christ, but in my body I was just relieved it was over, at least for that night.
The next night we would have the same range of emotions: fear, anxiety and not wanting to go out and do it. But we showed up, and so did God.
And, in case it isn’t obvious, we didn’t die.
Some interesting observations
We knocked on about 8,000 doors in Escondido. We found many responsive people interested in talking about God. What was surprising during that time is that people from the Mexican/Latino culture were much more open to talk about God.
The Mexican/Latino culture is very warm and familial. They also have a strong cultural Catholic background. They weren’t opposed to talking about God, so we took this as an open door! We aren’t exactly sure why we were having such good conversations with them, but God was opening doors physically and spiritually.
While we had many conversations with them in English, we were ill-equipped to speak Spanish; so we started learning.
At some point in our stay in Escondido, we asked ourselves, “If we ever leave Escondido, where could we go to talk to more Mexicans?”
Moving to Yuma
God answered our question about where we should move to reach others for Christ. Yuma is a border town with a large Mexican population. We moved to Yuma in June of 2021.
There are a few smaller towns south of Yuma closer to the border that have 95% Mexican heritage living there. We started attending a Spanish-speaking church in a town south of Yuma called Somerton (population 16,000) and knocked on all the doors there.
We then moved on to San Luis, AZ (population 36,000), which is right on the border of Mexico, and we knocked on all the doors there.
We have now been knocking on doors in Yuma since about May of 2023.
Stories from Knocking on Doors
Do you want to hear about some of the conversations we’ve had while knocking on doors?