Seven o’clock AM. He climbs aboard a four-seat prop plane destined for tiny Stuart Island. The wind is blowing badly. It'll be a rough trip. Today he’ll make three visits to remote peoples on two islands not accessible by public transportation. When he arrives, there will be no vehicle to pick him up. He'll walk to the homes or, in some cases, they may furnish a quad for quicker transportation.
Other days he’ll visit these, and other islands, by either chartered or private boat. The population of these tiny islands varies from a few hundred to a few thousand, depending on the season. The islands are inhabited by two vastly different people groups, the one, subsistence dwellers. They earn just enough to supplement what they can’t provide by living off the land. The other, wealthy people, drawn to the islands for their beauty, and their solitude. Both people groups have this in common, they aren’t fond of strangers on their island.
My son, Bohannan McKenzie, pastors Lighthouse Baptist Church in Anacortes, WA. His church is on the most populated of the San Juan Islands, and the last that is accessible by public roads. The others can only be reached by plane or ferry. Most of the islands in the San Juans have no public ferry system. The people who live on them do so precisely because they are secluded.
Bohannan also owns Anacortes Plumbing. That’s his invitation and his ticket in. These folks have their own tiny villages, their own postal service, even their own tiny schoolhouses. What they don’t want is a bunch of visitors. What they have to have, from time to time, is a craftsman willing to deal with the hassles of working in such remote areas. And it is the trade that provides Bohannan access to people who would otherwise have no witness for Jesus Christ.
A family who lost their son – but there is no preacher on their island. Bohannan has had a two-year conversation of comfort and hope with them. He believes they are close to trusting Christ as Saviour. Again, and again he makes visits to these tiny towns. Again, and again his trade of plumbing gets him fresh invitations to return. Again, and again he has the opportunity to tell them, these isolated citizens of the United States, of Jesus Christ.
This is remote missions work in the continental U.S.
Marvin McKenzie
In the fields.
This is our Grandson Paster Bohanan McKenzie. Marvins son. Proud Grandmother!!
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