In 15 years as a missionary I have seen a lot of men who were good and godly, fail at becoming missionaries. It is one of the saddest and traumatic events to see, which both the men and their families are hurt! It is also a blight on mission programs in every church. We are given resources from God to do His work we all must be aware that these must be used for the work of God and not waisted. I have also seen men who should have never been a candidate, or gotten to the mission field. They were never worthy, in the moral sense, and in the spiritual sense. They usually leave a disaster behind in the field or on deputation. Because of their lack of qualifications the gospel work will be hindered for a very long time and churches are less willing to give to missionaries. I don't want to be over critical and it is not my goal to hurt anyone. The goal that God has laid out for us - which is to carry the gospel to all the world, and to plant churches, must be above any of our personal feelings. I have seen good missionaries, godly men with a heart for God and his goals. Every good missionary will admit his mistakes and tell you what they learned from them.

I wish to share with you some of the lessons I have learned, and seen in the area of failed missionaries.

1) Not qualified spiritually and morally.

2) Family issues, wife and children not behind dad or the father doesn’t see his family’s needs.

3) Not prepared for the field and the culture shock that comes from turning your world upside down.

4) Health issues, physically not prepared for the work.

5) Pride - they have a god syndrome it is “the us, and them attitude”. Just because there is a spiritual void does not mean there is an intelligence void.

These are just some of the reasons that men fail at missions, I will later develop these points. Most of the time we get one shot as missionaries at a particular field in that generation, let us not waist it.