“When I put those two things together, the fact that Jesus is God’s son, and, but so many people don’t have access to that truth, I just thought ‘gosh what do I do?’ So I started making some phone calls, and I wound up calling the International Mission Board and ended up in Peru,” Robert Lane, former missionary in residence and current missions associate at Union, said.
Lane has spent the last 20 years serving God as a missionary on many different fronts, both in the United States and in other parts of the world. His international missions journey started when he reached a deeper understanding of John chapter 3. The words resonated with him and he launched himself into discipleship. Before heading to Northern Africa, he spent 2 years disciplining the people of the Peruvian jungle before returning to the States and marrying his wife, Maridith.
“Around 2011, we began the transition to Africa. First Uganda, then South Sudan, and then Chad. I taught a little bit in Africa. There was a seminary in Uganda I taught at. I didn’t think I would like that either but I loved it,” Lane said.
From Peru to Chad, Lane and his family have gone where God called them, including back here in the United States. During the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lanes were starting to feel drained after giving their all to God for years. They returned to the States to recharge before setting off on their next missionary journey.
“We were really kind of falling apart, emotionally. We were tight as a family unit. We were supporting and caring for each other, but as a family, we just had no more strength. We had never experienced that so we decided to come home early,” Lane said.
The decision to return to the States was solidified when a military coup happened in Chad. The Lanes were under a curfew for weeks, confined to their house. So, after much deliberation, the Lanes left Africa and made their way to our very own Union University. They stayed in Warmath family housing for around a year, while they got their wits about them. Afterward, they moved into a house when their stay as our missionaries in residence was over. Lane began teaching classes on theology and missions in Jennings Hall while he was still a missionary in residence.
“We were on the edge of some deep, deep fatigue, but we never got into it. We never got to that dark place. So, we don’t have a story about how bad everything was. We just got to the point where we thought it was going to get bad, but God provided us a place to recharge spiritually,” Lane said. “Union has been that place. We lived on campus trying to figure out what was happening in our lives. I taught that first semester. I was scared to death but I had the greatest class. They were extremely encouraging.”
While church planting was what Lane expected to do in his mission work, he has found that teaching opens many doors that would otherwise be closed. More young people can come and get advice from him regarding their own personal interests in going into missions.
“At first I wasn’t really eager to teach or do stuff in the classroom, but when I realized the opportunity to disciple and mentor students, particularly students who had questions about working overseas and things like that, I really became excited,” Lane said.
Lane can be seen walking to and from Jennings Hall most days of the school week. I have heard him referred to as both one of the best dressed men on campus and one of the kindest. During lunch hours, he often talks with his students. The few times I have stopped by his lunch table, he has always been in deep conversation with the students around him.
“When I have got students coming up to me and saying ‘hey, meet with me, teach me, disciple me, mentor me’ and the fact that it is happening every day, it’s incredible. Just to see the hunger of the students here, not just to grow spiritually but to make their lives matter and have significance even outside of classes,” Lane said.
To continue his ministry, Lane has poured his all into his students. He greets them in the halls and has lunch with them. He does not do it out of obligation but because he wants to. Both by answering questions they might have about ministry and just being there as an ear to listen to them, the positive impact Lane has made is felt by many students. One of whom is Sam Boger, a junior digital media communications major.
“I transferred to Union last semester, and I didn’t know where Jennings Hall was because I had never been on campus before. So, I walk outside and ask a student where Jennings is because I had a class in there. But then Robert came up to me and said, ‘hey I am headed to Jennings now if you want to walk with me.’ That is how he introduced himself to me, and I still call him Robert,” Boger said.
After their first meeting, Boger has taken multiple of Lane’s classes and expressed that they have all been highly applicable to his daily life. Not just teaching him how to minister to those in other countries but also to the people he is around on a daily basis.
“Transferring last semester was hard, it was hard to get to know people and to make connections. He is somebody who knows me where I feel like a lot of people don’t,” Boger said. “In the few weeks since classes started back, he has gone from just a friendly face to a mentor who disciples me.”
Photo by Laila Al-Hagal