Lauren’s story, from Lauren

In late 2001, shortly after 9/11, a missionary spoke to my home church about her work in a small coffee shop in Slovakia. She shared about the relationships that she and the staff were building with local college students as a way to share Jesus with them. Listening to her speak that evening, I felt an immediate call from the Lord: “Go.” I shared with my parents after the service, and my mom quickly responded that she had no desire to put her 16-year-old daughter on a plane to a foreign country! In the aftermath of 9/11, this was understandable, but I knew with certainty that God had spoken.

Through some miraculous circumstances, God made it evident, even to my mom, that I was supposed to go to Slovakia that following summer. He provided two young women from the Atlanta area who would join me on that journey. Those two weeks in Slovakia and Hungary were life-changing for me. God opened my eyes to the spiritual darkness in Europe, and I knew when I came home that God would one day call me to Europe full-time. I continued to go to Hungary throughout my college years to teach English and share the Gospel, and in 2004 when Jason and I married, he joined me for his first trip to Hungary, as well.

God has continually burdened our hearts as a couple for Europe. What began in Slovakia and Hungary has led to trips to Romania and Ireland, as well. In 2018, God got our attention about Ireland specifically, and we have been seeking His guidance in pursuing a life in Ireland since that time.

Jason’s story, from Jason

At the age of 17, I had just gotten my life right with the Lord. After a school year of drifting away and living for myself, I had grown closer to Christ than ever before. My youth pastor, Jim Harley, had a passion for missions. Jim had “forced” the youth group to learn how to share the Gospel using beaded salvation bracelets, and he had planned a mission trip to West Virginia. While on the trip, Jim had the audacity to force us to spend a 45-minute devotion with Jesus every morning! The long devotions and the trip itself radically changed my life, and on the third or fourth day, I sat with a little boy in the park to share the Gospel with him. I got to lead that kid to Christ right there in the park! I realized later that evening that I wanted to spend my life helping others find Jesus, and I answered the Call to ministry two weeks later at youth camp.

In the fall of 2003, I was in my final year at North Greenville, and planning to be a student pastor wherever the Lord would lead me. One week, I started wrestling with a call to go to Southeast Asia for Christmas. I just didn’t know if I was up for going alone so far away on my last Christmas before graduation. After all, I had never even been on a foreign mission trip, so shouldn’t I start small? Then one morning, a missionary pastor from India, Dr. Samuel Thomas, preached in chapel. He said in his strong accent: “Friends, when it comes to following God in missions, do not say ‘I’ll pray about it.’ GO, and see if the Lord stops you!!! God has already called you in His Word to ‘go,’ so if you think He’s calling you, He probably is! Go until He stops you!” That afternoon, I recruited my buddy Jeffrey to go with me and Jeffrey recruited his friend Perry. Though we were three very different young men, we saw the Lord do amazing things through us (Gospel opportunities and even salvations!), and I knew I wanted to spend my life sharing Jesus with those who had never heard the Good News!

Their story together

As Jason and Lauren were interviewed for Jason’s first permanent full-time position, they boldly told the church that they could give them two years, but would be answering the call to missions after that. The church accepted this, and the Kittrells began serving here in the US while anticipating the Call to overseas work. Then in the winter of 2005, Lauren heard the Lord speak to her about going back to Hungary for spring break ministry. It was a little odd for NGU to let a married graduate attend a mission trip, but they did! Jason went with the crew that connected to students in high schools while Lauren taught English again. They spent time with the group connecting to local Baptist missionaries, and everyone learned how to survive when it’s tougher due to lots of missing luggage! Lauren connected to one adult student in particular, and the lady wanted to take us couple out for a castle visit! It was another strange thing for students on a North Greenville University sanctioned trip, but they took the chance to invest a little more into a new friend! This was Jason’s first time visiting Europe, and the Call to serve overseas only grew for both of them!

The following winter, 2006, Lauren kept thinking about and dreaming about the Hungarian friend she connected with the year before. Then one day in chapel, and week and a half before spring break, she just knew the Lord was telling her to go back to Budapest for spring break. Her newfound Hungarian friend had been begging her to come stay! Only… There wasn’t a trip planned with NGU that year. She called Jason to ask him what to do, and Jason suggested she go talk to the school president, Dr. Jimmy Epting. Jason told her that Dr. Epting would help them figure it out, and that she should just go talk to him! After hearing her heart and getting Dr. Allen McWhite to look at costs, Dr. Epting promised to cover half of the trip if the Kittrells could come up with the rest. It would be $1500 for the Kittrells to raise! 48 hours later, the Lord had provided nearly $2000 to go spend time with the Hungarian family and hopefully plant more seeds! Only… Lauren only connected to the adult student through email. As the Kittrells boarded the plane in Charlotte, they still didn’t know if they had a place to stay or quite enough for the trip if they had to find a hotel. Thankfully, minutes before boarding the connecting flight in Chicago, the email from Ildiko, the Hungarian friend came through with simply: “I will pick you up at the airport, and I’m very very excited!” They spent the week encouraging the family, connecting with missionaries in Budapest, and even revisiting one of the high schools from the year before. The teachers were very excited to hear that Jason the American had returned to Budapest with his guitar! This trip was the first taste of normal mission life that Jason had experienced, and his passion to invest into lives overseas grew!

Then for many years, the Lord did not lead the Kittrells overseas. They prayed and asked the Lord where to go, and the Lord had them go serve the American Church. While Jason and Lauren loved the people they served, they just kept asking the Lord “when do we go overseas, Lord?” What they didn’t understand was that the Lord was shaping them and preparing them for future ministry. All of the students and adults they celebrated coming to Christ, being discipled, or getting their lives right with Christ again were the training grounds for future ministry as well as amazing stateside ministries! All of the student and adult messages Jason preached were more preparation to handle the Word of the Lord correctly. All of the different subcultures that the Kittrells learned to serve in and with were further preparation for future Kingdom work. The Kittrells obediently followed as the Lord led, and they began to raise their boys in Christ.

Then in the summer of 2016, Jason heard that his mom was going to go to Romania for the first time to serve in the yearly mission trip his dad took. The Lord told Jason to go, but Lauren would have to stay home with the boys. This trip would be another life changing trip for Jason. Jason brought a man from his church named Brian. The two of them mostly served with Pastor Mircea (a Baptist Romanian pastor), and pastor Mircea sent them to several local churches to preach at, including Roma gypsy churches! They also visited some Roma villages to share goods and pray for people and houses! Jason came home with a renewed fire to reach Europe like never before!

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In January of 2018, Jason was video chatting with Pastor Mircea. Mircea was currently pastoring four small churches, and they were all long drives from each other. During the Christmas time, Mircea had traveled to each of the churches several times a week to provide messages and the Lord’s Supper to them in celebration of Christ. In Romania, it is a normal part of Christmas to meet together several times in the lead up to Christmas Day and celebrate through worship and the Lord’s Supper. In Romanian Baptist Churches, only an ordained Baptist Minister can administer the Lord’s Supper. After Christmas, Pastor Mircea was so sick from all of the traveling that he was forced to remain in bed for nearly two weeks! In that moment, Jason just knew he was supposed to return to help Pastor Mircea minister to the churches for Easter 2019! Mircea quickly explained that Baptist churches follow the Eastern Ortodox calendar, and that they would be celebrating the week after our churches in America. Jason then convinced his music pastor, Terry Hawkins, to take his very first overseas mission trip to help as well. Jason, Lauren, and Terry boarded the plane just after Easter service, and headed out. They brought money with them to bless Romanians and Roma people with food and shoes. Jason and Lauren took a rental car and used Google Maps to get to the more remote churches and minister. They would meet a translator in each church and trust the Lord as they traveled and shared. Mircea’s adult children, Dina and Emi, would drive and translate for Terry. What would have been an exhausting, draining week for Mircea became a week of dear fellowship, rejoicing, and even a surprise birthday for him!

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These are only a few of the stories of how God has cemented the call to Europe time and time again in our hearts. While we have served faithfully in numerous contexts here in the States, we know that the time has come to begin the transition! We hope that you will choose to partner with us in this journey of taking Christ to the lost!