I wasted away my teen years in the early 1970’s in Corpus Christi, Texas, rebelling against the expectations of established society. Surfing was the thing I was most devoted to in those days and I aggressively embraced the surfing sub-culture, including drug use and the cruising and carousing lifestyle. It was a fun and exciting way to waste my time.
But God began to step into my life through the friendship of a high school girlfriend and her family. Through their lives and testimony I was drawn towards Jesus. I sometimes say that I embraced Jesus and the gospel. The truth is that Jesus did the embracing. He took firm hold of me and radically rescued me from sin, rebellion and a ruined life in 1975.
Conversion, for me, was over a six month or so process. I don’t remember the exact moment of grace in which I was saved. But as I began to believe in Jesus, my life values and morality began to change very quickly. My surfing and party-life friends jokingly called me the “hippie preacher” as I tried to persuade them with arguments for Christ and the gospel. Though radically saved, sadly, complete deliverance from the “dark side” came over a longer period of time for me.
Life was good. 1975-76 was spent buzzing around in my 65’ blue Mustang; full of surfboards and surf buddies heading to Bob Hall Pier or the Fish Pass Jetties on Padre Island. But now I carried a bible and a love for Jesus. And there was an idea developing in my mind for what I might want to do next.
I graduated from W.B. Ray High School (Corpus Christi) in 1976 and almost immediately left to attend the School of World Evangelism in College Station, Texas. Read more.
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Tommi Sitton:
After my parents divorced, I moved to Harlingen, Texas between my freshman and sophomore years of high school. Being new kid on campus, I didn’t have a lot of friends. A young lady named Lori befriended me. Through her friendship, Jesus was revealed to me. The Lord saved me during that summer. I became involved in my church youth group and was eagerly growing in my walk with Christ. My plan at that time was to go to college and get into the medical field. However, during my senior year of high school a missionary that our church supported came through town and spoke at our Sunday night youth meeting. That missionary was David Sitton! His passion to serve God and his stories about his first term in New Guinea excited me. We began corresponding by ‘snail’ mail and short visits over the next six months. We were married in June 1980, three weeks after I graduated from High School. Two months later, we arrived in Papua New Guinea! Over the next 9 years we had 3 children (Joshua, Barbara and Jimmy Don) and moved 14 times. Along with raising a family, I taught children’s and women’s bible classes as well as literacy. My primary focus has always been our home. David traveled a great deal evangelizing and visiting churches in the “bush” to train national leaders.
From 1990-1993, we lived in Pasadena, CA at Providence Mission Homes (PMH) while David worked with the US Center for World Mission, heading The Institute of Tribal Studies (which we later named To Every Tribe Ministries). PMH is a ministry that was started many years ago by Jacques and Mercedes Gribble. PMH provides affordable, fully furnished temporary housing for furloughing missionaries. The day we arrived in Pasadena was the last work day for the previous manager. She asked if I wanted the job! That should have been my first clue! I accepted and it became one of the most demanding, challenging, but fulfilling ministries I’ve had the privilege of doing. God has given me a heart to serve those who serve Him and that job was an amazing outlet for that gift. It was the perfect job for me because I was able to watch our children, work out of my home and minister to missionaries in very practical ways.
Since 1993, the ministry of To Every Tribe has been based in South Texas and has grown to include The Center for Pioneer Church Planting. My official title is Office Manager, but my main responsibilities include handling our student’s and missionary’s finances and helping to coordinate short-term mission trips. We have two incredible grandchildren, Elijah and Emily, who keep us laughing.
By God’s grace, we will continue in this task He has given us - to help mobilize a new generation of missionaries to go to the unreached with the gospel. We have been blessed to be a part of this work for all these years. We have had faithful and generous people behind us every step of the way. For that, we are grateful to God.
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