Long before Nina Barber stepped onto the mission field, she had to make one life-changing decision. But what began as a cry of surrender slowly transformed into a life of intentional obedience—one yes at a time.
From a young age, Nina was heavily involved in church—attending Sunday morning worship, Vacation Bible School, and Life Groups. However, despite knowing all the right answers and being immersed in church culture, she spent years chasing acceptance and identity in all the wrong places. But one night in 2020, Nina sat in her car, completely broken, and realized that outside of God, nothing could truly satisfy her.
“I told God, ‘I don’t have anything to give You, but whatever I’m doing on my own isn’t working,’” Nina said. “And that night I gave my life to the Lord.”
That moment of surrender marked the beginning of a new life, but it wasn’t one Nina would walk alone. God surrounded her with a community of believers who deeply cared about her. For the first time, she found herself in relationships where people asked intentional questions about her walk with the Lord.
As Nina’s faith deepened, so did a stirring in her heart—a pull toward missions that she couldn’t shake. The call became clear one morning in December 2022 during a trip to New York with her friends.
“I woke up early and walked over to a coffee shop, and I was reading in Timothy where Paul is writing encouraging letters to Timothy, saying, ‘No matter what, preach the Word of God,’” Nina said.
When Nina returned to Memphis, she knew she had to respond to what God was pressing on her heart. She reached out to her friend Fernando Lobos, who was working in Bellevue’s Missions office at the time.
“I told him, ‘The Lord just keeps popping this in my mind,’” Nina said. “‘He’s tapping my shoulder constantly with it. It’s kind of bugging me because I don’t want to do it, but He just keeps putting it in my mind.’ And Fernando told me, ‘You should lean into it. Just say yes.’”
So Nina signed up for Send Out Training in spring 2023, and besides learning about spiritual warfare, conflict resolution, and the missionary task, she gained something else invaluable: a realistic picture of life on the mission field.
Soon after, Nina put her training into practice. From May to July 2023, she participated in the North American Mission Board’s GenSend program and served with Cultivate NYC, a church plant in Harlem. Her assignment was simple: walk around the community, meet people, and build relationships.
“We would go to parks, trying to meet people, getting to know familiar places, going to coffee shops regularly and meeting the baristas, getting to know them, and building relationships through that,” Nina said. “That was literally all our job was, which is crazy to think about because all we did all day was walk around Harlem and get to know people. But it was so fun, and we got to meet so many people.”
Every conversation was a step toward earning trust and opening doors to show people the love of Christ. Nina and her team weren’t just walking around Harlem—they were planting seeds and creating space for God to work through genuine connections.
When Nina came back to Memphis at the end of the summer, she knew something had shifted inside her. After much prayer and seeking wisdom from other believers in her community, Nina applied to be a Ministerial Assistant (MA) in Bellevue’s Missions office and joined the team in May 2024. Over the next year and a half, she discovered a side of missions she hadn’t considered: the ministry of sending others to the mission field.
“I do think missions has two sides to it,” Nina said. “You can either be sent out by a church to somewhere else, or you can be part of the sending out.”
Nina found herself drawn to the behind-the-scenes work—the logistics, the planning, and the support that makes it possible for others to go. But as meaningful as that administrative side was, what left the deepest impression were the moments she witnessed people transformed after being on the mission field.
“My favorite thing I’ve ever done was a debrief with our mid-term goers because they each had a story,” Nina said. “They came back moved and changed. The Lord is working—not only in me, not only in Memphis, but in every single one of those missionaries.”
Nina is now serving as a mid-term resident with Living Hope Church in Medford, Oregon, where she walks closely with those who know little to nothing about the Gospel—mentoring, encouraging, and guiding them to seek after the goodness of God. The role is a continuation of everything God has been cultivating in her: a deep burden for lost people, a heart for discipleship, and a passion for sending others to the mission field.
What began as a reluctant tug on Nina’s heart has grown into a lifestyle of intentional obedience through one yes at a time—yes to Jesus, yes to community, yes to Send Out Training, yes to GenSend, yes to serving as a Missions MA, and yes to Medford.
“It’s hard giving up a period of your life for the Lord,” Nina said. “But I constantly come back to the fact that there’s nothing better than being at the center of His will for your life. There’s nothing better than only pursuing that. He’s worthy of it. Who am I to say He’s not enough? Ultimately, He is worthy of losing everything, and that’s a hard realization. But it’s true.”
Is God tugging on your heart to serve? Visit bellevue.org/missions to take your first step toward discovering what happens when you say yes to God.