Sold Out
Kathy Mosteller Loeber is the oldest daughter of Earl and Gladys Mosteller. The Mostellers pioneered three areas of mission work for the Church of the Nazarene: Brazil, Portugal, and the Azores. Earl was a missionary until age 72, when he "retired."
My father grew up in South Dakota. I think his missionary career started with a schoolteacher who, every single week of the year, would send a postcard to Dad and his family, inviting them to church. Dad's family was not interested in church at all. My grandfather finally said they should go so this lady wouldn't spend all of her money sending postcards to them. So everyone went to church, and Dad was introduced to the church and missions. I think the dogged sense of evangelism he carried through his whole life might have been affected by this teacher's persistence.
I have a picture of my dad out in the sagebrush on his knees with his Bible. That's where he would go to pray. He didn't want to just be okay with God, but to be completely sold out to God.
He didn't want anything—no matter what—to prevent God from becoming everything in his life.
Dad didn't feel a call to missions at that point, but he wanted to be completely surrendered to whatever God had planned for him. He went to the altar and out in the sagebrush and prayed until he had nothing else left to give God.
The most important thing for him was heart holiness. My father kept saying, "I do not want just part of what God has. I want everything." This sealed his commitment and he never turned back. Dad gained a confidence in God.
When we live at that level of the Spirit, the decisions, plans, dreams, and big thoughts God gives us are all part of God's plan because we are already sold out to Him. That's the stage where Dad was—no doubts—it was full throttle ahead. That's how I saw Dad live.
Kathy Mosteller Loeber is the oldest daughter of Earl and Gladys Mosteller.
Please note: All facts, figures, and titles were accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of original publication but may have since changed.
