Meet Alan and Ann Bryant

We recently returned to The Woodlands after serving as Faith Bible missionaries in Albania for 14 years. Our journey to the mission field began with us telling Jesus, “No!”  Not just an ordinary, “No thanks, Lord, maybe later”, but a big, bold, loud “NO!”
 
We arrived at Faith Bible Church in June 1995, together with our four children.  Alan worked for Mitchell Energy; Ann taught in the public schools.  Work was good; extended family was close; community at Faith Bible was important.

In 1996 two of our children went on an impactful youth mission trip to Guatemala.  In 1997, we were asked to go on the Guatemala trip.  Alan responded, in writing, with a big, bold, 8 ½” x 11’’ NO.  Alan hated to fly, and the thought of crossing the Gulf of Mexico in a plane was more than he could bear.

But Jesus intervened through the voice of our daughter.  She asked us to reconsider.  Alan manned-up, we spent a week in Santiago Atilán and Jesus touched our hearts.  That trip opened up our eyes, in a tangible way, to the multiculturalistic beauty of the gospel.  In the middle of a culture full of food, dress, family, language and worship, all radically different than that of our Texas culture, we saw Jesus.  In Guatemala we began to understand, in our hearts, the reality that God deeply loves all people from all nations, tribes, peoples and languages.  So, the journey to long-term service in Albania began…

A bump in the road: In the summer of 2000 we went to Chad, Africa, to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary.  Again, Jesus touched us with the multiculturalistic beauty of the gospel.  Alan loved Chad; Ann not so much.  But our call to serve Jesus in a cross-cultural setting began to firm up.  The question was, “If not Chad, then where?”

Alan is passionate about church planting; Ann is VERY passionate about the education of children.  For her, rightly so, it is Kingdom work.  Our elders reminded Alan that a wise man pays attention to his wife’s insights and that it would be good for us to seek a place where both of us could follow our passions, to find a Bryant-shaped hole to plug into.  Albania was that place for us.  We said yes for 3 years. Jesus kept us there for a not-always-easy 14 years.  But He used them to bless us in amazing ways.  Our advice to our Faith Bible Church family:  Best to tell Jesus “Yes.”