When God Moves: The Quillmans’ Story

During Mickeal and Sharon Quillman’s trip to Zambia in June of 2021, they both felt “a stirring within their souls” for the people they met and served. They kept it to themselves after their return, but during that time of seeking God’s will, two couples asked Mickeal, “When are you moving to the mission field?” When he asked where they had heard it, both couples said the same thing: “God told us.”

Before They Met

The son of a Baptist preacher and church planter, Mickeal was born in Illinois and his family served throughout Missouri. In seventh grade, he and his family moved to a small town in rural Arkansas where he met Sharon, who had lived in the same house since birth and knew nothing about life on the move. 

Raised in the Catholic faith, Sharon was saved after she and Mickeal married. The Quillmans raised two sons and a daughter (now grown with families of their own) and served together in youth ministry . . . until God called them elsewhere. 

Not Yet

In 2004, Mickeal took his first foreign mission trip to Romania with Larry Barker where he fell in love with the people and felt a pull toward missions, but God seemed to be saying, “Not yet.” So, for the next fifteen or so years they worked hard to disciple their own children and the kids in their youth group. They also received training in how to share their faith and emphasized that to their students.

In her blog, Sharon says, “After he (Mickeal) went to Romania, I knew that all those years he felt God pulling him into mission work, but neither of us ever had that ‘yes’ moment. I saw his heart for the Romanian gypsy people and the compassion he had for the little children of those villages. As much as we wanted God to call us to work there, we never felt it. I was excited to get to see for myself what exactly it was he felt

In 2018 Mickeal retired from youth ministry. He didn’t feel the call to become a lead pastor and began seeking roles as discipleship pastor. Pastor Andy Neal of Temple Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Arkansas, asked him to pray about being executive pastor there, and he accepted the call. 

Now is the Time

In June of 2021, they went with their church to Livingstone, Zambia, in Africa to help missionaries Joshua and Meagan Phiri.  And for the first time, there were no kids at home, so Sharon and Mickeal were excited to finally take the two-week trip together. With great anticipation, Sharon couldn’t wait to experience for herself what exactly it felt like to be on the mission field.

Sharon explained what they both felt in her blog: “We crammed as much into those two weeks as we could. We met the people of Mbangweta village, walking from hut to hut passing out shoes and evangelizing. We painted the new church building, built bookshelves for the school, showed the Jesus film in several villages, and spent time getting to know the Zambian people. 

“It didn’t take long until we fell in love. Halfway through the trip I started feeling a pull towards the people we met, which I mentioned to Quill (Mickeal). I didn’t want to go home. He stayed quiet but told me to pray. I now know he felt the same way but kept it to himself until he knew for sure. It was the same thing he experienced for the Romanian people, and he didn’t want to get his hopes up that he would finally get the ‘yes’ he had been waiting for all those years. We spent the rest of the trip praying and loving the Zambian people, and I cried the day we had to leave.”

They both felt God stirring in their hearts to move to Zambia and be part of the Phiris’ team as missionaries. Apparently, during that time, there were at least four others (see first paragraph) who heard from the Lord as well. 

Sharon says, “This time of support raising has been a wonderful time to get to know other believers, put faces to our prayer warriors, and raise the much-needed finances for this journey.” 

They officially began the transition into full time missions in September of 2021 and are continuing to raise support until they leave for Zambia in July of 2022. If you would like to have them speak at your church, we have no Sundays left available but are open to weekday services. 

They covet your prayers as they start this journey to love the people of Zambia, walk alongside them, and lead them to Jesus Christ.