Word First is committed to sending dedicated, Bible-believing missionaries into the world to join our Lord on his mission to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
We are currently on mission in Oslo, Norway — preparing to plant a church that’s dedicated to identifying, developing, and launching gospel-oriented church planters throughout Norway. The team arrived in Oslo in August 2021 and have been hard at work since. We expect to plant the first church by the end of 2023.
Necessary to the mission is raising funds sufficient to support the team as they live and work in Oslo. Cam and his wife Whitney have accepted a full-time, fully-funded position with the International Mission Board, but the rest of the team have left everything in the US behind and gone to Norway as students. This is a daunting task indeed as Oslo is one of the most expensive cities in the world to live. It has been wisely said that, “whatever God orders, he pays for” and we couldn’t agree more heartily. In faith, we left for Oslo, trusting God to pay for all he has ordered.
Thank you for taking the time to read about Word First and our mission to Oslo. Please join us in prayer as we embark upon the work that our Lord has set before us for the glory of God. And please consider supporting the ministry in these other ways as well.
Blessings be upon you and yours!
Cameron Aanestad
Until June 2021, I served as an associate pastor at Orchard Church in Temecula, CA. I knew that I was called to ministry when I was in high school, but had never suspected that God would ever call me to missions. Then, in 2018, my family took a vacation to the home of my ancestors, Norway. I was alarmed and heartbroken to learn of the spiritual darkness over Norway. Very few there believe in God at all, even fewer call Christ their Lord, and fewer still share their faith with others. Since then I have led a group from my church on two short-term missions trips to Bergen, Norway. There we were honored to serve alongside Norwegian brothers and sisters, evangelizing on and around college campuses. I was and am humbled and inspired by the courage and faithfulness of my Norwegian brethren. My wife and I had spent more than two years talking about the possibility and opportunity of serving Christ’s church in Norway, but it was less-than-clear whether God wanted us to go and there certainly wasn’t an opportunity. So, in the meanwhile, we had been praying for our Norwegian friends, their churches, and their nation.
In August 2020, God provided a call and opportunity to be sent by our denomination to Oslo as full time missionaries. Along with my wife and three daughters, I am joined by three trusted young adults to serve with us. I am eager and honored to lead this mission and join in the work alongside God’s faithful in Norway.
God has always been a part of my life, but I only really embraced a personal relationship with Jesus when I was 17. A teacher changed my life by making a connection with me and showing me how God’s creation and science are so beautifully intertwined. He inspired me not only to become a science educator but to become a practicing Christian as well. I met Cameron at around this same time and we have grown together in Christ for the past 15 years. In these 15 years, we’ve gotten our degrees (including advanced degrees!), gotten married, acquired jobs that we consider to be our vocations, bought a house in a nice neighborhood, and had 3 beautiful daughters.
I thought the things I mentioned above meant I had achieved the perfect life. So when Cameron told me in 2018 that he thought we were being called to serve in Norway, helping Norwegians come to know and love Jesus, I was perplexed to say the least! We visited Norway on vacation one summer and then again on a short mission trip the following winter. I wasn’t convinced at that point that we should give up our comfortable life here, so we prayed together frequently for guidance. In 2020, God responded with a clear call for our family. As Cam’s wife and partner, I recognize God’s call on our family and support Cam’s passion to reach Norwegians with the gospel. It all seems crazy, but together we are stepping out in faith to share the love of Jesus in Norway!
I have been a Christian all of my life. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know Jesus. I have always known that I am called to teach people about our Lord and have been publicly evangelizing since I was 16. I have taken two mission trips to Norway and they have changed my life in significant ways. From the very first day I began serving in Norway, I felt like God had put me in exactly the right place. I felt somehow at home sharing Christ’s gospel with Norwegians. In the short one year span between the two mission trips I took, I noticed a substantial shift in the kinds of conversations I was having. In 2019, all but one of the people I talked to identified as an atheist, but in 2020—just one year later—only one of the people I spoke with identified as an atheist. There seems to be a spiritual shift happening in Norway that is opening Norwegian hearts to the gospel.
During this time, my wife and I have been investigating whether God wants us to move to Norway to join in Christ’s ministry there and, after lots of counsel and prayer, we were convinced that He did. So with full hearts, by the will and grace of God our Father, we came! Pray for us; we need it!
Before I found the Lord, I was as lost as somebody could possibly be…even though I thought I had my whole life figured out. In my mind, things were going to work out exactly the way I had planned them and nobody could get in my way. But—as life goes—the carpet was snatched out from beneath me. At the age of 18, my life had become a huge mess and was definitely not going according to my plan. I was young, reckless, and had no guide to help me see where I was going or what I was doing. I was just…lost. I was blind. I had no hope for my future. One night I decided to end my mess of a life. But God is a God of grace. And because of his grace and his mercy and his endless love, my plan failed and I am here today. My God saved me that night because of his plan for me.
The first time we traveled to Norway, my heart was overwhelmed. God had saved my life, but my future still looked like a fog that I couldn’t see through. But the second I began serving in Norway, I knew that that is what the Lord had made me to do. When I left, I felt homesick for Norway and out of place at home and back at work. God has given me the clarity about his plans for my future that I have been begging him for. God saved my life for himself when it had no value to me. I am so excited to use God’s gift of life to share his love and grace in Norway.
Before I found the Lord, I was lost, hopeless, and did not have any clear direction on what to do with my life. I grew up as a Christian with my family going to church on the weekends but I didn’t really know what it all meant until I was 21. Then, I was invited to go to the young adults group at my local church by one of my coworkers. After that night I got involved serving at the church and was eventually invited to go as a youth leader to winter camp. At that camp, in the cold, snowy, dead of night, I made the decision to give my life to Christ and pursue a personal relationship with him.
Since that night my life has been totally transformed and now, God has given me clear direction about what he wants me to do with it. God has called me to serve with my Norwegian brothers and sisters to plant a church and share the love of God with others. God’s call and the opportunity that he has provided me is more than clear. I am honored to be able go share the freedom that I received from my old life to others, just as Jesus states in John 8:36, “So if the Son set you free, you will be free indeed.”
