MENU

Stewarding Our Blessings: Accountant Mary Randolph Follows God's Lead

By Andrew Shaughnessy, Jun 22, 2021

When God called Mary Randolph to the mission field in 2006, it took her by surprise. Mary was an accountant working as a consultant for government contractors in Washington, D.C., not a doctor, nurse, or ministry professional, the professions one normally thinks of as suited for global missions. Did God really call accountants to the mission field? She wasn’t so sure. And yet, the call was unmistakable, coming in clear while Mary was teaching English on a short-term mission trip to Romania with her church. 

Soon after she returned home, pastors at two different churches she was attending preached on the Great Commission. A coincidence? She thought not. 

“That confirmed that God was calling me,” Mary said. “I contacted MTW and said, ‘Do you need an accountant on the mission field?’ And they said, ‘Definitely.’” 

Mary loved Romania, and at first she had her heart set on returning to Eastern Europe. But then the leader of MTW Thailand posted a full-page job description that he needed an accountant with exactly her experience. It was a good fit, so Mary applied. In June, 2007 she was accepted and began preparing to move to Bangkok. But first, she had to get her affairs in order. Though Mary had moved from the D.C. area to North Carolina years before, she still had a house in northern Virginia that she needed to sell.

Settling Her Affairs With A Charitable Trust

I didn’t want to keep this house,” she said. “It was the settlement in my divorce. I didn’t want the profit, and I didn’t want it to be a part of my estate.” 

Before joining MTW, Mary had already been in touch with another ministry’s estate design services. That organization helped Mary create her first charitable remainder trust, a stewardship vehicle in which real estate is sold with no depletion of capital gains. The proceeds from that sale were then invested in a balanced portfolio, and Mary turned to MTW’s Estate and Gift Planning Department to manage it. With the trust, Mary was able to get her real estate off her hands, receive immediate tax benefits, and receive income from the trust for life. When God eventually calls her home, the remainder of the trust assets will pass to MTW and other ministries she supports. 

“That was my first charitable giving vehicle,” Mary said. “Because I was becoming part of MTW, I wanted them to manage whatever needed to be done. Then, in 2008, I was off to Thailand!

From Accounting to a Business as Mission Enterprise

Mary served as an MTW missionary in Thailand from 2008 to 2013, putting her accounting skills to good use throughout. In addition to handling the Bangkok team’s accounting reports, she built relationships and ministered to local Thais through teaching an advanced English language class. 

One day, two Thai women who were part of the MTW staff approached Mary with an idea. They had been evangelizing and ministering in the slums of Bangkok, and they wanted to start a craft business that could provide income for women in the slums while simultaneously increasing their opportunities to share the gospel. Could Mary help?

Combining their ingenuity with Mary’s accounting know-how, together they started Napada, a business as mission enterprise that gave low-income women jobs making handbags out of Thai fabric, which were sold to buyers in the U.S. Every day, the women would sit together and sew handbags, and Mary and her Thai partners would work alongside them, leading devotions, sharing the gospel, and talking about their relationship with Jesus. 

Teaching at Napada

“No matter your background, if the Lord is leading you into missions then He’s got a reason and a plan for you,” Mary said. “My background is accounting, but my major before accounting was home economics. When God called me to the mission field I thought, ‘What am I going to do there?’ But when the Lord took me to Thailand He used both my home economics background and my accounting background to help start this business. … If the Lord is calling you, He’s going to use your talents.”

Though Mary returned to the U.S. in 2013, Napada is still up and running—still providing jobs and a platform for sharing the gospel with low-income women in Bangkok. As for Mary, she continues to steward her gifts, both her professional talents and the financial gifts with which God has blessed her. In addition to her charitable remainder trust, Mary has a donor advised fund and a living trust which benefits four different ministries. Now, MTW Center for Estate and Gift Planning Director Bruce Owens is helping her update and adjust her estate design to fit her needs. 

“God has provided everything that we have,” Mary said. “The way I look at it, it all belongs to Him, so I want to use it the best way that He wants to use it. I’m just the custodian of all these blessings.”

Learn how MTW can help you with your estate planning: MTW's Center for Estate and Gift Planning.  

Andrew Shaughnessy

Andrew Shaughnessy is a long-time word slinger who spent nearly six years as MTW’s staff writer, gathering and telling impact stories from missionaries across the globe. These days, he’s off working as an analyst and editor in the publishing industry, writing fiction, and mountaineering. He holds a B.A. in history and English literature from Covenant College, and an M.S. in political science from Portland State University.

Please login to continue
Forgot your password?
Recover it here.
Don't have an account?
Create an Account
Sign Up for Free
Name
Email
Choose Password
Confirm Password

GET INVOLVED

Skilled Laborers Needed to Rebuild Chile
Mission Trips
Explore Your Global Calling in Kigali, Rwanda
Summer Internships
Experience Life in the Middle East
Summer Internships

Haiti: Updates from a Country in Turmoil

Haiti has been mired in a downward spiral of a multifaceted crisis that has brought its people to their knees with a cry of desperation.

SEE MORE

Publishing Reformed Theological Literature in Poland's Heart Language (VIDEO)

Much of Eastern Europe faces a theological famine, with few materials in their own language. A publishing house in Krakow is changing that.

SEE MORE

Missionaries Should Communicate and Churches Should Demand It

When forced to cut back on support, churches will cut “the missionary we've been supporting for years, but just don’t hear from anymore.”

SEE MORE

Please pray for Haiti, and particularly for the safety of our ministry partners in Gonaives as they continue to labor patiently with the people.

Pray that believers in Poland would get theological materials they need in their heart language through a new publishing ministry. 

Pray for MTW's ministry in Haiti in the midst of ongoing gang violence and ongoing instability.

Pray for the people of Ukraine including the pastors, elders, and church members we work with. Pray that the war would end, and that God would use this crisis to draw Ukrainians to Himself. 

Pray for the Ethiopia ACT project, which cares for the sick and vulnerable in Addis Ababa. Pray for staff and for participants.

Pray for the Island to Island partnership bringing together Pacific Islands nations for a coordinated gospel effort. Pray for churches in Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, and the Cook Islands. 

Pray that as we engage people globally with cultural sensitivity, that they would be open to relationships with MTW missionaries and, more importantly, open to the truth of the gospel.

Pray for those in Vina del Mar, Chile, devastated by raging wildfires, particularly those involved with our CEMIPRE ministry to the blind and differently-enabled.

Pray for those who God is reaching in Sydney with the truth of a grace-based gospel.

Pray for internationals from around the world living in Brussels, Belgium, and for the MTW team working there to reach them with the truth of Christ.

SUBSCRIBE TO STORIES & MORE

Good news in your inbox, once per week.