Is it worth it? Yes.
Hi, friends! I’ve been slowly reading through a book series called The Wingfeather Saga, which is a good ole fantasy, adventure story. In the second book of the series, there is profound quote that constantly comes to my mind as I think more about the transition to Phoenix and full-time ministry these next two years. The context of the quote is a prime character named Janner is reflecting about the adventure he’s been thrown into and how the journey has already impacted him so much. The journey has stretched and… Read more
So Now What?
Every summer the Avance team has a theme. Something for us to focus on and be reminded of throughout the summer. For this group, we chose the Jars of Clay passage from 2 Corinthians 4. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us”. This has led to a lot of thought over missional living. Often times, when we think of missions, we think of going to another country, providing some type of work that satisfies a need of a community, worshipping together and sharing what God has done in our lives with the people we are working with… Read more
Walking & listening & loving & learning
I met Martha on my 2nd evening on the Camino. I had heard about her earlier that day from Meghan, an engineer from South Africa who I ended up walking the later half of the day’s route with. She had asked me if I’d met Martha from Georgia yet, and explained that she was an older woman carrying her husbands ashes with her to Santiago. She ensured me that I would meet Martha soon because “Martha met everyone.” Meghan wasn’t wrong- that evening as I walked down my albergue’s staircase, I heard a woman at the front desk explaining (in English) to the owner of the establishment (who only spoke… Read more
Chapter 9: A New Sister!
I got introduced to a local man named Obi through my team leader early in the month and have been meeting with him every month to help him with English, but mainly to study The Word with him. He considers himself 'Muslim' for the sole reason that he lives here. However, he has been searching for the truth for years. Second time I met with him, he mentioned one of his female friends (her name is Ramz) who also has also shown interest in learning more about Jesus. So I met with her that day and shared The Gospel. She listened and took it in. For 3 weeks, I hadn't seen her until she came to a… Read more
A Passover Story
Sometimes, the biggest things are the smallest. I think that’s true in life, but I know it’s true in ministry. Especially in a context like Germany where the average person may not have ever met a single Christian or been to a church service. My ministry hosts a variety of events with the simple purpose of building relationships that will lead to Gospel conversations. Some of these events are completely arts focused, like our regular Open Stage nights. Others are primarily Jesus focused, like our weekly Soul Space, an artistic meditation/Bible study. As one might expect, it’s been hard to… Read more
My Letter to Future Goers
Whenever I sit down to write something, I run circles in my mind until I come to the conclusion that I have nothing of worth to contribute. If you experience something similar in your decision making - if you feel that pull to go but feel inadequate to the task - I have good news for you. The voices in our heads are wrong. I mean, they’re kind of right, but they are wrong. Satan takes truth and twists it. When you see your deficiencies and say, “I’m lacking”, you’re right. If you stop there, you’re wrong. “BUT GOD” is the game-changing phrase in the Bible and in our world. I’m not… Read more
My Letter to Future Goers
Well my friends, all good things must come to an end. To quote my homeboy Tolkien, “I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.” But alas, here we are at the end of two years after oceans and mountains, laughs and tears, and a whole lot of God doing some pretty neat things (usually in spite me me!). To my friends, family, and supporters: thank you! This journey was incredible primarily because you were a part of it. Let’s keep this thing up! To future Goers, I’m sorry. I can’t sum up everything I’d like to say to you in a succinct blog post. I… Read more
Come With Me
Hello Friends, For those of you who are already subscribed to my blog this post will mostly be geared to the seniors/recent grads but you can still read it of course. ;) I wanted to share with you guys a little bit about why you should say YES to going overseas. To do that, I will share a little bit of my story. A long time ago my parents became missionaries. I was about four years old when we moved across an ocean to live in a whole new part of the world. Little did I know this was where God would truly mark the beginning of my story, because the moment God called my parents to… Read more
A Change of Mindset, and Heart
When I first started searching for cross-cultural ministry job opportunities after graduating from college, I developed a knack for quickly finding the alarming and unwelcome phrase, "support raising required." It was often casually tucked underneath an average-looking heading among all of the other nitty-gritty details of the job being listed. As soon as those words, or any other phrase resembling them, came into view on my computer scene, my cursor would slowly slink to the the little red exit button in the corner. "Nope! Not for… Read more