Before I tell you about the world race I would like to tell you who I am. My full name is Daniel Bryan Goodman. I was born to Kathie Denise Goodman in Washington, DC. In order to avoid losing me to the streets my mother moved from her hometown of Baltimore and from her new home in DC to raise me in the Suburbs of Montgomery county Maryland. My mother was on welfare when I was born, now she makes close to 80,000 a year. If she could, she would pay for this whole trip out of her pocket, but she can't so I'm depending on Jehovah Jireh. The best thing my mother ever did was decide to start attending church regularly.
My childhood church was Gethsemane Baptist Church, under the late Rev. Dr. L. Charles Bennett. I never had a real relationship with my birth father, but Rev. Bennett taught me all I know about God. I made the decision to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior at 8 years old. At 12 years old I tried to accept my calling to preach but Rev. Bennett told me to live a little first. He wanted me to experience the world and understood that until I confronted certain issues my sermons wouldn't hold much weight. He taught me true wealth wasn't in riches and he taught me to raise my hands to the sky to praise and worship God. Eventually he got into trouble with our church for praise and worship so he left and started Dayspring Community church, me and my mother followed. This church raised me until I left for college.
During my childhood God never let me get comfortable. I went to three different elementary schools and because of my athletic ability I went to two different private schools. Because of this I never have been attached to people or places. Makes sense because now God is sending me away from all I have ever known. Jer 29:11
I initially came to Morehouse in 2001, I wasn't ready. Like the prodigal son I was ready to live life on my own terms. I stopped going to church and began to party. Eventually I failed out of school and moved home. I got a young lady pregnant and was prepared to stay home and go to Howard, and raise my child. She decided to have an abortion and it broke my heart and sent me into depression. I started calling on the Lord for myself after that for the real first time in my life. It was 2006 and I was 23. I was attending Reid Temple in Bowie Maryland, under Rev. Lee P. Washington. It was at this church that I finally shock off my fears at began to praise God corporately, before this time I was simply afraid and couldn't understand why people went crazy in church. From the time I started calling out to God he has been speaking to me what I should do one step at a time. I moved back to Atlanta determined to get back into Morehouse. I started attending New Birth, under Bishop Eddie L. Long in 2007. Here I learned how to be more obedient to God, but I struggled for more than a year and a half to get back into Morehouse. To make a long story short, in 2008 Morehouse eventually accepted me back and paid for me to finish the rest of my education. I thank God, Morehouse and my mother never gave up on me. Since 2006 God's still soft voice has been speaking to me. Now in 2013 I can hear Him very clearly. Before I got word of the world race and after I graduated from Morehouse I felt like I had hit a plateau. I had not landed a teaching job (I majored in English) and I couldn't find a serving job to sustain me. God told me to start volunteering and I did just that. I started volunteering with meal on wheels and a senior center for adults with Alzheimer's and dementia. My late grandmother Emma Mae Goodman had these so it has a special place in my heart. While I was volunteering God started to renew my mind with the idea of doing mission work. But as a broke server I never knew how it would happen. That is until I got my most recent job at ECCO on concourse T in Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta GA. Their I met a man from Kenya named Anderson. He told me he was a man of faith and that I should look into the World race, the relative rest is history.
The world race is an 11 month 11 country mission trip. We spend a month in each country. The countries I will travel to are Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Cambodia, India, Thailand, Nepal, The Philippines, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. I will spend a month in each country. In each country we will do different things, but overall we will be supporting the full time missionaries already living in these countries. The cost of the trip is 15,500. There are two ways people can donate, mail in or online through my blog. Their are two types of donations excepted. One time cash payments and monthly payments you can step up to come out of your account at an amount of 25, 50, or 100 dollars. I am in the process of sending letters out to friends and family asking them to partner with me and make a commitment to pay 25, 50, or 100 dollars a month starting in June 2013 and ending in March 2014. I have deadlines I am required to meet. I need 3500 before training camp in July 2013 and, 6000 before I launch in September 2013. The full cost of the trip isn't due until March 2014. Thank you for taking the time to look into what I am trying to do.
Once I return from the world race I will enter seminary at Emory. I have already started the application process and through my home church in Atlanta, Impact Church, under Olu Brown, I have connections to the school. I'm a servant leader at Impact, I work with the youth and I'm on the IGBT board, which decides how church funds are spent.
Please consider alerting your congregation to my needs and partnering with me yourself. Reply with your mailing address so I can send you a hand written letter. Please also direct your congregation, friends, and family to my blog.
I'm a servant after God's own heart, much like Nehemiah, and Moses I need funds to accomplish the work of the Lord. Thank you in advance for your prayers and support. #livewell
Daniel Bryan Goodman
