How I got here…
The story of my decision to go on the World Race really
starts several years ago. It’s kind of a long story, but stick with it,
and you will see God’s amazing faithfulness🙂
When I was a senior in high school, I went on a “mission
trip” to the Dominican
Republic. I went to a small Christian school, and every year, the senior class
trip was a “mission trip”-meaning that was the only way the school would let us
go anywhere, but we all went because it was our last fling together, and it was
a lot of fun in a crazy, new place-not because we really felt God leading us to
do it or because we even really wanted to do the ministry part of it. But despite my wrong motives for going, God
still used that trip to completely set my life on a different course. One night, sitting out on the balcony of our
“hotel,” I clearly felt God telling me that I would be doing missions for the
rest of my life. That was pretty much
the last thing I wanted to do with my life, but in the back of my mind, I knew
I couldn’t ignore it.
After I got back from that trip, God confirmed that calling
through several very influential people in my life. I went off to Indiana Wesleyan
University that fall
knowing that I needed to be obedient in following this calling, but definitely
not wanting to. For the next two years,
I fought back and forth with God about doing missions. I had other things I wanted to do, goals I
wanted to accomplish-I wanted to be “successful.” 
But towards the end of my sophomore year, I went on another
mission trip, this time to Honduras. I’m not even sure why I went, since I was
fighting God so much on all the missions stuff. Anyways, during that trip, God completely changed my heart. I can’t pinpoint it-there was no specific
moment or lesson or anything that really changed me. I just remember getting on the plane to leave
and realizing that my heart was different.
For the next two years, God began to really develop and grow
a passion and excitement in me for missions and other cultures and His people
around the world. If you asked any of my
friends at the time, they would have told you that I would be going to the
mission field right after I graduated. And that was my plan. However,
God had a different plan-seems to be a recurring theme in my life🙂
After graduation, I began applying to different missions
organizations, and every single door kept closing. And there never seemed to be a good
reason. I didn’t understand it. Then I heard about a job as a children’s
pastor at a church in Michigan. I have a heart for kids, so I decided to
check it out, not really thinking that’s where God would lead me. But after I got there, I knew that that’s
where God wanted me at that time.
So for the past three years, I have been working as a
children’s pastor at a great church with amazing people. But the desire to be involved in missions and
the call that was on my life never left. It was always in the back of my mind and on my heart.
Then in November 2009, I had the opportunity to go on a
mission trip to Haiti. On that trip, I felt God begin to let me know
that it was time for me to begin looking into pursuing my call to
missions. For the next several months, I
spent a lot of time in prayer, and I just randomly began looking up missions
opportunities online. I came across the
World Race, realized I had heard of it briefly several months before, and
immediately knew that this was what I was supposed to do.
The next several months involved a lot of praying, the
application process, more praying, Scripture, sermons, more praying, and
seeking godly counsel from people I trust. Everything and everyone pointed to the same thing-I should go on the
World Race.
So here I am, still not totally sure what I’ve gotten myself
into, but knowing that this is exactly what I’m supposed to be doing. And I’m so excited to see what God has in
store with this new adventure! I know
it’s going to be quite a ride!
