So I’ve began recapping the past year by talking about adventures and the good times and the bad. While the World Race has been incredibly fun, it has ultimately been an opportunity for God to glorify Himself in my life as well as my teammates. Jesus is the reason I stepped out of my comfort zone and raised support to go on this trip. Jesus is the sustainer of all things, He is the only true hope we can give to the people we have ministered to. Jesus is worthy of our best, and this year was ultimately given to glorify Him. In glorifying God, He tends to show up in big ways. This next top 10 is just a glimpse into some of the ways God miraculously worked through myself and some of my teammates to bring glory to His name and joy to his children.
10.
Challenging the village chief in Malaysia to spiritually lead his
village. He took the challenge better
than I thought.
Chad and I with our friend Alex in Romania.
9. Sharing
Christ and having a deep conversation with both a teenager and a college
student in one day in Romania after asking God for an opportunity to share with
someone.
8. Sharing
Christ with our landlord in Uganda who was a devout Muslim. I was more nervous about sharing with him
than normal, but God gave me the words and the strength.
This is what Africa looks like a lot of times.
7. Seeing my
squad mate, Brittney Preiss tell a room of alcoholics through her tears that
they are forgiven, grown men including me were bawling.
6. Leading a
man named Kayanja to the Lord in Uganda.
Kayanja immediately became involved in the church and had a different
smile on his face every time I saw him after his conversion.
Kayanja and I outside the Ugandan church.
5. Preaching
and challenging the Tanzanian church to be an international church that not
only hosts missionaries, but supports, equips, and sends out missionaries.
4. Developing
strong relationships with many of the young adult men in the “barrios” (poor
neighborhoods) in Nicaragua. The boys
had many questions for us, and each really wanted to walk in the Lord but drugs
and gang violence is such a temptation in their lives. We were able to give them Bibles and
encourage them to seek after the Lord.
3. Having the
opportunity to speak at a region-wide revival service in El Salvador. The church was overflowing with many people,
most of which were teenagers on a Friday night.
We left the service at midnight and it was still going strong.
2. Preaching
about discipleship to a Ugandan church that had a “save them then forget about
them” attitude. The pastor came up after
the sermon and stated that he “no longer cared about numbers” and from this
point forward his church will be “disciple-makers” Praise God for this change of heart in the
church.
A not so clear picture of the sermon in the Ugandan church.
1. Sharing
the truth that salvation is found only in Jesus Christ in the middle of a
mosque surrounded by 20 Muslim men in Ukraine.
God overcame a language barrier as my interpreter, Dennis, was speaking
at the same time as me and translating words he said later that he had no idea
what he was saying. The men shook hands
and bid farewell as the Spirit of the Lord was heavy in this place.
So yeah, all glory to God.
