Hello dear friends & partners in the gospel!!
UPDATE: Please keep praying for this opportunity as they are evaluating applications and I will be hearing back soon!! Pray the Lord opens the door for this scholarship to be used as a resource to build his Kingdom. Pray for his favor to shine over me in the eyes of the Scholarship Committee! THANK YOU!
I wanted to give a little life update on what YAHWEH is teaching/showing me in this season, share about an incredible opportunity and ask for PRAYER over this opportunity!!
Here we go ~
First, a little bit about what YAHWEH is teaching me:
Guys, it truly is the sweetest season of excitement, preparation, dreaming, discipline, and learning. These past few weeks in particular, I have really felt the LORD cultivating my heart/mind/soul to get ready to go!! This semester I am taking World Religions, Global Development and Intercultural Communication of the Gospel. I also took the Sphere Project Training as an intensive before classes began – a globally recognized training for the minimum standards in Humanitarian Aid & Disaster Response. I know these classes/training will provide so much wisdom & practical tools to put in my Kingdom Building toolbox, not only for the Race, but for the rest of my life!
YAHWEH has also been showing me how all of the puzzle pieces of my life are coming together to work for the way he built me to build his Kingdom! Let me explain-
If I could sum up the passions of my heart/ my giftings/ talents/abilities and desires, I would use these few words:
cultivating environments for the human soul to thrive
Creation care/sustainability
food & hospitality
business/ global development
unifying the work of the Saints -for the glory of God and the building of the Kingdom
And for a longest time, I knew they all came together in some way, but truly, I wasn’t sure. But as I have been sitting & talking with the LORD, or even sometimes when I’m just brushing my teeth, He will show me the links. AND it’s so cool!! and I’m so EXCITED!!
Yet still, everything boils down to the same dream the LORD gave me when I was 15, but continues to expand and expand and expand!!
Broken Bread Cafe
The purpose of Broken Bread is twofold; first, to cultivate an environment for the human soul to thrive by providing intentional space for both solitude and community, and second, to unite the work of the Church in building the Kingdom through financial support and storytelling!
The cafe will have two main parts: a Gathering Place and a Dwelling Place.
The Dwelling Place will be an environment for quietness, creativity, learning, dreaming, praying. Intentionally-sourced coffee and tea will be available from farmers around the world we have built relationships with. (** Side note, God is even doing really cool things here already, with the random relationships/connections I have to coffee/tea farmers globally!!! Ask me about it sometime!)
The Gathering Place will cultivate a culture of community with board games, question buckets on the table, event nights, and platter style meals. Each platter will represent a country, such as an Injera platter for Ethiopia, and a local partner in that country. Whenever that platter is bought, a portion of the profits will financially support our partner and their story will be shared through pamphlets/other resources that are given to the customer. This is one of the small ways I see God utilizing my passion/gifting for challenging/encouraging, and uniting The Church!!
This morning my dear friend Mags & I went to a study room in the library and sketched out all the ways YAHWEH has built us and how they are intertwined. It was incredible.
I see how YAHWEH is really utilizing The World Race as a foundation of the bigger picture – a year dedicated to partnering with The Church in 11 countries, coming alongside them, assisting, encouraging, and strengthening the incredible things they are already doing for their local community and the Kingdom of God!! Hallelujah!! But these partnerships are not just for a year. I aim to build lifelong partnerships with my brothers and sisters, and share their stories/support them when Broken Bread is open a few years down the road!
Cliff Bar – Business with a Purpose Scholarship
And all of this directly plays into an incredible opportunity I want to share with all of you, and most importantly, ask you join me in prayer that I may gain this resource to Build the Kingdom and further the work the LORD has laid out for me.
Cliff Bar offers a scholarship for soon-to-be college graduates who are dedicating their first year out of school to a program geared towards the things they are passionate about & future business goals. They offer complete student-debt pay off, a monthly stipend, that I could reinvest into my partners/community on the field, AND 20+ hours of mentoring!!!
They are looking for students whose heart displays their 5 aspirations in business you see in the picture above – community, people, brands, business, planet. (Is it just me, or are those quite similar to my list above?!)
I just submitted my application!! Please, partner with me in prayer for this 🙂 I hear back in April!!
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12
Lastly, one more little update and hallelujah ~ I am SO close to 1/3 funded!!!! If you want to join me in Building God’s Kingdom through hospitality, story-telling & the uniting of The Church – donate through the link right above!! THANK YOU!
I would love to hear from all of you- thoughts, words of wisdom/ encouragement, ways I can be partnering, supporting & praying for you!
with all my love and gratitude,
Annie
ps: don’t forget stickers!!! I still have PLENTY 😀
