The more I
seek to live life the way Jesus would want me to, the more I see that He is
calling me to live differently. I am
quickly beginning to see that the status quo, the house in the suburbs, the
dog, cat, and 2.3 kids, is not an option for me. Watching soccer game, ballet recitals, and karate tournaments,
while these are good things, I cannot imagine considering them normal.
I believe that the
ministry I have been a part of for the past two years is proof, that God is
calling me to be different. I have been involved with a live-in family style
ministry experience working with troubled youth. My time with New Horizon’s Youth Ministries has definitely been
a growth experience. During my time in
a student house, I was able to play the role of husband and father, two things
I knew little to nothing about. I have
a new respect for my parents and what they went through raising me. I have a new understanding for a father’s
unconditional love. Being the
disciplinarian, I have a better understanding of what mercy is really about. While playing the role of husband to someone
I hardly knew, the concepts of grace and respect take on totally different
meanings.
Over the past few months, I have felt a strong desire to
take the things I have learned here, to carry that understanding about grace
and mercy and compassion, and put them to use in practical and very real
ways. I believe that I have found a way
to do this. In the beginning of
January, I was having a conversation with one of the students in my house. I began telling him about some of the
lessons I learned during my trip to Thailand in 1998. As the conversation progressed, I made the statement about
needing to look into doing a summer mission trip. What I found blew my mind.
I came across a website for an organization called
Adventures in Missions (www.adventures.org). While looking at their website, I was
intrigued by a trip they called “The World Race” (www.theworldrace.org). The problem that I found with The World Race
is it was one year long. I really had no desire to go out for an entire
year. I began to pray and ask God why
I couldn’t get this concept of going around the world for a year out of my
head. To travel with as many as 50
total strangers to 11 countries to carry the unconditional love of the Father,
my new understanding of mercy, and this new concept I have of grace and respect
to the ones He loves, now that is an adventure!
A new season is beginning in my life. I have signed on for The Race beginning in
September of this year. I need your help. First and foremost, I need your
prayers. Needless to say, this will be
a year of amazing growth. During this World Race, I will be discipled
and trained in various areas of ministry and missions. I would like to have no less than 15 to 20
people who will commit to pray for my team and I regularly while in The
Race.
Secondly, I would like to ask you to pray about supporting
me financially for the next year. The
cost of The World Race is only $13,000 for an entire year of traveling around
the world carrying the gospel message by working with local indigenous pastors,
missionaries already in the field, and other various ministries that are doing
what they can where they are. Broken
down monthly that is only $1080 per month.
We intend to travel as cheaply as possible, traveling over land, rarely
ever flying.
I have enclosed a response card and pre-addressed
envelope, which invites you to share in this ministry. Please make checks
payable to
Adventures In Missions.
You may write “appealed by” and my name in the memo section of the check if you
wish. Including the enclosed card will provide AIM with all necessary
information. In turn, they will send you a receipt. All gifts are
tax-deductible.
Please
feel free to check out the websites for Adventures in Mission, www.adventures.org and The World Race, www.theworldrace.org for more
information, or you can email me at [email protected]
if you have any questions. During the
trip I will be posting a blog as much as conditions allow with stories and
pictures of the adventures that happen on the trip.
I am
excited about this new season of life that God is bringing me into and the new
things He will be teaching me. I hope
you will consider partnering with me and I hope to help reach people who need
to love of Jesus. Thank You!
