What’s next?
After a year traveling the world, experiencing the great depths of God’s creativity, and taking in the beautifully diverse faces of all my new brothers and sisters, I find myself asking, ‘What’s next?’ How do I take all that I’ve learned and sift it into the life God’s been building for me back in America? Even though I loved many of the countries we visited and found pleasure working for the various ministries we partnered with, I do not believe I am called to long-term foreign missions during this season of my life. Instead, what has become increasingly apparent over the last few months, is that the Lord is calling me back to the very organization that first sent me out.
Starting this Autumn, I will be interning for six months at Adventures in Missions as a member of The Fellowship Program.
The Fellowship is designed to equip young, innovative leaders with the skills and confidence they need to direct their vision and make their dreams a reality. Each Fellow is matched with a department that correlates with their specific interests and skills. During the six month program, each fellow is given projects and responsibilities that will not only benefit the work being done at Adventures, but will also teach them how to develop Christ-centered business and leadership skills. I will be working under the COO as a Project Management Fellow, working to bring visibility and direction to various projects in the Short Term Missions and Adventures for Life departments.
A normal week for a Fellow includes Monday morning worship with the other Adventures staff, job-related mentoring, spiritual discipleship, cohort meetings (with the other Fellows), and a fairly typical nine-to-five work week. The word we do as part of the Fellowship will have a real impact on the ministries founded at Adventures. There will also be great opportunities to network and meet people who are working in careers I am interested in pursuing. The program is designed to push you to grow, and we’ve been told in advance that we have the freedom to fail. Certain projects and deadlines may prove too difficult to handle at times, and we will be challenged to face these difficulties and potential failures with godly integrity. And for those curious ones out there, my housing will be provided and I’ll be given a modest monthly stipend, all of which is support raised.
I am so very honored to be given this opportunity and look forward to the ways God will move through these next six months. I know that this next step is truly what God has for me, and I am so grateful for all the support I’ve been given throughout the last year while on the World Race. If I hadn’t done the Race, I’d never be headed in the direction I am going now, and only the Lord knows how my future will be impacted by these two years.
I’d like to invite you to support me in this next season of my life. I need to raise about $6,000 more before I hit the required $9,950 needed to do the Fellowship. You can donate via mail, online, or monthly.
To Donate via Mail, make out checks to Adventures in Missions and be sure to include my name, Deborah Bitzer, in the memo line. You can send checks to:
Adventures in Missions
PO Box 742570
Atlanta, GA 30374-2570
To Donate Online, follow the “support me” link located on the top of my blog. Choose the option that says “Support a World Racer” and make sure my name is specified.
To Donate Monthly, visit adventures.org/dynapay and follow the instructions to donate a certain amount to my account monthly.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at [email protected] or leave a comment on this blog.
Thank you for your support!
