T-Shirt Update: Kristin is winning! But only by a hair! Kristin:8 shirts, James: 6 shirts. Buy a chandelier t-shirt to support Kristin. Buy a sunglasses t-shirt to support James. Whoever sells the least amount of t-shirts has to eat a bizarre food of the winners choosing during the race! If you buy a shirt, thank you for supporting us! (No matter whose shirt you buy!) Shirts are $20. Contact us if you would like to buy a shirt and we can give you some more information.
This past Sunday we made the announcement to our church family here in Fargo that we are leaving in September for the World Race. We received kind, supportive words and we were told that we will be missed. What a great family to have had around us while we were in Fargo! We will miss our amazing church family while we are away.
Telling our church has made me think more about what it means to be a church. I grew up in a twice a Sunday, skirts in the morning and khakis in the evening, sing all five verses, Dutch reformed community. When I went to college my mom was concerned because I was going to church on Sunday. Only going to one service that is. I guess the second service is where you truly get saved. (Sorry for picking on you mom, love you!!!!)
To the great despair of my mother, I am soon going to stop going to church. Starting in September I am pretty sure that for 11 months we will not be going to a “normal” church service and I am looking forward to it.
When we go on the world race we will stop merely attending church and will start being the church. We get to go and start building the church. We may build a church building, but what I really mean is adding more members to our world wide congregation.
We will learn that living in community, being honest, and learning from one another is a part of church. Feeding an orphan, having a conversation with a pimp, and making friends is a part of church. Walking two miles with a fully loaded backpack will be a part of church. Seeing new places, watching the sunrise in a beautiful way, and tasting bizarre food will be a part of church. Helping the destitute and loving on the least of these is a part of church. We will learn that we are also a part of “the least of these.” That we are broken, human, and in need of God’s love. And that too will be a part of church.
As we care for the orphans in Africa, show real love to the prostitutes in Southeast Asia, and help the poor in Central America we will also learn about the love of our Heavenly Father, learn about true love, and we will learn how poor and broken we ourselves really are. We will see God in the beauty of others and we pray that they will see Jesus’ love in our eyes.
We will not be going to church. Not a “normal” American, one hour maximum, normal kind of church anyway. We are about to experience how the human race worships our God. I hope we get to learn what it is to worship in Africa, Asia, and Central America. We will be a part of showing the world how to passionately worship the one true God who loves them unconditionally. You can be a part of spreading this love.
June 12, 2015 is our first deadline to meet. We must have $7,000 by that time. If you break it down it means that every month from here until then we have to raise $1,750. When you give online it takes about 1 week to process into our account. When you send a check it takes about 2-3.
If you give online during the next two weeks, February 23 – March 6, your gift will be helping us reach our goal of $1,750 by March 12. For only $48.73 you can sponsor one day of our trip and we will send you our journal entries for a day of your choosing so you can see how you impacted the world.
If you write a check this week, you will be helping us towards our next goal of having $3,500 by April 12.
Thank you in advance for your prayers and support. And if you give, be patient, we will send a Thank You for your donation, it just takes us a while before we are notified of your gift to Adventures In Missions on our behalf.
