The what: the World Race. The Global South route. Launching January 2022. 11 months of missions. Hub locations of Ethiopia (East Africa), Eswatini (Southern Africa), South Asia, and Ecuador (South America).
The why: it’s complicated.
Hello! Welcome! I’m glad you’re here.
So you already know the what, and you’re probably here because you care about the why. You might have questions that sound something like this…
Why would you do something like that?
Why would you want to risk being abroad for a year?
Why would you try to raise HOW MUCH money?
Why would you leave your family/friends/church/job/community?
Why would you want to miss weddings/birthdays/babies/job changes/milestones?
Why aren’t you concerned about your career path?
Why aren’t you concerned about getting married?
Why aren’t you just doing what is safe/normal/traditional/accepted?
And let me just tell you something, I love questions! I love the way they make us think and process and explore ideas and possibilities.
All of those questions are fair, and while I’m not here to answer every one of them specifically, I’ll do my best to give my big “why” behind this what.
I feel like there are a million tiny whys that do matter (like the answers to all of those good questions) and make this complicated to explain, but, truthfully, they all pale in comparison to the big and simple why–and that is God.
The simple why is that God planted a seed in my heart a long time ago for missions. I watered it and He made it grow (1 Corinthians 3:6).
A slightly shorter long time ago, He put the World Race in front of me and set a little fire in my heart for it.
And in an even shorter long time, He has been teaching me about obedience and surrender and what it means to walk the narrow path (Matthew 7:14) as someone that is set apart and called to something more than what we can see around us (1 Peter 2:9).
So the short version of a long story is that God led me to the World Race, and when I prayed about it, He made it clearer, and when I prayed again, He made it louder. When I doubted, He spoke reassurance over me. When I considered what I’d miss in the time away, He pointed me to Luke 14:28 where Jesus’ disciples are told to “count the cost” of following Him. And even after I had applied and still had doubts, He used my own words that I had written almost two years ago to remind me that following Him is worth it, no matter the cost.
I’m not here to say I’m walking the walk perfectly or never stumbling or that I have all the right answers to all the hard questions. But I am here to say that God is good and He is faithful, and there is nothing He will ever call us in to that He will not also see us through. He is Emanuel, God with us, in every storm and every trial, in every valley and on every mountaintop. He has proved His faithfulness again and again, and has promised to be with us to the very ends of the age (Matthew 28:20).
So here I am, just trying to walk in obedience to where the Lord is leading me. And here I am, counting on God’s faithfulness again.
So, again, welcome! I’m so glad you’re here. I hope you’re ready for God to show up, because I’m betting all my chips on Him.
