Posts Tagged ‘Missions’
Mexico Mission Team
Posted in Mexico, tagged 1Mission, Community, family, Mexico, Mission trip, Missions, MYA, Rocky Point, Servants on June 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Basha
Posted in Food for the Hungry, Missions, tagged Bangladesh, Basha, bloggers, Cross-Cultural Missions, Dhaka, Embroidered blanket, FH, FH Bloggers, Food for the Hungry, house of hope, kantha, Missions on February 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Through dignified work, Basha provides a sustainable livelihood for women at risk and survivors of trafficking. Women gain job skills and the opportunity to develop into leaders and entrepreneurs in a healthy, healing environment.
BASHA’s house of hope is a small business based in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka. The slums of this city are bursting talent: careful tailors, printers and embroiderers. These women have little status and live in extreme poverty. They are often forced into work they would not choose for themselves, and many are unemployed. To help them build better life, now BASHA is training a number of them to turn their talent to jewellery and beautiful Kantha throws and bedspreads.
I received this blanket today from Lindsey Nobles as I’m packing for the Justice Conference. Lindsey is director of strategic partnerships for Food for the Hungry. This is pretty special to me for many reasons. I love FH and what they do. I have quite a collection of collectables from around the world that have a story behind them and this beautiful kantha blanket is no different. I have been following and promoting the FH bloggers trip to Bangladesh since they left earlier this month. Lindsey and several other amazing people (including my friend Heidi Hatch) were a part of this trip. I felt a connection to this team and this blanket will serve as a reminder of how God spoke to me and reconnected me to FH. God has been preparing my heart to re-engage with cross-cultural missions for the past 6 months. I’m thankful to realign my heart with His and a part of what He is doing in the world.
Bangladesh
Posted in Food for the Hungry, Missionaries, Missions, tagged #FHbloggers, 8th Day Coffee & Culture, Bangladesh, bloggers, FH Bloggers, Food for the Hungry, Missions, mobilizers, photographers on January 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »
So… there is this amazing team from Food for the Hungry headed to Bangladesh next week. They are the FH Bloggers and they will be using their voices to tell the stories of what God is doing there and to mobilize others to make a difference in the world. I have worked alongside Food for the Hungry many times in the past and have so much respect for them and what they do. I can’t wait to share the God story of how I got connected with this. But right now you need to follow these guys and keep the team in prayer.
New Year, New Opportunities
Posted in Camber Young Adults, Missions, Passion, Spiritual Growth, tagged 268 Generation, 8th Day Coffee & Culture, Atlanta, Ben Stuart, Cambodia, Chris Tomlin, Cross-Cultural Missions, Fiji, Fire Fall Down, Francis Chan, Gospel, Headed to the Dome, Isaiah 26:8, Jesus, Justice, Louie Giglio, Luke 5, Mercy, Missional Community, Missions, Nations, New Years, New Years Eve, Passion '07, Passion 2013, Redemption, Ron Merrell, Slavery, Worship on December 31, 2012| 1 Comment »
I was chatting with my friends Mat and Lisa Weddle from my Missional Community and we were reminiscing on how exactly six years ago today (New Years Eve) we were boarding a plane with thirty other young adults to be a part of Passion in Atlanta. For them, it was where they first met and they are now married today. My friends Brian Wurzell and Promise and Steve Adame and Liz met on that trip and they too are married and doing amazing stuff for the Lord. For people like myself, Shauna and Amaris, it was the trip that God called us into cross-cultural missions. They both ended up serving on the field for some time. It was a pivotal trip for many of us from that amazing community that were led by Pastor Ron Merrell. I heard God speak through Francis Chan for the first time that year. Chris Tomlin’s version of “Fire Fall Down” reminded me of my broken life and how God was putting me back to together to do years of ministry following that trip. Ben Stuart’s message on singleness was the best message I have ever heard on how God can use us as single people. I used that message to start a group for newly divorced people and how God can use them at this time to do amazing things for Him. But the impactful part of that trip was Louie Giglio’s message on how heaven will be a party for the nations. That message blew me away and opened the door for me to engage with God’s heartbeat for the world.
Passion ’07
I had an amazing conversation today with my friend Amber at 8th Day Coffee and Culture. We were talking about our creative gifts and how God uses them for His purposes. She has been getting a lot of pressure to sign with a major record label. Her heart is just to share her music with the world and how God healed her from a difficult time. For me, I hope never to have to make money off of anything creative I do. I am blessed to have a job that provides more than enough for me to do life. I personally want to use my creative talents for the Kingdom and to share with others. We were talking about how easy it is to make our gifts about ourselves and not about the Lord.
It’s New Years Eve and I am so thankful for where I am at in life. It’s been an incredible year for me and I feel focused for the first time in a few years. My friend and mentor described my year like this: He said I’m like a plant and God put me into a pot to grow and heal me for a little while because there were some things He needed to work on. The soil represents the healing power of God working in my life. But now he sees God taking me out of that pot and putting me back into world to allow me to continue to serve Him. I do feel that. I feel God is ready for me to begin to go back to work and be a light for Him. And honestly, I don’t know what that is and I love that. This is where my faith and trust in God comes in and allows me to stay on His path.
I do know that God is about to reveal some of His plan for me. Through teaching from amazing influential people and reading His word, God is syncing my heart to His heart for injustice and mercy. I’ve gone about this all wrong for some time. I saw trafficking firsthand in Cambodia for the first time in 2008 and God opened the door for me to learn more about it. Failed opportunities to go to Fiji and other chances to engage were due to me following my own wants and desires and making life about me. I’m done needing approval from other people for my sense of self-worth and being a one-man show trying to save the world so I can feel better about myself. Now God has put me back into a position to be a part of His plan for justice and I want to be attentive to just following His will. It’s about the gospel and the message of God redeeming a fallen world. God is aligning me to Him and I look forward to learning more about topics like slavery so I can be an effective tool for Him.
Cambodia ’08 – my first exposure to human trafficking
I also was convicted by a passage in Luke 5 this week in which Simon Peter falls to knees in worship when Christ invites him to drop what he is doing and follow Him. When was the last time I dropped to my knees in worship to the Lord? I honestly don’t have an answer to that. I want to be in worship everyday with my Lord and Savior. I want Him to be my first priority in all I do. God has done so much for and hasn’t given up on me. I want my life to reflect on His grace and for others to see Jesus when they meet me.
House of Refuge
Posted in Advent, Local Missions, tagged Advent, Christmas, House of Refuge, Mission Community Church, Missions, transitional housing on December 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Advent – Day 13
House of Refuge is a faith-based non-profit organization helping homeless families and individuals in crisis by providing transitional housing and supportive services that assist participants as they strive towards self-sufficiency and seek to obtain permanent housing.
I had a fun day serving at House of Refuge. 20% of families are living at or below poverty level. In 2009, 1 in 16 families received a foreclosure notice. The average size of families in shelters and transitional housing is 3.3 individuals. House of Refuge provides a transitional home for some of these families to live in while they get back on track. They also provide financial assistance and support. A small team of us came in and relocated some of the Christmas presents for the kids and organized them in their storage. It was a blessing to serve these people.
Change the World from Phoenix
Posted in Missions, tagged 24 hours, 5000 volunteers, Africa, Change the World from Phoenix, children, Feed my starving children, FMSC, Food, food packing, Missions, One million meals, Orphans, Phoenix on December 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Urbana 2012
Posted in Missions, tagged InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Missions, The Word became Flesh, Urbana 12, Urbana Student Missions Conference on November 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Being on Mission
Posted in Local Missions, Missionaries, tagged Being on Mission, Local Missions, Mighty to Save, missionary, Missions, On mission for God, shining light on October 7, 2012| 1 Comment »
This song has always had special meaning to me. We sang it a lot on my first mission trip 6 years ago and every time I would hear it I would think of that particular trip and how God called me to be on mission. How I have interpreted what ‘being on mission’ looks like has changed so much over the years. Today my Pastor talked about being on mission and afterwards we sang this song. It was a moment I needed to just stand in the back and really listen to God what He was saying to me in that moment.
Chris spoke about his heart to be on mission to both the ASU and Tempe High campuses (funny – both schools I went to). I spend about 80% of my time in the surrounding community building relationships and serving people – it’s kinda how God wired me. I form relationships pretty easily and I attribute that gift to God. I just formed a partnership with an amazing faith base coffee shop and was just offered an opportunity to teach english classes to international students in both Tempe and in China. These are just some of the ways God is calling me to be ‘on mission’ to the community and the world.
Even though these things are exciting and rewarding, I’m still a family man at heart. As I pack for vacation here, I am reminded of how much I love spending time with my boys and being there for them. I’m enjoying my time with my siblings and friends as well. First and foremost, being on mission for my family comes first. This is something I have confused many times in the past. It’s also a common mistake with Pastors who put their ministry above their families.
A few years back I was in a great relationship with an amazing girl and I began to withdraw from her as we got more serious. As I look back at that, my fear was I wouldn’t be able to do ‘big and great things’ for God if I married her. My heart and identity was wrapped up in a mega church that I was grossly over-volunteering for and a mediocre missions program that I was trying to inject life into. Being on mission meant that I was doing the noticeable things for God and I made sure ‘Facebook world’ knew about it. Now I look back and laugh at how arrogant and selfish I was back then. It wasn’t about God, it was about me. Who am I to interpret what ‘big things’ for God looks like?
I’m very thankful for the opportunities that God gives me to go out into the world and serve and for the serving opportunities here in the valley. They really do enrich and reward my life and it’s my heart and I love telling the stories of what God is doing (not me). But at the same time, I love being on mission for my family and watching my boys grow to be amazing men of God. God has really rewired my thinking and shown me what the Kingdom is all about. Jesus says over and over that the Kingdom of God is near and for me, that could just be chatting with the guy next to me in a coffee shop. Only Jesus can move mountains (the ‘big things”) and I am here to be His servant so He can use me to be that shining light to others. His will, not mine and I am thankful to be even just a small part of His plan for the world.
Headed to the Dome
Posted in Missions, Passion, tagged Atlanta, College Students, Georgia Dome, Headed to the Dome, Isaiah 26:8, Missions, Passion, Passion 2013, Passion conferences, Worship on September 17, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Tonight is the Passion 2013 Live Link. It’s a live webcast that is designed to get students and young adults ready to register and start planning for the big Passion conference in Atlanta in ’13. Passion sends me promotion materials every year to hang all over ASU campus. Passion is born out of a verse in Isaiah 26:8 that says “Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your truth, we wait eagerly for you; for your name and your renown are the desire of our souls”. The focus of Passion is to make Jesus’ name famous by challenging college students and young adults to live radical lives.
This year Passion is in the Georgia Dome. They are planning on having 40,000+ people in that dome. On New Year Eve of 2006, my college pastor Ron Merrell took 30+ of us from Camber to Atlanta to the four-day Passion conference and it changed my life. After being blown away by my first mission trip to Belize, Passion helped channel what I saw and to live it out in my everyday life. The teaching and worship is amazing. The Do Something Now area helps challenge and teach us about what is going on in the world. I’ve been to several conferences over the past 6 years and they have all challenged me in different ways. But this year I believe will be life-changing because it comes at a very interesting point in my life. Plus it comes right before I head out on the mission field again next year and I really want to soak in the teaching to help prepare my heart for this next phase of life. I’m excited to spend four amazing days connecting with my Lord and Savior and in fellowship with amazing friends. His renown, His Glory!
Passion 2007 – Atlanta
Passion Regionals 2008 – Los Angeles
Passion 2010 – Atlanta
Passion 2012 – Atlanta
Esther Havens
Posted in Art/photography, Guatemala, Missions, tagged Esther Havens, Esther Havens Photography, Guatemala, humanitarian photographer, Justice, Missions, Travis Timmons on September 6, 2012| 3 Comments »
Today I had to give a 15 minute presentation on a photographer whose work I admire and show some of my own work that was inspired by that photographer. For me, it’s a photographer out of Texas named Esther Havens. Her work is incredible and after researching her, I have come to find out that our journeys and passions are very similar.
The photos below were taken by Esther Havens
When I went to Guatemala over the summer, it was my first time taking photos without using a point and shoot camera. I was really inspired by Esther’s work and really wanted to capture the people there and their stories in their present environment. I wanted them to be more real than their circumstances. But most of all, I wanted to present the joy in their faces and who God created them to be. These are some of the images I came back with.
Photos by Travis Timmons
Living a life that Matters 