My phone buzzed on silent mode in my pocket while I was busy just doing normal old stuff. But that vibrating buzz alarms me everytime. Glancing at the shortened notification on my homescreen I saw the first line, "… I heard the Gospel for the first time." It was from Glenn. Glenn reminds me of speaker Bob Goff, the writer of Love Does, because he lights up the room wherever he's at and makes you feel like you're the boss. I was honored to be on the list of umptine friends in his contacts⏤my name and number got the text. 

Fundraising is a huge part of missions. Whether you are raising money for yourself to be supported as a missionary, or for a project to help others, it takes funding to accomplish our God given goals. Although it can be overwhelming, it doesn't have to suck. 

This is me with one of only 800 copies of the Bible in the Sakari language. Honestly, it was a holy movement grasping this book. Even my co-workers were drooling over it. It’s not fancy. No gold leaf.

But it’s special.

No one says it quite like Darlene Cunningham, co-founder of the largest mission organization on the planet — Youth With A Mission. In her book, Values Matter, the following excerpt makes us as "ywamers," laugh, ponder, and even cry. We think you'll get a kick out this too and perhaps hear God calling you to step out in faith to follow Him to ends of the earth.

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Recently, I was pondering some of the unique ways God has equipped YWAM to be a visionary pioneer movement. He has called us to continually be receiving, nurturing and releasing fresh vision from God. Thoughts began to cascade from my mind faster than I could write them down:

I believe in heroes, and I have had many in my lifetime. Brother Andrew, known as God's Smuggler, is undoubtedly one of those. He has impacted my life very much.

I know a lot of people who no longer watch the news. Not just because they are overwhelmed, but they question the sources.  44% of the worldwide news is reportedly inaccurate. The other 56% leaves enough to cause a lot of concern. 

In an upcoming social media post that you'll see in the coming days, we are posting the caption: "The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intense of a missionary we become." As part of the editing team I wasn't 100% convinced of this statement. 

So, I decided to reach out to some long-term, incredibly thoughtful missionaries at our campus to ask them their opinion. What I got as a response was quite incredible.

I was born in 2003, and I am proud to be a part of Gen Z.

I believe Gen Z holds the potential to release a catalytic revival within the body of Christ.

One thing some people like to associate with my generation is that we do nothing but put tide pods in our mouths, and that we are scared of face to face interaction because we are consumed with technology.

Our modern day media tries to sell us a tainted message⏤Just do you, focus on yourself, and do what makes you happy, and now we have a major problem...

I suppose it is possible, but there can't be many YWAM missionaries around the world who haven't heard of Joy Dawson. When word spread of her death, the fruit of her ministry instantly came to mind. Many of us had the privilege of hearing her speak, and perhaps listened to her teach for a week in a YWAM training school, or read one of her books. Most of us have a story about her, or can share how she has impacted our lives.

It was July 28, 1982, exactly 35 years ago to date (at the writing of this blog post), when Keith Green and others took off from an airstrip, almost in walking distance from where I am sitting now, and left the earth behind never to return. The airplane accident that took the life of singer-songwriter Keith Green, shook the lives of the evangelical Christian community around the world.

When I went to The Flood, I was expecting breakthrough, but little did I know what it would entail.

The Flood was a week long event preceding the Send missions movement, held in Kansas City, Missouri. During The Flood and The Send, there were lots of worship times, speakers such as Francis Chan and Lou Engle, as well as outreaches each afternoon of The Flood. Before going to the Flood, I was not completely sure what to expect. I knew it was going to be incredible, but what would that look like?