Q: Why did you choose Cafe 1040?

A: “After looking at Cafe 1040, I also explored some other organizations. It was really eye opening for me to see a mentorship is something people actually do.  Honestly, the reason I picked Cafe 1040 is I felt heard, and understood and identified with by Cafe, more than other organizations that have similar program.” 

What would it take for you to unapologetically, unreservedly decide to move your life to Saudi Arabia to share the gospel? We believe this next generation of missionaries is uniquely positioned to complete the Great Commission, but the ever-shifting roadmap of missions makes it a difficult task.
 

From the beginning of the trip, we have been told repeatedly:

Life is not about doing things for God--even good things. It's about seeking and knowing Him.

So I've asked God to strip away my agenda, my life, my plans...I've essentially asked to die to self (we always underestimate prayers of this kind!). And He is answering. 

Standing over the banks of the Ganges River - the most holy place in Hinduism to bring the dead – I took in the most graphic image of death my eyes have ever seen.

Body after body was being burned and lowered into this river for its remission of sins.  It was a picture of imminent death with one last grasp for hope.

Sometimes the most empowering lesson we can learn in missions is just how small we are in His story.

Over one short month with days that seem as long as weeks, I have spent living my life in a foreign country with foreign people while learning a foreign language and culture.

Raising support to sustain a life of missions can be overwhelming. It can be a major obstacle that keeps people from ever obeying God's call on their life. We know God controls every resource in the world, but do we truly believe He can provide in this way for our life? We've put together a series of support raising stories from people in different stages and viewpoints of life as a way to remind you that God is at work and He loves to show off in this way.

This is a guest post from our friend Joe at Pioneers.

Sensing God calling you to something crazy, but, in the immortal words of Will Smith, parents just don’t understand? In this, the first of a series exploring barriers to serving in mission, a mission candidate coach explores what is—for many—the first and trickiest obstacle.

Setting down my chopsticks after yet another dinner of chicken and rice, I looked up to see three rough, wrinkled fingers waving in my face. “Three… three”, she says in her best English. Although we couldn’t communicate verbally, I knew what she meant. She was planning for me and my team to wake up at 3:00 a.m. to go fishing with her family, a daily routine for most people in this remote fishing village. She seemed overwhelmed with excitement to be hosting three American girls in her home for the weekend to experience their culture first hand. 

Do you ever feel like there are so many books you’d like to read, but then you go to pick one and you never really know where to start? Should you pick up a work or fiction or is non-fiction a better use of time? The sheer amount of choices keeps you from reading all together. At Cafe 1040, we love sharing resources that keep us growing and learning so we polled a few of our staff to see which books they’d recommend.

With a day dedicated to love approaching, we rounded up three articles that radically counteract the way the world views love.  We know, outside of Christ, love is always self-seeking. But how do we love as Christ loves us? What is the source of this love?

When did you first hear the story of Jesus? Who told you? Where were you? How were you changed?

Whether you realize it or not, the context in which you live shapes the way you think. Culture shapes the way you see the world. Culture can be defined as the social behavior and norms of a group of people.

One night our team was praying in our apartment. We took a minute of silence to listen to whatever God was trying to tell us. I started feeling really convicted that I needed to share the gospel with my friend Samir. I had kind of written him off as uninterested. All he ever seemed to want to do is goof off.

The missions world can be complex and quite confusing. There are long lists of questions, endless applications, hundreds of organizations. How do you know where to begin? Where do you get started?

Meet "Ryan"… (Gotta use code names). He’s a friend of ours that we met at the basketball courts. One day after playing, we were sitting waiting on someone and I just starting asking what we call "invasive questions" to start some religious conversation. I was asking what he believes, why, how he feels about it… all kinds of things.

Moving overseas as a single male or female is scary.

There are fears of loneliness and endless questions that can never truly be answered this side of the pond.

Will I fit in with my team? Will I feel like a burden to the families that are there? Am I giving up on my chance to be married?  How will I make friends when I’m there? Will I be treated differently because I’m single?

Six years ago, the Lord moved me and my husband to North Africa to join Cafe 1040's work mobilizing  this next generation to go and tell the story of Jesus where it’s never been told before.  In those six years, we have been honored to be a part of the lives of 85 students.  

"I have been thinking about this boy. I think about him so often. I don't want to see him anymore though because I don't want to miss him again...it hurts too much. I don't think he's real. I have never met him. I don't know his name. I saw him in my dream. I just saw his eyes. When I saw his eyes I could see everything.

I left an empty seat this month at my dear friend's wedding. She called me over Skype at 5:30 a.m., the musical traffic of Southeast Asia already singing in the background. At that early hour, I exchanged excited words with a glowing bride a few minutes before she walked down the aisle.