Dear Summer,
Thank you for teaching me what I desperately needed to know.
In a dry, dusty place you taught me where to find home.
Yet it wasn't really you at all, but the Father.

2020 was a year unlike any we’ve ever seen. Yet despite the chaos, lockdowns, and hardship, God continued to use Cafe 1040 to do amazing work among the nations. Please enjoy our annual report and join us in celebrating all that God has done in the most unusual of years.

No Christian is meant to live in isolation, so no missionary is meant to live in isolation. Bible precedent for this. We don’t all have the same gifts as Paul. Team is a group of missionaries who meet together regularly, working together intentionally for the spread of the gospel. We need others alongside of us in this task.

The Great Commission is not dependent on you or me or any other worker...it is a privilege to be a part of what He is doing across the world. But He does allow his children to be a piece of His work. It’s often a theme that when Jesus gives someone a dream about himself, that person doesn’t start fully believing in Him or following Him until someone else comes along to tell that person what the dream is about and who this Jesus is. It amazes me.

“I do not have a favorite Bible story because my favorite is the entire Bible, the old and the new. All of it speaks God’s love, every single word. How can I choose one story if every word is Him telling me how much He loves me?” – Local believer in Southeast Asia

Generations are why Cafe 1040 exists. We exist to raise up a new generation. A generation that will go to those without access to the gospel and to change generations to come. A generation to raise the next generation to change future generations.

What could happen if Christians all over the world cared about Ramadan in this way? What could happen if we consistently and fervently cried out to God on their behalf over this Ramadan season?

Here’s the thing: the missions world needs you. Teams need you. Families need you. You are a force, a breath of fresh air, a teammate and a friend.You are the glue that holds a team together. You are a gap-filler that makes a healthy, well-rounded, high-capacity team. You are uninhabited by challenge and change. You are free to obey passionately when He calls.

3.1 billion people are in such a dark place they offer up gifts to a god, yet they haven't heard that they can receive the ultimate gift of life. The gift that doesn't require a bell or a giant mountain top temple... He just wants our hearts. He wants all of us for His glory. He already won the victory.

Our transformed lives are the product of an infinitely loving and gracious Father who seeks us out and calls us to himself. The power of our Creator, who made all things and in him all things hold together, the power of our shepherd who restores our souls, and who leads us by his voice, the power of God incarnate, who pardoned our iniquity by dying on the cross, providing a way for us to be made righteous before God, and giving us access to a real relationship with a perfect and holy God—there are so many more things to talk about in terms of increasing enjoyment in God and how his Word is fully true, alive, and does not return void.

But there is rest for the fearful, hope for the hopeless, and sight for the blind in Jesus Christ. I'm encouraged knowing I have a relationship with the One who casts out fear, who is my eternal hope, and who gives me a vision and the assurance of my future. This motivates me to pray without ceasing, fervently asking God to draw these lost sheep to him.

Join me.

This echoes so true when you are fearful. When has He ever failed? Why would He start now? He never fails us— what peace that brings. Fear has turned into peace over and over again because the Father is so good. From preparing for this trip to being here 7 weeks, He is good, all the time.

We praise God for what He has accomplished through us. It is His work. He simply invites us to be a part of it. And what a privilege that invitation is to accept.

God is the author of my story...if only it were easy becoming a blank page.

Here are 7 scriptures about God’s Will. When you are seeking guidance or are struggling to make a decision, we hope that they will be a beacon of light for you. Think on them prayerfully and read them in context.

Considering going overseas one day? Heres a story from a former student answering this simple question: Why?

It can be hard to think about missions in terms other than being overseas, but the truth is that missions is multifaceted with a variety of roles that can be accomplished from many places, not just overseas. How can you be involved in missions without going overseas?

One of the main goals of our overseas mentorship is for students to see what their life could look like as a cross-cultural missionary. We aim to break down the barriers that could keep them from moving their lives overseas and address some of these questions that need real answers.

We haven’t been able to run an overseas program for a few semesters now, but some of the lessons you can learn overseas you can also use stateside whether you’re waiting to go long-term, working to mobilize your church or school, or learning about unreached people for the first time. We wanted to share something one of our students from a previous semester learned on our program!

Some book and podcast recommendations to kick off 2021!