During my time living in the Middle East, I heard stories of Muslim friends who had dreams and visions of a man dressed in white. Initially, this brought me relief, as it seemed like a way for them to believe in Jesus without our team having to share with every person in the city.

I asked her, "What do you think God wants you to do?" She replied, "God is the one who will move." I said, "Yes, but Jesus has commanded us to go and make disciples of all people groups. So we need people to go to the places where there are no followers!" She responded, "Yes, God will send His people. His plans are good."

Romans 10:14-15  How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!

Everyone has a place and role in the Great Commission. God wants to use you for beautiful things! Here are some things you can do right now to start reaching the nations whoever you are, wherever you are. 

At that moment, I felt alone in my fear. I don't even know how I would have voiced what I was feeling to my group, but that wasn't the issue. It was the fear of moving forward. Without anyone else knowing this internal mess inside me, it was then how much I felt seen by the Father. He was the one to move my feet another step.

Now I had adequate experience with riding a bike back home, so I wasn’t too worried about biking every day to where we would need to go, so I began to champion the idea of disgust in my mind with one of pride and underestimation of how horrible this bike was. I thought, “I can totally ride this heap of junk”. But as I began to get on it, I quickly learned Excalibur would be the most significant tool in my experience of humility.

There aren't many of us who like being uncomfortable.  We like planning ...everything.  We like making to-do lists that we then accomplish. We like for things to be neat, tidy, and orderly. Dare I say we simply don't like events or people or things to be out of our comfort control?

As we headed into the desert, we were encouraged to use this time to reflect on what the Father has been teaching us through the semester and to write a word/phrase in the sand. This phrase came to mind almost immediately - “I surrender control”.

What works against you in grasping Christ's love for you? When I think about this question, my answers create a long list, sadly. My sin, fear of rejection, not being good enough, not being faithful enough, being a burden, seeing and experiencing broken relationships, feelings of shame.

During my time with Cafe 1040 in Europe, our group navigated the city through a "buddy system," ensuring no one ventured out alone. When a teammate sought a companion for a rendezvous with a girl she had met at a local Korean Festival, I volunteered without hesitation, completely unaware of what God would do from this encounter.

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.

Home Stays are one of the most powerful tools our program offers to cultivate a love for Muslims in the hearts of our students.   There is an amazing transformation that takes place in your heart when you are given the incredible gift of hospitality at the hands of people most often described in our media as terrorists. The hospitality of this culture is indescribable.

In this episode of the Global Mission Podcast, a Cafe 1040 mobilizer is invited to discuss ways to help strengthen and equip your local church as it engages in global missions efforts.

If I’m honest, I really had no idea what this program was about until I got here. I had a vague idea that it would help prepare me for future work overseas, yet I didn’t even know what I needed preparation in.

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. 

Truly, I have seen how much I have taken for granted the liberties and freedoms we have in America. Abiding in God looks so much different here, having to gather discreetly, safe language, praying with the blinds shut, and not being able to worship out loud. But even in the midst of limited freedom, God is present and God is good.

I was 25 before I truly understood that God was not American.

Though we don't know what happened, or what will happen, we know that God has heard our prayers and we hope she will see God in whatever happens.

It isn’t often that God peels back the curtains on someone’s life to show us how he has been working in them long before we met them. We can sometimes believe that we are a person’s only hope for salvation, and that if we do not bring them to faith in the Gospel then they will be lost forever. That is not how God works. My interaction with Anthony reminded me that it was not I who was the first one to desire Anthony to believe the Gospel, nor was it Colton. It was God Himself.

It's pretty cool how God can use something as simple as dehydration in the desert to open my eyes to a story in the Bible I have read numerous times!