Jennifer Mitchell » Mission

Reckless Abandonment

Jennifer — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:41:17 +0000

When I was in Middle School, I read a book called Lady in Waiting. It was a devotional for girls to teach them how to become mighty women of God. It has been about 10 years since I have read that book, but its impact is still making waves in my life today. The first chapter is titled “A Lady of Reckless Abandonment”. It focuses on the beautiful story of the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with an expensive jar of perfume. This is one of my favorite stories because it demonstrates the power of abandonment. The jar of perfume was far more than just expensive liquid. Traditionally, the Hebrews would use this jar to collect all of their tears and then mix it with perfume. It was this beautiful idea that God was collecting all of their grief and turning it into an exquisite fragrance. So when the woman knelt down and broke her alabaster jar before Jesus, she was not just pouring out expensive liquid – she was literally taking every tear her heart had ever cried and placing it at the Lord’s feet. Scripture says that she did not just pour the perfume on Christ’s feet – no she did something far more beautiful. She completely broke the jar. She decided that she would no longer collect tears, and would simply abandon everything and follow Jesus. In this moment, I can just feel her brokenness. I can just feel her heart saying “Take all of me Jesus, take my past, take my hurts, take my grief, take my passions, I break it all at your feet.” She did this because she recognized Jesus as God. Once she realized that the God of the universe was before her, it was everything she could do to contain herself. She ran to find the most precious thing that she owned, the thing that she treasured closest to her heart, and then broke it at Jesus’ feet in a sign of submission. She was a woman of Reckless Abandonment. Because of this act of brokenness, Jesus says that her story would be told throughout the entire world for thousands of generations.

I love that phrase – Reckless Abandonment. I can just feel the freedom saturating those words. In order to abandon things, truly abandon them, there is a wild passion behind it. It is the type of passion that drives crazy people to do the impossible. It is the type of passion that makes people believe that dreams are possible, and that Kingdom can truly come. I have been learning this month, that to truly go to the deeper places of God, we must because people of Reckless Abandonment. There are so many things in this world that are holding us back from the dynamic things of God. How tightly do I hold on to things, and am I willing to break everything at Jesus’ feet in order to follow him. As much as I don’t want to admit it, abandonment is the message of the Gospels. Every person that Jesus called to follow him had to completely abandon their old life. They didn’t just have to leave their past mistakes behind, they were even called to abandon the good, God-given things. This is the place that God has been calling me to this month. A few days ago, I felt God calling me to abandon even more than I already have. At first I was resistant. I kept praying, “God I’ve given up my family, my home, my bed, what else do you want me to give up?” And yet he called me deeper. I began breaking the things that he was asking me at his feet in a sign of submission and abandonment. Even though it is hard to break the things that you love, it is also the most freeing thing in the world.

Today I was brought to another level of abandonment. Our squad leaders have been praying for a while what the next step for our squad was. They felt like the Lord was calling us all to a level of abandonment. They heard the Lord asking us to fast all technology as we spend December in Israel. This means that we will not have any Internet access, and will not use our computers, iPods, or anything else electronic. So this month, I will not be able to communicate with all of you who I love so much. But please know that you are in my prayers constantly and that I miss you more than I can describe over the internet. Even though I am very sad that I will not be able to talk to my family on Christmas, I am excited that God loves us enough to challenge us. I am really looking forward to spending more time with Him and just sitting at the Lord’s feet in worship. We are leaving for Israel in less than 8 hours and I could not be more excited!! It is the perfect place for me to get still before the Lord, and show Jesus’ love to those who have not experienced it yet. That’s the thing about abandonment, God doesn’t just call us to hard places so that we can suffer – it’s because he has so much more good for us! He wants to shower us with his love, his blessings and his anointing. Sometimes those things can only come when we are at a place of complete brokenness. And the quickest was to brokenness is through abandonment, reckless abandonment. Is God calling you to lay some things down at his feet? Are you ready to respond in reckless abandonment and completely break the jar instead? You see, I just keep getting this whisper in my ear that abandonment is the key to blessing. It’s the key to a deeper relationship with Jesus. It the start of a different kind of life – a world changing kind of life.

So may we have the strength to take our most precious alabaster jar and use it to anoint the precious Lamb of God.

May we have the courage to hear the Lord’s voice as he calls us to deeper places with him. And may we have the obedience to walk down that path.

May we truly be people of reckless abandonment.

Halloween….World Race Style

Jennifer — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:40:48 +0000

Occasionally on the Race, we as racers have to find ways to entertain ourselves during various holidays that everyone back at home is celebrating and we are not. Halloween is such a time as this. Our squad leaders, Brian, Stacy and Caitlin decided that a Super-Hero-themed party was in order. Our entire squad met in Sofia, Bulgaria for an end of the month debrief, and that’s when chaos broke out.

The room was packed with Super Heores.

Capes were flowing.

Powers were flying.

Villains were shaking in their boots.

A fun time was had by all.

Our guys went over and above the call of duty and made this year’s next blockbuster hit, which I now include for your viewing pleasure.

Super Heroes and Villians from Jennifer Mitchell on Vimeo.

The next day we found out that our squad would be changing some. We found out that our new squad leaders are Mike & Denise Murphy and Tamica Sloan would be our new squad leaders. This meant that our teams would be switching around a lot. The move was bitter sweet for me. Team Petra is no more, but I am still so blessed to still have Martha, Tim and Joel on my team, but I am no longer going to be with three other parts of my heart.

Lauren and Danielle are now part of team Fanatic who is ministering in Istanbul this month.

I will miss laughing with these girls till all hours of the morning

Liz is part of a new team, team Sofia,

which is in Easter Turkey studying a people group that has never seen Americans before.

I am going to miss the constant knowledge and whit that exudes from this wonderful girl.

Team Petra’s last official family picture.

Even though it is hard being away from my 3 other sisters,

I am BEYOND excited about the two AMAZING new girls that I get to be on a team with for the rest of our Race.

Let me introduce you:

Meet Ashley. This girls is absolutely the most genuine and giving girl I have ever met. Not to mention she is hilarious.

She also has an unusual love for honey, oreos and Lost.

Needless to say, we were instant friends.

And this is Lindsay. Lindsay is by far the funniest girl I have ever met (which for me to say is definitely saying something).

She is also the wisest and most discerning woman I have ever been around.

I have so much to learn from her and am so excited to spend a year with her.

Needless to say, I am mildly obsessed with her, and I can’t wait for you to be as well.

So now we are six…and out of the ashes arises….Team Phoenix…

Which we feel is a very appropriate name for all of us. I mean, we do all have a firey side.

Not to mention, Phoenix tears heal people…

Laying Down My Expectations

Jennifer — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:09:07 +0000

This month has been one of the most trying months for me so far. It has been wonderful, yet very tough at the same time. This month our teams were given the assignment of Asking The Lord (ATL) about which country we should go to next. We were supposed to be in Egypt this month, however, we were not able to get our whole squad to the Middle East until December. So Petra Asked the Lord and we felt him calling us to Croatia. We went with Kingdom Unity and arrived in Osijek, Croatia with no place to stay and no contacts. We were blessed to find a church that was willing to house us for a night, so we all packed into their youth center. The next day we learned that another church about 3 hours away was in need of a small team for a week. So Petra and Kingdom Unity decided to merge and then split up again, so I was with Tim, Liz and Lauren from Petra and Matt, Heather and Lauren Williamson from Kingdom Unity. We worked at a small church for the most wonderful old couple who are so in love with God. It was wonderful to get to paint, cook and serve them. It was a great week for us.

We went back to Osijek and joined up with the others who had been doing youth ministry for the week. We all went to Pula next, a beautiful coastal city on the Adriatic Sea. Even though our teams were in the same location, the squad leaders felt that we should continue to be separated. So I ended up the same team, but Liz and Tim were traded for Tamica and Joel. So we had our new teams, and then set out to find contacts and build relationships with the people of Pula. This part of the month was hardest for me because I did not have a tangible ministry to work on. Each day we were not sure about what we were doing until we were actually doing it.

The first expectation I learned to lay down was my expectations of having the same 6 people around me for a year. Petra had just begun to act like a family, and then we were all separated. Being apart from them helped me see how much I was relying on them for support and comfort. I was blessed with so many new and wonderful relationships because of the separation, and I am so thankful that we were able to do that. I learned a lot about leaning on those around me, whether they are on my official team or not. I also learned to lay down my expectation of the race in general. Coming on the race I thought I would either have a clear ministry objective for the day, or would be given an entire day free to ask the Lord what he wanted us to do for the day and then do it. This month was neither, and it was hard for me to adjust to that. Instead, I learned to be very flexible and stay in the Spirit at all times. We had to be ready at a moments notice to give testimonies, pray, or speak life into someone. There were not many moments that we had “off” (as if Christians ever really have an off day). Because of this, I learned how to draw my strength from God alone and how to submit my will and all of my desires to him, no matter what.

While this month was a difficult transition for me, I am thankful for it and excited about the next steps! Right now I am on a train back to Osijek then on to a smaller city. They split our teams up again and I am with Danielle and Lauren Williamson is our leader. Our entire objective for the next 5 days is simply Ask the Lord and follow his leading. I am really looking forward to what he is going to lead us in! I am so thankful for the hard lessons that I learned this month, and I look forward to our next step of ministry.

May we all continue to lay our expectations down, and in return allow the Lord to move freely in our lives.

~ Jennifer .

Oh, and, speaking of expectations, I guess I should have laid down my expectation of only going to 11 countries a long time ago. It’s only month 3 and we’ve already been to 6 countries (Ireland, Northern Ireland, Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Serbia for those who are counting). We had the opportunity to go to Serbia for a day, and here are some highlights from our trip. You can view the whole album HERE.

Photo Contest

Jennifer — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:42:48 +0000

This is going to be a short post, I just wanted to tell everyone about the exciting news! Seth Barnes, the visionary of the World Race decided to open up a photography contest for missions pictures. His idea was to get a bunch of pictures from out on the field and collect them into a coffee table book of sorts to sell. Ideally, this would be a great way to fund raise for missions. To get photographers involved Seth and some other wonderful people put together a contest featuring missions photography from around the world. The judging will be in three different rounds with as much as $3,000 up for prize money. (Needless to say, that would help my fundraising immensely, so I have been a tiny bit motivated to say the least.)

The first round of judging saw over 3,000 pictures from hundreds of different photographers, and I am very excited to let ya’ll know that I have been selected as a winner of round 1! I, along with 29 other photographers, were selected to go on to round 2 which will feature 20 of our best pictures. You can view the complete list of winners HERE. The judging is in a few weeks, and I have been working very hard to get my pictures ready for judgment day. As many of you know, I absolutely love photography and my dream is to be able to do missions work for a living and use photography to support that. All this to say, I am very excited about the opportunity to showcase some pictures. Each of these has a dear memory attached for me, so they are more than just a cute child or pretty scenery. God has taught me alot through my travels, and I consider it an honor to be able to capture a little bit of the beauty overseas and bring it home to everyone. I thought I would share a couple of the pictures that are being submitted for judging. Once everything is submitted, you can view all of the pictures HERE. Hope you enjoy!

Wonderful Finnish friends of mine awaiting baptism in the Jordan River in Israel.

This precious girl is a Sudanese refugee in Israel. Her parents did not make it across the border, so she remains in an orphanage in Tel Aviv.

“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the Good News”

Resting with a Sudanese Orphan in Israel

These orphans have been through terrible experiences. Sometimes, even on a happy day, smiles escape them.

Another precious refugee.

The older boy is from Sudan as well. He fled to Israel and now works to bring other Sudanese children hope.

Christians praying for the nations under the Western wall in Israel.

This precious girl has had a hard life. Though watermelon can’t remove her pain, maybe it can bring a little joy.

Praying at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem

Training Camp

Jennifer — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:49:51 +0000

Well I am officially a Training Camp survivor. And survivor I am. Anyone who sleeps in 150% humidity in a cabin with 30 other girls, on the third story top bunk is a survivor in my book. Also, anyone who is walking down a path only to look down and see a HUGE black snake right by her foot when she is TERRIFIED of snakes should earn the award for ultimate survivor. But I digress…For the past 10 days I have had the wonderful opportunity to spend time with 80+ other passionate men and women of God who are training for the World Race. The camp was a wonderful experience in which the staff challenged us to grow in our own personal understanding of God, lay down our expectations, and learn to Ask the Lord before we do anything.

I really respect AIM as an organization because they stress the importance of listening prayers. So often in our own Christian life we petition Heaven with our requests, lay them down, and then walk away. This week helped me realize that in my own personal life I do not leave God much room to talk back to me. AIM taught us the beauty of ATL. No, that’s not Atlanta for all yall wonderful southerners out there. It stands for Ask The Lord. We were taught the beautiful practice of asking the Lord, and then not moving until we listen and hear from Him. So often in my Christian walk I am afraid to make time for God to talk, because I am afraid that he will not respond. However, this week, every time we sought the Lord’s voice, He showed up! I am really looking forward to this next year and learning how to ask, listen, and follow the direction of God.

At training camp I was defiantly stretched beyond my comfort zone. We were taught as missionaries who desire to go into foreign cultures, we must lay down a lot of the rights that we are used to. We no longer have the right to be full, warm, comfortable, easy communication, or even the right to be safe. While this is a difficult principle to initially take on, I am thankful that AIM began teaching us these lessons early on. I ate various cow parts, cold fish, lots of rice, and many other foods that were outside of my comfort zone. I showered with an ice cold garden hose (admittedly only twice), and I survived a torrential downpour while camping outside with only a small tarp to cover 14 women as our shelter. Needless to say, I am beginning to understand what this next year is going to look like in terms of comfort. While I am a little fearful of the challenge, I do look forward to the opportunity to lay down my Western rights in order to share the Gospel with others.

One of the best things about camp was learning who my group would be for the next year. My personal squad (August 2) is comprised of 43 amazing individuals. Through a series of personality tests and team builders, AIM staff then formed our smaller groups. These teams are the 6-7 people that I will be traveling with for the next year. We will eat, sleep, travel and minister together. Needless to say, group unity is vital. I consider myself one of the luckiest at camp because I was placed with 6 other AMAZING individuals. I am going to keep their identities a secret (mostly so that I have more material to write another blog later), but check back soon because I cannot wait to share with you the wonderful men and women of God that I will be ministering with this next year.

All in all, Training Camp was a wonderful experience, one in which my love for God was refreshed, lifelong friendships were formed, and personal rights were laid down. And all of this in only 10 short days. I can only imagine what God has in store for us in the next 11 months!! May we all continue to unite together and begin preparing the way of ministry through prayer for each of the countries. Many places are still experiencing political unrest and lack of food and water. Will you join me in praying that God will go before us and prepare the hearts of the people to receive his wonderful message?

Finances

Jennifer — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:28:55 +0000

Finances. This is one subject that I absolutely hated talking about. I almost initially did not do the World Race because I did not want to go around and seem as though I was begging people for money. However, fundraising has actually been one of the most amazing processes for me. As I have been fundraising, God has been teaching me that it is not me begging for money, but rather a group of Christians joining together to make a ministry possible. In this particular instance, I just happen to be the feet, but many others are the hands, and the voice, and the support. So I want to begin by saying how excited I am about fundraising! It truly excites me to see how people have begun coming together to invest in a ministry. While people are investing in me personally, it is for the sake of the Gospel. Our calling is not to individuals, but to God, and that is what excited me most. I am so very privileged to have an amazing group of men and women who have chosen to sacrifice on my behalf in order to spread the love of Christ throughout the world. I am often moved to tears as people give, I feel so honored to get to take your gift into the world. I was also blessed with people who sent me graduation gifts. Each of these I also deposited into my World Race account. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you so all of my wonderful supporters!!!!

I also want take a special space to say a big Thank You to my anonymous donor from my church. While I don’t know who you are, I am thankful that God does because I fully believe that you will be blessed as you have given unto the Lord. Thank you so much! So as of today, individual donations total $6070 in my account!! That number completely blows me away! I am so excited for what God is doing!

I also want to let you know about some things that I am doing to earn some money for the Race. Right before graduation I packed up the bare minimum that I thought I would need over the next few months, and put the rest out to sell. It was a difficult process for me, as I was selling most everything I had to raise support for the Race, but I was overwhelmed with the response that God brought!! Though I now carry a much lighter load, the Lord blessed me with $500 from the garage sale alone!!

For the past 5 years I have been running a book business online. While I usually use these finances to live on, I have chosen to take everything that I make and give it to the World Race this year. I am also accepting donations if you would like to clean out your bookcase! Feel free to shoot me an email, I’ll even come do it for you ? I have also taken up a full-time job working daily to raise money for the trip.

I am also trying to grow my photography business. You can view my pictures HERE. In the next few weeks I will be posting pictures and prices. All finances will go towards the Race. If you see a picture you are already interested in, feel free to email me and I’ll get working on it right away!

The World Race is also partnering with another company to help us fundraise. I am selling these wonderful World Race Shirts for only $20 each. They have our specific Race route on it, listing each country. They are a great means to remember our group in prayer, and join us in sharing God’s love with each of these countries.

Finally, I want to say a huge thank you to all of you prayer warriors who are hitting the floor for me and our team. I cannot tell you how real God has shown himself so far, and I am so excited to see him continue to move. I would love to continue to grow this group. If any of you know any groups or churches who would like to hear about missions around the world, and what God is doing through the World Race, I would love to share with them! If you know of any churches that would like to have a speaker come in for missions, I would love the opportunity! I am free all summer until I leave, so feel free to shoot me an email if you know anyone interested. I would really appreciate it.

I know this has been long, I am sorry I have not been more consistent in updating about finances. I am going to try to be better ? So total, as of today I have $6570 in my account! I praise the Lord!! The total cost of our trip is $13800, so I am right at half way there. They will not send me out in August unless I have about $11000 in the account, so I still have a lot of work to do. As always I am trusting the Lord, and remaining in a constant state of gratitude for everything ya’ll have done for me. Thank you so much and I love each of you!!

~ Jennifer M.

Update

Jennifer — Wed, 20 May 2009 05:50:27 +0000

If I’ve learned nothing else over the past few months, it’s that I have a proficiency for procrastination when it comes to blogging. Lucky for all of you, that’s not the only thing that I have retained in the many months since I last updated. So I will now present to my many, many readers (it’s probably more like 4 of you ?, an update of what has been going on with me these past few months.

First on the list, ladies and gentlemen, is what I am told is the biggest day of my young adult life. That’s right, yours truly walked the stage cap, gown, magna cum laude and all. Graduating from college was a surreal experience for me. I love Lee University dearly. God used this place to teach, grow, stretch and mold me more than I ever imagined could happen through an intellectual institution. It is here that I found the beautiful mix of Theology and service, as I was taught beautiful doctrine and then challenged to put it into practice in my everyday life. I was blessed to be very involved in campus life. I worked with our wonderful Campus Pastor in a creative team that sought to breath new life into our corporate worship gatherings. I also got to teach a Freshman class, Chaplain a Freshman dorm, lead weekly Bible Studies and work as a tour guide for prospective students. I also had the privilege to be in a service sorority of the amazing women of Epsilon Lambda Phi. I also was very honored to be a little sister for an incredible service fraternity, Alpha Gamma Chi. While I enjoyed all of my activities greatly, looking back I see that what changed me the most was the incredible group of friends that I made at school. I am going to miss these people greatly over the next year. The many Starbucks conversations, Theological conversations, and days of service is what uniquely shaped my outlook on life. It is at Lee that I found the perfect mix of Orthopraxy (right practice) and Orthodoxy (right belief) in a beautiful culmination of what my dear friend has coined Orthonomy (right beauty). Orthonomy is a challenge to life the beautiful way, finding value in both studying the Word carefully, and in putting it into practice. I am so very thankful for my time at Lee, and for the amazing men and women who went out of their way to shape me into the woman that I am today. For that, I am truly thankful.

In celebration of my graduation, my parents threw me a graduation/send off party for the World Race. First off I have to begin with how incredibly blessed I am to have the family that I do. My parents are absolutely amazing people, and I am so honored to be their daughter. They hosted a beautiful time of prayer during the party, and I cherish each and every one of your prayers so dearly. I am so very grateful for all of you who came out to support me as I prepare for the World Race. I was overwhelmed by the love, prayers, and gifts that ya’ll so generously gave. I would type for hours if I thought it would begin to express how truly grateful I am for everything that ya’ll have done for me. I am so honored to have the amazing friends and family that I do. I cannot say Thank You enough to each and every one of you!! It is so excited for me to see the amazing group of supporters that God has placed in my life. Know that as I go out, I carry each and every one of you with me. This ministry is as much yours as it is mine. What an exciting thing for all of us to unite together and minister the love of Christ to the nations!!

After graduation I packed up and moved back home to Atlanta for the remaining two months before the Race. This is an exciting time filled with much preparation and prayer. I appreciate the prayers that you all offer on my behalf. I leave in two days for a week of Training Camp. I am very excited and nervous about this. I can’t wait to update you all when I get back!! After camp I am going to continue to fundraise, which I will talk more about in a few days. Until then I want to give you a quick preview of what I am working on:
First, a dear friend of mine who lives in East Cleveland (One of the poorest cities in the Southeast) named Miss Betty is in need of help. Recently, her food stamps have been reduced to $11 a week and she barely has enough to make a living. Betty is a shut in who is unable to leave her small apartment due to health issues. A group of us go each week to visit this dear woman. Betty tries to make extra money on the side by cross-stitching placemats and bookmarks. She does a good job, and can stitch most anything you like in the middle of it: names, dates, quotes. This is an example of one I got her to do for the fraternity I am a little sister of. She and I are partnering together for support, so for $6 each you can help both her and I ?

I am also working on growing my photography skills. My dream is to travel around the world doing missions work and supporting it through photography. I have had amazing opportunities to take pictures of some of the most beautiful places and people that I have ever seen. My dream is to share these memories with all of you, and use that as a means of support for the ministry. I posted a few more of my snapshots Here if you are interested. I’ll be working over the summer to get the pictures ready for sale, but here is a preview of some of my favorites.

Again I cannot thank each of you enough for all of the prayers, support and encouragement. It is humbling and exciting to know that the only way I am able to go is through the support of each of you. Thank you dearly for your sacrifices and your love. I wish I could write a blog to each one of you to demonstrate my gratitude. Now that I am back home, I am hoping to update more often, so keep checking back! I love each of you dearly.

~ Jennifer M.
“God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?” ~ Numbers 23:19

Agape Meal

Jennifer — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:51:41 +0000

Shalom all! I just wanted to tell you a little bit about an experiment that some friends and I are doing. Each week we meet together, Early Church Style for a few hours. Way back when, the Early Church had a practice which they called Agape Meal, or Love Feast. During these times, they would each bring what little food that they had and make a big meal out of it. They would then sit around and share the stories of God in their lives. They would talk about what God is doing and how they can continue to spread the Gospel throughout the world. The communion elements were a part of their feasts, because they would often meet in Shabbat style meals. The Early Church would also have a bread breaking time in which they would take time out to encourage each other in the Lord. Living in Cleveland, Tennessee where there are more churches per square mile than anywhere in America, my friends and I have grown a little weary of the conventional service. So, we are experimenting with Agape Meal in an effort to meet together and worship during a time of encouragement and refreshing. It’s our own organic style of accountability and relationship. Each week we also go out together and serve people in the community. We record all of our experiences on our blog. I thought I would share a little about what we are doing in our own community here, because I would love to hear what you are doing in yours. May we each find a way to breath life in our own surrounding communities as we prepare to breath into the world together.

You can visit our Agape Meal website HERE.

~ Jennifer M.

Expecations of My Missions Trip

Jennifer — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:52:53 +0000

We were asked to write a blog about how we felt before leaving on this missions trip. Here is what I am expecting…

~ To be challenged more in 11 months than I have been in 22 years.
~ To experience God like I have never imagined.
~ To learn about myself, even though it’s hard at times, and become the woman I was created to be.
~ To see God in different contexts and people groups.
~ To grow so close to 4-6 other people that they become like family.
~ To miss my family more than I could ever imagine.
~ To completely abandon my own desires for my life, sacrificing all for the sake of the Gospel.
~ To cry, a lot.
~ To laugh, more than I can control.
~ To grow, more than I thought possible.
~ To come face to face with my fear of snakes.
~ To hear God’s whispering voice in the world and to learn to listen to it.
~ To step into my gifts and talents and see them used to change the world.
~ To see the Word of God which I have studied for so long, leap of the pages and dance to life before my eyes; capturing me up in the choreography, and leading me in the eternal perichoretic dance.

How I Was Called to the Mission Field

Jennifer — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:53:53 +0000

We were asked to write a story of how we were called into the mission field. Here is my story…

When I was little, I remember in school when the teacher would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I was never able to answer them. I wasn’t quite able to pick a profession that I really loved or wanted to do for the rest of my life. Fifteen years later, I still feel the same way. I am getting ready to graduate in less than 80 days and I often get the question what I want to do with my three different fields of study. I still cannot pinpoint an exact profession. I always just end up answering that I want to help people and show them love for the rest of my life. While that may sound like a broad, cop-out answer to avoid a 9-5 job, I believe it is what I am created to do. I would be perfectly content if I never had an actual profession and ended up doing a thousand different little jobs for the rest of my life if it meant I could impact and help people in the process.

When I was in 8th grade I heard a sermon that changed my life. I had always grown up in church, and was raised by an incredible family of faith. After this sermon, however, I can still remember the incredible passion that I had for the Lord, and I remember hoping that I would keep that passion for the rest of my life. A man named Darrell Scott came and spoke about his daughter Rachel who was killed in Columbine a few years before. He spoke of her passion and love for the Lord, even at a young age. She cared about everyone she came in contact with, and was killed because of her kindness. (You can read Rachel’s Story Here). Listening to her father speak about her life and ministry was very moving for be because she and I had many similarities, even down to wanting to be famous actresses ?. That sermon sparked a flame within me that still burns deep today. From that moment, I made a commitment to myself and to the Lord that I would try my best to live everyday with the type of passion that is evident to all.

My journey of passion continued through high school as I pursued a deeper relationship with God. I got to go on my first missions trip when I was in ninth grade. I went with my youth group to Piedras Negras, Mexico and knew from the second I stepped off the plane that I was finally doing what I was created to do. I felt like I was literally moving and dancing within God the stream of God’s will. I returned to Mexico three times after that summer to do missions. Those trips embedded within me a love for people of other cultures, and a desire to travel to foreign places to share the Gospel. Since Mexico, I have had the incredible opportunity to travel to Budapest, Hungary, New Orleans, Israel and South Korea to do missions work. E ach of these trips was very different in context, and I learned many valuable lessons while on these trips.

This brings me to my life today…Last semester Shane Claiborne came to speak in our chapel. He challenged much of my thinking and ended up ruining my life in a good way. His approach to life is very simple: Why should we as Christians have, when others have not? Literally, why do we have two winter coats when our neighbor does not have one? How is that showing Christ? That sermon sparked within me a desire to find a way to do missions in the context that I am in right now. I began on a journey last semester of sacrifice that has changed my understanding of my world. It lead me to the understanding that the missions field exists in my backyard, I just had to turn my ears to hear God’s heartbeat for right now. I have been learning that God desires to use me in whatever context I am in at the time, whether it’s an orphanage in Africa, or a college town in Tennessee. God is always desiring to do great works in the world around us, I just think we often times get busy with our own lives that we miss it. My prayer is that we slow down life enough to see the incredible things that God is doing right now, in our own reachable environment. I pray that we come to understand that the missions field is all around us, and that God has uniquely equipped each of us to do incredible things right where we are. Some are gifted and called to go overseas, but I do believe that God has a plan for each of us, right now, exactly where we are.

May we open our minds to dream the big dreams of God for our own area of influence…right now….just as we are….and may we be brave enough to step out into them.