The joy of being Supported

If you know me, you know that I tend to talk a lot. However, when I am blessed to be on the receiving end of someone generosity...I am left speechless. It is a powerful moment to be floored by thankfulness. God has been providing for this trip in remarkable ways through friends and family. Last Sunday I had a young woman in high school who handed me a white envelope and said (with a beautiful smile), "I want to help you go to South Africa". I gave her the biggest hug I could manage and told her what a blessing she has been in my life. She has a lot of musical talent and has been singing during our Sunday services. It has been cool to witness someone so young, fall more in love with Jesus each day.

I met with the missions team at our church with Alex Wong (CCP team member), and I was praying that God would just give us the words and bring to mind Scripture that would help us to explain the vision behind the missions. Well God answered my prayer! I shared that going to South Africa is going to enlarge our hearts so that we are thinking of global redemption (Act 1:8) and have a heart for global missions. One of the best examples of short-term missions is in Paul's letter to Thessolica. The gospel took root and grew in the hearts of the young men and women in that city, and through them spread into the whole region of Macedonia (1 Thess 1:8-10). So the vision for the CCP 2012 group is that God would use us to build up Christians, who have a desire to glorify God by spreading his word and building up others!

Bill Moore is the Campus Outreach staff person who will be leading our team down there. Bill was also able to lead a team to South Africa 2 years ago. He traveled to South Africa last week so that he could get details of our trip sorted out. While he was there, he told me he was able to meet with some students who he met and mentored 2 years before. They had grown tremendously in their love for Christ and Bill was extremely encouraged by them. This just gives me clarity and excitement because God truly does have a purpose for us going down there and laying down our lives for others. I can't wait to go!