Twice, I’ve had the privilege of leading mission trips to Rwanda. On both occasions, well-meaning people commented, “How great that you’re going to save the Rwandans!” or “It’s so awesome that you’re bringing God to Rwanda!”
How disappointed those...
A student recently told me, “We used to like going on the mission trip because it was relaxed. There were no rules.”
She was referring to a mission trip I inherited.
Truth be told, I’d suspected this was the case for a while but never had someone...
A mission trip adult leader recently mentioned that my predecessor believed that every student (and their friends) should participate in a mission trip. As a result, for years, my church has filled a coach bus with 40-50 students and headed out...
The man from Food for the Hungry walked onto the stage.
“Do you believe in hope?” he yelled.
The crowd of Christian concert goers replied with raucous cheers.
That’s when he said it - The line that made me sink down in my seat and cringe.
“...
My new book, A Mission That Matters: How To Do Short-Term Missions Without Long-Term Harm, is out! As a youth worker, I wholeheartedly believe that mission trips have the ability to impact teens in an incredibly transformative way. However,...
“I have to go get my guys!” my two-year old daughter, Hope, told me as I began reading the Christmas story to her during our morning devotion. A few minutes later she returned with her Fisher Price nativity set and proceeded to act out the...
Mission trips to Rwanda have made me interested in east Africa. For that reason, I was excited to read Katie Davis Majors’ Daring to Hope: Finding God’s Goodness in the Broken and the Beautiful.
In Daring to Hope, Katie shares stories from her...
My husband and I have traveled a LOT with our daughter, Hope. My in-laws joke that Hope has been on a plane more in her first two years than some people are in their entire lifetime. When people hear how much we've traveled with Hope, they often...
Before we had kids, my husband and I loved to travel together. As juniors in college, we studied abroad in Russia. Ever since then, whenever we've gotten the chance to go somewhere, we have.
One of my fears in becoming a parent was that we'd stop...
Apparently, if you want optimal choices, you have to buy toddler halloween costumes in July. Not knowing this, I went at the end of September and thought I was doing good. Instead, I found only two left in my daughter's size: An adorable dog and a...