Unexpected Grace in India

By Seth Barnes From India: Grace came to me unexpectedly today. We’d been accosted by beggars everywhere we went in Hyderabad. You want to help the needy ones, but giving to beggars can be complicated.Anyone who saw Slumdog Millionaire understands how it can be a racket.And so, you pray for discernment and you pray for [...]

A Simple Story: Jesus, Dinner, and Brazilian Tourists

By Tiffany Berkowitz From Cambodia: Just as we were about to get up from the table and grab a tuk tuk home, I heard a small voice ask, “Buy my book?” I’ve probably heard that almost as often as I’ve heard “Tuk Tuk? Moto?” this month. Which could be up to a hundred times a [...]

Missions and Mixed Emotions: Reflecting on a Christian Conference

By Brittany Girle I had the opportunity to represent Casas por Cristo at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta a few weeks ago.  Over 13,000 people were in attendance and we were able to share our God given passion and burden for families in Mexico with so many.   Occasionally we were able to slip into [...]

Orphaned in Haiti: Magdala’s Story Continues

By Seth Barnes, Jr. “After both my parents died, my aunt took care of me. And then she brought me here.” Magdala‘s voice rang in my ears as I approached her orphanage where she lives with 125 other orphans. I imagined the feelings that might be most familiar to her. Loneliness and rejection came up. [...]

Do We Need a Missions Moratorium?

By Seth Barnes, Founder of Adventures in Missions Troy Jackson thinks that it’s time to declare a moratorium on short-term missions. He makes the following points on the Sojourners blog: According to Wycliffe Associates, approximately 1,600,000 Americans participate in mission trips each year. Assuming a cost of approximately $1,500 per person for the average trip, [...]

God Sees Magdala

By Seth Barnes, Founder of Adventures in Missions Down muddy, potholed streets, behind a high wall is the Son of God orphanage. We walked through the building and into the back courtyard, 126 orphans sat in rows doing school under a tall Zaman tree. In 2002 Dr. Maccine Hyppolite saw a group of orphan children [...]

Evansbord’s Story: From Witch Doctor to Baptistry

By Stephanie Pridgen I don’t know exactly what we expected walking into his home, but I know that it wasn’t what we found. The tent seemed to exhale as we opened its door, and it expelled a torrent of heat. I could not begin to imagine staying inside these tarpaulin walls all day as sweat [...]

God Speaks In Haiti

By Joshua Maisner From a mission team in Haiti:  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? -Matthew 6:26  Many people wonder if God still speaks to us, or if [...]

Desperate Parents in Haiti: Please Take My Child

By Jenni Weir It was my first full day in Haiti. I was excited to go to Pastor Christian’s church, Gospel Light Chapel in Carrefour, to meet the people and pray over them. I knew there were a lot of people that have been displaced. They have no place to lay their head, other than [...]

God’s Word in Chalk: Missions Through the Arts

By Ashley Huizenga   There were no erasers or boards, but there was chalk. And chalk was the word God gave me. Before leaving the US. I thought it was going to turn into a creative fund-raising event idea-but things never quite panned out. I didn’t know if I should give up on the idea [...]