“For All Who Believe” Global Expeditions

Mic Check…One, Two

Are you a vocal speaker or an effective communicator? Sure, they sound like possibly the same thing, but I assure you that they are not. There are several differences between the two that truly set them apart. Speakers are subject focused, information oriented, and love to speak to people. Communicators, however, are audience focused, application oriented, and love the people to whom they speak.

Let’s stop there for a second…in a world that is constantly bombarded with message after message they are simply not interested in hearing what we have to say. It is often said, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care”. As we challenge ourselves to be effective communicators, it is time that the world sees our love before they hear our voices. John 13:35 says, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”.

So the real question is, how loud do you live your love? If someone saw what your love looked like, would they want to hear what you have to say? This is how we will become effective communicators to a world that needs to hear what we have to say.

-Aaron Beeler has served at Teen Mania Ministries for over 3 years as an Event Manager with Acquire the Fire and now the Leadership &  Training Manager for Global Expeditions. He has served in leadership on 7 mission trips all over the world, and has a passion to reach and teach people

Happy Valentines Day from Global Expeditions

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Entrusted Warriors for the Kingdom of Heaven

Jesus says in Matthew 16:24, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

As followers of Jesus, we must be willing to give up our way of doing things and choose to do what we see Jesus doing instead.

In Matthew 28:19, Jesus commands us to “GO…and make disciples of all the nations…”

Jesus desires for every human being on the planet to believe in His name, but how can they believe if they have never heard?

Jesus has entrusted the mission of making disciples in every nation to us – you and me. We are literally His hands and feet.

When we obey Jesus and make disciples, we become like warriors, and our war cry goes something like this:

In a desperate pursuit of God and His people, we hear the cry of the nations groaning under the weight of sin. We are desperate for the heart of God and the turning of all men’s hearts back to Him.

We fight with weapons formed in another world, walking in the Holy Spirit’s power. We speak the words of God. We carry the burdens of His heart. We are faithful with the mission He has entrusted to us.

We fight for the NATIONS. We fight for what Jesus died to save. We obey Him with joy because we know that as we give up ourselves, He will move in and take charge. We WILL preach the Gospel to the nations. We WILL see souls chained in the kingdom of darkness set free into the Kingdom of Light.

We do all things for the sake of the Gospel – we are His warriors!

-Krista Sappington

Do great things? Change the world? Can I do that?

The American culture around us, might want us to think otherwise. With self-this, self-that, self-made, Self-magazine, self-sufficient, self-improvement; we pretty well are steeped in the erroneous messages of “self” in America. Do we think as parents that our kids have a heart to do great things, changes lives and impact the world? As a parent of 6 children, ranging in ages from 18 to 26, I have often seen the light come on in the minds and eyes of my kids as they contemplate these questions.

To answer this question properly, we might want to investigate this generation and to learn what motivates the Millennial’s, the “Y” Generation. After researching today’s Next Generation teens, we find that these young people belong in an archetype described as the “hero” category valuing power, teamwork and leadership. What this says to me is that our teens, our children, believe they can do great things, impact lives and change the world! They believe they can make a purposeful difference.

So this brings us parents to a round of other questions. As a guiding and loving parent, how can I provide my child opportunities to make a global difference? How can I foster a life impacting, world changing and self-second heart in my child? What can I do to help foster my teen to walk out in a life they believe in, despite the flood of negative pop culture messages revolving around selfishness?

The answer for my husband and me came in a number of ways. We have concluded that the one major factor that contributed to this heart attitude of selflessness and making a difference was this: Mission Trips!

Making our children aware of the opportunities and sharing global problems with our children, fostered in their hearts a passion to be a part of the solution. Despite the messages of pop culture in America, this “Y Next Generation”, believes they can change the world. Why not encourage our teens to make an eternal difference…starting today?

-Tonjua Shepherd is the GE Director of Marketing, a mom and a wife and a darn great person who loves missions and has devoted her life to
empowering young people to impact the world with the message of Christ.

The First will be Last, and the Last will be First

Is true leadership a quest to expand our ability to provoke others to follow our lead or is it something more?

Sure, we’ve heard that “leadership is influence” and well, wow what a great catchy phrase that is. But while it is certainly a reminder that others will not listen to us just because we have some kind of title, it’s also only partly true.

We can spend countless hours thinking and planning how we can expand our influence, be more effective, have greater impact, but we must also realize that great leaders don’t focus on themselves; they focus on those they lead. That’s right. Great leaders gracefully kneel down as servants, so that others around them can confidently step on their shoulders to reach heights that would have otherwise been impossible.

A project director passes on a great idea to a team leader to build unity among their group and lets them take the credit and own the victory. A missionary advisor encourages a student in their group to pray out loud for the first time instead of doing it themselves. A country assistant organizes passports and lists to make their leader shine…

If we want to enlarge our influence, and therefore our leadership, we must first realize we are not the most important.

“Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Mark 9:35

-Emerald Harper

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