Articles by Guest Author

The story began about three years ago. I was a sophomore at the University of North Texas (UNT), in my rookie semester as an RA in the "artsy dorm" and I had decided to apply for GoNow Missions. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do or who I wanted to serve. I applied for a position in Jamaica because a friend of mine went the previous winter break and highly recommended it. However, I quickly discovered that the timing was not going to work out for that trip. So I ended up going to Discovery Day with absolutely no idea what position I was wanting or being called to.

The first day we were in Flushing, New York, my team prayer-walked around the city to find locations for conducting surveys the next day. We were conducting surveys about the new churches to be planted in that area, to determine how people felt about religion in general and new church plants. We prayed that people would take the time out of their busy lives to talk with us and have open hearts to hear about Jesus Christ.

I went on my first mission trip when I was eight years old. My parents introduced me to missions when they took me to Reynosa, Mexico with our Spanish church at the time. I was so heartbroken by seeing how the people we ministered to lived, and I could not help but gain a huge ambition to do whatever it took to help them while we were there. Since then, I have fallen in love with missions.

It was Christmas morning. There were 10 of us crowded into my grandmother’s toasty living room. The torn wrapping paper was piled high and the folded gift bags were stacked neatly to return to the box for next year. The smell of bacon and sausage filled the air and each of us sifted back through our hauls to see just how good Santa was this year.

When thinking about the holidays, our initial thoughts are often of joy and warm feelings. Time with family and friends and moments to reflect on the person of Jesus Christ naturally bring about peace. However, sometimes we may fail to recognize that many do not consider the holiday season a time of hope and rest if they struggle to meet physical needs of both themselves and their families.

As the head of a 21-member household and pastor of a small, South Sudanese congregation in Bidi Bidi, Uganda, the largest refugee settlement in the world, Jeremy* faces many challenges.

One hurricane, one faith and one website was all it took to unite First Baptist Church of Grand Prairie and Trinity Baptist Church of Aransas Pass.

After Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast, “we immediately … spent time in our worship service praying for our brothers and sisters,” said Dr. Bill Skaar, pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Prairie.