Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. A
good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured
into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”(NIV)
It takes a lot of faith for asking blessings from God and from the people who are the channels from this blessings. Shyness, lack of strong relationships and lack of confidence affects our actions for reaching out to the people that could support us. Then there is the temptation to simply ask one person to fully fund the support that you need for the trip.
Although daunting and inconvenient, we should understand that even raising funds is a part of the short term ministry. By providing people with a means to support you, you are actually enabling them to spread the gospel to the nations. Besides, God blesses people who supports His children. Who knows, your very means of reaching out to others might help lead these people to salvation.
This is the story of Red, a college student who trusted the
Lord to go out of his comfort zone to reach out to people rather than go the
easy way out.
Red’s goal was to answer God’s Great Commission, knowing
that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. He intended to go to
Kyrgyzstan but opportunity lead him to a Youth team that is headed to Vietnam.
He obtained his funds from his friends from school and
family. His grandfather was willing to help him but he deferred even though he
needs to raise at least 2000 US dollars for the trip. His mother asked him to
have faith even though his grandfather can cover the expense. With this challenge and encouragement, he managed to reach out to people such as his discipline committee to raise the required funds. Slowly but surely, Red has fully raised the funds by the time that his grandfather asked him again about it.
With the money and encouragement from his supporters, Red became one of the most productive members of the mission to Vietnam. His skills in magic tricks entertained the Vietnamese people and
became a good icebreaker prior to fellowship and learning more about Jesus and how He came to save them. The mission trip left Red inspired to join other Short term missions in the future. Red learned a lot from this trip but this would have not been possible had he not take the first step and reached out for support.
