GI Relocating to Colorado

It is with great excitement that I can announce to you that this month, Global Infusion begins relocating to Colorado Springs, Colorado.

There are several reasons for our move.  First and foremost, I believe God has spoken to me very specifically about doing this.  As Global Infusion grows, we must be ready for the changes God requires in order to see us grow successfully.  Each year, we send out more and more mission teams to our sites around the world.  This necessitates more volunteers and workers at our head office.

One of my dreams is to see our Global Intern program taken to a level that not only allows young people to be a part of sending out our teams by working at our office, but also training them to be ready to work overseas with our contacts on a long-term basis. 

An effective intern program requires several key components including, training, education, pastoral oversight, and field experience.  Over the years we have accomplished each of these to a degree, however, we truly want to bring this element of Global Infusion to a new level.

My vision for our Global Intern program is not to have an ambiguous ministry training school that loosely teaches basic theology, then “graduates” students, hoping they can find some sort of employment.  Our contacts need people to help them in active, daily ministry, where they are reaching people in their nation for Christ — they also need this help as soon as possible.  However, we do not want to send people who have no direction in life, and would become a liability.  We want to launch out well-trained, well-equipped, experienced, and anointed young men and women of God that will be an asset.

Additionally, we are relocating to Colorado Springs because of a strong relationship I have with a fellow laborer, and brother in Christ, whom I have known personally for over 15 years.  Pastor Jayde Duncan is the Senior Pastor of Freedom Church, who has been a tremendous supporter of Global Infusion’s vision since day one.  Each year he and his church have faithfully sent several mission teams to our foreign mission sites, provided trained facilitators to help me prepare mission teams, supported us in prayer, and assisted GI in a variety of other ways.

Relocating comes with many costs, besides the physical.  It also comes with mental, emotional and even spiritual challenges.  Please pray for our ministry through this transition.  There is also a financial cost involved, and we are calling on you, our partners in ministry to consider donating towards these expenses.  I truly believe we are being obedient to God in this relocation, and I also believe that we will be able to do more for the kingdom of God as a result of this move than ever before.

Our Impact

This past weekend, our nineteenth mission team of the year landed back on US soil .  We are getting inundated with testimonies from our teams as they are coming back from our sites in China, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Nepal, Tanzania, Thailand and Ukraine.  People are being saved.  Orphans are being cared for.  Families who are starving are being fed.  The sick are being healed through prayer and medicine.  And most importantly, the name of Jesus is being lifted up and proclaimed literally thousands of times around the world.

 

Pictured: Global Infusion Missionary Faith Carrigan in Tanzania

If you would like to know the impact just one of our teams can make, here is a brief summary of what the first of two of our teams in the Philippines was able to accomplish:

Team Philippines (May 2012)

2,000+  people heard the Gospel (some for the first time)

   860  children were fed

   200  children received GI school bags packed with food and supplies

     65  families with disabled persons received groceries

Our Philippines contact wrote to me in an email recently saying,

“[The trip] was awesome! I believe the Lord not only worked through us but ministered to us as well. As much as I enjoyed the missions work, I also enjoyed our fellowship and time of sharing during our down time or when we were together.  The [Global Infusion] team was so prepared that I did not have trouble with the ministry at all.  Thank you so much for the privilege to minister with your teams. This allows me to go to places I have not gone before. For this I am grateful.
 

For all of you who have supported us, I offer a sincere “thank-you.”  This is only a glimpse into what GI is doing around the world, and this is still only the beginning.

Why We Go

There is a real devil.  It may be summertime, and everyone may be excited about sunny days, vacations, school being out, barbequing, camps for kids, finishing remodeling projects, and road trips, but the devil does not take a vacation.

If you were expecting a placid, watered-down, and somewhat Christian sort of letter, you may have to stop reading.  Right now, Global Infusion has eight teams in eight nations battling it out on the front line of Christianity.  If you don’t believe there is a real devil, or he doesn’t really affect our world, then let me remind us all of what the Bible says about our adversary.  While God has a wonderful plan for our lives (Jer. 29:11), and His thoughts and ways are higher than ours (Is. 55:8-9), there is someone else who has a plan for our lives:  “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” (John 10:10a).

Just ask one of our team members working in Thailand, ministering to young girls who have been kidnapped out of their village in the night, and are now working the streets if there is a devil.  Visit our team in India, or the Philippines, where they are physically carrying disabled children who have been abandoned.  Maybe spend some time with our team in China who are teaching English, but spending every other waking minute with the atheist and agnostic students  who have grown up under communism.  If you have time, venture out with our teams in Guatemala and Nicaragua to some of the poorest villages on the planet; there, you’ll be able to hand out food to people who are starving.

If you are under the assumption that there either is no devil, or that his work does not affect our world, then I pray that God opens your spiritual and physical eyes.  Keep in mind that all of our teams are largely interacting with unsaved people, most of whom are unreached.

There is a second part to John 10:10, however, and this is why we go to foreign countries, raise money, use vacation time, subject ourselves to less-than-favorable conditions, leave our families, and endure days upon days of rugged travel:  Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

He came and brought life.  Our world is broken, very broken.  Injustice seems to reign everywhere you go.  Poverty and sickness is rampant.  The final truth, however, is that Jesus has already come, He has already paid the ultimate price.

We as Christians are responsible for reaching our generation for Christ (Acts 16:36).  The love of Christ compels us (2 Cor. 5:14).  That is why we go.

He said "Go"

Imagine with me that you are living in a third-world country.  Not only do you face intense physical hardships of living in this place, like malnutrition, dehydration, and prevalent sickness in your community, but you have no hope for the life beyond the one you’re living.  You are lost, without Christ.

How would you feel if you discovered that there were millions of people in the world around you who know how to get to a perfect place after they die, to spend eternity with their Creator, but they never told you about it?  These people also have the resources to provide you with food, clean water, and medicine, but they never brought it to you.

What would your reaction be if, when you confronted them, they told you that they were commanded only to share this Good News with people who were already in their path of life?  They understood their mandate to mean that they should just live their lives (wherever life brought them) and let that be their witness?

Jesus was intentional about everything He did.  He came to our world, at a specific moment in history, to accomplish many specific tasks.  And at the end of His time on earth, He said “Go.”

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28:19-20

There are some people in this world that need direct intervention if they are going to live in this life without pain, and make it to eternity in Heaven with Christ, and they need it now.  They need those who call themselves Christians to do something to reach them, rather than have them assume someone else “called” to the mission field will do it.

This month, Global Infusion is sending mission teams to Nicaragua, Thailand, the Philippines, Ukraine, China, Nepal, Guatemala and Tanzania.  We are intentionally going into the world, as Christ commanded us, far from home, in order to reach the unreached.

It is time to consider our priorities as Christians.  What are we doing in our life that is different than a non-Christian?  What is more important than reaching the lost with the Gospel?  To answer that question, think about where your treasure is (your time, money, emotional investments).  For where you treasure is, there your heart is.

Good Ground

What is the Kingdom of God really worth to you?  The answer to this questions does not come through words, but through actions.  Do you ever find it a challenge to pursue God’s will for your life?  Do you feel like you need to have all the major issues in your life solved before you can focus on doing something for the Kingdom?

In Luke 8, Jesus tells the parable of the sower.  I don’t believe this parable is exclusive to the seed representing salvation.  In verse 11, Jesus says, “The seed is the Word of God.”  The Word of God regularly goes forth into the eyes and ears of Christians.  Weekly services, small groups, books, conferences, concerts, radio, television, and on, and on the list goes.  Yet what do we do with this treasured seed from God Himself?  Well, it depends on what type of soil you are.

The wayside.  Jesus goes on to say that for some people, “the devil comes and takes the word out of their heart” (v. 12). 

The rocks.  Some hear the commissions and mandates going forth, “receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away” (v. 13).

The thorns.  There are those who are taught that the Kingdom can only expand when Christians are mobilized into this world, but “when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity” (v. 14).

The good ground.  Simply, “are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience” (v. 15).

It is a daily fight to receive God’s Word with joy, and not fall into sin when temptation comes.  It is also a daily battle to act on the thousands of hours of spiritual instruction you have received over the course of your spiritual journey, without being choked by the cares of life.

Recently, there has been a lottery drawing for untold millions of dollars.  Many Americans have participated in this lottery, and many more have probably been daydreaming of what their life would be like if they actually won.  However, Proverbs 18:22 says, “The stingy are eager to get rich and are unaware that poverty awaits them.”

Be eager to invest in the Kingdom of God.  Don’t be stingy with your resources:  your time, your money, your abilities.  Use whatever resources you have been given to see people reached with the Gospel - this is a great way to make sure you are considered “good ground.”