Jo & Lawrence Adams: Life During Coronavirus As A Missionary In Guatemala

Jo and Lawrence Adams serve as missionaries in Guatemala. During this episode of the podcast, Jo and Lawrence open up about what quarantine life is like right now, what they’re doing in spite of Coronavirus, and what it’s like to be a missionary during a pandemic. You can follow the Adams at https://www.facebook.com/fillingintheblanksministry

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Justin & Lauren: 4 Ways To Creatively Serve Missionaries

4 Ways To Creatively Serve Missionaries – Podcast Script

Hey everyone! Welcome to 2020! As you probably already saw, we have done a little rebranding and it was a very strategic move as we move into the future. When Lauren and I began Empowering Hope a few years ago, we never had a set direction on how the ministry was supposed to look. So we kept things vague and simple until we had a clearer vision for the future. 

After 2019, it became evident that most of our work was with Missionaries and knew that God was calling Empowering Hope to be a ministry that’s focused on helping missionaries. While we’ll still work with churches and ministries moving forward, our main focus for 2020 is to partner people with missionaries and help them achieve their goals for the year. We want to inspire people to serve missionaries in creative ways, which is what I’ll be talking about here today.

But if you’re new to Empowering Hope, last year we went to Ecuador and served a couple missionaries who work at an orphanage called Casa de Fe (House of Faith) in the small town of Shell. We served them by filming their ministry and providing them with quality videos that they can use to raise awareness, support, and connection with. We also had a big fundraiser in December for the Powells in Honduras. 

We’ve also been in touch with other missionaries and are passionate about helping them where we can. 

So it’s no surprise that we felt God clarifying the vision towards missionaries towards the end of the year. So we got a new logo, new colors, a new website, all with our goal in mind. We want to connect people from churches and ministries with missionaries and help them creatively serve them. And while we’re still looking for people to be prayer partners and financial partners with these missionaries, we’re looking for new, modern ways as well. 

During our time in Ecuador, Lauren and I got to spend some quality time with Patti Sue Arnold and Jeff and Rae Holte. Patti Sue is the founder of Casa de Fe which is a home for children right on the outskirts of the Amazon Jungle. Jeff and Rae, after visiting Casa de Fe and developing a relationship with Patti Sue, felt the call from God to move to Ecuador and invest their lives in the teenage girls of Casa de Fe. Both Patti Sue and the Holtes are amazing at what they do, but both agreed that social media is not their strong suit.

When we look at how ministries in America run, we see a lot of different ways people can serve and volunteer their time. Some are greeters, others serve administrative roles, and many love serving in the program ministries. All of these are important in building the Kingdom of God. 

However, when we look at missionaries, we just assume that they do everything themselves and the only things they need are prayer and money. And for thousands of years, prayers and money were some of the only ways of serving other than physically traveling to their locations. But we believe there are other ways to creatively serve missionaries.

It’s now 2020 and social media isn’t something new anymore. We’ve been able to chat with people across the world for decades now and it’s not easier than ever to help missionaries! Of course, there are some missionaries who are in remote areas or must remain secret to protect themselves from persecution. But that still leaves thousands of missionaries who you could be partnering with today to help their ministry and advance the Gospel. 

Our ministry mission is all about awareness, connection, and support. At the end of the day, Missionaries do need prayer and money. However, if they can develop a support team that’s helping them in their mission, it will be a lot easier to raise support and prayer partners. We believe that by building that team, we can help missionaries raise awareness for their ministry. We believe that cultivating a consistent social media platform will help increase their connection with people back home. And ultimately, we believe that your involvement and creativity will help boost financial and relational support for them. 

Empowering Hope’s goal in 2020 is to inspire 12 people to creatively serve missionaries by the end of the year. This can take on many different forms and today I want to discuss some of the ways we believe you can help. But before we do that, I want to remind you that this is not exhaustive. If there are other ways you want to help or if you are a missionary and you say there are other things you need help with, we will by all means do our best to make that happen. 

1. Coaching and Connection

If you’ve been a Pastor, business leader, or life coach, you would be a great fit for this role. Missionaries are normal people, just like you and I. And having someone who can come along side them and help them acheive their ministry goals would be so beneficial.

Reaching out once a month or once a week to build relationships with missionaries also goes a long way. It gets lonely in the mission field. Having someone back home who can be encouraging and equipping would mean the world to missionaries.

2. Social Media

I’m going to keep this simple. If you know how to post to social media, you can help. I’m not expecting you to know the ins and outs of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc. We’re simply asking you to help them post their content each week. We’ll take care of all the details for you, you just have to post.

3. Graphic Design

Every ministry needs good images to be posting to social media. Some of these images could contain scriptures, ministry updates, or encouraging words. Even though you may think this is easy, not everyone has this talent. And you could be making an impact in a missionary’s ministry simply by creating weekly image content for them.

4. Videography

Videography is how Empowering Hope started. I went to different locations and filmed missionaries and gave them promotional videos. And while we’d love to have you do that if you’re able to, another easier way is to generate short video clips that they can post to their social media. These can be picture videos with social media titles. Nothing crazy. If you know basic video editing and how to add text to images, you can be a major help to missionaries. 

4 Rhythms For Christ-Followers

Somehow…for some reason, it’s September already. If you haven’t sighed yet from reading this, you can sigh now. However, the one good thing about September is that we usually get back into Rhythms. Kids are back in school, summer is coming to a close, Football games are on. It’s a bittersweet season of the year. And as we get back into our rhythms, Lauren and I wanted to share with you some rhythms we believe each Christ-follower should implement as they come into the Fall season.

1. Be Connected To A Community

Life has its ups and downs. Some weeks are better than others. Some days are worse than others. Whatever type of season you’re in, we can know for certain that we were created to be in community. We were created to do life together and none of us were created with every gift and talent. Being in a community allows us to go through life together; to support in the bad times, to celebrate in the good times, and to supplement when we recognize that we are just one piece of the puzzle in the Kingdom of God. 

Some of you reading this may already be in a church or community of believers. Some of you may be in a small groups or whatever fancy word your church has created for it. The bottom line is that as you enter into this new season of life, make sure you’re connected with a community. Of course, we’ll always suggest you be in a church, but if you’re reading this and you’ve been burned by the church or burned out from church trust us when we say WE HEAR YOU! We have too and understand the hardships of finding the right community. Nevertheless, find a few people you trust who are Christ-followers who will be in some sort of community with you. If you don’t know anyone, feel free to reach out. We have a lot of connections and would love to help you find someone you can trust. 

2. Make Room For God

Okay. I admit. This post is all about finding rhythms in your life. But this isn’t about creating a schedule and sticking to it. Whether you’re a parent, student, or just a person trying to keep up, we all know it can be almost impossible to create a daily routine that doesn’t have an interruption. This is why we say rhythm instead of routine. And the most important rhythm we can have in life is recognizing when we need to spend time with God. Jesus had a pretty solid rhythm when it came to life making sure He was present in every situation. Sometimes that meant escaping to relax and other times it meant engaging with those who needed Him. 

Making room for God means a couple of things. First, we must be present where we are. Waking up each day and knowing that we are called to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth means that we are on God’s schedule and not our own. Secondly, there will always be distractions. Most of the time, they are just that – distractions. But being tuned into the Holy Spirit means that we have the ability to discern what’s a distraction and what’s a moment where God wants to use us. Matthew 19:13 comes to mind when the disciples saw children as a distraction but Jesus knew He was there to remind them of their place in the Kingdom. When Paul says to pray without ceasing in 1 Thess. 5:17, he’s calling us to be in constant communication with the One who sends us into the world to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this world. 

3. Think About Others

Speaking of being the hands and feet of Jesus in this world, we are all called to be servant-leaders. We may not all have the gift of service or the calling to be a “leader” but we’re all called serve one another in love. In a recent sermon by Bill Ellis, he quotes Jimmy Valvano who said “To me there are three things everyone should do every day. Number one is laugh. Number two is think — spend some time time in thought. Number three, you should have your emotions move you to tears. If you laugh, think and cry, that’s a heck of a day.” But Dr. Ellis added a fourth thing to the list, “Everyday, make someone else’s day happier.”

When we get into rhythms of being in community and making room for God while being tuned into what God wants to do through us, our brains and hearts should naturally gravitate towards serving others. If we are to be like Jesus on this planet, and we are to follow Jesus, then we should put into practice the words of Jesus, “I did not come to be served but to serve. (Mark 10:45)” Peter says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 4:10). So as you’re planning out your days, weeks, and months, find ways to do as Dr. Ellis said, “Every day do something to bring a smile, to encourage, to build somebody else’s day.”

4. Rhythms of Self-Awareness

This may be the last on the list but please do not use this as a priority list. Probably one of the most important things you can do not only for yourself but for those closest to you is to get into a rhythm of self-awareness and self-care. In Mark 6:31 we see Jesus get away so He and the disciples could rest. In Matthew 14:22, Jesus gets away to be by himself and to pray. It doesn’t matter how busy you are, you need to get into the rhythm of taking time to rest. In seminary we were told to make a Sabbath sacred once a week. Then we were to take a 3 day Sabbath once a quarter and then one solid week of sabbath (note sabbath, not a crazy vacation), a year. Some of you may need more than that. But that’s where getting into rhythms of self-awareness come in. 

I think everyone should be in counseling. But if you can’t afford it, find yourself someone you trust who will speak truth, love, and encouragement into your life. Find someone who will invest in you and build you up so that you can do the same for others. If you’re burned out in life it will be impossible to pour into other people effectively.

Conclusion

These are just suggestions and are by no means an exhaustive thorough study of the rhythms you NEED to incorporate into your routine. This is why we like the word rhythm. Rhythms allow you to navigate the ebb and flow through your day to be the most impactful and effective. The most important takeaway is to be available and obedient to do whatever God is calling you to do. Sometimes that means pushing through and getting your work done because by honoring your boss and your time, you honor God. Sometimes that means taking a 20 minute break instead of a 15 minute break because you need to minister to someone in need. Be discerning, be available, and be in communication with God.

Rae & Jeff Holte: Living Out The Extraordinary Mundane

Update – July 2019 from Pierce Davis on Vimeo.

Patti Sue Arnold: The Truth About Running A Children’s Home In Ecuador

Brock Henderson: From Lukewarm Christian To Passionate Christ-Follower

Felicia & Ebony: A Conversation About Race