What are we doing any ways?

Recently I was asked by my Pastor what exactly does TMI do? Of course he understood Teen Mission’s basic North American program that involves getting teenagers onto the mission field and using that experience to deepen both their understanding and relationship with the every-loving God of the universe. My Pastor was familiar with this aspect of Teen Missions if nothing else because his own daughter had recently gone on a TMI trip! The reality is that what he was really asking was much deeper. What he really wanted to know was: 1) Why are we, the Fast Family, involved with Teen Missions (TMI) and 2) Why should I support your involvement?

It might seem kind of backwards but with your permission I’d like to answer the 2nd question in this blog and save the other one for my next entry. So then:

Why should anyone support the Fast Family as we endeavor to become missionaries with TMI?

The last 10-years have been some of the most exciting and fun-filled years of our lives! From getting married to having kids, from traveling all over the globe to enjoying family bar-b-que’s on the back porch we have treasured each and every moment and experience that the Lord has allowed us to share together. But throughout our marriage we have constantly had a since of urgency and anticipation that there was something more for us. We’ve almost been haunted by a sense that there is more to be experienced than simply what we were experiencing in the here and now. It was like we were destined for something bigger constantly casting around for the vision that God had for our lives.

I’d love to say that we had some big revelation where God appeared to us in a vision, or some hand appeared out of the sky writing our destiny on the wall. But that’s just not how it has happened. Rather over the course of the last ten years the Lord has carefully shaped and molded our hearts and minds around the vision He has for us. Through the careful prodding of the Holy Spirit we have followed the path that He has laid out for us, carefully assess the skills, talents, passions, and abilities that He has given us and it has led us to join staff with Teen Missions.

EVERYTHING MAKES SINCE. As far back as I can remember I’ve tended to approach life with the acknowledgment that I really don’t have any control over anything, and to assume such would in fact reflect a fairly low view of God on my part. This has often led me into adventures and happenings that most people would tend to shy away from, in short if it didn’t look just a little bit on the crazy side I probably wouldn’t do it! While I still approach life very much from this standpoint it is kind of weird to find myself walking into a stage in life where it seems like all the ducks are lining up in a row and it all just appears to be making since. While there are still some hurdles to be overcome to say that God is paving the way for us into ministry with TMI is probably one of the most authentic statements of belief I have experienced in my life to date.

So then why should you support us? Let me be the first to say that you shouldn’t… at least you shouldn’t if you haven’t first prayed about it and asked the Lord for direction. I believe that God has placed us in a unique place where we are not to be dependant upon man but upon God himself! If we, the Fast Family, were to look to man for our support instead of to God we have our focus off of the prize and will get sucked into the pursuits and longings of this world. Rather we as a family are focused on God, and if you share with us in this pursuit, then please support us in ministry. If you trust us to be about the Lord’s business day in and day out then please support us. If you believe that raising up the next generation of missionaries is something we must be about today, then please support us. If you believe that the youth of America are in desperate need of a Savior, then please join with us as we seek to provide a means of them seeing Christ. If you believe that the body of Christ as a whole should constantly be looking outside itself to bringing new people in a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ then please join us as we pursue this goal.

The list goes on and on but I’m sure you get the picture and this is why I believe people should get involved in our ministry. It’s not simply because God tells the body of Christ as a whole to have a “missional mindset” but rather that we, the Fast Family, are in fact doing it! We are becoming missionaries and would like you to support us in this pursuit.