GO into all the World

I’m going to Alabama with a banjo on my knee… Alabama, yes. Banjo, no. It’s a MacBook on my knee.

Recently, I literally laughed out loud (LOL) after a co-worker of mine shared a vision he had of me during a prayer time in our office. Here’s a tiny back story.

My friend, and fellow missionary co-worker, Vernon, [he’s from Costa Rica by the way] was praying in a small group with other members of our team. As he tells the story, I imagine it like a small movie being played in his mind.

He saw our ministry van wrapped in really cool artwork, traveling down the highway. A huge QR code lead passing people to point their phone at the van and be directed to a really cool evangelistic and missions focused video. As Vernon is driving the Van, I’ve got my laptop out busy creating content for the destinations we were traveling to with the hopes of inviting people to step into missions. That’s what he saw as he prayed.

Reclining back in our office chairs, we all chuckled. We have an awesome van, but it’s not wrapped. We don’t have this “cool” video created. We don’t have permission to hop in the van. We don’t have a destination. We don’t have internet in the van. We have a lot of responsibilities on campus too. How are we supposed to do this?

Well, in February this vision became a reality!

A small pilot team, including myself, made arrangements to share in a few churches in the Greensboro, NC area. With a paint pen, I marked up our jet black Mercedes van with a simple message, “GO into all the World.” It was not the wrapped art we’d dreamt of, but it would have to do for this maiden voyage.

We fitted our vessel with WiFi and launched out for 10 days. About 4 hours into our trip, Vernon was at the wheel. Other team members were either scrolling or snoring. I looked at Vernon and said, “Well, I’m going to try out the HotSpot.” No sooner then popping open the lid to my MacBook, the passenger in the car next to us was snapping a photo of our van art and typing on her phone. I said, “Vernon! Your vision has come true!” We laughed with a deep sigh this was exactly what God had in mind.

We’ve nicknamed our adventurous team, “The GO Team.” Whatever the destination we simply add the location to the end of the name. We currently have “GO Team Birmingham” out on the road for 3 weeks, and I’m joining up with them Monday for the remaining week.

The call to GO isn’t new, but how we are going is new to us.

Would you pray God would put us in the right places at the right time to both share the Gospel and invite into missions. On our first trip to Greensboro, we also stopped in Waynesville, Asheville, and Moore, SC. Along these journey’s God also gave us opportunities we didn’t expect. I’ve included an excerpt story from our campus “Mission’s Insider Blog: Full Story Here. Thank you for the countless ways you partner with Amy and I to GO into all the world and make disciples!

WHO STEALS A BIBLE?

After praying for healing and wholeness for Mike, who’s been on the street way longer than is good for anyone, he told me someone came by and stole his Bible! Who does that?

So I walked into the local bookstore and asked, “Do you happen to sell Bibles?”

The clerk quickly thought, “I think I only have ONE left.”

Jokingly, I said out loud, “This is the Bible Belt and ya’ll only have one Bible in this store?”

She pulled a really sweet-looking, leather-bound, large print Bible from the shelf. This was no $1.99 special. It was $25 buck-a-roos.

Pulling the Bible from the cardboard sleeve I said, “This looks expensive. Honestly, I was buying this for a homeless man who had his Bible stolen.”

The clerk matter-of-factly ranted, “The most stolen book from our store is the Bible!” I didn’t know if I should rejoice or not at her statement. Were people that desperate to read the Bible or what?

I responded. “Well, I’m not sure I can pay this much, but I’d sure like to give this guy a Bible.”

Another lady not minding her own business, poked her head around from behind the aisle of books and said, “I’ll give $10 to the cause!”

“Are you serious?” I asked.

“Well,” the clerk blurted out, “I’ll give you a 10% discount too!”

With this info I ran back outside, making the jingly front door bell bang the glass a little too hard and shouted up the street to the team, “Hey, I found a Bible, and a donation, and a discount!”

We bought the Bible and wrote a note in the front with our number in case it got lifted again and someone wanted to give it back. We bought Mike some tacos, and handed him his brand new Bible. He loved it.

I know the Bible is important.

Apparently, others feel the same.

Subscribe to YWAM Tyler’s Missions Insider for more more stories like these.

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REVIVAL?

Amy and I also wanted to make sure you are aware of what is happening at Asbury University where Audrey is finishing up her freshman year.

READ THE STORY -> https://blog.ywamtyler.org/revival-wave-at-asbury-university-2023