Initiate Hope

Well, it wasn't 180 people in a packed room with buzzing energy but the first meeting of Virtual International Students Club for the 2020/2021 academic year was a great time! They didn't want to leave and stayed to chat for an extra 30 minutes so I must have done something right. And Chico was happy I didn't have to leave home. So we'll call it a win! (Feel free to pray by name for any of these students as we go into the new school year! Many of them are still in self-isolation for another week to 10 days.)

The expectations for the school year have been set: Quality over quantity. God is in control.

Celebrated 15 years of overseas ministry today by walking to the university and the church! Check your inbox on Monday for my feelings on this milestone, what I’m up to in the time of Covid19 and an invite to a Zoom celebration next weekend!

Check your inbox for an email from me! And may you have a very merry Christmas!

BREAKING NEWS: Initiate Hope is participating in North Texas Giving Day!

ANNA’S NEW TIER VISA + ADVANCE SALARY REQUIRED = $30,000 urgent need

PLEASE GIVE NOW through SEPTEMBER 19th!

Initiate Hope Inc. Initiate Hope, Inc. exists for the purpose of mobilizing the Body of Christ to actively participate in the work God is doing both in their communities and in the world. Believing in the truth of God's Word, we desire to lead Christians by our example of a mission-oriented lifestyle, reaching out to....

Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of speaking to the children of FBCR Children's Ministry and they wrote out prayers for my students for this school year. Today, I hung them in my office, as promised. (I wasn’t able to put them all up because my colleagues wanted some to put up around the building also.) Kid's hearts are so earnest and sweet and it brings me so much joy to read these prayers and know the special hearts that prayed them! What a treasure! First Baptist Richardson

Church (according to the Oxford dictionary) is “a building used for public Christian worship.”

But we know better. *We* are the church. We - the redeemed - are the church. So today, whether you were in a pew, a car, a cafe, a home or on a beach in Muslim North Africa, I pray that you encountered the risen Christ. I pray that you met with the Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that you walked away changed. Because I did.

As the water flowed over my feet and the sun shone on my face, the wind of the Holy Spirit literally blew through me. Though I walked with two dear friends who do not believe in Jesus’ divinity, we talked about how mighty and powerful God is - in the wind, the sun, the waves, and the sand on this particular day and in all of history. And the Lord met me there so significantly. And I pray that my friends encountered Him too. And I am so thankful that I can feel His presence any time and in any place. He is everywhere and He is good.