Over the past few weeks, I’ve experienced a renewed sense of joy through simple, both planned and unexpected, encounters with Christians from different cultures. These moments have reminded me of the power of hospitality and the richness of God’s global family.
On a flight from Toronto to Budapest, I sat next to a man from Newfoundland. What started as casual conversation turned into hours of sharing stories about our lives and backgrounds. By the time we landed,…
One of the most meaningful moments this week didn’t happen on a stage or during a program—it happened around a dinner table.
We were sitting in the home of a Ukrainian pastor and his family, sharing a simple, homecooked meal. As the conversation unfolded, they began sharing what it’s been like to leave everything behind because of the war and start over in a new country. There was both heaviness and hope in their story, but what stood out most was their faith and their desire to keep serving others, even in the middle of rebuilding their own lives.
This summer began for me with a familiar joy—welcoming a small team of university students to join our missions work Romania!
Just days ago, four young women from Azusa Pacific University arrived to serve alongside RTC this summer. I could see in their faces a desire to embrace new rhythms, a different culture, and unfamiliar places. I also saw in them a resolute trust in God to work through every detail.
I knew the date was coming, but I didn’t expect it to feel quite like this.
Without telling me, my wife reached out to people from different seasons of my life and asked them to write. I expected a few kind birthday notes. What I didn’t expect were these to be the kind of messages that make you slow down, read twice, and quietly thank God.
We have the unique opportunity on this trip to provide a respite for these kids, but more importantly give them hope. The kids in these villages are, from our cultural view, not treated well at all. From their cultural view, they do not know any other kind of life. Despite the incredibly hard things that happen to them they still smile easily, and they just want love (which every human being needs and wants).
