Life and Business as Missions

I’ve done my share of “crazy” things, but this might top them all. 

Do you want to be a part of it?

Let me give you some history – and then if this “cray-cray” of a roller coaster is something you’d like to ride, holler!

1990: I graduated from Tambo. A boarding school in Bolivia. I had no plans other than to live with my folks. While a dreamer, I didn’t dare dream too far ahead. I’ve always loved people, culture, travel, beautiful things, fashion/style, décor, organizing, colors… things of the creative nature. But, I did nothing.

1992: After taking no initiative to move away from my parents, they (with my approval) enrolled me at Moody Bible Institute. Why not? I didn’t last long but did find my “soul mate”.

1994: Don and I were married. He was called to ministry. Student ministry specifically. I was called to… I was called to… Hum, what was I called to? I was created for such a time as…?

So for the next bunch of years we moved from state to state pouring our heart and soul, night and day into the lives of teenagers, and we loved it. Never a regret. During this time, we grew. We learned a lot. We made lifelong friends. We experienced God in new and exciting ways. Yes, we had been called and we did it well.

Then, we OUTGREW student ministry.  We were no longer program driven, but driven by relationships. Relationships with others but most importantly, a relationship with God. We were not about numbers, not about church politics – but discipleship and community.

2014: God released us from student ministry, and it was hard. It hurt. We weren’t prepared, weren’t ready. We were taken by surprise. We couldn’t see why at the time, nor could we understand how this was good. But, we knew it would be and the time would come when all would be revealed.

This left Don jobless and barely scraping by.  In Gainesville, GA, there are not a lot of job opportunities and the struggle to make ends meet was getting harder and harder. So Don began searching broader. It took me awhile to get to this point. I gave “conditions” to his search. They were as follows:

1) Nowhere colder.

2) We must have a community of sorts already in place.

3) I need to still be able to work for Adventures in Missions.

We prayed, we waited. We didn’t talk much about it, fearing it would never happen. We began to wonder what was up for this next season. We began our “mid-life” crisis.

I poured everything into Adventures in Missions and in my “free-time” into my little business, Purchase Effect.

Purchase Effect allowed me to dream of changing the world through other forms. This includes buying and selling items from around the world. Can shopping be a ministry!? Yes!!! To read more about Purchase Effect and it’s story, click on the image below! …or check out earlier blogs.

While I did my dreaming, Don worked odd jobs here and there around his part-time FedEx job. He gave up pursuing his Masters from Fuller.

and then…

Within moments of a friend talking about his life in Greenville, SC, I was on the internet scouting it out. I could make this happen. It’s only 15 minutes from my folks and less than 2 hours from the Adventures in Missions office. Perhaps, just perhaps the little LLC that I began four years ago could have a home in Greenville. Perhaps, just perhaps it was to be something much bigger than I ever imagined. Perhaps, Adventures would let me commute to the office a couple days a week and I could crash with some friends. Perhaps, Don could get a job there! I began to dream again…

2015: Don get’s a job in Greenville, SC. He’s taking online classes and will take his test soon to sell life/health insurance with Bankers Life. He will pass, he always does. He’s smart.

Me? Well, I feel very supported by the Adventures leadership. They have invested in and believed in me. They know my skill set and see how God uses my passion and love for people and the beautiful in creative ways. From the way I lead short-term trips to the way I design.  While doing my other roles at Adventures, they asked if I would design the interior of the new Adventures office. It gave me life…and continues to give life to those working in those spaces. This played a role in our decision.

So here I go – I’m moving towards doing BUSINESS AS MISSIONS. Yes, I will still work with Adventures and raise my support. But, in the future, I will volunteer and be self-sustaining, only to raise money for causes and others. That day is not yet, but it will come.

Even cooler, we believe in the future it will provide not only for the artisans we buy from, and the ministries we send proceeds back to, but will also provide a salary for me and Don. We see it as a way we can live life missionally as tentmakers.

God willing, I will have a Purchase Effect store in Greenville, SC. How? I haven’t a clue. When? My target date is before Christmas.

Soon, Don will be moving to Greenville to live with mom and dad during the workweek. I will stay here in Gainesville with friends (and Adventures co-workers) who are kind enough to rent out our guest rooms. The house is on the market, as of today. I suppose it could sell this week, or maybe not until August. Either way, we will be ok with it.

In the next 8 months I am scheduled to lead multiple trips to Guatemala, Thailand and Cambodia. In addition, I have one to India, with a stop in Nepal. If God should provide, I’d like to go to Cuba with one of our Adventures teams (as a participant/photographer)!  It’s overwhelming looking at the calendar, but exciting as well.

Back to my original question – “Do you want to be a part of this roller coaster?”

1) If you are interested in joining me on an Adventures in Mission mission trip. I would love it!

2) If you’d like to support the ministry as I continue to work at Adventures, I can send you the link to do so online. As I wrote earlier – our prayer is that in the future, we can work without the financial support of others. However, that time is not yet come.

3) If you’d like to know more about this Purchase Effect dream or want to be a part of it: please, contact me. I love talking about it. I will need others to make it happen – but I know God is in it.

Thank you, again for your friendship, support and prayers. 

Crock

The End! (for today).