MFS – One Person’s Response

03 Nov MFS – One Person’s Response

Here is one persons’s response to Missions Fest Seattle which took place three weeks ago.

Thank you again for sharing about Mission Fest with our church and us! I know I was able to share some of our excitement when we saw you there; but, truly God used yesterday to teach us, touch us and lead us in so many ways! I came with an open heart and truthfully very little real background on how missions work.

The session Short Term Mission Trips – Help Without Hurting by Bruce Hein was phenomenal! The information that I learned there will pay dividends for the rest of my family’s life. He taught on how to tell if a Short Term Mission Trip will be helpful (good) or potentially hurtful and what questions to ask in order to be sure all parties involved have the correct motives and preparation for success. Invaluable! My son and daughter are both being called in different ways to ministry/missions, as am I to local prison ministry, which now I think of as mission work too.

We are all raw clay, so that one hour with Bruce showed me what we should be asking and watching for and examining in ourselves and others in any mission we become involved with, so that it has a high probability of success in furthering God’s kingdom. Another thing I learned in his session was that good Short Term Mission trips are often used to encourage and support Long Term Missionaries and their ministry.

Like I said, I came as raw clay; and, this was news to me; but, it made so much sense that that should be the case. I learned the layers of training that are crucial for success, including reentry (which I had not considered previously). I could go on and on about the takeaways and that was just one of the several excellent sessions that impacted our lives and futures.

This was our first Mission Fest and I hear it is an annual thing. We will not miss another. Totally life changing! Thank you and please pass my thanks anonymously to any you know so they may be encouraged! I know the event had to have been a lot of work; but the impact was HUGE and my family and I and countless others are very grateful for it!