GoMission.Church

The GoMission.Church Summer Internship Testimonies We enjoyed spending the summer with these four interns, exploring together how to live our lives in partnership with the mission of God! Here is a little video we put together, where the interns share a more about the things they learned over the course of the summer! 

Being a Bridge   Part of the Summer Internship Program was partnering with a local ministry to serve and bless them. It was also an opportunity for the interns to practice putting together an outreach, casting vision, and inviting others to join them in it! We had the opportunity to partner with University Vineyard Church to help run the Missional Outreach portion of a youth leadership camp called "Project Timothy," which brought together 50 youth from churches all across California. The goal of the outreach portion of the camp was to give the students a chance to help plan an outreach, serve their community, and practice sharing the love of Jesus. Leading up to the camp, the interns spent time praying about what the outreach could look like and came away with three potential outreaches: City Center, Poverello House, and Treasure Hunting (an evangelism activity we learned from our friends at Mountain View Church). These were all ministries or outreaches we had partnered with or participated in earlier during the internship. The interns paired off and created an outline for each outreach. When the camp arrived, each pair presented the outreach opportunities, and the youth got to choose which one they wanted to help plan and execute! The interns then helped guide the planning conversations, prayed with the youth, and led the outreach day.   Interns Presenting the Outreach Options at Project Timothy!   Each Youth student prayed about which outreach they should help with, then took a sticky note with their name and stuck it on the board!   Each pair did an incredible job presenting and shepherding their outreach, leading with confidence and relying on Jesus! The youth came back from their outreaches having had meaningful conversations that led to praying for people, opportunities to bless the community, and new ideas for how they could do something similar in their own local areas. The interns modeled for these youth kids, that they aren’t too young to do the things God has set before them to do!  One of the volunteer leaders for the youth camp, had shared with us that God had already been putting it on her heart, to go and serve at the Poverello House. She was able to go be a part of that outreach day with the youth and since, has gathered a group of other young people in her church to go serve together! The youth camp facilitators also needed help leading a "Girls and Guys Day," where they split the students up to have conversations around God's heart for love, relationships, and sexuality. Because of GoMission.Church's relationship with The Hope Team at Pregnancy Care Center, we were able to connect University Vineyard with The Hope Team so they could come and share on these topics.   Emily and Dorthy from Pregnancy Care Center's Hope Team presenting the "Girls Day" at Project Timothy!   After partnering with University Vineyard for the youth camp, we realized we were being a bridge between this local church and three local ministries! It was amazing to step back and see the Lord using us to engage the people of God at University Vineyard with the mission of God in our local area, for His glory.  We feel really blessed to be getting to serve the local church in this way, and are thankful for those of you who are partnering in prayer and financially. Please continue to pray with us, over the interns… that they would now also get to be a bridge between their local churches and local ministries!      Want to learn more about the three ministries we partnered with? Click the links below! City Center -  https://citycenterfresno.org/ Poverello House - https://poverellohouse.org/ Pregnancy Care Center - https://pregnancycarecenter.com/ The Hope Team at Pregancy Care Center - https://www.instagram.com/hopeforfresno/

Preparing in the Present   We are off to a great start to the summer, with our church’s youth being sent out to Argentina, the GoMission.Church Internship, and some exciting ways we are getting to practically prepare for what God has ahead of us!    Youth group trip to Argentina Our church just sent out a team of youth to visit the church partners in Argentina! They will be gone for two weeks, serving and ministering to the church communities in three different cities. We are so expectant that the Lord will move in and through this group of young people. Click here to read daily updates from the youth, during their trip!   GoMission Summer Internship - Week 3 As we shared in our last update, the GoMission.Church Summer Internship is here! We are in our third week of sessions and have already seen how the Lord is speaking and meeting us when we give Him the space in our days. We have had the privilege to (already) have met with 9 different ministry leaders in our city, hearing about topics like Abiding in Jesus, College Campus ministry, The Glory of God and what that means, God’s design for work and rest, local evangelism efforts, speakers personal testimonies, and so much more! We are enjoying getting to know each intern and watch as the Lord invites them further into the plans He has for them. Please pray with us, over the interns, that God would draw them closer to His heart and show them how they can partner with His restoration work in our city!     Tour of Pregnancy Care Center!   Project to help Prodigal Church with their VBS signs!   Teaching on Work + Rest with Pastor Jeremy White!     Practicing at home As we think about preparing for Argentina, we have noticed how many opportunities God is giving us to practice the things we feel called to do there, here and now. God has provided us with a great little apartment, a wonderful community and family around us, and so many opportunities to disciple and walk alongside young people. We are enjoying these gifts very much, which also makes it hard to think about leaving for Argentina, at times. However, it is SO encouraging to look at our life and see how God has us in His training school, teaching us everything we will need for the next step. Here are some specific areas that God is teaching us in: Jared is inviting a small group of young men in our church to regularly gather together, and encurage one another in the daily realities of following Jesus. And the GoMission Internship is another opportunity that we have to, together, walk alongside young people in the mission of God! Right now we feel challenged to engage in prayer in a more radical way. You may remember one of Jared’s updates while he was back in Argentina, Starting with Prayer, where he shared about devoting time to prayer because of the reality that we can’t do anything without Jesus. God has been stirring our church here in Fresno to give an hour each morning to intercession, 6:30am-7:30am Monday - Friday. We felt an invitation from the Lord to go every morning for two weeks, to participate in what God is doing and practice starting everything we do with prayer. Hospitality is something we want to prioritize in our marriage, welcoming people into our home and sharing life together. This is something we anticipate getting to a lot of in Argentina! People are very hospitable and open their homes to each other, which is a part of the culture we are excited to participate in! What this looks like now is inviting young people from our church to come, have a meal, and fellowship together. We have been on the receiving end of some really generous hospitality lately that has blessed and inspired us to do the same with others! How you can join us in prayer:   That the Lord would continue to stir our hearts and the church to press into prayer! That Jesus would help us to be faithful with the things we have going on in this season, that we would steward it well!