Hello. My name is John and I’m a recent college graduate on staff with e3 Partners Ministry. At the beginning of 2021, I began praying about my future career and wondering if the Lord would call me into a secular industry, or into ministry. I was brought up in the church and as a pastor’s son, I had a heart for reaching the lost.
I gained clarity about six months later when God unexpectedly opened the door for me to come on staff at e3 as a full-time graphic designer. I felt excited to support e3’s mission of making a local church accessible to everyone around the globe and it wasn’t long before I found myself on mission for the very first time.
Prior to my departure, I met with my mission team via Zoom, where I learned simple and effective methods for sharing the Gospel with non-believers. Then, in late September, I left the United States and headed to Kenya. I ended up flying solo to Africa after my travel companion and fellow mission trip participant came down with COVID-19. Talk about an adventure!
By God’s grace I arrived safe & sound, and while I experienced a bit of initial jet lag, I felt determined to focus on what God wanted to accomplish on this trip. I had the opportunity to jump right into local ministry and lead a house church in partnership with a translator. This forced me to step outside of my comfort zone; I learned some spiritual lessons about obedience and letting go of perfectionism to just be present in the moment by the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Throughout the trip, our mission team combined forces with our National Partners from Kenya & Uganda. In the span of just one week, we completed nearly 1,000 Gospel shares in 3 different Kenyan locales! Additionally, we witnessed nearly 500 professions of faith and 40 baptisms, plus 70 people were trained to lead a house church. The results were simply incredible and I marveled at what God had done in such a short amount of time.
During the mission trip, it became clear to me that the Kenyan people have an authentic hunger for God unlike anything I’ve witnessed at home. At one point, we shared the Gospel and many locals accepted Jesus and promptly marched down to a river to get baptized! Crowds began to form and a chain reaction of baptisms took place. The Kenyans’ positive reception to the message of Jesus Christ continued every day of the mission until it was time for us to fly home.
After I returned to Dallas, I noticed a couple of changes within me. One, I feel far more comfortable sharing the Gospel with people from other countries. Two, I feel a greater zeal for sharing the love of Jesus with others. Three, I am using my time more wisely. In the past, I would discuss the Bible with a heavily resistant non-believer for several hours, which wasn’t always fruitful. As a result of my training with e3 Partners, I now pray that the Lord will lead me to persons of peace who are eager to accept Christ—so we can give more non-believers the opportunity to hear the Gospel and see more people come to salvation.
My time in Kenya was so profound and transformative that I want other young people to experience the blessings of going on a short-term mission trip. After all, Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations. When we obey the call, we are sure to grow deeper in our faith and relationship with the Lord. Thanks for listening to my story and I invite you to share it with others. I appreciate your support of our ministry and hope you, too, might feel called to go on mission sometime soon!