While the local leader’s role in caring for the vulnerable is more direct, my role is to PRAY for local leaders, GIVE to the efforts of 127, GO and practice ministry of presence, and GROW in my understanding of healthy engagement with vulnerable communities outside my own cultural context. This indirect approach to advocacy preserves human dignity and shines the spotlight onto the true rescuer, Jesus Christ.

Have you ever stopped to consider how one decision can have a domino effect on so many other life outcomes that may have never unfolded otherwise? The last decade of my life and of 127 Worldwide has been shaped by an email I decided to respond to on a normal day in 2006.

We all have a particular outlook through which we interpret life. Like a pair of glasses, our perspective alters how we see everything around us, but unlike glasses, most of the time we don’t realize how much it’s actually affecting our perception.

The desire for a happy ending is not inherently a bad thing. It reflects our nature as creatures made by God to hope for glory in heaven. Problems begin to surface, however, when we demand a happy ending right now. This mindset can become even more destructive when applied to mercy ministry, especially on short-term mission trips.

Have you ever done something on a mission trip that, upon looking back, makes you feel sick to your stomach? Sometimes our best intentions result in actions that make us cringe in hindsight. This story is about my blunder.