SMP Philippines Testimony

*Why are you a follower of Jesus? How does this affect your life? What types of adventures has he led you on? How has he drawn you closer to him?

I am a follower of Jesus because I am a sinner desperately in need of a Savior. Jesus is my Savior. I live life by Jesus’ example by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I am a child of God, forgiven and redeemed, and set apart to do His will for the glory of His name. I seek in all of life to live God’s imagination. I live in community as a part of the body of Christ, the family of God in partnership with other believers in building God’s unshakeable kingdom by faith, hope, and love. I rely on God’s unfailing love that knows no limits and never runs dry. The joy of the Lord is my strength because in my weakness God is strong. God gives purpose to the days and decisions He has blessed me with the opportunity to live.
God has led me on many adventures:
Sea to Sea – a community of faith biking across the U.S. to live out and give testimony to the work of God in the world in hopes to raise funds to work towards ending the cycle of poverty
Calvin College - Engineer to Interdisciplinary Major in Math, Recreation, and Youth Ministry with an Engineering Minor – Life is not about what I am up to, but about what God is up to. “Before you tell your life what you will do with it, let it tell you what it will do with you.” - Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak
Service Learning Trips at Calvin College
Boston, Massachusetts – The Boston Project – urban community development
Kansas City, Missouri – Habitat for Humanity – building homes
Houma, Louisiana – First Baptist – building a Christian school
Interims abroad at Calvin College
Belize / Costa Rica – Ecosystems and Development
Romania – Social Entrepreneurship
Gaining a global perspective
South Dakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation VBS
Everyday living God’s imagination. What is God up to because I want to be a part of it?

God has drawn me closer to Him by revealing Himself, revealing the family of God, and revealing myself to me more and more as I go through life and am surprised by God’s goodness. Thank God for His unending love and amazing grace that will not let go and guides, keeps, and protects us in Him.

*Is there a particular event in your life which God led or is still leading you through? What would this time have been like without Jesus?

God is currently leading me through this transition of graduating from college into the “University of Life.” Sometimes I am confused, intimidated, and at a loss because I don’t want to let go of the past, but I look forward with hope because I rely on God’s many promises. God says, “I have plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future.”
My last semester at Calvin College I decided to go forth in faith. That was all I had when I did not know what direction my life was taking and especially even more so now as I try to live the direction that it does seem to be taking. Yikes! So help me God. In God I have direction even without any direction. I look to God’s Holy Spirit for guidance and keep moving, stepping forward in faith.

*In thinking about the future, what do you hope to do in your life differently because you follow Christ? How is God leading you into this future? Why did you decide to pursue SMP this summer?

In living life as a disciple of Christ I hope to do just that – to bear the fruit of the spirit, make disciples of all nations, live as one with others and God, work in God’s harvest, and let God lead. God is leading me into this future by being my motivation, sending people along life’s path to encourage me, and paving the way. Steps have been laid out that I just have to be faithful in living out. God has surprised me. He has set out a life-map that I see only partially now. This life-map I never could have dreamed of or planned myself. I pray for the guidance of God’s Spirit and live by the faithfulness of God’s visions.

SMP Pursuit Story:

God is all about building people. We as Christians partner with God in this as we do ministry, building faith in people as we give testimony to God.
What is the place of summer missions when you are graduating from college? Now is the time to start to stabilize. Why go for eight weeks to an unknown, far away place to do ministry? Why out of all of the options did summer missions in the Philippines become my calling?
This is the last thing that I expected. To be honest I thought the Philippines was in the Caribbean. Ok, we need some answers.
As I graduate from college into the great big “University of Life,” I don’t graduate my faith, I go in faith. If you have ever been at this point in your life you understand. If you are waiting to get there you will understand when you get there or you have already had a similar experience where the world opens up to you and your faith. This can be disorienting and challenging.
I leave college knowing that God is the God of this world. This defines the rest of my life. I place my faith and my trust in God. Last summer when I thought raising $10,000 for the Sea to Sea Cycling to End the Cycle of Poverty bicycle tour was impossible God raised $30,000 for my dad, brother, and I. Now I have the opportunity to serve with CRWM, one of the organizations we were raising support for with the Sea to Sea bike tour. How exciting and what great follow up!
I go in faith praying that God will surprise me with his goodness. To be surprised by God you have to be open and you have to leave room for God to surprise you. I go with support because I know that I will get discouraged and sometimes doubt, but doubt is the struggle of faith alive. We all need each other. We are one family in the body of Christ. I ask for your support in whatever way that you can. If anything, just be there to remind me. I say thanks and give thanks to God. All glory is given to our Father in Heaven.

SMP Mission and Vision Statement:

In the Philippines I give myself to God to be used by Him. I go in faith praying that God will surprise me with his goodness. I hope to learn about God’s calling on our lives, see ministry in a different context, be encouraged by and encourage the faith of those in the Philippines, serve in missions, and share God’s ever flowing love. When we love with love from God it never ends. In all this I pray that God will make disciples of all nations.
I go with your support, in faith, yours and mine together, as a testimony to the love of God that spans the globe. I invite you to help me because I cannot go alone. Only with the support of God’s people and the work of the Holy Spirit is this all possible. I go in faith to live God’s imagination – living it big for a great God!

SMP Guiding Bible Verse:

Psalm 20:7 “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”

*I own a book with the title, "What Has Christianity Ever Done For Us?" It sounded almost irreverent; I thought I should buy it. So what has life in a Christian home or, alternatively, life in a non-Christian home, taught you? How did your faith/ belief/ trust become your own and not just that of your parents or other key persons in your life?

Life in a Christian home has been the foundation of my life. Christian faith and instruction were always there. The only thing is that they were just there. God blessed me with a great parents and a very supportive Christian environment to grow up in. The question is what I chose to do with it?
I have always had the practice, but I chose to make it my own and God chose me. It is only by God’s grace and faithfulness that I am a part of His family. During High School I made Profession of Faith to publicly profess my faith. God has been the potter in my life as He always was. He is molding me to be who He wants me to be as a part the community of faith.
Especially now as I go out from college and actually grow up to be my own person. I have always been quite independent, but as my dad said when I was grueling over whether or not to do SMP, “We will support you with what we can, but this is your decision.”
This is my life. My life – wow – you have one too. Let’s be ego-centric and just stand in the glory of that for a second because it is you living, deciding, acting, thinking, ____ing now. My life or God’s life? I have chosen to give my life over to God who gave me life in the first place. God’s Spirit breathes new life into me. I want to live to God’s full potential for me in His family with all God’s people. I do so by looking for what God is up to through all that is going on with the guidance of His Spirit. What is God’s imagination? The only way you can find out is as you live it.