At a Beauty for Ashes Retreat in the Dominican Republic, Kingdom Journeys participant, Erika Michael, taught on what it means to be a daughter of God.  Our first retreat was for the women in the mountain town of Lajas, Dominican Republic where we are living this month. We had about 20 women there. We spent the day talking about our worth. We use an illustration with a crisp and clean dollar bill.  I ask the women if they want it. Of course everyone says “Yes, I want it!” Then I crumple it up and ask if they still want it. They all still say, “Yes!” I throw...

Shannon Cornuke went on a mission trip to Guatemala thinking she had life figured out. She knew Jesus died for her, but she didn’t really know Jesus and didn’t have a reason to need to know Him. Through the people she met, Shannon fully realized God’s love for the first time—and got to share it with everyone around her. All my life I thought I was on the right track. I thought I could control my life. I knew Jesus died for me, but I didn’t strive to know anything else—like knowing Him. I thought I could go along with my life and look to God when...

While on a mission trip in Chicago, Hanna Miecznikowski paused to give a man a few coins. But it turned out he wanted something else. The traffic whirled around me as I headed downtown that afternoon. I grew up in Chicago, but five or six years had passed since I’d driven in the Chicago rush hour traffic. To call it an adventure is an understatement. As I approached Pastor Robert’s house for a late afternoon ministry planning session, I noticed a homeless man standing in the middle of the road holding a sign and asking for help. I scrambled to get ahold of the few coins in my cup...

While leading a missions trip to the Dominican Republic, Neil Bruinsma saw a man healed in a surprising way. One of my favorite things is helping people realize they can hear God speak. At the center of Adventures trips is listening prayer. It’s a part of everything we do, from nightly debriefs to setting aside entire blocks of time for God to lead us into ministry we wouldn’t have found ourselves. There’s not anything mystical about it, but every time God does something amazing, something that only He can do, I get excited. That’s what happened in the Dominican Republic....

World Race Expedition Coaches Gary and Lisa Black serve as missionaries in Spain. They have dedicated their lives to raising up and pouring into the next generation. Almost three years ago, the worst form of tragedy imaginable shook their family: their 19-year-old son, Michael, committed suicide. Today, they are still on the front lines of fighting for this generation. Lisa says it best: despite everything that has happened, she still has hope for this generation.  I get it—the lack of hope in our current society: the shootings, the violence, the elections, the human trafficking....

A few weeks ago we announced the 2015 Best of Adventures Storytellers Contest. We asked you to view our favorite pictures, watch our favorite videos, and read our favorite blogs. And we gave you this reason: “We are our stories, so it’s important to live good ones. But living a good story isn’t the end. Good stories need to be shared. God has given many of our missionaries unique abilities to tell stories beautifully, through writing, photography, and videography, and we want to celebrate the best stories.” So for the third year in a row, we hosted the Best of Adventures...