What's Next.
I am so excited to get to share what's next for me in this new season of life. As I mentioned in my most recent post, I accepted a new job (seriously PTL for a job).Without further ado......I am a year-long intern with a mission agency based out of Harrisonburg to help develop ministry in international refugee settings.At this point, I HIGHLY recommend clicking here to learn more about the global refugee crisis.CRAZY RIGHT!? Those numbers are totally insane. I thought so too, and that's why I have decided (been nudged into it by the Lord) to pause my plans of grad school for the moment and invest at least the next year into faithfully responding to this crisis.Recently I have been studying and have found there is a biblical mandate and precedent for this work, and I feel incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to do it. Practically:I am working on a team at the agency to develop partnerships with organizations local to refugee camps that are already faithfully responding. This is a rather complex process and I am by no means doing this alone. The goal is to create opportunities for short-term teams from the U.S. to partner with these aforementioned local organizations in order to create sustainable and empowering relationships. Part of my job will involve traveling to meet with organizations in order to explore lasting partnerships will look like. For example, in just over two weeks I'm traveling abroad to spend time with a couple organizations and get a clear picture of what a partnership will look like.The short-term opportunities will be developed following a set of "best practices" as laid out by the Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission. This is a crucial part of creating these sustainable and empowering partnerships.I will also play a role in recruiting and training both team leaders and team members to go on short-term trips in the spring/fall of next year. BAHHH- this is big and exciting and challenging and unknown and I CANNOT WAIT to see what the Lord does throughout this next year. Already He has given us clear partnership opportunities. I have a picture of this work being like building a bridge between these two worlds. I'm sure at times I will feel stretched and pulled between the two sides, but at the end of it, there will be beautiful, sturdy bridges that become an essential tool for everyday life. Once someone walks on the bridge, they can't imagine a life without it. Christ-followers in the West will get to walk alongside will Christ-followers from other parts of the world in Jesus-centered work that brings new life to the Kingdom.If that doesn't give ya goose-bumps, I don't know what will!But wait, that's not all! There a few ways you can be involved too.
- As I mentioned, part of my work is recruiting. If you are at all interested please, click here, and fill out the form so I can be sure to keep you up to date.
- I will be sending out regular email newsletters with fun stories, prayer requests, and other updates. It will be more detailed than what will be on the blog. If you want to receive those, click here, and write "I want the newsletter" (or something along those lines) in the message box. Do this even if you already subscribe the blog (if you want to also subscribe to the blog, you can do that at the bottom of the page).
- I am in the final stages of fundraising in order to go fully on payroll before my upcoming trip. If you would like to financially support me, click here, and select either "give to a mission worker" for a one-time donation or "set-up recurring online donation" to give to me monthly (if you do that, shoot me an email: Taryn.zander@gmail.com with the amount you intend to invest and the number of months) so that it can be accounted for accurately. Of course, all donations are tax deductible.
Enough shop-talk. I'm so excited for this- God is doing crazy things!Also, I am going to keep up with this blog ~hopefully~ a bit more consistently in the next year. Just because I work in full-time ministry doesn't mean I have at all become "consolidated." I am still passionate about sharing the messy parts of life, even more so now that I work in a field that is often stereotyped as the "good Christians." I don't have it all together, you don't have it all together, and we all need Jesus. Amen?! AMEN.