Provising what is not available

Sometimes a story of transformation is a story only partially told. God never ceases to be at work in the lives of His people. Today's story shows how God provides us opportunities to be involved in transformation and holds the promise of transformations that God is laying foundations…

This month we had the blessing of spending time here in Santiago with Dr. Bob Kuest. Bob is an NMSI missionary doing Leadership training around the world. While attending one of Bob's training sessions I was reminded of this crazy and bold NMSI statement that captivated my young attention back in 2005 “PROVIDING WHAT IS NOT AVAILABLE.” This statement was so radical and close to our hearts because it helped us understand WHY we needed to start The Urban Action Project, and why we needed to reach the skate culture in our city. We wanted to provide an opportunity for skaters to come to know who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for them and back then skaters did not have that available.

Just a week before I attended the training session, I had a meeting with three young guys that Diego, our skate outreach director, introduced me to. The trio was Nicolas, a film student dropout, Pablo, a part-time skate shop worker and Diego, a camera-less photographer. They came to me to formally invite me to work and help them on their new skate magazine. When I asked why they were starting this new magazine, Nicolas looked at me and said, “Because we are going to provide something that is not available.” This local independent magazine is about sharing the stories of unknown amateur skaters, and making a positive contribution to the younger generation of skaters in our city.

Nicolas, Pablo, and Diego came to us after being rejected and dismissed by many people because of their dream and because of their desire to encourage young skaters with a clean and positive magazine. For us, this was the perfect opportunity to show God's love and hope by encouraging and supporting them. Love, support and a caring word are simple things that are often not available for our youth. We are currently praying and asking God for direction on how to get involved in this project. It is amazing to see how God continues to provide strategic opportunities for us to share the gospel message in our city with inner city youth. Please pray for us to continue to provide what is not available here in our city and to show God's love in places of great spiritual need.