Chassidy’s Reflection on the Banquet

Five years ago, I stepped on a plane for the first time. I traveled overseas for the first time. I saw God’s heart for the nations for the first time. Five years ago, I had very different plans for my life, but something happened during those two weeks in Tokyo, Japan. The prayer that iGo prays for every student was answered yet again, and I became one of the many whose lives were ruined for the glory of God. My plans ended, and His plans brought me to serve with iGo Global full time as a staff member. Last weekend was our 10th Annual iGo Celebration Banquet, and I can’t recall such a sweet time of celebrating what God is doing around the world. My experience may have been different from others sitting in the audience, having served with iGo as a student multiple times and now as a staff member, every part of the banquet struck me in a different way.

I reflected with Lance as he shared with us how the Lord led him to where we are now. I related to Leslie as she shared with tears how God has used iGo to ruin her life for the glory of God. I smiled listening to Darla Elder share what it was like to be a parent of an iGo student, looking at the tears in my mother’s eyes as she remembered those same feelings. I was excited as Lance shared with all of those in attendance how we can continue to be a part of what God is doing in drawing the nations to Himself. I can say with all certainty that the Lord is using students to share His glory around the world, and it is an exciting thing to be a part of. As a staff we are daily humbled, grateful, and honored to be able to serve with these students and adults- stressing them out in iGosia, teaching them from the Word, and doing everything we can to get them on the field and plugged into God’s global Ancient Work. Our task is completion of the Great Commission, and we want you guys to partner with us in this! Through praying, giving to the ministry, a staff member, or the iSend Project, you are jumping into this greater work that God is doing in accomplishing His desire- that people from every nation, tribe, and tongue would worship Him in glory. If you were at the banquet last weekend, thank you for sharing that sweet time of celebration with us. If you were not at the banquet, the opportunity isn’t gone. Partner with us in this work, and let’s continue to celebrate as we see God draw people to Himself!

To learn more about the iSend Project, visit our website: iSend Project Be a part of the impact!

No Comments

Chassidy, November 2nd 2010 | Posted in Banquet, Uncategorized, iSend Project

The Countdown Continues…2003

2003 began with us doubling the size of our staff. We went from one to two full time staff members. Brad Cardwell joined the team after a series of meetings. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I wanted Brad to join us, but that was only because I didn’t want to be held responsible for messing up his life. We still didn’t know if this whole idea was actually going to work. However, we both came to an agreement that God was calling him to do this, and we stepped out on faith once again. Kent Jones was around as well that year, but he was technically working for The Go Foundation, a ministry partner. He spent the majority of that year on a bus with Mercy Me with The Go Show tour calling students to go global.

bradkent

We also left our office at Lake Point Church that year and moved into an office building in Rockwall, Texas. Brad and I shared one small office in that building for half of the year, which was perfect for us since we only had one computer and two small desks. We didn’t even have a printer. One of my favorite memories of that year was checking Brad’s new iWitness email account since we only had the one computer. Sometimes I would answer his email for him when I knew the answer and it was quick. I would sign it Bradster and let him proof it before I sent it. I watched his eyes and when I saw him read his name, I would click send before he could do anything about it. I am still waiting for him to see the humor in that.

God also began rewarding our efforts that summer by sending us more students. When it was over, we had mobilized 60 students that year, almost double the number from our first two summers combined. But He didn’t make it easy. He had more lessons for us to learn and challenges for us to watch Him overcome.

When our staff thinks about 2003, we think about SARS. Maybe you remember something about that, maybe you don’t. It was basically the Swine Flu of 2003, but it was almost exclusively isolated in Asia. While no big deal to most of the Western world, it became a huge factor for a young ministry preparing to send teams to Asia. As the summer drew close, we began to realize that our team headed to East Asia needed to be relocated. With about a month before departure, we were introduced to some M’s in Thessaloniki, Greece that were willing and able to host our team on such short notice. Looking back at the end of that summer, it was interesting to see all the similarities in that team and the small team Paul led in Acts 16 and 17. Some of those similarities are better left unwritten, and I’m sure that team would agree.

After finally getting the college team settled, SARS showed up in Taiwan, where one of our high school teams was scheduled to serve. (This team, was actually first recruited to serve in Russia, but were moved when authorities in that area of Russia closed some doors.) With a little over three weeks left, we made the call to move this team as well. Once again, God connected us with an M who was just crazy enough to say yes to hosting this team in Cologne, Germany. And when I say crazy, what I mean is he was in the process of moving his family to Cologne. He moved to Cologne the same week that our team showed up.

This was such a huge lesson for us regarding the sovereignty of God. Russian authorities and respiratory viruses are all at His disposal to accomplish His purposes. He used all of that and more to connect us with a new friend in Germany. In fact, our JSI program was named after this M partner, and we still work closely with him today. But that part of the story will come in the next few weeks, as the countdown to our 10th Anniversary Celebration continues. I hope you will tune in next week as we continue to demonstrate this clear and constant theme: God has faithfully sustained, grown, and developed this ministry every step of the way.

At some point during this decade it seems that most of our pictures from 2003 were misplaced. We do have a good selection from our Japan high school team (Japan was not affected significantly by SARS). You can view those pics right here.

In addition, we thought it might be fun to show you some of the logos and artwork we have used over the past 10 years as well. Feel free to comment on these gems as you view them here.

2 Comments

Lance Shumake, September 2nd 2010 | Posted in Banquet, Brad, Funny, History of iGo, Kent, Shu

A Look Back: Summer 2002

The most important thing to know about the year 2002 is that it came after 2001. Well, specifically 9/11/2001. How do you grow a ministry that takes high school and college students on airplanes overseas after that happens? Um…you don’t. Out of the 10 years of teaching, training, and sending year two was probably the toughest for many reasons.

If you read last week’s countdown article, you know that God used our first year and especially our first summer team to confirm everything we had dreamed about, prayed for, and hoped in as we started iGo. But in the following year, it seemed like much of that was put to the test. And the end result? We didn’t grow our ministry in 2002.

God did. You have to look a little deeper to see growth, but it was there. You could see a shadow of growth in our numbers. We went from 13 in the summer of 2001 to 19 in the summer of 2002. Like I said, just a shadow. However, sitting here 10 years later I can see his hand guiding us so clearly through the uncertainty. I can see how he led us step by step to put things into place that set us up for the numerical growth around the corner.

In 2002, we sent out two teams, which meant we would not send a staff member with our teams. The groundwork for recruiting and training team leaders was put in place that second summer. Now, this is an integral part of our strategy. Seeing students lead our teams a few years after their first overseas experience with us brings our team a great deal of joy.

We invited four students to intern with us that second summer (Ky Martin, Russell Leatherman, Kelly Kleinkort, and Lauren Gross). We didn’t need interns. We didn’t have any space for interns (For our office, we shared space with Lake Pointe Church members who were unemployed and searching for work. To this day I am not sure if LPC was trying to give me a hint or not). Even so, starting an intentional internship helped us realize we would always be about developing students and raising up leaders. I doubt those first four student interns learned much if anything, but I sure did.

46135_428115234669_21726194669_4679948_7722632_n1

Russell Leatherman and Shelley (Sherry) Weaver led a team of high school students that summer back to Japan. They joined in God’s Ancient Work again and were able to assist the Cookseys in their church planting efforts. It was so encouraging to hear the stories from this team as they worked in the same neighborhoods with the same people that we did one year earlier.

46135_428115229669_21726194669_4679947_301810_n

Marc Morrow and Kelly Kleinkort led our first team into East Asia that summer. This team of college students was able to teach English, take language classes, and be involved in all kinds of work that Father had prepared for them.

41105_428115089669_21726194669_4679933_15810_n1

46326_428114929669_21726194669_4679922_132823_n

I guess the strangest part of 2002 for me was not being overseas with our teams, but God was using that to grow me as well. I needed to see what my role would be in the future, which helped me to communicate to future staff as well. We are teachers, we are trainers, and we are senders. Many times that means we don’t get to go. I stayed behind that summer, but 19 students went overseas and made Him famous among unreached peoples. That seemed like growth to me, but little did I know what God had planned for 2003.

46695_428114899669_21726194669_4679919_4413596_n

No Comments

Lance Shumake, August 26th 2010 | Posted in Banquet, History of iGo, Insightful, Shu

iGo Global - Ten Years of making Him famous

This is the first in a 10 part series counting down the weeks till our 10th Anniversary Celebration Banquet. For info on attending the banquet or hosting a table to introduce friends to iGo, email us at banquet@igoglobal.org.

Where We Began:

We left on Friday the 13th of July in 2001. There were 13 of us and the flight to Tokyo was 13 hours long.  But we weren’t the least bit nervous about any of that. Our flight was on a 777 aircraft. And thus, iGo Global began.

44858_426042254669_21726194669_4628319_7380600_n1

This was the first student team sent by iGo, and God used this trip for so much. He used our team to impact the work in Sapporo, Japan. We assisted the missionaries there in the early stages of planting a house church in their neighborhood. We planted many seeds of the gospel, we prayed big prayers for God to move among those people, and we encouraged the few believers we were able to connect with.

44858_426042224669_21726194669_4628313_4836272_n

God also used this trip to take us all deeper in our relationship with Him. We got a taste of His passion for His glory when we saw people bow down and worship statues in the temples. We saw a glimpse of His heart for the nations and His purpose for all peoples as we prayed for and shared with the Japanese. And we clearly understood that living on mission is not an option for believers as we realized missions could not be contained in a two week trip.

45794_426042399669_21726194669_4628325_4857476_n

In addition, I look back and see how God used this trip to confirm everything we were doing with iGo. Up until we landed in Japan, iGo was just an idea, and we weren’t even sure it was a good one. But there, in Japan with a group of high school students for two weeks, God solidified so much of this calling. I knew it was never going to be about how many students we could send, but I wanted more and more students to walk this walk and see these sights. I came home knowing that I could give my life to this, and pretty sure I was supposed to do exactly that.

I am even more sure of that today. Ten years later I am completely amazed at what God has done through iGo Global. In preparing to celebrate ten years, I am more convinced than ever that this is His story, not ours. He is doing this. He is bringing the students. He is leading us as we train them. He is impacting His world with our teams. He is accomplishing His purposes and we somehow found ourselves in a front row seat.

That first team in 2001 is where it all started, and that team still impacts where we are today. In fact, one of those students from that team joined our staff a few years later. Ky Martin now gives leadership to our partnership trips and oversees directly our Oklahoma GO Students partnership. Others from that team are impacting His kingdom in various ways as they seek to live on mission. I could not have asked for a better start, and for that I am thankful.

To check out more pics from the 2001 team, visit Lance’s facebook album: http://tinyurl.com/27ac4nc. There are some great pics of Ky and Shu!

1 Comment

Lance Shumake, August 20th 2010 | Posted in Banquet, History of iGo, Shu