For all eight of you that have been following along with all these countdown articles, you know that in 2007 things really began to click. We learned so much over the first six summers, and everything seemed to come together almost perfectly in that one summer. We felt like we had finally figured this thing out.

Consider the following quote:

“If you’re in a bad situation, don’t worry it’ll change.  If you’re in a good situation, don’t worry it’ll change.”  ~John A. Simone, Sr.

Yes, after seeing this thing turn almost into a finely tuned machine in 2007, almost everything changed in 2008. Change started in Germany, and as a result, our time ended in Germany. The infamous Jeff received a new and much better position with the IMB. Unfortunately for us, this meant he would no longer be living in Germany. Instead he would be in a little region of the world known as the Middle East. Yes, that Middle East.

Suddenly, the one M on the planet we knew who was crazy enough to take hundreds of students at a time, pour himself into interns while entrusting them with the bulk of the daily leadership of those hundreds of students was now moving literally between “Iraq and a hard place.” You figure it out.

We knew that we would no longer be sending him large teams of entry level students. First, we didn’t want to take entry level students into the Middle East, and second we didn’t figure hundreds of parents would be too cool with the idea either.

So change we did. Our first student team ever (2001) served in Japan, and we had been sending teams to Japan every summer since. Our main contact in Tokyo was Buddy, and coincidentally (read sarcasm in the tone there) Buddy had just been given a new role as volunteer coordinator for the Tokyo team. Buddy’s vision was to have as many short-term teams as possible in Tokyo in 2008.

It was our great privilege to introduce Buddy to 189 of our BFF’s from Texas Super Summer. No, the number is not mistyped. We basically invaded Tokyo in 2008 with a team of 189 students and adults from Texas Super Summer. In addition to that, we had established a partnership with the Kansas Nebraska Baptist Convention and were able to send that team of 30+ students to Tokyo as well.

The GO Students partnership from Oklahoma combined with our new partnership with the Missouri Baptist Convention decided to go a different route than Tokyo. Instead we decided to keep that partnership in Western Europe and move it to a different city and country.

God opened up doors for us at just the right time in Wales and England to begin sending these students from Oklahoma and Missouri to the United Kingdom.

NOTE: Our focus from day one at iGo has been to point students towards Great Commission completion work. This means that we want to send students to places where they can work with unreached and least reached peoples. When a lot of people hear that we send students to places like London, they tend to think of it as a tour group disguised as a mission trip. However, the truth is we are strategically engaging the world’s great cities where peoples from all nations have gathered. We can bring entry level students into these places in significant numbers and engage unreached people groups in “parent-approved” settings. And if you still have doubts, come and spend a week on the ground in London with our teams. Most of them don’t even see the main tourist attractions, choosing to spend their one free day with new friends they have met throughout the week.

God changed pretty much everything in 2008. And we never missed a beat. Of course, that isn’t because we were such good planners. It is because when He changed everything, He had already set in motion His plan to continue this work. Once again, we found ourselves riding along marvelling at His timing, His provision, and His faithfulness to the ministry He had given us.

We also had Xtreme Journey teams serving in super tough and challenging places. Places that are the modern day equivalent of the ends of the earth. We rotated our JSI’s over to Tokyo and the UK to help lead the teams. 2008 was a great year, and in many ways a new beginning for iGo. We started to see that change truly was going to be a part of our culture. In fact, just this summer, due to circumstances once again beyond our control, our partnership with Tokyo has come to an end. And almost as soon as it did, God had opened up new doors for us in Paris and Amsterdam. As we enter the next 10 years of ministry, we will do so with new locations and new partnerships once again. Change is inevitable, and change can definitely be good.