Daunting to Done | A Reflection on 2024

This same week last year, I spent time listening and discerning where God was leading us as a ministry. As I listened to His voice, it became clear that He had big dreams for us. These dreams felt completely impossible to me – there were no clear next steps, there weren’t resources, and I felt ill-equipped to proceed.

More than anything, throughout 2024, God has invited me to be a witness of His power, because He makes impossible things easily possible. More simply, my most-used phrase this year has been, “From daunting to done.” Over and over, God has taken me from what seems impossible, terrifying, and completely daunting to done. It is already finished for Him! Along the way, He offers me the opportunity to have faith. Faith is only required when we cannot see what is next. While He makes the impossible possible, I only need to take steps of faith.

In 2023, God led my daughter Madison to take a bold step of faith, calling her to quit her job and serve as a full-time volunteer for 28:19 Ministries. In that time, God gave Madison incredible insight into where He was leading our ministry, and equipped her with the spiritual gifts to expand our capacity. After more than a year of serving as a volunteer, God was calling us to take a step of faith too and hire Madison as our first employee. After many calculations, it felt impossible. Yet, we trusted God and hired Madison as our full-time Programming Director. Every month since, regardless of my calculations, God has provided.

In January, God was leading us into new territory, as He guided our ministry to serve the nations represented in our own neighborhoods. We took a leap of faith by launching the English Learning Community (ELC) to serve non-English speakers in our community. When we first launched, someone had asked me how this fits in with our mission. Within the first meeting it became clear, God showed me that, through ELC, 28:19 Ministries will serve and have influence in closed nations where the Gospel is not known. 

In the past two semesters, our ELC has welcomed more than 90 learners from ten countries including: Afghanistan, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Spain, and Venezuela. Each week, our learners came desperate to learn, some had only been in the USA for mere hours. It was truly a blessing to meet such a real need, but it was even sweeter the way God knit us together into a community. Together, we celebrated important first steps and prayed in the midst of difficult realities. All it required was obedience enough to sit at the table with people we would normally never encounter, people in our own neighborhoods.

After months of planning, fundraising, and packing, our Mission Experience team was on a plane, ready to serve in Belize. Just days before takeoff, getting on the plane seemed impossible as a major category four hurricane made its way to Belize. Our team prayed, not only for the mission set before us, but more importantly for the people we loved in the hurricane’s path. As we prayed, we watched God move the hurricane further and further north. It was impossible, but He was doing it! It was the first of many impossible things.

In just nine days, each of the 21 team members and hundreds of people we served were impacted for eternity. During our Bible Adventure Camp, we invited kids to discover the impossibly true nature of God. He is a Father, a Friend, a Miracle-Worker, and a Rescuer. Everyday, God demonstrated these truths in living color, particularly in the Transformed Women’s Conference where His heart was on full display. Our word this year was, “Unashamed,” and we invited women to leave behind the lies that have left them broken or in hiding and choose the truth found in Jesus. For the first time, the teen boys had a book to take home after Warriors Camp each day. It was so special watching all the boys take responsibility for their faith in the tangible way of doing homework and coming to camp with their books. At the same time each afternoon, the teen girls gathered and studied scripture as it is, learning to seek their own conclusions about who Jesus is. Throughout the week, one of the greatest themes the girls discovered is what it means to take a step of faith. 

While in Belize, the mission team was able to attend The Gathering – a ministry of 28:19 Ministries focused on the ongoing discipleship of the people we serve in Belize. In October 2023, God made a way for us to hire a local pastor, Pastor Lord, to begin weekly discipleship and within a few weeks The Gathering was born. In the past year, The Gathering has grown to about fifty people who are experiencing real life change as they seek the presence of God. Here are a few testimonies from members of The Gathering:

“The Gathering is exciting, a change, what I was yearning for, fellowship, context, real, relevant, It is homey – we enjoy fellowship in a family setting.” 

“The Gathering is shaping who I am in my spiritual growth, discipline, daily walk, and depth.  I am seeing the changes as we worship, meeting God, and reading the Word.”  There is compassion here like that of Jesus.” 

“This is a great blessing.  Being in the Word of God has changed my whole spiritual life.  Now I have men who speak into my life, My kids are joining in with a heart for Christ, not because we are making them.”  

“As a young woman navigating life, coming here has been like a fort for me to seek refuge, embrace each other, and find community.” 

Lack of transportation is one of the greatest obstacles that affect attendance at The Gathering. It was so discouraging hearing stories of people desperate to be in community with others but unable to get there. While we knew we needed to consider having a ministry vehicle, I had no idea how we would make that happen financially or logistically. Once again, I didn’t even have a first step. But, God made a way. Before I knew it, we were the proud owners of a 2017 Dodge Journey! After countless hours coordinating transportation over the years, it is so special that God would provide something of our very own. It is surreal to see God’s extravagant provision!

The incredible thing about faith is that it sows seeds for further obedience. This past fall, four women from The Gathering independently contacted me, sharing they felt called to start a Sunday School class for children in the village we serve. Four women contacted me independently. Only God can do that! These women spent months preparing and planning to launch The Gathering Disciples, an outreach ministry of The Gathering for children. Every Sunday morning, they welcome nearly 30 children to worship, study God’s Word, and memorize scripture.  These children are learning what it means to be in a community of faith and learning about a God that loves each of them so personally.

In the past five years, I have watched God do so many incredible things through 28:19 Ministries, and I was desperate for an opportunity to share about His faithfulness. In September, we welcomed ninety-five people, dressed to the nines, to our first gala, “An Evening at Dover Hall.” Every detail of this night was magical. I am sitting here with tears streaming down my face as I reflect on the ways our community rallied around us, supporting every detail from baking cakes, providing music, emceeing, doing our makeup, helping to plan. I can’t imagine a more perfect way to exemplify who we are as a ministry than that night. God was glorified in that room. Hearts were stirred in that room. The enemy was threatened in that room. In that one night, almost every person was activated to make a decision to be obedient to the Great Commission. 

Leading up to our gala, God invited me to reflect on how He has been faithful to me over the years. As I sat with Him, God showed me every person, every story, and every connection along the way. In a matter of three days, I had written story after story from over the years of my time serving in Belize, remembering everything I have learned about my Savior along the way. Within a week, I was holding a physical book filled with all of these stories – it seemed impossible! But the more I share this book with others, the more I realize how unique of an assignment these stories have. I called the book “Beholding: Stories from the Mission Field,” because every story invites you to behold God, to really see Him for who He is. 

When hurricane Helene hit in late September, we, like so many around us, were overwhelmed with hopelessness as we watched the devastation. A few days after the hurricane hit, my brother called, sharing that he was preparing a team to deliver aid and do construction in Trade, TN. I was so thankful for the influence our ministry gave us, so we could support this team and collect supplies. In a little over a week, we collected hundreds of dollars worth of feminine hygiene items. Immediately, these supplies were distributed to people who desperately needed them!

In November, we were able to do the same thing for people around the world through our partnership with World Help. For hours, our team sorted and packed supplies in the World Help Warehouse that will be distributed to the most vulnerable in Peru and Zambia.

During this same weekend, our board gathered to rest and remember the ministry God has given each of us to steward. It is so important that, as leaders in this ministry, we stay grounded in God’s Word while making Spirit-led decisions, so we spent most of the weekend in Bible Study. As we reflected on God’s faithfulness to do the impossible in our ministry for the past five years, we looked forward, seeking what He is calling us into next. Our team anonymously shared vision for our ministry, each dream leading us into one, unified direction. It was so beautiful, it was impossible, the way God spoke to each member of our board, giving the same dreams for what is to come for 28:19 Ministries.

At the beginning of December, a small team of our board went to Belize, so we could connect with our partners more intentionally. While we were there, we served at our partner school, St. Matthew’s Anglican School, where we distributed a care package with a meal of rice and beans (more than 830 pounds of rice and beans total) and essential hygiene items to all 350 students and staff members. The squeals of delight and giggles of glee as each student looked into their bags to see what was inside was the sweetest! It was also so humbling to see how excited the kids were to take a meal home for their family! We heard stories from parents of what a blessing the meal was. Later that day, we learned that one man went around his village, collecting the beans from the kids to cook them for their lunch that same day!

This year, the Pomona Village council unexpectedly invited us to host our Candlelight Christmas event at their annual tree lighting ceremony. At first, we were caught off guard, having made our plans and sent our invitations but, after seeing everything God had done in the past year, I had faith that He was going to do the impossible. The event was held on a basketball court in the middle of the village, where everyone could see us set up. Hundreds of people came that night to hear the Good News of Jesus. Because we collaborated with the Village Council, we were able to proclaim the true hope of the world in public for all to hear. As we lit our candles, people came from every direction, leaving their porches and cars to join us in lifting up the name of Jesus—the Light of the World.

As I reflect on 2024, I can’t believe all the impossibilities God has invited me to witness in just twelve short months – the financial provision, the multiplied impact, the lives transformed. I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if I had not laid down my dreams at the feet of Jesus and chosen to walk in faith wherever He led me. Maybe, I would have stayed daunted, stuck in my own fear and lack of direction. Instead, I trusted God to guide my first step, to have faith sufficient for the entire way. 

Matthew 19:26 says, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” My prayer for 2025 is that we will all walk in greater faith and boldness, declaring His name, and witnessing the impossible – at home, in your own neighborhoods, and around the world. 

Amy Gordon, Founder and President of 28:19 Ministries