For the team at Parker Evangelical Presbyterian Church today's mission trip to Haiti represents an exciting return to a country that has been wrecked and ravaged by so many things - from natural disasters, like earthquakes to extreme poverty and a lack of natural resources. For Pastor Gary McCusker the trip to Haiti wasn't part of his original plan. For the past two years, I have led a Parker High School’s Baseball Mission trip to the Dominican Republic...due to the success of these trips, we expected to return this year with a larger group than the past two years combined. But, as McCusker shares, the doors of opportunity closed to Dominican and a different door - one to neighboring Haiti, opened instead. To be

For Ann Nerney, the trip to Juarez, Mexico in a couple of weeks will be a return to a place where she encountered God moving amongst the poor of Juarez and she is excited to go and minister there again. We all went to Juarez together to build a house for a family in 2013...When the family received the keys to the house, they were not the only ones crying with joy.  It has filled our hearts with a love of the people of Juarez and gives us a reality of how God blesses each of our lives. With Juarez being one of the most severely depressed and impoverished areas so close to the United States, the impact of seeing

For Bryan Smith, Haiti has become a bit of home away from home. Smith first traveled to Haiti in 2004. For the last four years, he has been bringing soccer with him. It is the world's game, after all. Last year, the Colorado Rapids donated a couple of boxes of equipment with many personal donations by Haitian Goalkeeper Steward Ceus (Rapids, 2009-2013). This year, the Rapids donated enough gear to outfit a complete team with shorts, shirts, and compression shorts along with some miscellaneous gear. Smith, using some of his other connections, was able to secure additional equipment like shoes and balls for the young men of the village of Fedja, in the Mirebalais region of Haiti, northeast of Port-au-Prince.

After a Houston Chronicle article in 2009 declared the city of Juarez, Mexico the "most violent zone in the world outside of declared war zones"1  most Americans and many Christian mission organizations stopped travel and efforts to help the poor of the estimated 1.5 million people who call the city home. The violence spawning from the drug cartel wars has claimed many lives and mission work in the city was deemed too risky. But there were a few organizations that still dared to carry on the work - meet Missions Ministries. Started in 2002, Mission Ministries worked at constructing homes for Juarez's poor and they partnered with churches throughout the southwest United States in order to build relationships and help

I had the privilege of attending portions of the recent ID camp held for Colorado high school student athletes at Valor Christian High School this past week. The camp was put on to give students and college coaches an opportunity to be observed in hopes of receiving scholarships or invitations for possible openings on college teams. Of the 100-some students and 25- some college coaches participating in the event, there was an air of  anticipation and hope  - perhaps this might be an opportunity to receive an offer from a college to study and play the sport that they had come to love. As I reflected further, I was reminded of the life of Jesus and his own ID'ing that