Tuesday Jan 07, 2020
The Gospel Strategy with Trae V.
Bridges International is a caring community of Christ-followers committed to serve, promote social connections, engagements and spiritual conversations with international students.
With over 365 full-time staff, Bridges desires to mobilize the body of Christ on college campuses to reach the nations Trae is passionate about seeing spiritual movements launched where international students encounter Jesus Christ.
He is a graduate of Texas A&M University and Dallas Theological Seminary. Trae and his wife Melissa, have served with bridges since 2000 they have four children ranging from ages 19 to 12 years old. A fun fact, two of them were born in China, and two of them were made in the USA. And Trey jokingly says that they have that tattoo on their ankles to prove it.
Trae mentioned being challenged as a freshman by a course called Perspectives on the World Christian Movement that he said sparked a desire to go overseas.
Trae received some advice at college to not go straight into the mission field but enter the workforce instead and learn to serve the Lord like the majority of Christians do. After 4 years in finance, they were able to fulfill their dream and spend a year in foreign missions in the Orient. What they thought would be one year of serving in missions has now turned into 21 years of service with Cru!
Trae began to realize the best person to prepare for an overseas mission is not just the American who can go overseas, but it was the international who was already the expert who already knew the language. Who already was familiar with the culture of the overseas. If they had the gospel, they would actually be able to impact not just hundreds, but thousands or millions because they have such great value to what God was doing.
The strategy of Bridges international is the four "S's"
- Social Networks
- Services
- Student Leadership
- Spiritual Conversations
"If you establish trust, the Gospel can move forward in power." Trae V.
Over 200 heads of state, whether they are presidents, parliament leaders, or prime ministers have studied in the US.
Trae shares an inspiring story of an international student who after having access to the Gospel while studying in the US went back to his homeland and led a successful coo to overthrow a corrupt government and how God uses situations like this over and over again in the lives of international students. God is allowing people from hard to reach nations to spend years in the US studying before returning to their countries as an opportunity for ministries like Bridges to make an incredible impact for the Gospel.
Trae mentioned a tool for church leaders called everyinternational.com which is a collaborative effort of 14 different agencies to reach international students and foreign-born internationals.
____________
Global Hope India: For over 20 years we have been watching God radically transform thousands of Americans & Indian Nationals through missions. We’ve taken nearly 1,000 Americans on short-term mission trips to India. We work with 12 long-term indigenous church planting partners located in North, South, East, & West mainland India as well as Northeast India. We empower The Church in India to make Christ known through leadership, child, & village development projects. Global Hope India is a federally recognized 501(c)3 nonprofit organization located in Morrisville, North Carolina. All gifts are tax-deductible. More about GHI.
Living the Dream Podcast: The Living the Dream podcast is where Church staff and volunteers get comfortable and aligned with the reality that God is moving millions of foreign-born internationals into our communities. We focus on this incredible opportunity God is giving us to change the world! We know how this story ends! Rev 7:9-12 shows us a Church filled with EVERY nation, tribe, & tongue gathered together worshipping Jesus. Welcome to Living the Dream podcast where we help The Church be on earth as it is in heaven. More about Living the Dream Podcast.
Meet Pastor Kevin: Pastor Kevin is Founder and Executive Director of Global Hope India and your host for Living the Dream Podcast. He's a poor kid from rural North Carolina, but get this... He just returned from his 50th trip to India in 20 years. If he doesn’t yet hold the Guinness Book of World Records for the most trips to India then he's got to be close. He's flown over a million miles to 27 different countries. He's taken nearly 1,000 people on mission trips to India. Global Hope India has seen thousands of Indian Nationals and Americans radically transformed by God through missions. The miracle continues! More about Pastor Kevin.
GHI Resources & Contact Info:
GHI Instagram: @globalhopeindia
GHI Twitter: @globalhopeindia