5 minute read
Global Connections
by Amanda Martell
WE ARE VERY ENCOURAGED TO PARTNER WITH MISSIONARIES SUCH AS AMANDA MARTELL, A WOMAN WORLD LEADER FROM WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, WHO IS REACHING TINY SOULS FOR KINGDOM WORK IN MISSIONS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. ~ Women World Leaders
I believe in the mission of Woman World Leaders. If you’re reading this, I want you to know that you are a called and anointed daughter of the King who is sent to share the good news of Jesus. We are all called to be brave for Jesus and His mission. Let’s all be Brave Girls.
My precious daughter is five years old. My husband and I have been married for eight years and live in West Palm Beach, Florida. They are the loves of my life, but in all transparency, my life hasn’t always looked like this. I haven’t always been this person. For most of my life, the devil had me convinced that I was worthless. I was the broken girl with the broken family and broken story. I can remember being very young, looking up to heaven and saying, “God, I’ll never love you.”
Then one day, when I was 26, everything changed. I heard the gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time and silently asked Jesus into my heart. That was the first time I ever heard that God loved me. From that point on, I was His.
I was baptized a few months later and started serving every single chance I got. My pastor saw something in me that I never saw in myself. I had the honor of leading mission trips to Haiti, Mexico, and Ecuador while also leading our global, local, and national outreach. Global missions have always had my heart; it was on the mission field I heard the calling of “Pastor” spoken over my life by the Spirit. Months later, I was humbly licensed and ordained by a team of incredible pastors at Journey Church.
One day, I felt the Holy Spirit’s prompting to follow my passion for global missions. I so clearly heard the Lord say, “I am going to impact millions of children around the world, and I want to use you to do it.” Whoa. Not me, right? See, when God presents you with a specific calling, your only response is obedience. Brave Girl.
For the past year, I have had the amazing honor of serving an organization called Kids Around the World. It’s truly a dream come true to do what I do. For 30 years, Kids Around the World has made an impact in 83 different countries while empowering the next generation with God’s transforming hope.
Through a simple but mighty approach, we are empowering churches, leaders, and pastors across the world to transform their communities right where they are. Here is how we do it:
STORY:
There is a spiritual battle going on for the hearts and minds of our children. So, we work to ensure that millions of children learn God’s Word through a program called KidStory. By training over 38,000 leaders, we have reached over three million children with the Word of God. My favorite part about this is that the trainings are free, and so is the content. We have translated the curriculum into 26 different languages, and it is currently being used across the world.
PLAY:
We believe in the Gift of Play. For 30 years, we have transformed communities across the world by upcycling playgrounds from the US and planting them in impoverished communities worldwide. Through our incredible partnership, we have over 1,200 playgrounds in 87 different countries across the globe.
FOOD:
The mission of our Food Program is to provide kids facing hunger and malnutrition with a warm, nutritious daily meal. We partner with hundreds of organizations and thousands of volunteers to pack millions of meals in the US annually. These are then sent overseas to nourish children in orphanages, schools, feeding centers, churches, and homes. Since the beginning, we have packed over 77 million meals with over 300,000 volunteers, and we are just getting started.
HOPE ZONES (MY FAVORITE):
When you put Food, Play, and Story together, you have a Hope Zone. Currently, there are 95 Hope Zones in three different countries. We have indigenous staff who lead and run the ministry in each country. On a weekly basis, children learn who God is through KidStory, receive every meal their family needs to thrive, and are provided a safe place just to be a kid through a giant playground.
This past year, I have traveled to Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Ukraine, Panama, and Uganda. Each trip was uniquely powerful. In Ukraine, we had the honor of ministering to over 600 bishops and their families whose churches are on the front lines of the war. In Uganda, we built a playground at a church inside a refugee camp for kids who had never seen anything like it. In the Dominican Republic, I led a team of pastors who got to see our work firsthand as we built and dedicated a playground, and then we met our in-country staff, whom we all love.
Do I feel called? Yes.
Do I think I’m good enough for any of it? Nope.
But, I’m a Brave Girl.
Following Jesus is an adventure. Always remember that you’re a Brave Girl, too.
