Venture Local: Spotlight on Dallas

In case you missed it, here is a little Q&A I did with Venture Expeditions (ventureexpeditions.org) about the power of joining with your community to make a difference across the globe. Enjoy!

Q & A with Jessica Bell, Venture alumnus and Venture Local participant in Dallas.

Explain some of the ways that your community has engaged in God’s story of justice through Venture:

The Dallas community has really embraced Venture and has been able to use the organization as a way to act.

Some of the ways our community gets involved is by hosting the Southern Ride:Well team each year. We love making them feel appreciated each summer when they role through our church, The Oaks, by doing things like cooking for them, getting to know them, taking them to the doctor, and setting up a day of pampering with relaxing yoga and massages.

My favorite thing about Ride:Well being in town is having the Art Benefit. Members from the church and surrounding community have donated hundreds of pieces of art to be auctioned and sold on behalf of Ride:Well. It’s a fun night of art, music, and community. Last year we were able to raise $5,000 to put towards clean water projects in Africa. It is always a beautiful week.

We also have a coffee shop, The Cup, whose motto is ‘Benefit the World, Discover The Cup.’ Its main purpose is to raise money and awareness for Venture’s projects. The Cup is run by volunteers within our church, several of whom are Venture alumni, but all of whom want to see the injustices of this world radically overcome.

And last year our community started Run Free Dallas– an initiative to encourage people to live out the Venture motto in their local areas. On our first run we had some 60+ people all wearing Run Free shirts running through Dallas and making a difference.

What are some of the results of that engagement?

It has been so neat to watch people realize that God can and will use anybody to make a difference in the world. Families have pledged to make activities like the Water Walk a family affair, people are volunteering their weekdays and weekends to run the coffee shop, and so many individuals have signed up with Venture to climb mountains, ride their bikes around the country, and run in local races. It’s been really exciting to see this movement go from “something the young adults do” to something that the church does. When you see a 60-year-old couple carrying a couple gallons of water and a mom walking in the heat with her kids so that they can try to understand what people in other parts of the world are experiencing, you know that God is doing something in your community.

How has engaging in Venture locally been different than engaging through a cycling or hiking tour?

For our very first Run Free Dallas event we had around 60 individuals run anywhere from a 5k to a full marathon while wearing matching Run Free shirts. This Venture local activity was so inspiring because we were doing it with people that we see every week. While cycling or hiking with a team of people that you’ve just met and going through the bonding experience is priceless, there is something so fulfilling about partnering with your pastors, your friends, and the people you see on the other side of the church every Sunday to free slaves. You get the true feeling that you’re walking hand in hand with your community and together you’re fighting for people you’ll never know.

Are You Brave Or Are We Brave Together?

Last night I was riding the train from NYC to upstate where my dad lives. My iPhone was dead so I couldn't listen to music or browse Twitter and it was dark outside so I couldn't stare blankly out of the window. So naturally I decided to take this "free" time and talk to God. I always keep a notebook in my purse incase I need to write stuff down and more times that not this notebook gets filled with snippets of thoughts and ideas that I have as well as lists of scriptures followed by my own personal commentary.

On the 1.5-hour train ride home I had plenty of time so I pulled out my notebook and began to read through some very encouraging scriptures. As I read the dated entries I noticed something that sparked a question in my mind having to do with bravery.

About a year ago I attended a Women's Conference in Dallas. Normally I'm not the kind of person that would dig an event like this (too many women in one room give me the shakes) but I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun I had. At this conference there was a chocolate fountain, a dance party, and I got to hang with a bunch of my friends...It was kind of like being at a club. Anyways, during the course of that weekend the word bravery really stuck in my mind and I began praying about all of the areas of my life that require me to be brave. I remember having that anxious feeling that I get when I know I am going to have to make changes and lean completely on God for a strength that surpasses all understanding. I even wrote down several really inspiring scriptures that had me all pumped up to go out and be the next world changer. It all made sense; God was prepping me for something huge. Who knew, I was probably about to be "called" to Africa and asked to drop everything and leave everyone I know to go minister to the poor and sick.

Then life happened.

About six months ago my life took an unexpected, yet strangely expected, turn in a direction that I was not hoping for. As is the human way, I had begun to map out my future but I was strangely discontent with the direction I was leading myself. Big surprise, huh? I remember while in a moment of despair asking God to tell me what I needed to do and to give me the bravery I needed to do it. Then a lot of things changed and I had to take several deep breaths and decide whether I was going to collapse or keep moving forward. I remember hearing this question very clearly in mind, "Jessica, are you brave or are we brave together?" God was asking me in that moment if I was going to be brave on my own (aka-collapse) or if I was going to allow him to fill me up with the kind of bravery that doesn't falter, his bravery. In that time God confirmed what I already knew to be true- that I serve a God who gives me not just brute strength but glorious inner strength. It was one of the most magical times of my life.

On the train as I was reading through my notebook I was reliving several of these memories and I began to wonder what it would have been like if I had closed the gap between the time that God was speaking to me at the conference and when he was speaking to me only a few months ago. Would I have saved myself from some pain, some unhappy moments? Would I be all the wiser, the braver? Nobody can really know.

What I do know is this: I am wimpy, I am shy, I do not like conflict, and I do not like not knowing what is next or when things are going to happen. However, I've learned that God has made a safe place for me. In this place I can trust him to give me a boldness, a strength, a sort of bravery that should make me proud to travel through hardships, trial, and uncertainty because I know that through this bravery and boldness comes freedom.

And when we live in the freedom that God has for us-

everything changes.