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.

Humbled

Wow. The week that I look forward to every year, Ride:Well week.

Each June a team of approximately 18 cyclist begins the journey of biking from the west coast to the east coast. They do this to raise awareness and support for Blood:Water Mission. Having been a part of a trip similar to this (climbing Mt. Kili) I know how emotionally and physically strenuous something of this nature can be. That is why every year when the team rolls through Dallas my friends and I do the best we can to make it a relaxing and memorable week for the team.

Our young adults community, The Gathering, has made it our special mission to make sure the team feels loved and supported for the few days that they are with us. One of the ways we do this is to host an art benefit that features local artist from our community. We auction off all of the art that is donated to us and then give the money that we make to the Ride:Well tour.

Last year we had about 80 pieces of art that were donated and we raised $3,500. That was huge for us considering the statistic that says $1 provides 1 African with clean water for 1 year. This year, we wanted to surpass that amount by $1,000, so we jumped in head-first. For the past two months a very committed team of people and I would meet every week to brainstorm, plan, problem solve, create and build a plan to out-do our last art benefit.

Well, the event was a huge success. We had about 150 art pieces donated and through it all we raised about $5,000. Although I've been involved in the planning process for this event for the past 2 years I've never been impacted the way that I was last night after we counted the money. I was humbled by the commitment of my community to spend late nights and countless hours putting this event together. I couldn't contain it. Tears flooded my eyes as the realization that the hard work we put it and the love that we gave to this benefit was going to provide 5,000 people with clean water. Does that even register with your brain? 5,000 lives changed. My life, changed.

Last night I realized, deep inside, that this lifestyle of giving until it hurts is not just a trend. This group of people that I'm surrounded by, they really care. We worked so hard and the team has cycled so far all because we want to see the water crisis in Africa ended.

This is crazy but we believe it's true: We are going to change the world. What we do every day is going to change this world. And I do believe that we will not rest until we see the change.

As I was driving home I was listening to a song that I love. One of the lyrics goes like this, "Rivers and roads. Rivers and roads. Rivers 'till I reach you."

I'm so humbled to be surrounded by a group of people that are willing to cross any river and travel any road until we reach justice.

Rivers 'till we reach you.

What Do You Want To Do?

Do you ever just want to do something?

I've been reading a lot lately about committing things to writing. Apparently when you do you are more likely to make the transition from dreaming to actually making plans and then actually doing.

I always think about putting the pen to paper but I get a little overwhelmed because there are so many things that I want to do. Then I get all stressed out because I have all of these dreams floating around in my head but none of them have any direction.

The other day I was at my women's bible study, Heart-to-Heart, and we were talking about asking God for the desires of our hearts and how scary that can be. I wonder why we feel silly/scared/guilty when we ask God for things. It is like we think He will be thrown of his game by one of our wants. As if.

Anyway, during this bible study we were challenged to write down things that we want and things that we want to do. Almost immediately this panicked feeling arose in my chest and I left the room to avoid having to do the exercise. Good job, Jess. Geez. But I can not stop thinking about it.

So, here is the beginning list of things that I want/want to do:

01) Get dreadlocks
02) Run a marathon
03) Be an avid rock climber
04) Be debt free
05) Be able to give anything and everything away with a happy heart
06) Live in a community house
07) Grow/raise my own food
08) Travel to each continent
09) Become a Zumba instructor
10) Move out of Texas
11) Speak Spanish fluidly
12) Open a hostel at the base of a mountain
13) Have an amazing kitchen with amazing cooking supplies
14) Bake everyday

Sheesh, that feels better already...

What are some things that YOU want to do?