What I Learned on Mission in Orlando

By Greg Dear

Greg Dear, the father of Amy Parkinson, served as a chaperone on the recent DSM mission trip with Serve Orlando. The team of 26 students and adults spent all last week serving with a variety of ministries throughout the Orlando area. Greg shares some of the things he learned on the trip.

I learned so many things during our time in Orlando. I learned facts and figures about how many people live in homelessness, how many are hungry, how many struggle with physical health, and how many are trafficked for labor or sex. I learned that there are many plans from the full spectrum of political view points for how to address these challenges. Some of them have good aspects and work well, some do not.

Yet, among all the statistics, plans, and programs what we saw and experienced was real flesh and blood people. We did not talk to numbers, we did not feed statistics – we helped real men, women, and children who were hurting and in need. And there were so many more we did not see.

If I leave what I saw and experienced in Orlando, and ignore what God is teaching me, not allowing it to transform me, then what I went on was a work trip, not a mission trip. If all I did was learn some facts and figures and provide sweat equity for a few projects, then I missed the point. God went with us on this trip. He planned it. He pre-ordained who went and what happened on the trip. It was, after all, a mission trip aimed at bringing Him glory.

How many hungry, homeless, sick, and abused men, women, and children will it take before I allow God to break my heart for what beaks God's heart - in my backyard, my neighborhood, my school, my workplace, my church, my community?

My prayer leaving this trip is: Lord, break me so I don't just watch, don't just talk about it, but find a way to act, to feed, to clothe, to shower, to launder, to teach, to heal, to give dignity, to love - when they need it, where they need it, and the way Christ did it.

Not with mere human love, but with the same love Christ showed us.

I want to thank Heather and the entire DSM community for allowing me this opportunity to work and learn with you - to grow in Christ and make special memories and friends that will last a lifetime. Thanks for how you have touched my life.