Day 23/Keith & Karen Dodson: A Guest Blog by Sarah Boller

Day 23: Keith & Karen Dodson

APRIL 26, 2018 / SARAH BOLLER

This week my team of prayer warriors, encouragers, sharers, and financial partners are celebrating being 50% funded! Over the last 8 months I’ve been diligently pursuing God’s calling on my life to be a career missionary in Sierra Leone, West Africa. That includes a lot of fundraising, or as Keith would put it Partnership Development.

Keith and Karen are a part of the Global Outreach Mission team that keep me from crossing the ‘straight-jacket-crazy’ line. Specifically, they spend their days helping newly minted missionaries focus on fundraising now, so when they’re in the field, they can focus on the people God is leading them to serve.

It looks something like this:

You’ve been called to another country. Your heart is there. You are ready to do the work, to meet the people, to invest everything you have into this purpose God has given you. You are certain of God’s promise for your future.

But you have to wait.

You have to be fully funded. Something that is not in your control. I wasn’t kidding about that ‘straight-jacket-crazy’ line. I’m pretty sure I play jump rope with it. But Keith and Karen reel me back in. They encourage me to keep going, to step out of my comfort zone, to change my perspective. They’re missionaries too. They’ve raised their own support. They know exactly what we’re going through because they’re in the same boat. Yep, that’s them over there on the right, 3 rows from the front, taking pictures. Go ahead, give them a wave.

Pray for them today. Let the Spirit lead you as you pray over their life, their marriage, their ministry, and their adorable cocker spaniel , Tucker. Thank God for their tremendous role in His Kingdom.

YOU ARE Transforming Lives in Uganda!

Karen and I are called to walk beside, work with, and watch over Global's missionaries as they raise the funds necessary to continue effective ministry or to begin their new ministry.

And while we are blessed to do this...YOU make our service possible. YOUR gifts and prayers enable us to enable others to expand God's Kingdom around the world! YOU are the power, the push, behind our privilege to serve and the ability of many others to serve.

Consequently, as you support us in North Carolina you are also transforming lives in Uganda through Nixon & Chasity Katabira as we coach them to full financial support over the next few months. Please watch the video, meet Nixon & Chasity, see the lives YOU are touching, and learn how God is at work through this dear family in Africa and YOUR gifts for us.

Click here to partner with us in coaching 
the Katabira's to full support!

Here's Our Spring 2018 Newsletter!

 Click on the images to view the newsletter pages in your photo browser!

New Website, Corporate Photo, Updated Bio and Guatemala?

Global Outreach Mission Has Launched A New Website
If you haven't checked out Global's new website-- CLICK HERE to gain entry. Clicking there will take you to our "Leadership" page where you can check and see if you recognize anyone...like...ME in the parade of administrative mugshots!

Then once you recognize me, click on the "Learn More" button to enjoy an official, updated bio and view my enhanced "corporate" photo. Facebook comments on the photo have moved along the lines of "sharp," NCIS", "spiffy," and "corporate."

This is not my corporate shot. This is my "it's 40 degrees outside, windy, and almost all the snow has melted working in my downtown Graham office" shot.

This is not Karen's corporate shot either. This is her "I have an abscessed tooth and am on medication for the pain" shot.

And this is Karen's "I feel better now so why don't I crush you at Rummy Cube" shot.

Meanwhile Down In Guatemala
Stephanie, one of the missionaries we coached to full support, now represents Christ in Guatemala where she provides medical care to those most needing it and works to develop a women's clinic along the very edge of the town's landfill.

Stephanie loving and caring as Jesus loves and cares.

From Stephanie:

I am going to work as a nurse in Guatemala because people are dying unnecessarily and simple education and health care can prevent that. But the real reason I am going to Guatemala is because God is going to use me to bring people into His kingdom. In a culture where women are devalued and male machismo is dominant, childbirth provides unique access into women’s lives. With such access, I can develop relationships and trust to speak to women about the Source of Life, Jesus. I will have access to talk to them about their destiny in Jesus and that of their child-whether the birth of a child brings hope and anticipation to the women, or whether it is laced with fear and grief. I will teach that God has had a name for that child since before time began. In a country that has the highest maternal and infant death rates in Central America, I can welcome the presence of God into the room and take a stand against death. I can cover the labour, delivery, and lives of the mother, baby, and family in prayer. I am not going to Guatemala to simply be a nurse. Anyone could do that. Instead, I go armed with the knowledge that God can take an earthly situation and turn it into a deeply spiritual one. I will invite the Holy Spirit into the room through worship, and be attuned to the voice of the Great Physician and Healer. I will simply be a vessel in the hand of God.

Administrative Ministry, At Times, Can Be Less Exciting Than A Marvel Comics Adventure Movie

Sometimes it may look like we're not "doing" a lot here in Graham. I mean, how many pictures can we post of us pounding on our keyboards or staring at our laptop screens? Please know that every keystroke we make, every video conference we hold, each bit of data we input and every piece of content we create...God's Kingdom is being expanded.

Some days it's even challenging for us to feel like we're making a contribution. But then we see pictures and hear the testimonies of the folks, like Stephanie, who you've helped get to the field and we remember that we're part of their journey too.

It's a long way from Graham to Guatemala

Thank you for closing that gap through your faithful partnership and prayers!