Day 1: Wheels Up

I'm writing this in the car as we head to the airport. If you're reading this after 6:30PM EST , Lord willing, we'll be somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean on our way to Cape Town, South Africa.

Yesterday was all about packing. Today, the adventure officially begins.
Over the next couple of weeks, our team will pass through airports all over the world. Between all of us, we'll travel through Cleveland, Washington D.C., Cape Town, Johannesburg, Maputo, New York, Brussels, Kigali, and Nairobi before everyone finally makes it back home. It's a long journey, but it's one we're incredibly thankful to make.

Before I continue, let me give a huge thank you to Brad Smith, Glenda Bolling, Donna "Mrs. G" Gomez, and Kevin "Big Dawg" Jones for getting our team safely to the airport.

For today's post, we want you to meet our team. Over the next two weeks, each of these people will take a turn writing one of these daily blogs. But today, I asked each person two simple questions:

• What are you most excited about on this trip?
• What's one prayer request we can all be praying for you?
  
  

As you read through their answers, would you pray with us? Pray that God would keep our team healthy, unified, flexible, and faithful. Pray for the pastors and churches we'll serve alongside. Pray for the people we'll meet. And most of all, pray that Jesus would be glorified in everything we do.

Last-minute update: We made it to the airport!

By God's grace, we made it through check-in and security unbelievably smoothly. Now we're waiting to board our first flight. Next stop: Washington, D.C. After that, the long journey across the Atlantic to Cape Town begins. (It's only 15 hours...)

As for now....

Wheels up!