::The Grand Canyon State::

"The phoenix hope, can wing her way through the desert skies, and still defying fortune's spite; revive from ashes and rise." ::Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra::

We had a mission field presentation on Tuesday for Phoenix, Arizona. This is one of our 3 domestic fields. I co-led a spring break mission trip in 2009 to Chandler (a suburb of Phoenix) from Harding University. It was one of THE best weeks of my life, with wonderful friends, and great memories. We hosted a VBS and door-knocked around a poorer suburb of Chandler. It was wonderful to see it all come together and all of the desire the kids had to learn about Jesus.

Having been to Phoenix, I had an idea of the mission work needed there. The AIM team will live and work downtown. They will do a lot of inner-city work, as well as work with the college students going to school in downtown Phoenix. It may not be a "foreign" field, but working with the poorest neighborhood in the 5th largest city in the US is a challenge of its own.

So many times we overlook the mission field here in our back yard. Phoenix needs the Gospel just as much as South Africa; California, my home, needs the Gospel as does Lubbock, Texas. Just as Kris and Pat, the AIM Directors remind us, we already on the mission field. The mission is for every Christian; everywhere we go there are people who need God. So let's -you and me- go tell them!

-ej