Bringing Meaning to Life - 2019 Spring Vision Dinners

“I’m not the one with passion to go deep into parts of the world…Those are the ‘arrows’, but Mike and I are senders, the ‘bows’. That brings meaning to my life.”

Laura Gouveia wrote this after attending the first of two Spring Vision Dinners in March 2019. For Laura, this ministry is more than a great cause; it is something that brings meaning to her life. The GO Fund is one way that Laura is obeying The Great Commission, it is her way to invest in eternity. Why? So that the unreached would hear the name of Jesus!

Laura and Mike Gouveia at the 2019 Spring Vision Dinner in Redlands, California.

Five years ago, Claude Hickman shared a powerful metaphor at the first annual Vision Dinner. Those who go are the “arrows” and those who send are the “bows” that launch them into ministry. Founder and Executive Director, Luke Womack, reminded the 2019 guests that we still need many bows and arrows to accomplish the task of bringing the Gospel to unreached people groups. Laura and her husband Mike are two of these “bows”, and they see their role as vitally important.

Founder and Executive Director, Luke Womack, addressing guests at the 2019 Spring Vision Dinner in Redlands, California.

Laura writes, “Here’s what happens… Young, bright, passionate people go to college, get their degree and then desire to go to the ends of the earth to tell people about Jesus. However, along with their degree comes A LOT of student loan debt. So, naturally, they start working, next they find a spouse, next comes the kids and so on goes life while they chip away at loan debt. Next thing you know, “life” has gotten in the way of that passion to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) and while the yearning to go burns on, so does their debt. The dream, the calling, the passion gets set aside and we lose the opportunity for Jesus to be known.”

Laura and Mike see the problem and they feel the weight of the issue. However, they have found the solution: The GO Fund!

The 2019 Spring Vision Dinners brought in a total of $230,092, funding 45 years of missions work! That is the solution. Champions like Laura and Mike have made it possible for missionaries to go and remain on the mission field. The burden of student debt, or as one applicant put it, “the only barrier I have right now,” is the one thing keeping most missionaries from the field. That does not have to be the case. The GO Fund exists to remove this barrier so that the gospel can be heard in every tribe, tongue and nation.

The first GO Fund missionary partners, David and Emily Rimestad, shared with guests that the only reason they are on the field today is because of The GO Fund. After five years of living among the Malayali people in Papua New Guinea, David and Emily are close to fully comprehending and speaking their language and will soon begin creating a written language and Bible for the Malayali people. The gospel will soon be heard for the very first time. Champions, “bows”, have made this reality possible.

Justin Pardee interviews David and Emily Rimestad at the 2019 Spring Vision Dinner in Redlands, California.

At the second Spring Vision Dinner, Keynote Speaker, Brooks Buser, shared his story of his time in Papua New Guinea. While Brooks has been able to see the gospel flourish in a place that had previously never heard the name of Jesus, he reminded guests that there are still hundreds of people groups desperately asking for a missionary to come share “the talk” with them. The task is still vast, and it will take many bows and arrows to accomplish it.

Keynote Speaker, Brooks Buser, addresses the guests at the 2019 Spring Vision Dinner in Santa Ana, California.

Laura longs to see the task accomplished and writes, “I loved hearing the vision all over again. How important it is to re-visit why we focus on the things we focus on, isn’t it? They gave us a little wooden chip at the end of the night as a reminder to keep praying. Mine is taped into our budget book so that every month I keep the vision alive so that I may be faithful to what God may provide to continue supporting this organization.”

Laura and Mike are just one example of the bows that are helping to launch missionary arrows onto the field, and that brings meaning to their lives.  

Will you join Laura and Mike in bringing meaning to your life by sending missionaries to the unreached?

The GO Fund Featured on The Missions Podcast

Click the link below and listen to The GO Fund’s Founder and Executive Director, Luke Womack, discuss student loans, why they keep missionaries off the field, and the solution to this problem on The Missions Podcast. This 42-minute episode aired on 03/18/19.

A Dream Of the solution

As Scott* lie down to sleep one evening, he asked God questions about the future. He asked about his family, where they should go and how the Lord might use them. They wanted to go into cross-cultural ministry but weren’t sure how they’d get there. That’s when he saw it.

He imagined a scene as clearly as if he were watching a movie. He saw of a group of people who came together to raise money and use it to pay off the student loan debt of those trying to move to the unreached.

In awe, he went to see his supervisor and he shared the vision of this team that takes the burden of debt for missionaries. Excitedly, his friend responded, “I was just talking with someone from an organization that does exactly that earlier today.”

He was referring to The GO Fund. Scott and his wife Amy are members of a church whose vision is to see the Kingdom spread and Gospel shared among the unreached of southeast Asia. It matches perfectly with The GO Fund’s goal to pave the way for those who are sent.

Scott and Amy are now in their final weeks of preparation before they move to southeast Asia. Years before they decided to go, they knew they were not going to make that final leap until they could rid themselves of their student debt.

It has been their church’s vision to send 500 missionaries to southeast Asia in the next 20 years and it became both Scott and Amy’s burden to be a part of that vision in a long-term way. They even visited with their son on a vision trip for a few weeks and they fell in love with the people there.

Their son bonded quickly with the locals who sat outside of the hotel where they were staying, and he would excitedly run to them every time he saw them. The couple saw how their family could be welcomed and given opportunities to create relationship. They knew they were called to move their family to southeast Asia, but they hated asking their debt for permission to do what God was leading them to do.

Their ultimate desire was to be obedient to the Lord in whatever their circumstances, but the distance between moving and paying off their debt seemed insurmountable.

Once they connected with The GO Fund, applied and were interviewed, they knew they could be affirmed in their decision to leave for the mission field without the bondage of debt.

Scott and Amy’s long-term goal is to see a self-sustaining, local church planted. Because of how God used The GO Fund, a dream and a vision will come to striking reality as he brings many more into his kingdom.

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*All names changed for security.