\u201cI\u00a0went to Bible college, but not to study theology; I studied music and set up a Christian band. College didn\u2019t last long though. I dropped out as the band became more successful. We were riding high, even getting gospel music awards. Then we played at a huge youth conference and the main speaker turned to everyone and said \u201cWhat are you holding on to? What are you not giving up for God?\u201d I knew. My heart whispered to my head \u2018the band\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I said to the other band members that I couldn\u2019t carry on. Lots of ideas were rattling around my head, including thoughts about whether I was called to mission. Then I found AIM and their short term opportunities. \u201cGreat\u201d, I thought \u201cI can do that for a year, do my Christian deed, and tick that off my list\u201d. So I signed up to work with a construction team, building houses for new Training in Ministry Outreach (TIMO) teams. It was on this short term team that I encountered Islam, and Christians who had grown up as Muslims. It opened my eyes. I was invited to attend an AIM conference and the information we were given compelled me to think more about what I was going to do with the rest of my life. So I went back to Bible school, finished my degree, and then signed up for a TIMO team. I knew that God was calling me to serve him, and to share the gospel long term.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pray that more church leaders in the UK would challenge young people to consider mission<\/p>\n
*names changed for security<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Then we played at a huge youth conference and the main speaker turned to everyone and said \u201cWhat are you holding on to? What are you not giving up for God?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":34654,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"wpupg_custom_link":[],"wpupg_custom_link_behaviour":["default"],"wpupg_custom_link_nofollow":[],"wpupg_custom_image":[],"wpupg_custom_image_id":[],"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[691,43],"aim_location":[],"aim_ministry":[],"aim_media_types":[],"unreached_people":[],"class_list":["post-26117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-stories","tag-connect-october-2019","tag-north-africa"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n