Bethany DuVal, Author at TEAM Christian Missions Blog

When Your Escape from Ministry Becomes Your Ministry

Burnt out and worn down, Steve Dresselhaus was ready to resign from being a missionary. Until he went kayaking. Photos courtesy of Steve Dresselhaus

Sep 19 2016

What is your passion? What is the thing you get most excited about? The thing you would be doing if all your dreams came true? Whatever it is, Steve Dresselhaus guarantees you can turn it into a ministry — and he should know. For over a decade, the TEAM missionary has led people to the Lord, discipled new believers, counseled couples and more, all while kayaking on the beautiful Sea of Cortez in Mexico. Steve actually started kayaking as a way to escape mission work. In 1996, the pastor was burnt out to the point that he sent TEAM his…

Staring at a blank screen when you sit down to write your missionary newsletter? Try out these time-tested tips to make updating your supporters a joy.

Jul 19 2016

This is part one of two-part series on missionary newsletters. Read part two, “How to Design a Beautiful Missionary Newsletter,” here. It was the kind of moment every ministry worker on a support trip looks forward to: The woman shared how excited she always got to see my blue newsletter envelope in the mail. Then she took me to the church sanctuary and told her friend, You’ve got to meet Beth. She’s been to Asia and Africa and all over the place! It was great. Except that I’d been to Asia once, my missions organization didn’t send people to Africa…

When Jennifer Hylton asked God for peace about her future, she got far more than she could have imagined. Photos by TEAM.

Jul 07 2016

When TEAM missionary Jennifer Hylton shares how God called her to France, she gets straight to the point, with no effort to impress: “I felt God speak right to my heart: ‘You have a future in missions.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t even know what that means.’” As a first-generation Christian in her 20s, Hylton didn’t know a single missionary, much less how God would call one. She had been praying for peace about her future, thinking she might go to medical school or relocate, but mission work was nowhere on her list. When she sensed God speaking to…

Steve and Donna Niles have served for 37 years in France, with one constant theme to their work. Photo by TEAM.

Jul 05 2016

Most missionaries can look back at their former lives and see what God used to prepare them for the field. For Steve Niles, it was his father’s cows and life on the farm that prepared him for a life of discipling others and leading by example. “I’m not an intellectual teaching in the Bible school,” Niles said. “I grew up on a farm, and I learned everything hands on. I just like to do that with other people.” Steve’s first mentees were his own sons. As he and his wife, Donna, raised four boys, the couple focused on teaching…

Many aged-out orphans in Zimbabwe face unemployment and a lack of skills to change their lives. But an agricultural training program is planting the seeds for a hopeful future. Photos courtesy of Steve and Anthea Love

May 24 2016

“How can you go back and help the children of the very people who took your family’s livelihood?” a supporter asked TEAM missionary Anthea Love before she left for Zimbabwe. A missionary’s departure for the field doesn’t usually prompt questions about bitterness. But then, most missionaries aren’t returning to the nation where their family lost everything. Sixteen years ago, in an effort to right colonial-era wrongs, Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe introduced land reform that seized 4,000 white farmers’ land. Among those farmers were Anthea’s parents. With a mix of corruption and poor execution, the redistribution project led to the collapse…

From marketers to accountants to engineers, kingdom professionals are leveraging the skills and talents in the workplace to make disciples of all nations. Photo by TEAM

Apr 28 2016

Everyone knows what becoming a missionary means: Quit the job you enjoy, attend a fancy seminary, get fitted for one of those safari hats and start looking for random strangers to proselytize. OK, maybe not the hat, but the rest tend to be considered non-negotiable. Unless you’re a doctor, a teacher or capable of starting a whole business (as mission), giving up your career and learning cold evangelism are seen as part of the “dying to self” all missionaries go through. But what if, in a growing global economy, building your career was one of the most effective ways to…

Mar 16 2016

In the days leading up to the 50th Super Bowl, football experts across the U.S. made their predictions known to the media. But Zach Harrod was probably the only one making public predictions in Prague — and hoping it would help him plant a church. Step into the ministry of church planting, and God is bound to surprise you with the directions He takes you. Around the world, missionaries have found themselves befriending acrobatic rock dancers, painting Bible stories in the park, working as baristas, using fish to grow tomatoes and, yes, making TV appearances as one of the few…

Dave and Cheryl Jereb provide food, skills training and the gospel message to their community through Fish for Life. Photo courtesy of Cheryl Jereb

Nov 30 2015

History is full of missionaries who found success by blending in with the local culture. TEAM missionary Dave Jereb found it while building a reputation as a crazy, old, white guy. Dave and his wife, Cheryl, came to Zimbabwe with a vision to provide sustainable food sources and job training for needy communities through aquaponics, a self-contained system for growing produce and fish. The fish live in tanks, and the nutrient-rich water is piped into plant beds where crops grow hydroponically. The plant roots cleanse the water, which is then pumped back into the fish tanks. Within a few months, fresh…

Retirees, former missionaries, supporting church members, appointees and staff gathered in Dallas for the first of eight Anniversary Events celebrating TEAM’s 125 years of history. Photo by Joel Hager/TEAM

Apr 08 2015

This year, TEAM is turning 125, and as we celebrate around the world, it’s got us asking some questions: “How are we holding up?” “Where are we going?” “What are these stones?” That last question may seem a little odd, but it’s one God expects his people to ask, and its answer has great power. In Joshua 4, God told the Israelites to make a memorial: one stone for every tribe that crossed the Jordon River on dry land. When their children asked, “What are these stones?” Joshua explained, they should share what God did for them, “that all the…

Author - Bethany DuVal

When Your Escape from Ministry Becomes Your Ministry

10 Steps to Writing a Memorable Missionary Newsletter

Finding Out What a Future in Missions Means

37 Years of Humble Discipleship for Missionaries in France

Planting a Future for Zimbabwe’s Aged-Out Orphans

When Becoming a Missionary Means Keeping Your Job

5 Things No One Tells You About Church Planting

A Crazy Man, Fish and the God Who Provides

125 Years of TEAM: Celebrating Stones of Remembrance