Mobilizing for Mission: Here, There, and Everywhere
May 2025
How does a local body of believers develop an awareness of and even a passion to be involved in cross-cultural missions? For starters, they talk about it. They talk about it often. They teach a Biblical theology of mission. They highlight and pray for missionaries. In short, they make it a priority—not just a once-in-a-while mention.
Grace Church of Orange in California is one such church. They recently hosted a one-day conference called “Mobilizing for Mission: Here, There, and Everywhere.” They invited other Charis Fellowship churches in the Orange County area to join, as well as some local non-Charis churches, including a delegation from a church just across the border in Mexico. All in all, there were about 180 people in attendance, ranging from teenagers to seniors. They even provided childcare and taught the kids about missions on a level appropriate for them.
Pastors James Holt and Randy Clark (a recent Encompass appointee to Japan along with his wife Susan) were the main architects of the conference. There were three main sessions throughout the day along with two times for breakout sessions each offering seven unique topics. Some speakers were from local churches, including Charis pastors Oscar Chavez, Eric Durso, and Michael Sciarra. They also invited Charis national ministries to lead breakouts, including Momentum Ministry Partners (Tim Lansing) and Encompass World Partners (Cecil O’Dell and Dave Pacheco). They served a delicious international lunch, including homemade pasole provided by a ladies group from the church in Mexico.
In various ways, attendees were challenged to seek out where they fit in with God’s plan to use the church to take the gospel to the world. At a minimum, nearly 200 people were exposed to the need for cross-cultural outreach—some, perhaps, for the first time.
Could your church and larger community benefit from a one-day conference like this? We think the answer is “Yes!”
More Stories
When Anna* was challenged to think about her goals for 2026, she sensed a clear nudge from God: begin preparing material to train others....
February 17, 2026
“In the 1980s, if you walked into a Christian bookstore in France, you’d find maybe two shelves of Christian books,” Florent...
February 13, 2026
As someone who’s spent much of his life planting churches in Asia, Ted now serves as the Director of Encompass...
February 10, 2026
Reaching the unreached is a beautiful idea, but it’s a lot easier said than done. Even so, Auburn Grace Community...
February 9, 2026
“I had no idea what Japan was,” Kya says. “Then my parents took me when I was 10, and now I wake up every day and think about...
January 30, 2026
Mika* grew up in Japan as part of a family that was culturally Buddhist, yet God gently placed people in her life who...
January 29, 2026
Grace Church in Simi Valley, California has been partnering with Encompass for over 60 years now, making us their primary missions agency. That...
January 23, 2026
The environment a child grows up in becomes their baseline for what’s normal. As you can imagine, children growing up overseas often form a...
January 23, 2026
“I never set out to become a crisis response person,” says Barb. In fact, if you had asked her younger...
January 21, 2026
