friday night was a night we look forward to all year! a+ volunteer appreciation dinner! everyone who works every week to make church happen dresses up and comes out to party! we had the insanely amazing nate and jaclyn set up their infamous crazybooth...CHECK IT!


Volunteers Slideshow 2008 from CCC San Diego on Vimeo.

thanks again to all the a+ volunteers...this wouldn't happen without you! mmmmuuuuuahhhhhh!

guest blogger: ps natalie
kids church was transformed into a pirate dwelling paradise for our annual treasure hunt day!! last month bought many young lasses, maidens and ‘jack Sparrows’ out the gally’s to come partake in the chance for some of the pirate treasure, greeted by many a crazy crew leader!!

as our pirates walked in past the ‘black pearl’ ship through the ‘far away forest’ they started their embark with some pirate style praise and worship, before visiting the unchartered territory of places like the ‘forbidden city’ ‘the field of dreams’ and ‘deadmans wood’…oooh…the pirates came dressed in their finest pirate garb as they embarked on a quest like no other. even our little pirates got ready for this day and had special pirate activities!

each territory gave a new challenge and bible clue to draw them one step closer to the ultimate treasure which was guarded by the gatekeeper and ‘the 3 headed PIRATE DOG’ aka cooper. making it to the final leg, the pirates all got to partake of the rich bounty as they sat there and revealed the ULTIMATE treasure. what was it you ask? …..the WORD of GOD…the BIGGEST treasure of them all as our young pirates discovered!! our pirates with their left over energy mustered up their creativity as we finished our 10.30 service with what will be a very memorable occurrence ‘PIRATE RUNWAY’!! four brave individuals got ‘made over’ into pirates creating designers outfits from plastic tablecloths, fabric, paper, beads and other bits and pieces before getting their faces painted and walking the plank in front of the fellow crew members. morale was increasingly high as we celebrated together this great achievement with pirate jason taking home the prize!!

yarr what a great event!!

we had the pleasure of meeting travis and david from global support mission a couple of weeks ago and we love these guys! its not often you get to meet people this passionate and committed to CHANGING THE WORLD (not to mention cool, clever and business savvy :) they saw a need, felt god's call to do something about it and decided to step into action. the purpose of global support mission is "to see a movement of compassion wipe out hunger, disease and extreme poverty."
this is part TWO of a two segment interview with them...you'll be seeing and hearing a lot more from them in 2009!

What are the plans for the future?

DAVID: Well, Travis and I love to plan, so there are LOTS of plans...we are heading back to East Africa for December and January. Then we have our annual fundraising banquet, “This Is Love”, in February. After that we are planning on visiting Central and South America and also Nepal.

We are currently working on our new website for our KNOW.THINK.ACT program. It'll be really interactive. Users will be able to upload pics and vids of their action groups as well as blogging and commenting on other action group ideas. It's gonna be really cool and will enable lots of people to get involved. We are also very media driven, so we are working toward releasing our first DVD project for our KNOW.THINK.ACT program. It will be the first in a 10-disc DVD set that covers a variety of problems found in third world countries. We are also planning on launching an intern program in Spring 2010.


What does a normal day for you look like?

TRAVIS: There are no normal days. They're all different... it depends what projects we have going on and which country or state I'm in. Checking my email is probably the most consistent and normal thing I do. It's never boring. I get to use both sides of my brain on a regular basis...I like that.

DAVID: LONG...we work a lot, usually 10-14 hrs a day 6 days a week...sometimes we work on Sundays too, depending on the projects that are going on...but we like to have fun, so many days go by and it doesn't feel like work. It also helps to like the people you work with.


Whats your craziest africa experience?

TRAVIS: hmm.... that's a hard one. For some reason I seem to attract crazy situations... motorcycle accidents, corrupt police, falling coconuts, wild dogs, almost lost an eye once (actually a funny story)... but if I had to choose one I'd say... getting electrocuted. The short version is...I accidently touched some bare wires and should have died, but didn't...THANK GOD.

DAVID: Since Travis nearly dies every time he goes to africa, my stories don't really compare...but i did have a pretty creepy experience this past April. I took a “shower” (it's really just a bucket of water) and little did i know, but it was that time of year when the termites are swarming...so what does that mean?

Well imagine standing outside, naked, in the dark in your small and dimly lit shower stall. You've just wet your body to begin washing—then you realize that termites are flying all over the place. Because you're wet they are sticking to you—squirming and flapping their little wings...ugh...creeps me out typing this...I'm reliving it...


What things have you sacrificed to make global support mission happen?

TRAVIS: Let's just say, that verse that says, “when you lose your life, you'll find it” has a lot more meaning now. What we do isn't a job. It's a lifestyle. I have a partially remodeled house that hasn't been touched in a year and half, no girlfriend (yet), I very rarely buy anything I don't absolutely need, etc. It can be difficult at times... but it is so so worth it! I couldn't imagine living life any other way.

DAVID: hmm...where do i start? I really miss spending more time with my friends and family, watching football, going camping...oh, yeah and i really want a Lamborgini.


Since you started doing this what is the impact on their faith/how have you seen God provide for you?

TRAVIS: Earlier this year a woman in the community, whom no one knew, came to church and said, “I have seen what you have been doing in the community (referring to our local partner organization)... and you all must serve a great and loving God.” She gave her life to Christ that day and the rest of her family followed. I think this one story says it all.

I had several months last year when I was literally completely broke. I had some change in my checking account and that was it... seriously. There were several days where I just wanted to cry, throw a pity party and QUIT! But I made it through. Friends would take me out to lunch and then give me a check... and they were completely unaware of my financial situation. And then recently we met these really cool people in San Diego... and now they're raising money to help buy us a computer... yay!

God's provision is what has brought me this far. “Seek first the kingdom of God, and everything else will be added unto you.” Once again scripture has new and relevant meaning in my life.

David: This past April we were all in Africa working when we received a distressing call from the US. Somehow our web hosting provider had incorrect information on file and our web address expired and was sold to another company. We spent hours on the phone with our hosting service explaining that our website was extremely important to our cause and that 80% of our donations come throught it...but to no avail. They said that they couldn't help us.

That day we went to a local internet cafe and sent a desperate email to everyone we knew asking them to pray over the situation. That night our cell phone woke me. A friend forwarded our email to her friends, and that friend also forwarded the email. Well one of those friends actually worked in the domain name industry and knew the people who bought our domain name.She actually called them personally and explained our situation. They were so inspired by what we do, that they actually gave the name back to us for free!

It's really amazing to see that kind of stuff happen. It confirms that we are doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing.

we had the pleasure of meeting travis and david from global support mission a couple of weeks ago and we love these guys! its not often you get to meet people this passionate and committed to CHANGING THE WORLD (not to mention cool, clever and business savvy :) they saw a need, felt god's call to do something about it and decided to step into action. the purpose of global support mission is "to see a movement of compassion wipe out hunger, disease and extreme poverty."
this is part one of a two segment interview with them...and you'll be seeing and hearing a lot more from them in 2009!

How and when was global support mission started?

TRAVIS: Everything started from a trip I took to Uganda my senior year of college in 2004. I had always wanted to go to Africa and was having problems finding someone to host me... so I got on Google and typed in orphanages in africa. I did some research and sent out a mass email to a bunch of different local organizations. A woman named Faith, who had started an organization called Bringing Hope to the Family, stood out from all the other responses I received. We emailed back and forth a few times, I called guy in CA who knew her... to make sure she was legit and then flew out to Uganda for Christmas break.

My life was never the same after that trip. I had experienced extreme poverty before, but I had never seen local people doing so much for their own community with so little. It was so inspiring! I continued to stayed in touch with Faith and began working as her “US Coordinator” I started dreaming about starting a non-profit, but thought it was something I'd do later in life.

January 2006, I made one of the most life changing decisions of my life... I decided to step out and start something sooner than later. I remember praying, “Lord, if you grow this thing... I'll give my life to it.” And grow it he did.

March 2006, I got the name Global Support Mission. I also started putting together a team to go back with me in December.

September 2006, I quit my job and started focusing on GSM full time (just living off savings). People were really starting to catch the vision and we now had a team.

October 2006, David Cahill (my other half) came in to the picture. We had met a few times before, but we still weren't friends. A mutual friend of ours brought him to my birthday party. He started asking me tons of questions about GSM and what we were working towards. We started working together the next week... and pretty much every day since.

David and I made GSM an official non-profit and we incorporated the next month. We went back to Uganda that December and wrote our purpose, mission and values. We just spent all day up on this huge hill... it was pretty incredible! We got our 501.c.3 in May 2007 and the rest is history!


What was the experience like of starting g.s.m.?

TRAVIS: Incredible! There's nothing like having a dream and then seeing it become a reality. It was by far the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but also the most fulfilling.

DAVID: Yeah, I second that. When you have a burning desire inside and put everything else aside to pursue it, it's pretty scary. But when those dreams begin to take shape and become reality, you can't help but know this is what you were made for.


Have things changed since then?

TRAVIS: Definitely! Our purpose and mission are more clearly defined, we've gained a lot of experience in a short amount of time and most importantly more people are now involved. People make an organization! I also feel like we've reached a place of sustainability... and are starting to build a great reputation around the US.


What can we as individuals do to get involved?

DAVID: There are several ways to act. The first is becoming a storyteller. Storytellers tell their friends and family our story and stories of the people we work with. Become our friend on Facebook and MySpace, join our Cause, and spread the word to your friends. Awareness is always the first step.

Another way to get involved is to log on to KNOW.THINK.ACT and start an Action Group. Action Groups are groups of people who work together to raise money for specific items that benefit the organizations and communities that we work with. 100% of the money you raise goes directly to the need—we don't take any of it for administration.

You can also become a monthly partner. Monthly partners are people who understand what we do, how we do it, and that we need money to run this organization. For every dollar that we received in partner giving last year, we turned it into $8.50.