Thirst Missions in Alaska-What You Can Pray For
By Adam Swenson, Director of Alaska Operations
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. – 1 Corinthians 13:6-7
Alaska is a beautiful, sun-drenched land in the summer, but it’s also a place of great spiritual darkness. Alcohol and drug abuse, emotional and physical abuse behind closed doors. Many people are living with deep hurts and turn to many drugs or distractions to dull their pain.
Our moder
n society has a lot of different notions about Christ and what he was about, but if we take him at his word, he came to bless the poor in spirit, to bless those who mourn, to bless the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers. He came to bring restoration: a right relationship between God and each individual person, to lift people out of their sufferings and offer them a place in the family of God.
To me that means taking Christ at his word, offering ourselves to him, and entering into the family of God, and that family of God the body of believers that makes up a good, local, healthy church.
We talk about “missions.” Thirst is a mission organization, and many churches are coming up this summer on a “mission trip.” There are a lot of misconceptions in culture about what missions means. I think that, as my pastor Frank Stewart always says, that is “being about my Father’s business. I’ve got to be about my Father’s business.”
We see the Father’s business most clearly in the person of Christ. He loved sacrificially and unconditionally. He gave himself up for others, putting others ahead of himself. He showed a way to God. He healed and loved and spoke truth into people’s lives. He brought restoration and healing. Quite simply, that is the mission. That is why we do what we do.
As Christians we know that there are spiritual forces at play that will come against this.
How You Can Pray for Us
Staff: We just finished our staff training late last night, capping off a long three days of study and adventure with pasta carbonara and Alaskan tiramisu. Our trip leaders have very strong backgrounds in ministry and leadership and our assistant leaders are mainly Alaskans with great knowledge of the area, wildlife, customs, and culture. It’s a great mix and I’m seeing that we are all able to learn a lot from each other: everything from how to run an effective meeting to cooking skills, wildlife identification, where to find the freshest produce, and how to respectfully and fully handle conflict.
Please pray for strength, courage, and steadfastness for all our staff as we lead teams in many challenging areas. There is great opportunity for growth for those on the teams, but also for our staff.
Teams: We have 15 mission teams coming up this summer from all over the US. Some are youth groups, some are multi-generational groups from churches who want to come up and minister. Pray for unity among the teams, pray for effective ministry, and pray that they will see a greater vision of God’s work in a faraway place that they can take back with them.
Our first team is from PaulAnn Baptist church in San Angelo, Texas. They are coming to minister at Sonrise Community Church in the Mountainview neighborhood in Anchorage. This is a very urban and low income area in the most diverse neighborhood in America. It reminds me of a quote from CT Studd, a 19th-century pastor, “Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell;
I want to run a rescue shop, within a yard of hell.”
At Sonrise, 40% of the people who attend are homeless. The congregation is wildly diverse and definitely not affluent. During the last meeting I had with the pastor, Dennis Richardson, he got called away in the middle of it to deal with an urgent police matter with one of the people who attend. He took care of it. He was an advocate for a man who literally has no one – I loved that. I think if Christ were here in the flesh now, He would work at a church like this.
The heart of Christ is with the broken and the lost. I am very excited to be starting our mission in Alaska in what is maybe the most high need area in the state. Please keep it in prayer.
Ministries: Our teams are doing a very wide variety of ministries this summer, from Vacation Bible School to day camps for at-risk kids, to job training for people coming out of homelessness to conferences to provide care and healing for women coming out of homelessness, domestic abuse, and drug abuse. We are diving in with both feet and trusting God to work to bring healing to the broken.
Please pray that our teams will be able to effectively communicate God’s love in word and in our actions.
Log
istics: Perhaps the steepest mountain to climb in all of this is the logistics. (Anyone know of a used Ford 8 lug rim in the Mat-Su Valley for a mid-90s e350 with a 225/75/16 tire with load range E? Preferably not over $50. Or of a great deal on 40 pillows and blankets? Thanks!) For each team that comes to serve we need to work out transportation, lodging, food, staffing, ministries, church partners, recreation, and the millions of details that come with each category.
The details, while sometimes onerous, are important and need to be there for the ministries to happen as they should. So keep all of that in prayer too!
The Swenson Family: Adam (me) is leading this whole enterprise while Maureen is providing excellent logistical support. Katja is being her usual sweet self and a very good sport with everything. We’re all living in a small RV for the summer, which so far has been a lot of fun and provided for a lot of… um… family togetherness. So far so good.
At the end of the day, we are blessed to serve here. We’ve met a ton of amazing people and already feel connected to a great community where our staff is staying here at Little Beaver Camp outside Wasilla. We appreciate your prayers.
In Christ,
Adam Swenson
Adam is the Director of Alaska Operations and the Director of Sales and Marketing. When not at work, he’s typically disc golfing or watching Madam Secretary with his wife and daughter.
