Imago Dei: Preserving God’s image in Cambodia

Holland Prior is an ordained pastor with the Wesleyan Church and a graduate of Azusa Pacific University. She also received a Master of Divinity degree from APU. Holland was one of my team leaders on a mission trip to New Orleans in the summer of 2008. She traveled to Cambodia from February 12-22. Before she left, I talked to her about the coming journey.

Justice Defined

Justice. It’s a word denoting the concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, and equity. History is littered with attempts to define it philosophically, pragmatically, existentially and scientifically. Every page of world history tells a story of justice or injustice, intertwined with the story of civilization.

Waves of Compassion

Daniel Looman took an illuminating trip to El Salvador with Surfers on Mission. In addition to the unspoiled beauty of the surf, Looman discovered the beauty of the people.

Going Coconuts

I love coconuts. I always have. From the time I was a middle school girl meandering through Bath & Body Works stores armed with my allowance, I would always buy the coconutiest scent available, with vanilla or other fruity overtones.
My favorite salad growing up: ambrosia with coconut flakes. After playing in the sun all day, [...]

Faith, Hope And NOLA

I was born in San Jose, California. But I came alive in New Orleans.
Her story cannot be forgotten, and her voice must never be silenced.
She struts and sings, dances and screams for help.
Purple, green and gold, my love is beautiful and bold
and she’s drowning on August Twenty-Ninth, Two-Thousand and Five.

Eastern Poetry

Poet Brianna Tongen presents four poems inspired by her travels working with the poor in India and Myanmar.

Love is an action

Billy Scanlan has been traveling in Southeast Asia, recording what he sees in photos and words. For more of Billy’s work, visit his blog A Context for Hope.
With a little love and care, even the darkest corners of the world can become spectacles of hope.
Svey Pak, Cambodia, was one of those dark corners, where [...]

Putting a Face on the Faceless

When Sarah Freeman called to tell her friend Stephen Christian about her mission trip to Haiti, she was just asking for prayer.

Twenty-four hours later, Christian, who is the lead singer of the rock band Anberlin, called Freeman back to let her know he was going too, and bringing friends along with him.

When love isn’t easy

“Calcutta eats missionaries for breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” the missionary from Chenai warned us.
Huddled together in the dark basement of a ministry building in San Francisco, our team of 12 women and two men received our Calcutta briefing from a veteran of over 25 years in India.
He told us of Koli, the goddess [...]

Seeing the Invisible

Millions of people pass through Howrah train station in Kolkota, India, but there is an invisible life that few travelers actually see. Around 200 orphaned children live at the train station, huffing glue to suppress their appetites and living a violent, tragic, almost animalistic lifestyle.
ost of the kids have no idea how they even [...]