I’m on a small plane from Athens to Vienna on the 25th day of a month-long journey through Africa and Europe. By the time I reach home, I will have taught five schools in four nations, led a team from our great friends, Betenbough Companies, on a tour of Paul’s footsteps in Greece, seen many miraculous healings at the Vrendendal school graduation, and set the stage for groundbreaking new works!

I’ve lost count of the current PI initiatives equipping frontline shepherds and laborers worldwide, but I think there are ~33–35 training schools with over 1,100 students fully engaged with us and growing as useful servants of our Lord Jesus. These things stagger me! How did all of this emerge over the years? I still don’t know, but I am so grateful to be a part of His grand plan.

What I do know is that one of the often overlooked and forgotten roles He’s given us is the ministry of encouragement.Today, I’m pondering the obscure text where Luke wrote, “Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement)” (Acts 4:36 ESV). This is the man who was sent to the fledgling church at Antioch and formed it into a mighty heavenly force. This is the man who helped transform a young firebrand named Saul into the Apostle Paul. This is the man who took dejected young John Mark and brought him back into the fight. This is Barnabas, the son of encouragement. As I look back over the last month, I see a trail of encouragement from which life has sprung.

In one nation, we found two brothers pastoring perhaps the most living, growing church I’ve seen there in years, but they carried wounded and broken hearts. These good men were in the midst of a terrible family crisis. At the end of the Sunday service, I pulled them aside and simply gave them a word of encouragement and prayed. Tears flowed, we shared a long embrace, and their hearts were healed by just one moment of encouragement, but how rich it was!

Yesterday, we met Babita, a young Indian girl engaged to a young pastor in northern India. She was working in our hotel in Greece. The night before we met, she had a dream in which she heard the song What a Beautiful Name. During her breakfast shift the following day, she heard music from outside, with young Kelsey Petty from our group singing, What a Beautiful Name! Later that day, when she met Kelsey and us, it was a miracle of encouragement for her. She wept as we prayed together, knowing that her Heavenly Father saw her, knew her, and had not forgotten her. This is the power of encouragement!

I’m humbled today to be a part of it all, but I am reminded that perhaps the greatest thing we do in this journey is to be a Barnabas, a son or daughter of encouragement—one of the power tools of Jesus and His Kingdom’s way.

Blessings to all,

Randy