“Mr. Cunningham, you’re as pretty as a princess,” said three-year-old Brianna, during the video shown at the Thanksgiving Love Feast for Loren and Darlene. The preschool children stole the show with their heartfelt greetings to the Cunninghams. Dancers, along with Radiant Kids, the children’s ministry of YWAM Tyler, raised flags from around the world as they sang “We Speak to Nations.”

In the last few years, a major theme has come into prominence among much of the body of Christ. Whether referred to as the Seven Spheres of Influence, the Seven Mountains of world culture, or variations of these titles, the common thread is that there are seven primary aspects of society through which a culture is influenced and shaped. These seven areas are the family, business and economics, religion, education, media, arts and entertainment, and government.

While these ideas are not new to many people, there are nevertheless some questions emerging as this paradigm unfolds. It seems that one of the most frequently asked is, “How do I know to which sphere I am called?” In answering these questions, as always the Word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. In Romans 11:29 we learn that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. In other words, there is an important, unchanging aspect of your life’s assignment for which God has both gifted you and called you, and He doesn’t revoke it or keep changing it along the way. The circumstances in which you fulfill your calling or the vehicle through which you express it may change many times, but the calling itself remains constant.

Jan and Brady Simmons have four children – two natural and two adopted. “We adopted Anna when she was four-and-a-half from the streets of the Montrose area in Houston where she lived with her homeless mom,” Jan said. They adopted Levy, Anna’s half brother, born prematurely with drugs in his system, three-and-a-half years ago.

Jan continued, “There was no hesitation for us to take Anna (nine) and Levy (three) back on the streets.” She and Brady, who have regularly taken children’s outreaches to Houston, both agreed it was not God’s desire to shield Anna from the truth about her life on the streets, but instead to help her process it in the context of the safety and security of His love. “God has walked us through step by step,” Jan explained. “When we first went to Street Church in Houston, Levy was too young to understand but Anna was terrified and kept holding me. I was able to tell her, “Yes, this is a scary place. And yes, this is a bad place to live, but you do not have to live here any more.” After several trips Anna began to feel safe.

Right now there are approximately 3 billion people in the world who don't have Bibles. Of these 3 billion people, 2 billion belong to oral cultures. There are approximately 2,700 people groups on the planet that do not even have a written language.

YWAM, in partnership with Campus Crusade for Christ, Wycliffe Bible Translators, and TWR, is doing something to change this. The partnership is called OneStory and the goal is to get sets of oral Bible stories translated into the languages of these unreached oral people groups. We are hard at work making sure that everyone has the opportunity to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.

If you would like more information on the OneStory Partnership, click here.