Grace McAdory

November 18th

2011

Mrs. Corbett

American Literature

GlobalX

GlobalX is theworldwide associationof North Point Ministries Incorporated. The

company holds partnershipswith thirteen countries around the world in order to spread the values

of leading people into a personalconnection with Jesus Christ. GlobalXas a whole develops

excellent missionaries, a strong upliftingexperience, and ultimately spiritual enlightenment all in

a safe and secure environment.

First off, in 1995 North Point Community Church was founded by Andy Stanley. Stanley

being a very influential pastor, communicator, and author launched North Point Ministries

believing that it had the potential to become very successful. Soon after the church’s launch, it

quickly became one of the most innovative and impactful church organizations in the world. In

Georgia alone, there are four North Point branch campuses including Buckhead, Browns Bridge,

Gwinnett, and Watermarke. Over twenty thousand people attend all five Metro Atlanta locations

every Sunday for worship, detailed insight, and an unforgettable sermon. That makes North Point

Ministries the largest church in the Atlanta area and the second largest in the United States.

These campuses, along with many other related churches across the United States, pool their

resources for international missions like GlobalX. The organization has grown by leaps in

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bounds; tripling the number of applicants from its beginning in 1995 to the present day. The

Ministry organization also plans on broadening the number of churches in not only Georgia but

also internationally in order to expand the GlobalX community.

Secondly, amissionary is “a person sent by a church into an area to carry on evangelism

or other activities, as educational or hospital work” (dictionary.com). A general mission trip that

a missionary commits to pertains mostly to doing service work in order to ultimately spread

God’s love and grace on a global scale. The work that one must uphold varies within each

individual trip, but the labor usually consists of painting houses, feeding the hungry, cleaning up

polluted areas, and building better environments as a whole for the town/area. Generally,

missionaries congregate in shanty towns. A shanty town is known as, “a section, as of a city or

town, characterized by shanties and crudely built houses” (dictionary.com). Missionaries take on

a dangerous challenge staying in or around the shanty towns due to crime, disease, and wild

animals. There are no showers, baths, and usually no toilets. Food poisoning can also occur in

the towns due to lack of equipment and or lack of not cleaning or processing food correctly.

However, mission trips are not just based off of hard labor. Most missionaries develop close

relationships with the citizens in the specific town at which they are staying in; relationships

begin to be occurring on a more personal level, and the goodbyes are said to never easy. GlobalX

Ministries challenge anyone to go on these missions, and strongly benefit the participant in a

countless amount of ways. Moving on, the yearly trips that missionaries undergo have become

more involved as the years progress. As North Point’s churches got larger, so did the spectrum of

locations for the trips. Today, locations for the 2012 missions include: Brazil, Cambodia, East

Asia, El Salvador,

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Estonia, France, Haiti, Kenya, Macedonia, Mexico, Moldova, Philippines, South Africa,

Southeast Asia, Spain, and Venezuela. The trips are normally offered to people with

specificskills that are relevant to each location. An applicant must do heavy research in order to

know which mission destination fits one’s personality and skill set the best. Some more

challenging trips offered are suggested forpeople who are more experienced going overseas.

There are alsoprograms offered to people that are new to the idea of mission work. A person may

be as young as ten to go on specific trips, but must meet the basic requirements first. A passport

is obviously a necessity for going on a GlobalX mission trip due to the fact that a person cannot

leave the country without one. Shots and immunizations also are highly recommended. A

medical exam is needed in order to fully protect the applicant.However, the most important and

difficult challenge one must face is fundraising for the trip itself. Lisa Gore comments on the

fundraising by stating, “Each year, hundreds of trip goers raise thousands of dollars as their

supporters generously join in the adventure of short-term trips” (Gore). The people who usually

help out the most with supporting the trips are the people who do not have enough time or are

incapable of going on the trips themselves. There are also a variety of different ways in order to

achieve the fundraising goal for the trips, such as car washes, bake sales, and person-to-person

selling. After the fundraising is completed, missionaries are supported by multiple teams by love,

care, and prayer.

Next, a GlobalX mission trip offers the applicant to experience cultural and life changing

events. The food, atmosphere, sleeping arrangements, and day-to-day activities vary within each

country. A trip leader that attended a mission trip to Venezuela states, “being connected with

what God is doing, even in a small, post-communist country like Moldova, has broadened my

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perspective and reminded me of God’s global purposes” (Wilson). A major realizationin past

GlobalX missions has been the fact that the there is a learning factor involved in the trip.

Applicants become quite knowledgeable about the traditions of the town they are residing in.

The ministry brings forth three vital relationships that usually motivate one on a GlobalX trip:

“intimacy with God, community with insiders, and influence with outsiders” (North Point

Mission Statement). The “world vision” that GlobalX proscribes for its association involves a

variety of different actions such as fighting poverty, improving living conditions for families in

need, feeding hungry children and adults, providing moral support, allowing families to have fun

by playing a variety of different games, and ultimately spreading God’s love. The impact that

missionaries make on the people who live within the towns becomes something bigger than most

people realize.The organization wants to provide these opportunities to people who are willing to

serve children, students, and adults.

In conclusion, an applicant must choose the program that correlates most with the skills

he or she possesses, meet the given requirements on the application, prepare mentally and

emotionally for the journey that lies ahead, and realize that the ultimate goal is to help spread

God’s love. In order to be fully immersed in the experience of living in a developing country, a

missionary must have an open mind; one should think deeply about which trip will benefit not

only the applicant but also the community of people at which they are helping. Also, a

participant in the GlobalX mission trips must provide accurate health information and also have

an up-to-date passport. Due to the fact that traveling internationally can be dangerous in itself,

the GlobalX organization wants full safety for the applicant. As well as acquiring a passport and

health information the volunteer must also be in the correct state of mind before traveling to the

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designated location. The applicant must be aware of the fact that conditions in that area are not

the same as where they are from, and the experience could be nothing like living one’s normal

day-to-day life. The surroundings are extremely destitute in each country, and the shanty

townsthat GlobalX chooses to send missionariesare quite harsh. The understanding that being

around these sorts of environments will be difficult at times, but the applicant must have a strong

mindset in the least. People return from a trip saying, “to sum up the trip in a few words, it would

be…life-changing” (Walkup) The mission trips that GlobalX generously provides allows people

that are uneducated about Jesus Christ become fully aware of having a personal relationship with

the Lord. The morals, standards, and overall life lessons that people learn and obtain over the

course of a GlobalX mission trip will stay with that person for the rest of their lives. The

organization went from being a collection of small groups going on mission trips, to a global

phenomenon. GlobalX started out with a small goal of, “focusing on encouraging and equipping

people into becoming closer with Jesus Christ” (Martin). Now, those expectations of the

organization have been set, and will continue to grow and prosper. The goal is global; the teams

and leaders of the organization all want one thing, and that is to spread the love of Jesus Christ

around the entire world.

Works Cited

“Five Steps .”GlobalX. North Point Ministries , 2011. Web. 4 Nov. 2011.

<http://insidenorthpoint.org/missions/>.

“GlobalX Partners.” driveinternational.org.GlobalX, 2008.Web. 16 Nov. 2011.

<http://www.driveinternational.org/?page_id=269>.

Gore, Lisa. “GlobalX.” Phone Call . 10 Nov. 2011. Address.

madisonparkchurch.org. Church of God , 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2011.

<http://www.madisonparkchurch.org/ministries/touchtheworld>.

“Missionary, Shanty Town.”Dictionary.com. N.p., 2011. Web. 5 Nov. 2011.

<http://dictionary.reference.com/>.

“Mission Trips .” globalxkenya.com. N.p., 10 Jan. 2009. Web. 16 Nov. 2011.

<http://globalxkenya1226.blogspot.com/>.

“South Side GlobalX.” southside.org. North Point Community Church ,n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2011.

<http://www.southside.org/get-involved/connect/globalx>.

“Trip Information .”GlobalX. North Point Community Church , 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

<http://goglobalx.org/?page_id=74>.

Walkup, Rachael. “Stories.” goglobalx.org. North Point, 10 Aug. 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2011.

<http://goglobalx.org/?page_id=1335>.

“What is a Mission Trip?” myadventures.org .Maximtech , 3 Nov. 2010. Web. 17 Nov. 2011.

<http://jeffgoins.myadventures.org/?filename=what-is-a-mission-trip>.