Dear Family and Friends,

The last year and a half has been an incredible journey for me. I made a prayerful decision to move back to Texas to be closer to family and live in community with other Christ followers. Being encouraged by others to live in daily relationship with God has led to a greater understanding of His love for me and the free gift of grace that He has given me.

A lot of you know my story of redemption. If you don't, I would love to tell you! When I moved to Los Angeles, I made a decision to live pretty much however I wanted. I decided not to follow Christ but to chase after the desires of my heart. This looked like embracing my sin and living openly in it.

This pursuit ended painfully!

Thankfully, God used my despair to call me back into relationship. I began to trust Him, not just with my eternal destination but with this life He has given me. I now have a new life in Christ and God is working on me everyday.

 In Luke 4:18 Jesus says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed."

This is good news indeed! I am so thankful that someone loved me enough to share the Gospel with me. I want others to know His name so that they too can be set free!

 On July 24th - August 2, my church, Watermark Community Church, is taking a team to Ethiopia specifically to deliver the Gospel to the unreached people of Assela. Many of which have never heard the name of Christ!

 God has used our church to send people on this discipleship trip through our relationship with e3 Partners. These are the people that will continue to invest in the relationships that we build on these trips. So the purpose of this trip is purely discipleship. I feel led to go simply because Christ called us to make disciples and this is where my church does business outside of Dallas.

 Follow these links to learn specifically about what we are doing there.

http://www.watermark.org/ethiopia/

http://watermarkblogs.org/africa/

 For more on what e3 Partners is all about go here: http://e3partners.org/

 For me, this is the beginning of many months of training that the leaders of this trip will take us through. I will be sending updates to everyone via email as I prepare for this mission.

 If you have any immediate questions about my heart behind taking this trip specifically or anything else related to what we are doing, please call me (214) 728-1637 or send me a text or email letting me know you'd like to talk. I will be reaching out to each of you within the next two-three weeks to follow up on this letter.

 Now for the ask…

 Please pray that I will be faithful and advance (not hinder) what God plans to accomplish through us on this trip. On big trips like this we can get excited, nervous or anxious about what we are about to do and we often forget to just trust God.  Pray that I trust Him with every aspect of this trip from the fund-raising to the equipping to the travel right down to the relationships we build in Ethiopia. So first and foremost, I need your prayer.

 I also need your financial help. My goal is to raise $2500 (out of $3950) by March 1, 2015. This will go toward transportation, food, lodging, translators and supplies. Any funds raised above the goal will go supporting the disciplemakers.

Click on the "Donate to this fundraiser" button to make a tax-deductible contribution. 

Or, you may send a check to the following address:

            e3 Partners Fund at Pure Charity

            PO Box 1053

            Searcy, AR 72145

            Make sure to include the personal donation ID: VPHTPPGVC

For everyone in my Christmas circle - in lieu of a gift for me this year, please donate to this mission instead. Your generosity is greatly appreciated! No matter how you contribute to this trip, whether it’s sharing it with others, prayer or financial support, I thank you. I love you all and can't wait to share with you what amazing things our great Lord has done in Ethiopia.

Thank you!

Michael O'Brien

1 John 4:18-19