After creating a variety of innovative campaigns...

Over the years we have sought to challenge ourselves with innovative ways to proclaim the Gospel message to the world.  It has been a blast experimenting with new methods of engaging in conversations about faith with various cultures around the world.  Whatever our method, the goal has always remained to point people towards Christ.  Below are just a few of the outreaches and campaigns we’ve developed over the years.

Night of Refuge: It was on the Mystery Trip in Bangkok, Thailand when we first conceived of the Night of Refuge.  While there, we were told that there were over 10,000 sex workers in a square mile radius.  Many of these girls were not there by choice but had been sold into the brothels of the city by their families in outlying rural areas.  When you first hear news like this it is shocking and somewhat paralyzing.  Where do you begin?  How can you possibly make a difference?  As a team we talked it over and decided that while we may not be able to reach all of these girls, we could reach some of them, so we purposed to do whatever we could.

After several hours of brainstorming we came up with Night of Refuge.  The concept was simple.  We thought, “These girls are being purchased by who knows what kind of men every night, and being used and abused.  What if we could purchase them for the night to introduce them to a man named Jesus that could take their guilt, shame, and burdens from them?"  This was not to be a “church service” but rather a party.  We rented out a banquet hall and had food catered in.  We then ordered flowers for each of the girls and planned a night full of games and fun which would conclude with us sharing the Gospel with them.

This first Night of Refuge went better than we could have possibly imagined.  We were able to pay for 31 girls to participate in the banquet and 17 of them made a decision to follow Christ that night.  We worked with a local ministry that provided a safe home, and vocational training for women who were seeking to get out of the lifestyle they were in.  For one sweet girl we were her very first "client" and she made a decision that night not to return to her new profession.

This last summer we held our 2nd Night of Refuge while in Cambodia.  This event was even bigger than the first as we rented out a party boat and had over 100 women join us for the night.  Check out the pictures of our Cambodia Night of Refuge above.

Click Here to read an article on the Cambodia Night of Refuge.

Dream Campaign We created the Dream Campaign in 2009 for our annual Mystery Mission Trip. Knowing that traditional “drama in the streets” would not work; we began looking for a non-cliche way in which to provide ministry outlets for our upcoming trip to Europe. It was from this that the dream campaign was born. Since it’s inception, the Dream Campaign has taken place in Rome, Paris, London, Panama, Haiti, South Africa, Thailand, Cambodia and the United States.

The Campaign is simple; simply go somewhere where there is a lot of people and ask them to take part in an art campaign and write down their dream, then take a photo of them holding their dream. On the back of the “Dream Sheet” is a short inspiring message which encourages people to live their dreams and has a short prayer that they can pray to begin to get to know the one who gave them their dream.

World Wide Canvas

As a global civilization, we are faced with many staggering problems and escalating uncertainties. With the threat of war, racisim and economic challenges; it's easy to find reasons to be divided. It is with this in mind that we have created The World Wide Canvas Project.  The World Wide Canvas Project is a global art project that will span the globe.  Renowned artists will travel to various nations to paint a larger-than-life mural depicting the love of God.  Our first canvas was installed in June, 2009 in collaboration with live4this art studio in Panama City, Panama. Future World Wide Canvas projects will continue this global mural in other nations around the world.  The result: an international canvas project, when pieced together, will depict a powerful message of love, unity, and hope. Our hope is that through each installment of the mural, this project will join nations across the globe using a medium that touches the entire human race; the love and appreciation of art.  Check out some highlights from our inaugural canvas in Panama:

Orphan for a Night

Orphan for a Night is an event that was birthed out of the desire to bring change to the realities of global orphans. During our travels, we saw a need and felt as if it was our duty as believers to fill it.

OFN, a thought provoking event, calls individuals to leave the comfort and warmth of their homes to spend a night in the elements and share in the reality that the most destitute of orphans face each day: homelessness.

Groups gather together with a goal of raising $3,000 to build an orphanage that will house ten orphans who are in need of a home. Each person who pledges to be part of the night raises funds to participate in the event.  We have held Orphan for a Night's in several states across the country.

You won't believe what's next...

It has been our great joy to be part of reaching so many people though these creative campaigns.  Always what is so impacting for us, is seeing how these campaigns effect not only the lives of the people we minister to but our own lives as well.  There are many faces and stories of people around the world who will forever be engrained on our hearts.

There are many new ideas stirring in our hearts for this next season of Go and we CAN'T WAIT to share them with you! But, we will have to wait until Friday, April 27th at 9:00pm CST for that!  If you want to be the first to know what's next for Go International be sure to  subscribe to the Go E Newsletter by clicking on the banner below.

There’s still a whole lot of ideas to come,

Greg and Christa

After More Than 20 Different Trips...

After marrying in the spring of 2003, doing missions work as a vocation was never a question in the minds of Christa and I, it was after all, our passion.  As young single people we had already ministered in a combined eleven different nations, in fact, it was while leading a trip to Ecuador together that we first became friends.

I'll never forget Go International’s very first mission trip, which was to the nation of Peru.  I was a young, newly married, 22-year-old man with big vision, a dream in my heart, and absolutely no idea how to actually do it!  So naturally, we just ran at it as if we had done it 100 times before.

We knew that to pull off our first trip it would take a lot of focus, sacrifice, and dedication.  We promptly resigned from our 8-5 jobs at another ministry and took on night jobs so that we could have the business day to do Go.  I worked as a server at a local restaurant, and Christa managed a small graphic design company out of our house.  Money was tight but we were launching our dream.  I remember being so proud of our little office which consisted of a cheap desk (purchased with a Target gift card from our wedding), a donated fax machine, and over time we finally saved enough to get a bookshelf.  Yeah, we were pretty big time. ;)

That fall we took a pre trip that would proceed the summer team trip.  As I said, we didn’t know exactly “how” to do what we felt in our heart we just knew we “must” do it.  Lucky for us, God’s grace was on us as we took steps of action.  I remember we traveled to four Peruvian cities in just eight days, scouting out which city we would return to with the team.  A few of these cities we didn’t even know one person in, and as destiny would have it, that was exactly the case for the city we chose.

As the plane touched down in Cusco, Peru an expectancy filled our hearts.  We sensed there was something special about this place.  Armed with a folded piece of paper, containing the scribbled name and number of local pastor Willy Mont, which was handed to me by a friend as we boarded the plane from Lima, we set out to plan our very first trip.

Upon checking into our hotel room I removed the piece of paper from my pocket and dialed the number of Pastor Willy.  “Here goes nothing”, I thought, as the phone rang.  Pastor Willy answered, and I introduced myself to him and asked if we could take he and his wife to dinner that night.  Shockingly he said “Yes.”!  We walked into this little restaurant and I remember thinking, “He’s going to think we are little kids, he’ll never work with us.”.  But after spending several hours talking, dreaming, and shedding a few tears over dinner we were all convinced that this encounter was of God.  Prior to our meeting, Christa and I had felt that when we returned in the summer we would like to do; an evangelistic campaign, a youth concert, and a children’s festival.  To our surprise, Pastor Willy and his wife Jessica, had been praying that a team would come to Cusco to do these exact things, in order to help them launch their newly founded church.  This was confirmation that we were on the right track.

The next day we traveled to the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu to see if it would serve as a good free day for the team.  While waiting in line to enter we struck up a conversation with a really nice man.  He eventually asked us where we were from, and we of course responded “Tulsa.”.  “Tulsa?” he exclaimed!  “I used to live there while I was a student at ORU.  What are you guys doing in Peru?”.  We told him about Go and how we planned to return with a team that summer.  “That’s interesting” he said.  “I am a Pastor in Pennsylvania and I have been looking for a team to send my church with to Peru this summer”.  Once again as destiny would have it, this ten minute conversation indeed led to Pastor Craig Nanna bringing his team with us that summer.  If only all of our “marketing campaigns” had been that easy!  Once again we saw this as God’s grace not only on this trip but on the very existence of Go.

It turns out that these confirmations would prove to be critical in our journey in the months that followed.  The task of paying for all of the outreaches we had planned was challenging, especially on the budget of a server, and just a handful of partners (mainly our families).  As contract deadlines approached for deposits for the band, stadium, and other necessary expenses, there came a day where we simply had no more money personally.  We had sent all we had.

Unfortunately this led to one very cold winter night.  That’s right, our electricity was shut off because we just didn’t have the money to pay it.  (Now to all of those who are thinking, “That wasn’t very responsible you should have paid your bills first”. You are probably right but none the less, that’s not how the story went.)  I remember throwing extra blankets on our bed and cuddling Christa in the dark, and through the silence I begin to hear Christa choking back the tears.  “Shouldn’t it be easier than this?” we asked.  But it was in that moment that something powerful happened that would set the course for how we lived our lives and operated Go in the years that followed.

I remember asking Christa, “If you were a Peruvian woman who was sleeping in the cold with her family tonight, alone, desperate, and without hope, wouldn’t you pray that someone would spend a night in the cold for you to have a chance to hear the Good News of Christ?”  We committed from that moment on that we would pay the price to proclaim the Gospel to the nations of the word.  That summer as our first team converged on the city of Cusco, and was saw the lives that were changed through the campaign, concert and children's festival, we knew that all our sacrifices had paid off.

Now nine years into Go, we have led teams on more than 20 different trips, and traveled to almost every continent sharing the redemptive message of Christ.  We’ve learned a thing or two since our early days but we have realized no matter how much we grow, or how talented we become, nothing replaces the grace of God.

We are honored and humbled to have the opportunity and privilege of demonstrating God’s love to the world.  We are so thankful for every single person that has linked arms with us along the way.  The price and sacrifices you have made are not in vain.

To all of you who are starting out on a new journey and have a dream in your heart, don’t quit.  The world needs what you have and who you are.  Work hard, trust God, rest in his grace, and never forget to enjoy the journey.

God Bless,

Greg & Christa

PS  Only two more days to the big reveal of what’s next at Go!  Be the first to know sign up below.

After Creating the Mystery Trip...

 

I still remember the fall day that Christa and I were huddled around a table at Panera Bread talking with our first two Go Apprentices, Lauren Morris and Regan Saunders.  We spoke about how cool it would be to organize a multi-country mission trip where participants had no idea where they were going and would discover their destinations by following clues and completing challenges.  It sounded like something right out of a reality TV show; an Amazing Race meets world missions adventure.  We laughed and joked and imagined all of the cool things you could do on a trip like that.

Suddenly, my day dream was interrupted by two very excited Apprentices saying, “Can we do it?”.

Woah, I was just imagining how cool it would be; not actually considering doing it.

I thought, “Well, why not?”.  That was the conversation that started the ball rolling on what would become one of the central pieces of the Go Internship and open doors to some of the most impacting ministry I’ve ever been a part of.

What I love about how this began, is it is so reflective of daily life at Go;  everybody putting their two cents in, dreaming together, then as a team running at a goal.  I think the general public would be shocked at the level of influence the Interns have had at Go.

There have now been four Mystery Trips that have taken teams to a total of eight different nations.

1. Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Manila
2. London, Paris, Rome
3. Cambodia, Thailand
4. Johannesburg and Cape Town South Africa

Now, a lot of people ask, “Why make it a mystery?”  So here are a few reasons why we believe in the Mystery Trip:

• Why not?  This may seem sarcastic but literally, why not?  If we were going to be planning an exclusive Go Intern mission trip anyways, and doing all the work that goes with coordinating international ministry, travel schedules, etc... why not work a little harder and provide a once in a lifetime experience for these interns who were investing a year of their life to receive training and serve the world?
• Traveling to multiple nations within one trip allows the interns to come face-to-face with multiple cultures in a short amount of time, allowing them to see that people face many of the same challenges and share many of the same basic human needs regardless of culture.  We would literally be in the trendy streets of Hong Kong having conversations with college students one day, and a few days later be in a Thai village playing with children.
• Our goal from the beginning of Internship was to train up leaders that had a heart for the world.  We realized early on that this was easier said than done.  With the Mystery Trip we sought to make a mission trip more appealing for first time missionaries by offering some adventure with it.  This was strategic because we understood that regardless of what the motives for participating on this trip were, that every student would return home changed.  As TL Osborn once famously stated, “Look into the faces of another people and you will never be the same”.
• Another unforeseen advantage of the Mystery Trip is that it became the “outreach lab” of Go.  Since we were traveling with such a creative group of people and we all knew each other so well it allowed us to test and experiment some new ministry concepts that proved to be transformative.  It was on the Mystery Trip that the following outreaches were birthed; Dream Campaign, Message in a Bottle, Love from Above, Night of Refuge, Go on your Own, Light the Night, and more.  All of these were successful campaigns that sought to move us from simply performing dramas in the streets to engaging in intentional conversations of faith.

The reasons listed above are just a few of the reasons why we believe in the Mystery Trip.

Click the side banner to browse through some of the previous Mystery Trip Posts.  Check back tomorrow as we continue to take a look back at the history of Go in preparation of the new phase that will be launched on Friday.  Please help us spread the word and link to this article and don’t forget to subscribe to the Go E Newsletter which you can do by clicking on the banner below.

More Mysteries to Come,

Greg & Christa

After 9 Years of Ministry...

 

It is hard to believe that in just a few weeks Go International.tv will celebrate our 9th year of ministry.  It has been quite the journey, filled with triumphs, trials, innovations, adventure and friendships that will last a lifetime.  It has been so amazing to watch “Go International” morph from being simply a line in the journal entry of a young Bible school student into an international organization that has worked in more than 20 nations of the world.

Over the years, there have been hundreds of people that have participated on international outreaches with Go, and countless lives have been affected.  The thing that has been true about Go from day one, is that it has never been (and will never be) about Greg & Christa Baca, it has from its inception been a collaborative experiment to see just what could happen if a group of creative, committed, loving people united together to touch the world.  We stand in awe of the people God has brought across our path that have contributed, shaped, and influenced what Go is today and will continue to be in the future.

To all of the supporters, missionary alumni, internship alumni, parents, ministry partners, and friends of Go we say thank you.  Go International would still be only a line in the journal had you not invested your time, money, energy, and talents to see a dream become a reality.

There have been many phases in the evolution of Go, including the launching of; Go Missions, Go Internship, Go Apprenticeship, and Go Causes.  Today we find ourselves once again forging into another phase which has yet to be charted.

In January, we began to sense transition was on the horizon yet again.  We took some time to pull back and assess what exactly it was that we were feeling in our hearts. We considered many things, even relocating our headquarters to California, but upon further reflection we realized God has something else in store.

We are very excited about what we feel in our hearts regarding this next season...you won’t believe what’s next!  Over the next few days we will take a look back and celebrate some of the high points and successes of the previous phases we’ve walked through together, and on Friday the 27th of April we will reveal just exactly what this next step is.  Check back daily to catch a glimpse of where we’ve been.

We invite you to donate a status or 2 to help spread the word about what’s next!

God Bless and Stay Tuned,

Greg & Christa