Zach Schemmer\u2019s early home life is a collection of memories tainted by drug addiction \u2013 first of his father\u2019s and later, his own. So even though, as he puts it, he \u201cgrew up in the church world,\u201d God\u2019s global mission felt like the furthest thing from his mind.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/send-network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/05\/Engagement-Pic-edited-1.jpg\")
\u201cGrowing up, mission trips, for me, meant serving in the inner city,\u201d he shares. \u201cThe church that I was a part of didn\u2019t talk about international missions, so it wasn\u2019t something that I had on my mind, let alone on my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
After coming to Christ at 21 and finding long-term recovery through the power of the gospel, Zach dedicated the next seven years of his life to working for an addiction recovery nonprofit. For a while, Zach and his wife, Chelsea, thought that addiction recovery ministry could be a lifetime calling \u2013 until God led them to plant a church in Kansas City, Kan.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Zach and his wife began the church planting journey through Send Network, and that was when he learned about Church Planter Global Vision Trips. A partnership between Send Network and the International Mission Board (IMB), Global Vision Trips are designed to immerse newly endorsed church planters in global kingdom activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d never done anything like this,\u201d Zach says. \u201cI\u2019d never even been overseas and had no exposure to international missions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing into the trip,\u201d he adds, \u201cI was thinking that this is something our church can get involved in years down the road \u2013 we\u2019re not ready to reach the nations as a small church plant.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/send-network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/05\/e44c9fa0-2e9b-4cb4-b0ec-c41e186b6fb6-1.jpeg\")
Just weeks before The Way Church KC\u2019s Launch Sunday, Zach landed in Southeast Asia with a team of other Send Network planters. For the next week, he spent his mornings receiving training from IMB staff about the missionary task, culture, religion and pathways to creating partnerships.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving the planters and missionaries in one room as we put our heads together, shared our experiences and listened to theirs was incredible. I just felt like a sponge soaking everything up,\u201d Zach shares.<\/p>\n
In the afternoons, Zach and the other church planters dispersed into the city to evangelize and serve alongside IMB personnel. As they held spiritual conversations with those living in the city\u2019s slums, Zach was surprised by the openness with which they were met.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt broke and burdened my heart for reaching the nations,\u201d he says. Referencing Acts 1:8, he adds, \u201cAs a church planter who had never been on a global mission trip, I could see the mission of the local church in our neighborhood and city \u2013 our Jerusalem and Judea, but this trip added that \u2018end of the earth\u2019 piece for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Mike\u00a0Laughrun, the director of global engagement for Send Network, these Global Vision Trips are designed to expose Send Network planters to God\u2019s global activity. Each trip introduces planters to IMB teams serving in various locations around the globe.<\/p>\n
\u201cLong-term,\u201d Mike says, \u201cwe desire to see every Send Network church actively making disciples among their neighbors and engaged in God\u2019s global activity among the nations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to see our church planters in North America plant with a vision for the nations from the very beginning,\u201d says Chris Derry, the IMB\u2019s director of church and campus engagement, who leads the Global Vision Trips initiative along with Mike.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means the nations in their backyard,\u201d Chris continues, \u201cas well as nations around the world. The Great Commission is to make disciples of all the nations globally, and that\u2019s not something that they get to eventually, but that they\u2019re working on from the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Send Network planters participate in a Global Vision Trip, they learn about the IMB\u2019s church planting process, from entry to evangelism to discipleship to healthy church formation and leadership development. Planters can then apply these strategies in their contexts across cities in North America.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/send-network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/05\/NEW-HEADER-2-1.jpeg\")
For Zach and his church, which is situated in one of the most diverse areas of Kansas City, that meant changing the message for their Launch Sunday, which took place this past Easter, to focus on the importance of reaching the nations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no one dominant demographic in our neighborhood. We have the nations coming to us in a sense, and I think that adds to the importance of preaching about the nations,\u201d Zach says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis trip changed me in ways I didn\u2019t expect,\u201d he adds. \u201cAnd as a result, our church is launching with the nations on our heart \u2013 down to praying, changing our Sunday sermon this Easter, and eventually sending. It altered the trajectory of our church.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zach Schemmer\u2019s early home life is a collection of memories tainted by drug addiction \u2013 first …<\/p>\n