For most of you reading this letter, it has been a long time since I wrote an actual letter to you. (Most of you receive my emails.) This letter (post) is my way of communicating with you about the crazy twists and turns that god has been pulling me through these past few years and a way of sharing with you where God has currently placed me.

I find it hard to believe that it has been 15 years since I initially left to go overseas on the mission field with Operation Mobilization as a young and naive 18-year-old. When I returned to the United States, I was filled with such zeal and desire to go right back out onto the mission field. But I knew in my heart that God had called me back home to strengthen my faith and finish my education. It has been a wild roller-coaster ride these past few years. It’s taken me from serving as an associate and youth pastor in culturally diverse south Miami to traveling through Asia as the International Business Development Director for a major video game studio. Serving as a stable boy taking care of several fox-hunting horses in order to defray some of the costs of Gordon-Conwell Seminary has been part of this journey; to working through the hurdles and life changes that are brought about through marriage has also been part of this ride. (Yes, I married a wonderful woman, Cara Transtrom. In August, it will be 6 years.) Through all of these job changes and spiritual challenges, God brought me back to the East Coast last year for my biggest life change yet.

WHAT??? No, there’s no baby on the way! (Though we did adopt a great little rescue pug/beagle. His name is Pugsley and he’d love to meet everyone.) The big life change was going back into ministry and specifically missions. But this new chapter in my life is unlike any type of missionary venture I have taken part in before. I am now working with Oakseed Ministries International, the ministry that my father started 20 years ago. I was given the unique challenge of bringing my skill sets from the corporate tech world and converting them back into a missional focus that would better enable Oakseed Ministries’ partners in their support and communication with one another. One example would be the Oakseed website (www.oakseed.org). Before I joined Oakseed Ministries, the website was lucky to see 25 visitors a month; and during this first quarter of 2008, we have had the privilege of welcoming more than 1.3 million visitors to interact and participate in Oakseed’s web-based events.

Oakseed Ministries is not a sending agency. In fact, there are only 3 of us here in the office. Oakseed Ministries comes alongside and partners with indigenous national ministries that have the potential to be model ministries in their own country. Oakseed’s partners are focused in the mega-cities of the third-world working with homeless street kids, the disenfranchized poor and those that are denied the basic human rights and support. And in order for me to continue working in support of children around the world, I need to boost my prayer and financial support to a point where we can viably live and work in this area.

But before I tell you of the needs, I thought I would share with you what God has been doing through my work.

• Through the growing web presence, I am able to tell the stories of those with no voice.
• Through our partners, I am able to touch the lives of over 340,000 homeless kids around the world each year.
• Through our partners, I am able to be a support to one of the most vibrant microfinance outreaches focused on the poor in India. (This ministry is continually recognized at an international level as a model outreach.)
• Through our partners, I am able to impact the hearts of women in closed countries who have been cast out and abandoned by family and see no hope for the future.
• Through our partners, I am able to comfort the tears of a disabled child who has been cast out on the street.
• Through my work, I am able to connect you, my family, friends and supporters, with amazingly gifted and godly ministers who are having an impact in the major cities of the world. This connection enables you to pray and intercede for those who are on the front lines of the mission field on a daily basis.

I would personally like to challenge each and everyone of you to prayerfully consider partnering with me this upcoming year. This partnership would be focused on spurring one another on in prayer for the outcasts in the mega-cities of the third world and those that work with them. There are several ways you can parter with me:

1. Commit to pray for me and the work I’m doing supporting these ministries.
2. Receive my monthly prayer letter and our organization’s monthly prayer guide. You can use both these publications to lead your personal prayer time, family devotional times, and even your church small groups.
3. Commit to supporting me financially through a tax-deductible contribution monthly, quarterly, annually, or through a one-time gift.
4. Introduce me to other missions-minded people with whom I can share what God is doing so they might also join in prayer.

To learn more about what Oakseed Ministries is doing, please visit us at www.oakseed.org. I also invite you to get in contact with me at 1-877-876-9020 (toll-free), email me at benjamin@oakseed.org or visit my personal website at www.benjaminbradley.com.

I look forward to hearing from all of you and learning more about what God is doing in your lives.

Lifting His Name Up,

Benjamin Bradley