Go Beyond

Who | Neel Woods

Where I’ve Served | My wife Michele and I have served in lots of youth ministries since the day we met each other at Pine Cove in 1980. We particularly love 12th graders and have been embedded in their world during most of our life at KBC.

Where I’ve Traveled with Kingsland | I first visited Uganda with Pastor Omar and an adult team in Summer ’07. During that trip, Omar apparently observed that I was more ‘kid’ than ‘grown-up’ so he challenged me to help lead the 12th grade mission trip back to Uganda the following summer. Some things you almost don’t have to pray about.

What I Did | We brought gifts and encouragement to Veronica and her team at the Comforters’ Center (Kingsland’s Pregnancy Help Center in Kampala), equipped village church leaders with sound evangelical doctrine to teach their local congregations, hugged, sang and danced with HIV-stricken orphans and shared testimonies of purity and abstinence with hundreds of teens on a dozen urban high school campuses.

How This Experience “Troubled My Waters” | Two things: First, when we go beyond, “they” often give more than “we” bring (ask me later because Omar didn’t give me enough space to explain it here). Second, when it comes to the Western World vs. the Third World, God is good but life is far from fair. Now that I’ve experienced that, what does God require of me as I continue doing life in cozy Katy?

Most Meaningful Connection | I met a young believer named George whom I affectionately refer to as “Dubya”. He is a worship leader in his local church, KBC’s occasional mission trip concierge, and a university law student who favors “Eddie Murphy” in looks.

How I Have Stayed Connected | God quickly and deliberately knit Dubya’s and my hearts together. Then He prompted me to see Dubya through law school with money and mentoring. We Skype nearly every Saturday morning and Dubya unintentionally but constantly exposes my shallow faith and reminds me to count my blessings. He is already assuming leadership at a national level by launching a non-profit organization to build new dwellings for over 700 Ugandan families whose village was buried by a mudslide last year.