Help Ralston serve in
EstoniaTeamed with four other fantastic Ambassadors, I’ve been invited to serve next July at the ReachGlobal European Conference in Tallin, Estonia. It’s a six day gathering of more than 140 missionary families working in some of the most Christ-resistant cultures throughout Europe. I’m so excited for the chance to lead consulting sessions, run small groups, and help facilitate workshops so these faithful champions return to their mission fields energized, encouraged, and equipped. I’ll contribute my nearly 20 years of message crafting and storytelling experience to the sessions.
Get to know
The Organizations
What is The Good Story
The Good Story is a 501(c)3 nonprofit ministry that pairs Kingdom-minded professionals in the creative arts and technology with missionaries and small under-resourced ministries and missions agencies. Ambassadors help craft and tell their stories through various mediums with visual excellence and offer much needed communication training utilizing today’s technology.
About The Conference
The ReachGlobal European Conference is a six day gathering of 140 missionary households serving throughout Europe with the purpose of “reconnection, refreshment, and refitting”. This gathering is structured where families can receive much needed encouragement and respite from full time ministry while reconnecting with fellow workers in prayer, worship and teaching. Additionally, they have multiple opportunities for continuing education in ministry training and communication in both large and small group settings so they can return to the field energized and better equipped. The Good Story has been invited back to serve this beautiful community for the third time.
Europe Resource Team Leader
Terri Miller
“From professional portraits to event coverage, to workshops and consulting, The Good Story team brings vital tools and expertise to our conference and staff that transforms and heightens our missionaries communication impact. Ambassadors of TGS help us go from “good to great” and provide services we do not have the capability of providing on a mass scale. Our staff are dependent on prayer and financial support, and good communication is an essential component. We are excited to have them back next summer to continue this much needed work of equipping, training and empower our missionaries in communication strategy, techniques and platforms.”
Images of
The 2017 Conference
The Good story – Estonia team
Kelly
Photography/Communication Strategy
Ryan
Photography/Communication Strategy
Ralston
Branding/Communication Strategy
Christy
Photography
Dustin
Photography/Communication Strategy
What we’ll be doing
Team Responsibilities
Photography
Full event photography coverage all six days, as well as 50 + Portrait sessions for families to use in their communication with the option for The Good Story to create a new prayer card from their portrait.
Workshops
Teaching and facilitating multiple small group workshops on topics such as: DSLR photography, newsletter content strategy, Mailchimp, social media usage, communication workflow, Smartphone video editing, Home Assignment content/strategy, and communication best practices.
Consultations
We will be conduction dozens of 1-on-1 personalized strategy consultations and communication evaluations. We will also have a team consultation with ReachGlobal leadership for division-wide identity and communication strategy evaluation.
A note
From Ralston
Every person on the planet should be given the chance to understand what Jesus did for them, right? That’s the task He gave believers at the end of Matthew. I think some of today’s biggest champions of the Faith doing this is missionaries. These are people who feel called by the Lord to live in another country, overcome cultural and language barriers, and build relationships that lead people into understanding the love of Jesus.
The life of the missionary can be incredibly challenging. Besides the humbling work of showing the authentic love of Christ in cultures that openly resist Him, they have to raise and maintain consistent financial support. To do this, they have to build a bridge from life on the field back to supporters at home. When done well, these amazing Kingdom stories allow supporters to feel deeply connected to the life, work, and service of the missionary.
Unfortunately, most missionaries aren’t good writers, tech savvy, or effective communicators. They do the best they can with what they know but often become overwhelmed and exhausted trying to get a handle on how to communicate beneficially and keep that bridge to supporters in tact.
The sad reality is that lack of prayer and financial support is one of the top five reasons why missionaries end up leaving the mission field with a lot of good work undone. But a missionary equipped with smart communication skills and strategies through training can fight that statistic and stay the course of their calling.
I’ve been an Ambassador with The Good Story for the last three years. One of the things this nonprofit ministry does well is pair professional Christian artists, strategists, and designers like me with missionaries who need help telling good stories with amazing impact.
Teamed with four other fantastic Ambassadors, I’ve been invited to serve next July at the ReachGlobal European Conference in Tallin, Estonia. It’s a six day gathering of more than 140 missionary families working in some of the most Christ-resistant cultures throughout Europe. The Good Story’s main role at the conference will be to deeply understand the struggles of communication common to these missionaries. We’ll then conduct lots of training to give them the strategies and skills they need to become more effective communicators.
I’m so excited for the chance to lead consulting sessions, run small groups, and help facilitate workshops so these faithful champions return to their mission fields energized, encouraged, and equipped. I’ll contribute my nearly 20 years of message crafting and storytelling experience to the sessions. Maybe even share a little of my passion for communicating with empathy and teach a class on how to connect emotionally with supporters.
But I need your help to be there for these missionaries!
Each member of our team needs to raise their own support for airfare, travel, lodging, and attendance. As my family and friends, I’m asking you to prayerfully give whatever you can to make my inclusion possible. This is an amazing opportunity to help these incredible missionaries and I feel uniquely equipped to contribute. Every bit of your donation is tax deductible additional details about the trip and my team are provided on this page.
Hit me with every question you’ve got. Email me, Facetime me, call me, come by for a chat – I’m here for it all. But whatever you’re led to do, please pray continuously that I’m given the timely means to go, equip, and encourage these faithful and selfless champions.
Support Needs
Our team will need to raise collective funds by
March 1, 2019 in order to purchase tickets and secure lodging to the ReachGlobal European Division Conference and offer much needed communication support and training.
Trip Details
When: July 24-29, 2019
Total Needed: $2,500
Funds include: Round trip tickets/taxes/baggage fees, six days of conference lodging and all meals, Shuttle to/from airport, long term parking and processing fees.
Give
To Ralston’s Trip
Ralston Vaz – Estonia 2019
