5 Exciting Hopes for the New Year
By Michael Smiel, US Office
As the new year approaches, we reached out to SEND missionaries and personnel around the world to see what they are excited about for 2023. Here are five exciting hopes SEND has for 2023 and the projects related to them!
As the new year approaches, we reached out to SEND missionaries and personnel around the world to see what they are excited about for 2023. Here are five exciting hopes SEND has for 2023 and the projects related to them!
"We are excited to see a new generation passionate to leverage their lives for the glory of God and the good of others.”
God is calling the next generation to activate their passion in making the goodness of Jesus known to those who have yet to hear. The remaining unreached people in the world are unreached for a reason—they are hard to get to! But we must not shrink away from these challenges! Now is the time to invest in the technology, the systems, and the people needed to recruit, train, and support new missionaries serving in difficult places.
Learn more about our work preparing a new generation to go.
“We look forward to a year of firsts as we mobilize workers from all over the globe!”
We are looking forward to several "firsts" in 2023! We hope to have our first global member sent through a Central American partner for Muslim outreach in Asia, our first ever Mexican team members joining SEND, and our first ever ministry partnership with a church in Honduras.
Mobilizing God's people to engage the unreached happens in the context of relationships. We are looking forward to 2023 as a time for us to see the fruit from the global connections SEND has been developing. We view these global members as pioneers, opening pathways to the unreached!
Learn more about our work expediting global workers.
“We are excited to begin engaging a new unreached people group with the gospel in Toronto!”
This group is very unreached and doesn't have anyone working with it that we know of. Our hope is that as this group is reached with the gospel, they will be able to evangelize their own people, here and abroad, and begin to reach out to others. We are looking forward to seeing them in the Kingdom of God!
“Our dream is to see healthy families of faith initiating disciples making disciples.”
With our backyard gardening project spreading through the region in areas of Southeast Asia we currently don’t serve, we are excited that we can be the presence of Jesus in communities that do not know him. Can you imagine study groups starting among religious leaders? We are excited about that possibility as God uses our presence in the community to open doors to share the gospel!
“We look at a city of 5 or 10 million people and think how are all those people going to hear the Gospel? With digital engagement this is now conceivable.”
Our missionaries have long known that to share Christ, they need to go where the people go. These days, the people go online--and we believe Jesus can meet them there. Just think about thousands reading about Jesus for the first time or simply clicking a link to get a Bible. Some of our missionaries have already completed digital engagement training and are excited to see how God will use this tool to expand our ministries and contact among the unreached.
Additional Posts

Choosing a Missions Organization: Why SEND International Stands Out “Why should I be a missionary through SEND International?” Jenna, a new missionary in Eastern Europe, shared with us what she appreciates about working with SEND. The highlights for her are: - Devotion to prayer - Diligence in communication - Commitment to development - Intentionality in accountability Prayer “Back in September of 2022, the Lord reconnected me with SEND after I had met them a year prior at the Moody Bible Institute. However, before he would sign me up for anything, my Missions Coach encouraged me to pray. He said something to the effect of, "I know that you've been praying on your own for a long time. But as the Church, we are not called to walk alone. So, you and I won't talk for about a month unless you have questions. I want you to go pray with 5 or 6 others from your church about where God is calling you." That October, more than 10 friends prayed with me and we saw God answer as He directed me to Romania. From February 2024 to November 2025, I had the pleasure of being a part of team meetings in Romania with my SEND colleagues. Our meetings were four hours long, two for prayer and two for business. This has been the minimum for our team. There are also prayer meetings with the local churches we partner with, among smaller groups within our team, of course prayer with many of you across the pond, including those at our US office. The organization was built, has been sustained, and continues to run on prayer. This is my favorite thing about SEND. Communication As I mentioned above, we have a two hour block for business / ministry details in each of our meetings. This provides consistency across our team which works alongside three different churches and in a variety of ministries. It also helps us to communicate about the need for change or growth, alongside what is working well. In addition, my team director also meets with each of us, allowing us to communicate needs, considerations, and prayer requests. I've also enjoyed getting to work with SEND workers outside of my immediate region . We receive emails with the minutes from the Europe leadership team, Friday communications from our international director, and information regarding projects that affect our work among the unreached. In December of 2024, our international director at the time wrote a note to my parents for the first Christmas that I was gone. If nothing else had convinced my mom yet, this did. He took the time to care for me, but also to care well for the parents that were sending me (What it meant to my dad and mom for him to do this well has been one of the greatest ways I've been supported.). I also have some pretty wonderful regional directors. These people have prayed alongside us (while also serving in their own countries of service), they have taken time to come visit and encourage our team, and they have also taken the time to encourage the people in our churches. Development SEND has provided much in the area of development and care (spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally). At our regional conference (every three years), there have been medical check ups available, counseling options, and time for connecting with others on the field with similar experience. At our conference last October, I connected with a missionary who served overseas for many years, and is now serving on the administrative side of SEND. She has met with me since then for mentorship and has also invested much of her time recently in preparing a retreat for the singles across Europe. Accountability Over the years I have read and heard amazing stories of how God has worked through missionaries. God has done great things and great things He is still doing! However, people who have committed their lives to the Lord in this way are not “super Christians”. We are still humans with the same struggle against flesh that others have . A major challenge is in being isolated -- living in areas with little to no presence of other believers to sharpen them can cause many difficulties. SEND has been a great resource in this area too. Through my team, I have an accountability partner that I meet with monthly. When my regional director came to visit, he and his wife spent a day with me and asked intentional questions about how I lead, handle conflict, and how I am growing in general as a Christian. In addition, my teammates share their wisdom with me on a regular basis. These things and more have assured me that SEND International is a highly valuable organization and I'm excited to partner with them in service to, for, and with our great God! Interested in being sent by SEND?



