Cross Cultural Mission Engagement Team (CCMET)

CCMET Mission:
To engage the Resurrection Lutheran Church community as participants in cross-cultural missions.

CCMET Vision:
RLC is known for its commitment to the Great Commission for international and local cross-cultural missions so that, across the RLC community, engagement in cross-cultural missions is a part of RLC DNA.

How can you become involved?
There are many ways: pray for missionaries, share your time and talents, provide financial support, volunteer for a short-term mission trip, or write letters of encouragement.

Who's on the team?
The Cross-Cultural Mission Engagement Team (CCMET) was chartered in February of 2024 and is comprised of members Paul Brandt, Susan Brandt, David Birner, Ron Bostick, Juli Blanke, Erika Hulse, and Pastor Jonathan Blanke (Ex Officio).

The CCMET accepts mission grant requests. To request a form, email the team.

To learn more about local and international cross-cultural missions at RLC, please reach out to the team by email to .

Mission Grants

CCMET granted a Mission Grant to Ilea Kuo for her mission trip to Southeast Asia from May 20-July 12, 2025. Ilea traveled with fellow college students from Louisiana to college campuses abroad to spread the Gospel. Ilea shares her experience here:

This summer was such an amazing opportunity to challenge and grow my faith in the midst of a different country and culture, and to ultimately investigate what it might be like to pursue global missions long term. Going into the trip, I already had some limited experience with sharing the Gospel with strangers; I participated in various campus and city outreach events that focused on sharing with many people, as opposed to establishing deep connections with a few. Nervous as I was to try a different approach, I was excited to see what it would be like to forge relationships first, and through them, get to share the Good News. I think the biggest obstacle of sharing the Gospel this summer was the cultural barrier. It is difficult to describe what it feels like as a Christian to go from a Christian-based country to a Muslim-based country. The power of the devil was palpable and felt heavy the whole time we were there. Instead of being surrounded by churches and people that knew the Grace of Jesus, we were surrounded by mosques and people trying their best to be "good enough" for God. Each time the call to prayer would go off (five times a day), we were reminded of how lost the people around us were and the Truth that they were missing out on. It was heartbreaking but encouraged our convictions about why we were there.

In the Muslim faith, God is "loving" but there is no such thing as a personal relationship with Him. In order to be seen as righteous, one must perform religious acts. According to some of our friends there, they don't believe that sin can be eliminated by good deeds, your good deeds just need to outweigh your sin enough to eventually let you into heaven. There is no forgiveness or true salvation; each person spends their allotted time in hell for their sins and then eventually gets to heaven. Truthfully, the Southeast Asian version of Islam is a lot closer to Universalism than true Islam. I asked several friends if they believed I would go to heaven since I wasn't a Muslim, and they said that anyone who believed in a god would serve their sentence in hell but eventually get to heaven. This view that all religions, as long as they believe in a deity, were essentially correct was probably the hardest thing to counter while sharing the Gospel with them. Most of our friends did not understand why only one religion could be correct, and many times they said that Christianity and Islam were two sides of the same coin. It was incredibly difficult to explain to them how God could be loving and just while also sending Jesus to atone for our sins. To them, justice involved personally paying the price or needing to perform good deeds to outweigh their sin. They could not grasp how Jesus' sacrifice could be fair or even necessary. Their critique of Christianity was that they felt we were "let off the hook" from our sins, weren't rightfully punished, and were abusing the Grace we were given. Hearing that for the first time was incredibly convicting for me, forcing me to evaluate my life to see if I was perpetuating this view of American Christianity that they believed. I still regularly think about that critique to remember that my life needs to honor God, not abuse His Grace. Because of this view that many of our friends held about Christians, it was really difficult to get them to understand the concept of Grace and an atoning sacrifice. One of the better methods to talk about this was going through the Old Testament and explaining the necessity of sacrifices to cover sins and then relating that to Jesus. Muslims also believe in many of the Old Testament writings, so we tried to use those alongside the Gospels to talk to them about Jesus. Mostly, however, we tried to relationally connect with them about shared life experiences and how they have brought us closer to Jesus. A lot of our friends were not well-versed in Muslim theology, so they did not know how to talk about the specifics of their religion. It was more effective to talk about how Jesus showed up in our lives and the peace, comfort, and assurance that we have in Him. This approach also made it a lot easier to bring up our faith in casual conversation rather than diving into theological discussions.

Although we did not have any friends that accepted Christ while we were there, many had lots of questions about our faith and about their own that they wanted to investigate. We were able to connect them with the long-term staff that live in the area so they can continue to explore Christianity. I still chat with my friends to see how they are doing and update them on my life as well. I am praying that eventually; the seed planted in them would sprout and lead them to Christ.

This trip also taught me a lot about my own relationship with Christ, and what I might do in the future. For the past year, I have been considering long term mission work, and this trip served as a taste of what that life might look like. Being among those people for 7 weeks and making friends with some of the college students there grew my heart for the Indonesian people, and for Muslim people worldwide. I cannot imagine how discouraging it must be to live your whole life trying to be "good enough" while never knowing if you have actually done enough. I wanted my friends to know the Gospel and be freed from that life of fear. Coming back to the States, I remembered walking into my first church service the day after we got back, and being in awe of a room full of believers, proudly singing praises to God. Although we had our own worship services in a staff member's house during the summer, it was so incredible to be back at a place, surrounded by other Christians and be able to openly proclaim our faith. However, I also felt a conviction towards the nations where a church service like that could not be possible. There are so many strong believers in America that can share with the folks here but don't have the ability to go to the nations. I have that freedom and capability of doing so now, and I don't want to take that for granted. This summer encouraged me to keep my yes on the table for moving overseas as a missionary and to take steps toward that goal.

This trip was truly an incredible experience and one that I am so grateful for. The Lord challenged and grew me in ways that I was not expecting and continually reminded me of the beauty of the Gospel. I want to thank you all for supporting me through this trip and wanting to see the Nations reached. It is such a blessing and honor to be able to be a part of God's mission of salvation for all people, and one that I will continue in for the rest of my life.

- Ilea Kuo