In 2017 when I preached my Dad’s funeral the Lord had me use, 1 John 3:18

“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” The Lord showed me this was a picture of my Dad. A man who lived out the love of Jesus in his daily walk. But not until after my Dad went to be with Jesus did I understand his why. He had met the love of Jesus in the darkest of days. And he wanted others to know that love…..

I met Jesus as a teenage boy in a small town in Oklahoma. I had an intimate personal experience with Jesus. But, I didn’t have someone to come along side me and help me find my identity and purpose in Jesus. I didn’t have a foundation in Jesus. I didn’t know my why….

So, I spent many years chasing all the why’s of the world. Money, positional authority, degrees, relationships, worldly success and everything else you can think of that the world says is why you should get up every day and work. I used my giftings, given by the Father for His glory, to please the desires of my flesh and it left me broken, empty and at the end of my self.

In 2017 the Lord sent a man into my life. A man sent to teach me how to set at the feet of the Father. How to hear His voice and obey, walking  into freedom! This man helped me understand my identity in Jesus and my purpose on this planet. And everything in my life was turned upside down.

I found my “why”……you see, when I met Jesus as a young boy, I was overwhelmed by HIS love. I will never forget that moment. I had never experienced anything like it and I have no adequate words to describe the day. I just know HIS love wrapped around me and washed over me in a way that I never wanted to leave that moment. Over the years I would “stumble” across Jesus and His love for me. I know now, it was HIS chesed love chasing me down. Never letting me to far….

But, I didn’t know how to get back…..how to get back to the presence of Jesus. I didn’t know how to “return/repent” and I  didn’t understand the foundational truths of the Kingdom. So, I found myself “an infant in Christ being tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful schemes.”

And then the Lord sent this man, and he taught me in the word the truth. The truth about my identity and purpose. The truth about how Christ died for me while I was still a sinner. The truth of the LOVE of the Father that sent Jesus to die for my sins, so that I could be back in relationship with HIM. And that I could experience this love all the time! The truth that God so loved the world….. Like the prodigal son, I found my way back to the Father and I was showered in His love.

So, “My Why” is I want everyone on this planet to understand and experience the love of Jesus. I have a burden on my heart to not only share the love of Jesus, but also to come alongside other disciples helping them grow up in Jesus. Equipping and empowering them with the truth of the living Word. Helping them build a firm foundation based on biblical truths about their identity and purpose in Jesus. This is the fire that compels me….THIS IS MY WHY!!!

Travis Evans

When I was about three years old, my 2-year-old brother and I were playing in our front yard. We lived in a small rock house in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Evidently, according to my dad, we found our way into the neighborhood street more often than he liked. So, being the handyman he was, he took some kind of chalk or spray paint and drew a line across the driveway where it met the road. He gave us both explicit instructions: Do NOT go over this line or you will be in trouble. 

Obviously, I don’t remember the incident, as I was just three. But, the story goes that my dad came out a few minutes later and we were both in the street again (Please don’t freak out – neighborhood streets were pretty safe way back then). He bolted across the yard ready to give us the what-for. He said to me (because I was the oldest, most “mature”): “I thought I told you not to cross that line?” And I tell ya, I can absolutely imagine me saying what he says I said: “But Daddy, we didn’t cross it. We went through the ditch and went around it.”  

You see, I’ve found my way around obstacles since before I can actually remember. Growing up, if I decided I wanted to do something, I nearly always found a way. My parents learned that they would be better off to support me, or to at least not discourage me (this always fueled my desire more). The result of this is that I truly believed I could do anything I wanted to do. And for many years, I chased after the things I wanted by putting my hope in money, status, and my career.

When I was in my mid-twenties, I met Jesus. But it was a short, one-time meeting after He saved me. Let me explain…I didn’t want to quit doing the sinful things in my life. So I avoided conversations with Jesus and continued putting my hope in the world and the things in it, without repentance. It would take another 12-15 years before I would realize my desperation and true need for a relationship with Jesus. Not just a once-a-decade reunion, but a close relationship. I began spending time in His word and trying to obey the things in it. I’ve grown tremendously. I’ve learned that sometimes the good and right answer truly is “no.” Just like my dad wanted to keep my brother and me safe from harm by playing in the road, Jesus sometimes tells us “no” because He knows what’s best for us.

But I’ve also learned over the years that not everyone believes they can do or be whatever they want to do or be. Some people believe the world (parents, teachers, friends, social media) when it tells them they cannot do something: they’re not pretty enough; they’re poor; they’re not smart. The list is endless. Yet the Lord tells us that we, as Christians, are not of this world. I now know that for everyone that believes Christ Jesus is their Lord and Savior, He not only says “yes” to the thing He called them to, He empowers them to do it. He says that we have defeated the things of the world because He is in us. 

That’s a lot of words to say this: The Lord has specifically made me to come alongside young people, and women of all ages, to help them: identify their purpose and the lies the world tells them that hold them back; encourage them to walk it out; and provide necessary resources to ensure their success.