I’m Kate Latture, and this is how God’s enabling me to live deeply through missions. 

“I grew up in a family that emphasized local missions. ‘Serve in your own backyard’ was always my approach. But then I married Compton, who has a deep passion for global missions. His family’s focus on the world beyond our doorstep was a little outside my comfort zone. That all changed when he & I were asked to go on a CSPC church planting vision trip to Europe last fall: London, Manchester, and Edinburgh. What I saw on that trip changed me. Meeting people faithfully working to plant churches in spiritually dark places was unforgettable. Edinburgh, for example, has less than 4% evangelical Christians. That shocked me. I met a retired pastor who couldn’t walk away from a neighborhood where people needed to know Jesus. Another man had a lucrative career with Amazon but gave it up to plant a church because sharing the gospel mattered more than making money. Their stories revealed what radical obedience looks like, and their faithfulness inspired me. One thing I struggled with was fundraising for this trip. Compton & I had never raised money for anything before. What were we supposed to say- ‘Hey, will you help me get to Europe to meet some amazing people?’ But when I talked to Neil MacMillan, a pastor we met in Scotland, about that, he told me, ‘One of the most impactful things for me when it comes to my partners in the States is the support they show me and my family: checking in, encouraging us, making sure we’re okay. That support is what keeps us going.’ And of course money is part of that support. But it’s not about the money- it’s about connection. I realized that as brothers and sisters in Christ, we’re called to support one another, in all kinds of ways, no matter the distance. That opened my heart more to what God was doing globally- and in me. My approach to sharing my faith has changed. I’ve always felt an urgency for my coworkers to know the gospel, but this trip taught me the importance of balancing that urgency with patience.

One of the pastors we met in Edinburgh said something that stuck with me: ‘Jesus didn’t always explain everything. He asked questions, made people think, and sometimes just walked away.’ That was freeing. Sharing the gospel doesn’t mean I have to explain everything in one conversation or pressure someone to believe immediately. It’s about planting seeds and trusting God to save people, not me. For the first time, I felt free to share my faith without feeling like I had to carry the weight of conversion on my shoulders. That gave me a deeper sense of peace and joy in God. It also reminded me the Holy Spirit is always at work, even when I don’t see the results right away. One way I saw the Spirit at work in our own group (five couples from CSPC) was through our nightly debriefs. It was such a great mix of personalities being knit together. We would sit together at the end of each day & share what God had been teaching us, what was on everyone’s hearts. Those moments fostered such deep connection: with each other (we’ve kept up the sweet friendships & remain close), but also with the bigger picture of what God’s doing around the world. One night, we talked about the sacrifices we’d witnessed. One family had moved to a neighborhood where they didn’t know anyone because they believed God wanted them there. Their willingness to trust God in the unknown made me reflect on my own life. Would I be willing to step out like that if God called me? What would it look like to embrace that kind of bold faith here, in my everyday life? Since coming back, I’ve felt a renewed urgency- not just for global missions, but for the people I see every day: my coworkers, my neighbors. I’m learning to trust God with the outcomes while stepping boldly into the opportunities He gives me. Mission -in my backyard, my workplace, or across the world- is about relationships. And at the center of every relationship is Jesus. He pursues people with a love that never fails. The trip helped show me my role isn’t to save anyone. It’s to show up, share the hope of the gospel, and trust that God is working in ways I might never fully understand. My heart came back feeling very full.”