It Begins!

Well, here it is...my first post. I must say that I am quite excited to get this blog up and going. We have been working so diligently on the website, ministry plans, and our travel to Liberia next weekend that I am surprised I have been able to get to this.

For most of you who will visit this blog, you will likely know Vanessa and I. But I figured for those of you who have stumbled aimlessly onto our blog, that it would be good to introduce ourselves. So grab a nice cup of coffee (or tea if you must!) and get ready!

I am Greg Bogdan, Director and CEO of Spirit Liberia. God graciously blessed me with a wife I truly do not deserve, Vanessa. We have had an incredible marriage filled with love, joy, trials, heartache, faith, compassion, and learning - and I am so incredibly thankful for having a wife that puts up with me, supports me, challenges me, and perfects me!

We currently live in Phoenix, Arizona where I also run Christian Alliance Media Group, Inc., (advertising rep firm) and am partner in Positive Entertainment Group, Inc. (Recording studio and record label). God has truly guided and blessed our steps and has gone before us and given us favor with people we should have never had favor with!

Vanessa and I grew up knowing each other from a young age. We began to date also very young and were married when Vanessa was 17 and I was 18. As most would expect, the beginning years were difficult but God provided time after time and has shown himself so faithful.

Today we have been blessed with nine children - six biological and three adopted. Vanessa is also pregnant with number 10! We are so excited about this new addition. Our children are Macey, Kylee, Jacob, Eli, Jaden, Samuel, Liberty, Noah, and Judah - oldest to youngest. Macey is almost 13 and Judah just turned one recently.

From the age of four, Macey has known that God called her to be a missionary. Vanessa and I have been so excited to see her spiritual-life develop and God has granted her undue wisdom for such a young child. Even from the age of five, Macey has challenged me during our night-time devotions if I mis-stated something from scripture - what a challenge!

But God is so good. Vanessa and I are learning that sometimes when you pray for others, God challenges you in areas you may not have ever been challenged in simply to provide the means for his will to be done in their life. I think Spirit Liberia is a great example. We have been praying that God would continue to work in Macey's life and give her the desire to continue to press on to one day be a missionary. Then we traveled to Liberia to pick up our three boys last year and God hit us with the most unexpected love and compassion for the people of Liberia - people we had never met or even thought much about.

But in less than two weeks Vanessa, Macey, Jacob (our eight-year-old Liberian boy) and I will be leaving for Liberia on our first missionary trip. While we are there we will be holding the first Spirit Liberia supported crusade, traveling to the deep bush to see some of the churches we are supporting and working with, visiting an orphanage to deliver much needed supplies, and many more incredible ministry events. What a huge blessing. I can only imagine how incredible this has to feel for Macey to be seeing God's hand at work at such a young age. Praise God!

Please be in prayer for us as we travel and be praying that God will open the hearts of the Liberian people as we step into this completely new territory. We want to see such a mighty move of God that everyone will have to take a second look and realize God is on the move!

In Christ,

Greg