25 Years since 9/11 + 25 Years on Staff

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In September of this year, the world reflected on the 25 years since 9/11. For those who experienced it live, it is one of those key generational memories - you remember where you were on September 11, 2001. I remember for two distinct, and fatefully paralleled, reasons: the unprecedented terrorist attacks on US soil and my very first day of Campus Outreach staff training. 

I graduated from college in May 2001, participated in a Summer Beach Project afterward, and then prepared for Staff Training. Since my training started on a Tuesday, I headed to Birmingham early to meet up with friends still in school. Early Tuesday morning on September 11th, I spent time at a prayer chapel reflecting on the journey overseas I was about to embark on and on God's sovereignty in orchestrating it all. This was the era before mobile internet, so I was oblivious to the events that morning as I made my way to Briarwood Presbyterian Church to begin my Campus Outreach staff training. I walked into an empty office, a bit confused as to where everyone was. I began to think I had the wrong day or that there had been a scheduling error, when one of the International Network administrators saw me and said, “You need to see this.” Everyone was in a small conference room with a small television watching the events unfold. I cannot remember which tower I witnessed failing, but it was enough to quickly realize that my training would be very different from what I expected. 

Over the next months, as I raised my prayer and financial support team, much of the world discussed and reflected on the events of 9/11, the aftermath, the ensuing response by the United States, and anticipated what might come next. Both the Patriot Act and the start of Operation Enduring Freedom were enacted during this season. In March of 2022, as I boarded a plane to Brazil, my parents were not allowed to accompany me to the gate, a change that increased airport security had already prohibited. 

Due to a visa issue, I had to return to the US in September of 2002, and was in the US for the 1st anniversary of 9/11. I remember watching a TV news special that was a retrospective of the country's response. It was a confusing time for me to be a sympathetic American to those who were lost, while also attempting to make inroads into Brazilian culture, where opinions were very mixed one year after the tragedy. Upon returning to Brazil, I remember having to remind myself that I was there to represent Jesus Christ, and not the USA. I was a missionary of the gospel, not an emissary of the US government. 

Many times over the years, I saw this parallel between 9/11 and my tenure in Brazil come into view. I had difficult conversations on campus about US imperialism and what was viewed as a disproportionate response. I had long phone conversations with friends in the US about how to process the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Once Tathiana and I were married, her visa process to visit the US as a non-resident was much more involved than it had been for Brazilians pre-9/11 – Tathiana had only a tourist visa for our first 17 years of marriage. We even had complications in our financial life due to the Patriot Act, since I was married to a foreign national who was not a US resident (remember, we lived in Brazil). Also, the COVID stimulus checks didn't include us because of Tathiana's non-resident status. I was constantly reminded how my time on staff lined up with the ramifications of 9/11.

As we continue to come to grips with the fundamental change that occurred in the geopolitical context and cultural norms as a result of 9/11, I - and so many of you who have partnered with us these 25 years - celebrate all that God has done both in us and through our labor in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and now with the SERVE office. What He began long before 9/11, He has shown Himself faithful to His redemptive interactions since that fateful first day of Staff Training.