Josh Vaughn

I grew up in rural Oklahoma, but don't worry I have had extensive counseling to overcome it. Actually I consider it a privilege to have been able to grow up in the backwoods of Wanette, America.  Growing up on a tiny farm teaches how to work hard, play hard, and really put your trust in God.  After surviving highschool and starting my long....very long walk towards getting a degree, I went on a missions trip with Dayspring Outreach to Mexico in 1996.  God moved mightily in my life on that trip.  I got my eyes off of me and focussed them on God's plan for others.  It was then that God placed a passion in my life to bring Christ to the places of the world that we have overlooked. (...but Mexico is a Christian nation...isn't' it?  Read my entry on "Why Mexico?".)  For two and a half years I attempted to  finish college but succeeded more in being a missionary.  Roger Tomlinson (Founder of Dayspring), Kevin Wagoner, and I were the summer staff for Dayspring.  We connected American Christians with Mexicans in ministry relationships.  The awesomenessicity (Yes, I just made that word up.  So often is the case when trying to describe God with puny earthly dialects. :) ) of what God did in those years, was burned into my heart for eternity. After the third summer I planned to return to Mexico for good.  I was going to go to language school, forget college, and become an expatriot....but of course God had other plans....

He wanted me to work at home for awhile.  Things were out of order.  My church needed me....or anyone but me.  My home church of Lighthouse Worship Center had no youth pastor.  The group, my group that I had got rededicated in and was a leader in for years, was without a shepherd.  I heard the call from God to fill in the gap.  God blessed me greatly for stepping out in faith into an area I had no visible gifting in.  It was definitely out of my comfort zone.  He rewarded my faithfulness greatly.  From there my home church, Lighthouse Worship Center, to help plant a church in Norman, OK.  I had no idea how God was going to use me there.  That church became Great Life Church in Norman, OK.  I helped (or hindered :) ) the birth of this church.  I served for 6 years with Great Life as the church administrator (which is a fancy title for janitor and people wrangler.) .  In this time I graduated with my degree in business management/church leadership. There are a long list I could run down of things I did, skills I learned, or firsts that I experienced there, but the most important blessing that I got from serving at Great Life was my wife Cathy.  We got married July 12th, 2003 and it has been a whirlwind from there.

God sent us back home after 6 years planting a church.  We found ourselves starting a new ministry in Lighthouse Worship Center and I ran my web dev and graphic design company.  Beta.ministries formed in Lighthouse in 2006  It sprang out of long talks and late nights with friends and God.  It was a special time of growth and gathering ourselves up for the biggest ministry leap yet.  Through beta God did the greatest work in us.  In October 2008, beta.ministries to a missions trip to Mexico. The Word to leave all and follow Him was ringing in our ears.  It was the time that Cathy and I had talked about for years.  It was time to become full-time missionaries.  Which brings us to now, where we are doing just that.  So here we are standing looking forward together in anticipation to what future, friends, and family lie beyond today's horizon.