Dare to Reach

What Elijah Rising Is Teaching Us About Showing Up with Truth, Trust, and Hope

Ohhh friends…

One of my favorite things about the Seeds Giving Fund is that every partnership expands us.

We hope our fundraising offers encouragement and practical support to the incredible organizations we come alongside. But every single time, we find ourselves receiving just as much in return.

This summer, our Seeds Giving Fund partner is Elijah Rising, a Houston-based organization walking alongside women impacted by trafficking and exploitation through outreach, safe housing, trauma-informed care, and long-term restoration.

Traveling to Houston for the Elijah Rising Abolition Summit, I found myself surrounded by people who have quietly devoted their lives to bringing hope where it is needed most.

Warriors of justice.

Some well known. Many you’ve never heard of.

Bold and brave survivors who are now helping others discover freedom.

New friends greeting one another with big-brother-sister hugs. Decades-long companions picking up conversations as though no time had passed. Coffee cups in hand before another full-to-the-brim day of learning, listening, praying, and asking together what love looks like in places marked by profound pain.

Different stories.
Different backgrounds.
One shared calling.

One shared conviction:

That every person is worthy of dignity, hope, and the opportunity to flourish.

Watching this community reminded me that lasting change is rarely the work of a single hero. More often, it grows through ordinary people who choose, together, to humbly, faithfully, and tenaciously do their part.

It was in the midst of that community that I heard a sentence I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.

“Finding ways to reach women with truth and trust, giving them the courage to run.”

I’ve returned to those words often.

Because while they describe Elijah Rising’s work, they also invite all of us to consider a deeper question:

What does it take for someone to trust another human being?

Trust isn’t built through quick fixes or easy answers. It grows slowly—conversation by conversation, relationship by relationship, one small act of dignity at a time.

That is the kind of reaching I came home thinking about.

More Than Outreach

One of the gifts of spending time with the Elijah Rising team was seeing that their work isn’t defined primarily by crisis.

It’s defined by presence.

Their outreach teams return to the same neighborhoods week after week, building relationships over time. They learn names. They listen. They show up consistently. They create space for trust to grow before expecting anything in return.

As Tom, one of their beloved team members, shared with me,

“I was shocked at the extent of trafficking right here in Texas.”

That reality is heartbreaking.

Yet what left the deepest impression on me wasn’t the darkness.

It was the steady, hope-filled presence of people who refuse to believe anyone is beyond love, dignity, or the possibility of a new beginning. Hope, I was reminded, is rarely loud. More often, it looks like people who quietly keep showing up.

Rather than beginning with, “How do we rescue people?” Elijah Rising continually asks a different kind of question:

How do we build trust?

Because trust creates space for courage.

And courage opens the door to healing.

Healing Happens in Relationship

One of the beautiful reminders I carried home from Houston is that healing is rarely instantaneous.

It unfolds through relationships.

Through people who continue showing up.

Through safe places where stories can be told without shame.

Through communities that remind one another, again and again, that they are seen, valued, and deeply worthy of love.

That kind of healing doesn’t happen overnight.

But it does happen.

And it’s happening every day through the faithful work of Elijah Rising.

This Season’s Seeds Giving Fund

This summer, we’re honored to partner with Elijah Rising through the Seeds Giving Fund.

Together, we’re raising $5,000 to support their ongoing outreach and restoration work in Houston.

Your generosity helps make possible:

Compassionate outreach that builds trust over time
Safe housing and supportive community
Trauma-informed care and counseling
Long-term restoration and pathways toward independence
Practical resources that help women rebuild their lives

Every gift becomes part of a much larger story—a story of hope, dignity, courage, and healing.

Donate here (via Grapevine • tax-deductible for U.S. donors)

What We’re Learning

Every Seeds Giving Fund partnership invites us to ask not only, “How can we help?” but also, “What can we learn?”

This season, Elijah Rising is reminding us that meaningful change rarely begins with having all the answers.

It begins with showing up.

With listening.

With building trust.

With believing that every person carries immeasurable worth.

Most of us won’t serve in the same ways Elijah Rising does.

But every one of us has opportunities to become someone who notices the person others overlook. Someone who offers dignity before judgment. Someone who chooses curiosity over assumptions. Someone who reaches toward another human being with compassion, patience, and hope.

Perhaps that’s where healing begins more often than we realize.

A Personal Note

Many of you know that the work of Seeds of Exchange is shaped by a deep conviction that every person bears immeasurable dignity and worth.

That conviction influences every partnership we choose, every gathering we host, and every story we tell.

For me personally, that conviction flows from my life with Jesus—the One who continually moved toward people with compassion, truth, and love.

One of the things I treasure most about Seeds is that people from many different faith backgrounds—and no faith background at all—continue to find a home here. We don’t all share the same beliefs, but we can still learn from one another, celebrate what is beautiful, and work together for the flourishing of our neighbors.

If you’re curious about the spiritual foundation that shapes the way I engage in this work, I’d love to invite you to read this story, from my heart to yours.

About the Seeds Giving Fund

The Seeds Giving Fund exists to make everyday philanthropy simple, relational, and impactful. Each season, we partner with trusted grassroots organizations doing beautiful, dignity-centered work—locally and globally.

Want to JOIN our Seeds Giving Fund as a monthly donor? We’d so love that. It takes just a moment to set up, and from there, your generosity flows into each fundraiser throughout the year—a beautiful way to give again and again without needing to think about it.

Over the past ten years, Seeds of Exchange has partnered with communities in more than a dozen countries and raised more than $300,000 to support changemakers rooted in justice, hospitality, and hope.

Philanthropy isn’t reserved for the wealthy.

It begins with a seed—and grows through love in action.