Very few questions, if any, are more important than the asking of why; and, this is not a question that we’ve neglected. MissingNoMore links the families of missing kids to direct search and rescue teams and resources so that “Missing Persons” will be MissingNoMore. Our battle cry is simple: “Rescue Those In Need!” (Psalm 82:4). We are an organization that exists to engage in search and rescue operations working to address a problem plaguing the most vulnerable among us by finding missing children and bringing them safely home. Our goal is to mobilize search and rescue operators and investigators with recurring stipends and create the ability for these operators to devote their undivided attention to a crisis that deserves nothing less.
Additionally, through the funding of our generous donors, it is the hope that all who have been returned safely will have access to needed mental health and medical care providing them with a pathway to wholistic healing. We are driven from the Church for the advancement of the Church.
But, this is, so far, only an answer to the question of what we do; our why is central to our prayers, late nights, heartaches, ambitions, hopes, and frustrations.
The driving motivations behind MissingNoMore have always been Biblically saturated; we were not inspired by a single verse plucked out of context—our aim and mission is to be the hands of feet of the Gospel, to shout “Thy kingdom come” into the darkness, and to join the ministry of Christ. His ministry began with an amazing proclamation: “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15b); and, as He continued to preach, the message only became bolder. Luke recorded that Jesus, in reciting Isaiah 61, specifically defined His ministry as the arrival and fulfillment of the kingdom—the year of the Lord’s favor had arrived, the year of jubilee (Leviticus 25) was in full effect.
“‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’”
Luke 4:18-21
Jesus announced the great day of the Lord, the age of redemption, grace, and freedom, the year of jubilee—good news the poor, liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed. And, His audience well understood that when the year of jubilee was outlined in Leviticus, it was solely a tangible Good News for the downtrodden. Throughout the life of Jesus, this was simultaneously a spiritual as well as physical reality; after announcing His fulfillment of the coming Kingdom, Christ healed the sick and maimed, casted out demons, raised the dead, preached the way of the Kingdom, and cleansed the Temple of the thrives defiling it. And, if anyone should doubt the tangible nature of the Gospel, among countless other examples (John 21:25), we need only to listen to the testimony of the once blind man: “I was blind, but now I see” (John 9:25).
By His grace, our spiritual eyes were opened to the Truth of heaven, and the blind regained their sight; by His death and resurrection, we were cleansed of sin, and the lepers were healed by His touch. For the life of the Church, the hope of the Gospel has always been both an assured spiritual promise of divine reconciliation as well as a tangible, physical reality ever present in the actions of the redeemed.
The movement of God and a people with “Thy kingdom come” ever on their lips can be historically seen, in addition to many other examples, in the fight of the abolitionists to dismantle the evils of slavery, in the daily feeding of the poor and the caring for the sick, and in the bold advocacy for the precious value of unborn babies. History is, regretfully, full of voiceless struggles; but, it has always been the Church that has, moved by the power of the Good News, been the voice for the voiceless. The legacy of the Church is undeniable, and the fight continues with the battle raging on several fronts.
But, again, we must return to the important question of why. Why has the Church always prioritized feeding the poor, freeing the enslaved, protecting the abused, and providing treatment to the afflicted? If we answer with claims that such actions are good or commanded, while correct, we will have failed to identify the driving why of our good works.
The good works of the Church, our participation with the justice of the Kingdom of Heaven, spring from the deep wells of the Gospel, the arrival of the age of jubilee; the kingdom of heaven stands vehemently opposed to tyranny, affliction, a willful lack of generosity, and the devaluation of life. It was, after all, the King of Kings, the Lord who saw the affliction of His people, who sent Moses back to Egypt to oppose Pharaoh and the empire of slavery.
When we preach the Gospel with our words, we bring a message of spiritual salvation; and, when we get our hands dirty in service of others, our actions preach the Good News to the vulnerable, the exploited, those in need. Both presentations of the Gospel are required; after all, it was Jesus who taught that good works done for the least among us are received as personal displays of acts of love for God.
The battlefront chosen by MissingNoMore is one severely lacking in advocacy, awareness, and resources.
We’ve chosen to bring the Good News to vulnerable and exploited children because the truth is too much to bear: too many missing teenagers are runaways likely lured by predators for exploitative purposes; too many missing children are taken by unfit and abusive family who have been deemed so by the courts; too many are trafficking victims enslaved by the wicked.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”
Matthew 25:34-40
Specifically in Arizona, much of this problem has been related to our porous southern border; and, while it may be convenient to blame the previous administration and place the responsibility of hope on the current, it is important to know that Phoenix, specifically, has been recognized nationally as one of the sex trafficking hubs of the world for over 20-years. Current progress to secure the border and combat human trafficking is a step in the right direction, but, clearly, the responsibility before us cannot be deflected to the government. It is the demonic teaching of Marxist collectivism to place the duty of activism on the shoulders of government officials, to encourage the response of Cain—“Am I my brothers keeper?” (Genesis 4:9); individualism, however, the foundational philosophy of western civilization, demands the requirement that one take personal responsibility. While it may appear obvious, it must be said that there is a vast difference between Isaiah’s bold response of “here I am, send me” and modern society’s passive reply of “there they are, send them.”
“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am! Send me.’” Isaiah 6:8
On whatever missional front you have chosen for yourself, know that the fight will not be won through the delegation of duty. The pursuit of the value and rights of the unborn will not be achieved because of signed legislative petitions; it will be realized because you broke bread with your neighbor and shared with them in love the truth of Scripture. The hungry poor will not be fed by the continuation of social programs rampant in fraud, waste, and abuse; their provision will come from the generosity of your pantry, and their future stability will come from the power of your relationship and shared testimony.
There are more slaves today than there has ever been in all of recorded history—their deliverance will not come from the orders and activities of officials (many of whom, we have learned recently, may have been both complicit and involved in the wickedness); freedom has always come “when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys” (Dickens, A Christmas Carol). Each must choose for themselves which fight to undertake; and, be assured, many of which are worthwhile and necessary. We, MissingNoMore, have chosen ours. One barrier we face in this cause is the lack of awareness of the expanse of the problem itself (learn more).
Because this is not as rare an issue as some attempt to claim, many counties refer pleas for help to local private investigators; the obvious problem is that private investigators, even when wanting to act charitably, can be expensive and the most vulnerable within the community lack the funds to hire their services. One private investigator based in the East Valley charges over a hundred dollars an hour to work on a single case; and, this pricing is reflective of the industry standard. A single missing persons investigation would cost a family thousands of dollars for limited hours of surveillance and the unfortunate reality that no guarantees can be provided.
For approximately the same cost of a single family hiring a single investigator to temporarily investigate a single missing persons case, MissingNoMore operators can actively and without distraction engage in search and rescue efforts for a dozen vulnerable children; and, with recurring monthly donations, we will never stop searching. Why? Because that is the Good News of the Gospel; we believe that when Christ says He will leave the ninety-nine to relentlessly search for the one gone missing (Luke 15:4) it is meant as both a spiritual and literal pursuit.
Currently, the MissingNoMore community is small; but, we don’t need many and we don’t need much. We simply need enough. Our administrative expenses are, at this time, less than a thousand dollars a year with our biggest expense being online hosting with bank-level security encryption; our efforts to remain minimalistic allows the freedom to properly devote resources and maximize outcomes. Again, we don’t need many and we don’t need much; what is needed is a faithful community devoted to prayer while generously funding the efforts and advocating the cause; a community that has chosen to take personal responsibility for this fight out of obedience to the Gospel.
This is our why.
We are proud to partner with many organizations committed to finding missing children and bringing them home safely. If you want to partner with us, please contact us. We would love to speak with you, because the truth is that, in order to meet this growing need, we need to stand together as a community. No child should ever suffer; no child should ever be lost. In Psalm 82, we are called to defend those who cannot defend themselves: “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” Here, we summarize the passage simply: RESCUE THOSE IN NEED! Join us in our fight to save the lost.