Shannon and Shayne McIntyre

For many people, it is a dream to travel around the world. For Shannon and Shayne McIntyre, they travel the world in pursuit of waves and the perfect surf spots. Their travels have taken them to spots that few have surfed including Oman, India, Korea and Taiwan. Their travels have been documented for Fuel TV in a show called On Surfari. In 2006, Risen interviewed the McIntyres.

Shayne shares how traveling has increased their faith.

“Oh yeah. Whenever you get stressed out, you need to remember that God has you there for a reason. I always get nervous during turbulence on airplanes. I hate that part of travel. We don’t know what’s going to happen when we get where we’re going. I woke up one morning and had a dream about teaching surfing in Mozambique. [This was scheduled to be the next Surfari show, but complications with taking a child there have changed their plans]. We hope to more than just teach kids to surf—someone might need a roof on a church or schoolbooks and we hope to provide that. The way we tend to look at every day is that God plans the day and it’s up to us to figure out what the plan is…What’s good about travel is there’s no baggage, very little. We have Banyan and a few backpacks and a couple surfboards, but you don’t have the house and cars and all that. The lighter you travel, the more efficient you are and the more experiences you seem to have. When we were younger we used to collect more stuff., but it gets hard lugging that stuff around.”

 ^“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

The McIntyres explain how they share their faith even when they can’t speak the same language.

Shayne says, “I think it’s definitely show in your presence and the vibe you give off to people. We do our best to be mellow. We’re always open to make friends and we like being polite. People see that we don’t have any agenda when we travel. They won’t see any Americans for months or years in certain places. A lot of time we share our faith when people share their faith with us. They want to tell you what they believe…You have to be brave. Shannon and I have known the Lord for a long time…We’ll pray for protection and other people will pray for us and that’s powerful. When you travel and have all that going in your favor…Still, there are those who love the Lord and were murdered for their faith. Shannon and I are pretty quick to spot those who don’t have good intentions. Plus, our kindness can put someone with bad intentions off balance a little bit.”

Shannon adds, “Faith in the U.S. is not politically correct. It’s like a negative thing, which is really sad. A lot of countries where we’ve been, faith is all they have.”

Risen Reflections

Be a world-changer. You don’t need to travel the world to be a world changer. God has put people in our lives that he wants us to share the Gospel with. It could be a friend, classmate, teammate, neighbor. Many of the people around us come from other countries or will travel to other countries in the future. As we share Christ with those people, they may share it with their friends and family that are still in those countries. Pray and ask God who He wants you to share Christ with and ask Him to give you the words. Often times, when we ask people what they believe and how they came to believe it, it opens up the opportunity for spiritual dialogue. Share

Pray for missionaries. There are people all over the world that are sharing Christ. Many live in countries where Christians are persecuted or even killed for their faith. Take time this week to pray for them, that God would provide for their needs. Ask God to soften the hearts of the leaders, that government, military and other leaders would come to know Christ. Pray that God would give them wisdom and discernment as they make decisions and ultimately for their safety.

Use your platform. God has given each of us talents and abilities. We have the opportunity to use those things to bring glory to His name instead of our own.

To read our entire interview with Shannon and Shayne McIntyre, click here.