Meet Brian Frazier. He’s the director of peer-to-peer fundraising for World Vision USA, a Christian humanitarian organization that tackles the causes of poverty and injustice in the world. He’s also one of the guiding forces behind World Vision’s involvement in Oregon’s annual Hood to Coast relay race, the world’s largest.
Teams of runners trek almost 200 miles from a snow-capped mountain in northern Oregon to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, and Frazier - who is also one of its leading individual fundraisers - will pound the pavement in hopes of realizing World Vision’s 2022 goal to provide more people in South Sudan access to clean water.
A graduate of Texas A&M, Frazier and his wife of 21 years, Colette, are the parents of four children. He doesn’t just walk out his faith as an example to them and others - he literally runs with patience the courses God has put in front of him. That’s why he and World Vision were such a hand-in-glove fit, and together they bridge uncomfortable gaps to do the most good.
“At Team World Vision, we talk about meeting God on the other side of fear, and just stepping through that fear and seeing what God has for us on the other side,” Frazier said. “It’s when we’re talking about people that are different than us that God is at work in relationships - that is a perfect place to meet God, that’s where breakthrough can happen. When we’re stepping through those uncomfortable things, or the things we’re not used to … then, all of a sudden, that’s when magical things can happen.”