Introdution

Posted in General Articles by Bill Thomson on 10/4/2006

Bill Thomson
Northeast Regional Representative
My first AIM mission trip 1998

Wife: Janice

Children: 4, one in every age group

Phone: 862-377-5582

Being a “lifer” in youth ministry, I’m all about mentoring youth and my brothers and sisters in youth ministry. Having been a youth pastor, church elder, parent of a teen, and seems like yesterday (today at heart) a teen myself, I have a unique perspect ive on how each of these is vital to mobilizing a church for missions.

My vision is simply to help the church be the church. Most churches want to reach their world for Christ, to be involved in fulfilling the Great Commission. When a Hurricane Katrina hits, they want to be Christ's hands and feet, to step in and show Christ's love.What they lackisestablished relationships in those areas from which they can assess needs and reach people. Churches need to be matched up with researched opportunities that meet their passion and their gifts and abilities. My ministrywith Adventures In Missions is to help meet that need. The primary purpose of my ministry is to mobilize churches for missions, andhelp churchesin strategic locationshost mission teams to help reach their communities for Christ

I have lived in northern New Jersey my whole life. Many youth in the northeast, even entire churches, are apathetic in their faith. Short term mission trips are a great way to move youth from apathy to energy by not just learning about God, but experiencing God at work, and hearing from Him in new and exciting ways. The trips can bring students from the classroom into the lab, or the field trip that ties all the classroom learning to real life.

Sharing Life July 2006

Posted in General Articles by Bill Thomson on 9/8/2006

Gulfport, Mississippi June 2006

Hurricane Katrina Relief

A motel sat on the slab in the picture above, but now the parking lot, the pool and a fire escape are all that is left. No debris was taken from the site after the storm; a 26 foot tidal surge took care of that and everything else within a few thousand feet of the shore.

The first day of our trip started with a concert of prayer. All three church groups we were hosting were eager to get to work. As their leaders and I checked out requests people made for help to the Christian relief center, we sensed that this was not what God had for us. The above location, for example, was not in the neighborhood of the church we were staying at, and working on this crushed shed did not seem like it would have a major impact on the kids doing the work or for the kingdom.

That afternoon as we walked around the neighborhood of the church praying for God's leading, we came upon a badly damaged house among houses in good shape. When we knocked on the door of the tiny FEMA trailer there, a husband and father of three came out and told us about being underinsured, and about working on stripping the house down to the frame by himself to save money. Once this was done, the insurance company would release funds to rebuild it.

He accepted our offer of help, though he would have never asked for it. That week he came to church with us, and has been attending there with his family ever since. We came to find out that he had just returned from Iraq, having taken a bullet through his stomach and out his back, so the work was hard on him. Yet he worked beside us all week.

We all learned that praying first, and waiting upon God brings his blessing, and a lasting impact for His kingdom.

Iraq veteran Rob (tossing a board) and our work crew

We know that God will move some of you to join a team of people who will surround this ministry in prayer andhelp fund it. You can use the enclosed card to send support our ministry financially or to let us know you are praying for us. We are asking for the people God moves who have a passion for local church ministry, missions and youth, and who care deeply for us to invest in this mission of mobilizing churches for missions.