As I write this prayer letter I am involved full force in my new role developing ministry hosts for our mission trips, primarily in the northeast. I look for areas in which God is clearly at work and where the teams that come can step in and make a difference for Christ while growing in their faith. If you know of a ministry in the northeast that you would like me to check out please call.
I look for locations with a broad range of ministry opportunities where groups will bebreaking down spiritual strongholds. This may include prayer walks, teen sports evangelism, children's ministries, community outreach events, sharing faith and doing construction and service projects.
Locations I am currently setting up include:
Urban US: New York City Metro area, Providence, RI, Washington DC, and Philadelphia.
Rural US: Western PA, Upstate New York and New Hampshire.
Central America: Costa Rica
Family time at Wawayanda State Park
Fall is cooler weather, apple picking, and soccer. We are cheering for 3 soccer teams this fall. Curtis is also playing guitar for youth group. Alyssa has started learning the flute. Please pray that they will stand firm in their faith as peer pressure increases in the teen years. Scott continues to work in construction and is a Christian skate club leader. Please pray that he seeks God's will in making career and college decisions. Janice is working with senior citizens in the community and would like to expand to the church setting. Pray that opportunities arise for her to witness to co-workers and her seniors.
For the first time since I have been with Adventures In Missions our support account is running low. If any of you would like to help us by investing in our ministry financially it would truly be a blessing. As always, we thank God for the team of people who surround our ministry in prayer and help fund it.
Praise God for salvation decisions and safety while in Newark, NJ and God's open door to minister in the public secondary school in Costa Rica.
Urban Ministry/Newark: As is often the case with urban ministry, we soon discovered that we were not bringing Jesus to Newark, but in fact He was already there. Jesus hangs out in places like Newark; we just get to announce it. Being out on the streets and in the parks with my son and his school friends striking up conversations and sharing our faith was a special blessing. It is also a blessing to spend time serving the poor meals and making them feel valued. Isaiah 58:10 If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday."
Belen, Costa Rica:"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
What are some things you are counting on God to accomplish? Are you able to trust God "even if He doesn't" do as you expect Him to?
This passage and questions were part of our devotional for this summer, and entered our experience in Costa Rica. I asked about entering the public secondary school to minister to the students. The principal of the school said yes. She often feels that there is no hope because the kids show up to school as they please. Some students that show up do drugs or have sex during their 20 minute recess. We told the principal we can bring hope to this situation.
As a group we spent a long time in prayer, and the students prepared testimonies about how they faced the temptations of drugs and sex, and how God pulled them through. They also shared how choices they made in these areas opened doors for them to do things like go on this trip.
When we showed up at the school the day we were scheduled to, the principal would not let us in. Not fully understanding why, we chose to use this time to worship God through singing and prayer instead. Our group truly did trust God "even if He doesn't" do as we expect Him to. This picture is of that time of worship.
Following God's leading, we showed up at the school again, and miraculously, this time we were allowed in to share with the students.
Students even lined up along the outside of the classroom to hear what the Christians had to say.
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.
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.
ive on how each of these is vital to mobilizing a church for missions.
