Southwestern, TBC students proclaim Jesus on mission trip to Southeast Asia

Nine students and one faculty member from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Texas Baptist College proclaimed Jesus on a mission trip to Southeast Asia, Oct. 1-11. The trip was a fruitful time which resulted in more than 50 professions of faith and many words of encouragement, participants said. 

Despite “congested roads filled with trucks, motorcycles, pigs, goats, water buffalo and monkeys,” Ian Buntain, team leader of the group, said, “we are so grateful for God’s protection, both for us and for the many pastors that came” to the ministry opportunities that were offered. Buntain serves as director of the World Missions Center and associate professor of missions at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The team conducted a variety of outreach efforts, including training  national church planters, facilitating an animal clinic, three Gospel crusades, children and youth ministry, evangelism, and Muslim outreach. “The team did a fabulous work here in Southeast Asia and led many people to Jesus,” said Sastry Meesala, a 2019 Doctor of Philosophy graduate of Southwestern Seminary, who leads a ministry in the region. 

“We would enter the homes and share testimonies, Bible stories, and the Gospel message. We would do the same thing in the evenings but in the center of villages so people would be drawn by loud music and microphones. So many people showed up each time,” remembered Katherine Smith*, a Master of Divinity in evangelism and missions student from North Carolina. They mainly ministered to children in orphanages, to pastors’ wives and families in the villages. The team helped with Vacation Bible School for children, led worship for the evangelistic crusades, and traveled to different villages sharing their testimonies and Bible lessons. 

Kris Sánchez, a Bachelor of Arts in Christian studies student at TBC from Poolville, Texas, enjoyed experiencing and learning about a different culture. “This was my first mission trip and seeing the same God work in Fort Worth, Texas, also work in these different villages in India was so amazing and mind blowing,” she said. Sánchez, who suffers from pancreatitis, said she was “very sick for a day and it was extremely hard.” During this time, “I could feel the prayers and I could feel God’s grace. It is part of my testimony and being reminded that even through sickness God’s will for our trip was bigger than my condition. I turned out okay in perfect time to play sand volleyball with the kids and had such a fun time with VBS,” said Sánchez. 

Smith said she “saw the Lord move through the number of those being saved.”

She never expected so many people to get saved, she said. “At one point I thought to myself, ‘There’s no way these people truly mean this after an hour-long sermon; they need more time before professing,’ and as soon as that thought left my mind, a Hindu woman in the crowd raised her hand and said [in her own language], ‘I am ready to leave all idols behind. I can only worship the one and only God from now on.’ Jesus saved people this week, not with flashlights or big performances but by His simple Gospel.” 

In an unfamiliar culture with various challenges, “God gave us enough grace to handle the different situations,” said Avery Blake,* a Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling student from South America. Despite any obstacles, Blake saw God move “through the unity we had in our group, boldness in being courageous enough to share the Word of God and our testimonies while engaging the Southeast Asian community.” 

The students applied what they learned in their classes to help them during their mission trip. Principles from the New Testament I class taught by James Wicker, professor of New Testament, and different counseling classes taught by Lilly Park, associate professor of biblical counseling, Jonathan Okinaga, assistant professor of biblical counseling, and Cheryl Bell, adjunct professor of biblical counseling, helped Blake as they “described the basis of counseling and how to show godly emotions and live a God-pleasing life,” said Blake. 

John Williams, a veterinarian from Texico, New Mexico, and his wife Mollie, a Master of Theological Studies student, participated in the trip. Using his veterinary skills, Williams conducted a clinic to treat water buffalos and to share the Gospel with the owners of the animals. 

“An interpreter and I walked to different homes in some of the villages and met with locals who had water buffalos,” Williams explained. “They mainly use water buffalo for milk to feed their families. We consulted with them about the health of their water buffalos and prescribed medicine for fertility issues, decreased appetite, and deworming.  We also prayed with the families over their cattle, kids, and communities. Our goal was to make relationships and earn trust with the community so that the local church can continue to minister and spread the Gospel.”

Joy McDonald* was inspired and moved by the way the lead pastor and his team served the missions team all week. “God showed me servant leadership in the godly men who served us,” she said. The lead pastor and his team served them three meals a day during their trip. “They showed us Christ through their actions. Because of their actions, I know that God is doing great things in these communities. They love the Lord, and their actions show it,” she reflected. She also observed how “God’s Word was planted to Muslim and Hindu women” and “even to our driver, who was a non-believer.” 

The Muslim outreach was done through a local ministry that runs a free sewing school for Muslim women. Each group of students goes through a six-month sewing course and is taught the Bible every day from a local pastor or missionary. 

“These Muslim women make traditional … clothing, men’s shirts, pants, and undergarments. After they graduate from our sewing school, they are gifted a free sewing machine, and most of them start their own tailoring business. If they are a believer upon graduating, they will also help the local church to do more ministry,” explained Meesala. “The team met ten Muslim women and shared the Gospel with them every day. They heard the Gospel, and the Muslim women gifted them with small sample clothing items that they are learning to make.” 

Buntain said the “most amazing thing” he observed was “students joyfully serving the Gospel in difficult conditions — tolerating discomfort, sickness, the daily uncertainty of constantly changing ministry assignments, never knowing what they may be asked to do, and yet doing everything they were asked.”

“They boldly shared the Gospel, loved nationals, made friends wherever they went, and talked to strangers,” Buntain concluded. “It was an extraordinary privilege to serve with this passionate team of Gospel-focused missionaries.”

*Names changed for security reasons.