SUMMER MISSIONS RECAP: Teams see 128 professions of faith

Night market vendors were just beginning to set up their kiosks as the mission team from Southwestern Seminary prayer-walked the community around a mosque in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The team’s leader, Keith Eitel, walked by himself roughly a block behind his wife and a translator. This latter pair was handing out Thai-language Gospel tracts, and one man, after receiving a tract, became puzzled by it.

As they later learned, the man is from Nepal and had only come to Chiang Mai for business; he, therefore, could not read Thai. When Eitel reached him, the man noticed that Eitel had the same kind of tract, so the man asked him, “Do you know what these are?”

Eitel, dean of Southwestern’s Roy Fish School of Evangelism and Missions, gladly explained the Gospel to him, and after the man asked a few questions, Eitel asked if he wanted to respond. The man spent a few more moments examining the tracts, which contained diagrams illustrating the Gospel message. He then looked up and said, “I need to do this.”

This summer, Southwestern deployed five mission teams around the world, and they experienced numerous divine appointments like this. God prepared the hearts of many whom they encountered, and the teams collectively saw 128 people profess Jesus as Lord in response to the Gospel message. In addition, numerous seeds were planted for future decisions, and local leaders in these various locations were further equipped to reach the world for Christ. In light of such results, Eitel often ended his reports from the trips in which he participated with the phrase, “Praise the Lord!”

Japan, May 14-June 2

The summer’s first mission team deployed to Nagoya, Japan. Though they initially feared that recent increased security measures would limit their opportunities for sharing the Gospel, they trusted the Lord to provide appointments with the right people, and five individuals ultimately prayed to receive Christ.

One of these five was a student whom the team met on a college campus who already called herself a Christian. After developing a friendship with her, the Southwestern students invited her to join them for dinner. She accepted the invitation, and she brought some of her friends to the meal, as well.

“After dinner, our students were able to have deeper conversations with the Japanese friends and shared the Gospel with them,” says master’s student Ariel Lee. “The girl who thought she was a Christian heard the Gospel for the first time, and she decided to surrender her life to Christ!”

Madagascar, May 26-June 12

Now in its fifth year, Southwestern’s Madagascar Embrace program began as an initiative to evangelize the Antandroy, an unreached, unengaged people group (UUPG) in this east African country. This year, in the city of Fort Dauphin, the mission team once again saw God bless their humble labor and joyful sacrifice as local leaders came to learn the Word of God and share the Gospel with the lost.

In daily training sessions, approximately 70 male and female national leaders came to learn discipleship, doctrine and evangelism from Southwestern teachers. In the afternoons, the Southwesterners and nationals went out together to visit friends and relatives in order to share the Good News. The team also devoted one weekend to evangelizing the neighborhoods around Fort Dauphin. After two weeks, these efforts had yielded 99 professions of faith.

Haiti, May 27-June 6

Over an 11-day period, a team of five students and faculty ministered in the community of Creve, located in the northwest corner of Haiti, in order to meet both the physical and spiritual needs of the people. The team worked alongside Water4Nations and built three gravity-driven water purification towers, which will provide the entire community with clean water.

Bachelor of Arts student Jim Sprouse says it was important to provide access to such a vital, basic resource, but that it also served as a platform to engage in spiritual conversations. “On the Sunday before we left,” he says, “I shared with many of the people in the community about how Jesus provides us with living water so that we never thirst again. These water purification systems become a springboard for the Gospel message.”

Canada, June 20-July 29

The summer’s next mission team, comprising 10 students from the College at Southwestern, deployed to Vancouver Island for six weeks. There, they gained hands-on experience in evangelism, missions and church planting.

Striving to foster relationships within the community, the team, among other things, volunteered in a local homeless shelter. More than an attempt to fill a need in meal service, this effort opened the door for Gospel conversations with people who frequented the shelter, as well as its staff and other volunteers.

As reflected in many of their conversations, Bachelor of Arts student Christian Rowland says many people are interested in the message of the Gospel, but their apathy and search for tolerance has hindered their willingness to respond.

“People are definitely searching for the truth, but they are searching in all the wrong places,” Rowland says. “I was really reminded of the urgency of the message of the Gospel and the need for more workers.”

Thailand, July 7-25

Channeling their efforts primarily through spiritual conversations on college campuses and showing the “Jesus” film to mountain villages, the summer’s final mission team of 16 students and faculty went forth in Chiang Mai as ambassadors of Jesus Christ, faithfully expecting great things from God. These expectations were met and even exceeded by the trip’s end, as the team members personally saw 24 come to know the Lord.

A quote that Eitel often employed as an encouragement to the team was, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” This quote from missionary William Carey served as the guiding principle of not just the Thailand team, but all of Southwestern’s missionaries this summer.

“We tend to go into these experiences full of ‘attempting,’ but we fail to be adequate in full expectation,” Eitel says. “So let’s go expecting to be surprised; to see what God is going to do.”

Considering all that God did this summer through each of the mission teams, these expectations were clearly rewarded, and God proved that He is indeed “able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).