As they boarded the plane the team’s first stop was Japan, then on to Indonesia and finishing up in the Philippines.
Although I did not get on the plane… as Pastor Trent’s assistant, coordinating the travel and schedule details for this Vision Tour, I felt like I was right there with the team every step of the way.
PREPARING TO SEND…
A lot has happened since I finished the Calvary School of Missions program last summer. Let me give you a quick run down… I’m back in Southern California, continuing to live with and help care for my mom, I’ve joined the Missions Training School (MTS) held in Yorba Linda. MTS is the training program run through Saving Grace World Missions, my missionary sending agency!
In addition to the weekly classes and training received through the MTS program, I’ve started helping weekly in the SGWM main office, assisting our senior pastor here, Trent Douglass. One of my first big projects was to help coordinate travel plans for his Vision Tour to Southeast Asia.
Vision Tours offer MTS students a first-hand experience in an area of the world they have sensed the Lord is calling them to. With a group of students and leaders, together they scope out the land and have the chance to meet and spend time with various missionaries and nationals currently involved in local ministry. These opportunities provide great insight as they seek the Lord’s confirmation of His specific calling on their lives to full-time ministry.
I believe that the Lord continues to prepare and send his laborers to His harvest through trips just like this Vision Tour to Southeast Asia.
And, I get to be part of His sending team!
In the midst of all the details…coordinating travel, accommodations, transportation, and communicating between the pastors and leaders in the various countries, the Lord has shown me, no matter if I am stationed out in the field or at the SGWM headquarters in Yorba Linda, it is always an an honor to be used in the Lord’s work!
FIRST STOP….OSAKA
Through the coordination of vision trips in various areas of the world, SGWM brings interested students to places like Japan, which happens to be the largest unreached people group in the world even though the country of Japan is still “open” to the gospel.
With still such great need for the teaching of God’s word in Japan it is encouraging to know that as many missionaries that may be interested, can be sent to this part of the world to share the gospel of Christ openly.
Jeff and Alishia Root, previously SGWM mission training students, now went to Japan with plans to stay and continue on as full-time workers excited to join in the ministry of a local church plant in Osaka.
NEXT STOP… INDONESIA
Yes! They all got on the bus! Sounds funny but, it’s details like this that made me happy. Having 3 groups of people coming in from 3 different countries, arriving on 2 different days, I breathed a sigh of relief and prayer of thanksgiving knowing this second part of the trip was underway.
There are so many great lessons that occur during these trips that just can’t be simulated in a classroom. The team experienced 2 different areas, providing great insight into the variety of culture in Indonesia.
- The Island of Bali, predominantly Hindu, is a culture overrun by idol worship, shrines everywhere you look with a very small church presence that is very much in need of strengthening in God’s word and protection from spiritual warfare.
- Their time visiting the Province of Jakarta gave great insight to life in a Muslim culture, along with the multiple calls to prayer throughout each day.
The team had the opportunity to meet with various Christian workers who lived alongside indigenous church planters. With the local church being overrun with idols it was evident the existing church needed to be focused on teaching the whole Word of God. Pastor Trent’s seminar, “The Purpose of the Church” made a huge impact, encouraging and challenging local pastors and leaders to be grounded in God’s Word.
God is definitely in the details!
Pastor Trent and Victor had the opportunity to baptize several people after church in the pool of the hotel the team was staying at. When I organized and booked the hotel, it never crossed my mind that the Lord was going to use this location to have these new believers baptized!
MEANWHILE…BACK IN CALIFORNIA
As I continue my stay in California, the Lord has continued to provide opportunities to serve Him through the church, outreach, and discipleship groups. I am blessed by the ways He continues to equip me for what He has next…whatever and wherever that may be.
By joining the SGWM’s Mission Training program, I’ve appreciated the great cultural and biblical teaching and training, presentations from visiting missionaries serving all over the world, as well as a wide variety of classes like: security (cyber & ground training), time management, scheduling, and money management. I feel honored to learn and serve alongside these amazing young adults who desire to be trained up and follow the Lord’s calling to “GO” and to bring the Gospel of Christ to the 10/40 window (remote areas where the people have not yet heard the Gospel).
In addition to the classroom experience, students train alongside pastors and leaders of Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in the various ministries that the church offers. God has also graciously provided opportunities for me to share my past experiences by mentoring several students with examples of how He has guided me, a single gal, through the years serving alongside new church plants in Mexico.
I am truly grateful to invest time in the training program! With such a great scope of learning opportunities, I really believe that the MTS provides a very well rounded training solution for all of us as we prepare for what the Lord has next.
FINAL STOP …THE PHILIPPINES
With an invitation from Pastor Tony Reyes to put on a conference for local pastors, leaders, and students at the Calvary Bible Institute, Pastor Trent, Debbie and 3 other mission training students finished off the last leg of the Vision Tour by heading over to the Philippines.
The Philippines, considered a country “reached” with the Gospel of Christ, had not really been on the SGWM radar of locations of scouting areas to send missionaries. But, God revealed the gem He has hidden in the midst of the 10/40 window, the heart of SGWM’s focused calling. Their hearts were sparked when they realized they were currently staying in a the only “reached” country, with freedom to teach, train and share the gospel, right in the midst of the “unreached.” The strategic location of the Philippines provides a unique solution for training national workers for those surrounding “closed” countries.
In addition to this, Pastor Tony explained in greater detail about the large amount of migrant workers coming from the Philippine population, already working cross-culturally who have become an integral segment of the labor force in the Middle Eastern countries. One article listed 2-3 million workers, with about 90% of them split between the gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE… This group of workers from the Philippines could be strategically mobilized to fulfill the great commission in their context, thus reaching the Middle East with the Gospel of Christ.
It is amazing about how God works… as we pray for God’s heart, guidance, and direction to these “unreached” people groups, He keeps revealing new opportunities and avenues to send workers to be His light by opening up new ways to impact the “closed” areas.
PRAYER
- THE COORDINATION OF DETAILS FOR SGWM’S NEXT VISION TRIP.
- GOD’S OPEN DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY AND HEARTS READY TO SERVE HIM!
- FOR THE STUDENTS, AS THE LORD PREPARES THEM FOR WHAT HE HAS NEXT.
- SUMMER 2024 CALVARY SCHOOL OF MISSIONS! STAFF, STUDENTS, GOD’S GUIDANCE AND DIRECTION!
THANK YOU!
The time invested on the Southeast Asia Vision Tour has brought much valuable return. In each location, God has turned hearts and minds toward new solutions and opportunities. He sparked hearts, spoke, and called people. It is so fulfilling to help coordinate these trips knowing that I get to do my part on God’s sending team.
Thank you all for your love, prayers, and continued support making it possible for me to be equipped and able to serve the Lord full time!
With great love and appreciation for you all! Because of HIM!
NANCY
“We love Him because He first love us.”
1 JOHN 4:19