Team of the Week: Riverboat Evangelism

Baptism with summer 2016 team

Venture to the ends of the earth with the Riverboat Team in Eastern Samar. Ride boats, both large & small, to travel 1-2 hours up the main rivers, hiking in to villages to share the Good News. Your team will be staying in close quarters, housing in a brick or wooden building. Your daily chores will include fetching water, filtering the water, hand washing your clothes, packing your bedroll, & cooking your food... then you'll spend the rest of your day sharing the Good News with those you're living around.

Your first stop will be a joint orientation in the US with other Nehemiah Teams. Learning the skills needed to carry out your assignment as well as team building will fill these first few days. Then your team will fly to Tacloban City, followed by ground transportation over to the island of Samar. The last mode of transportation will be the riverboat to your target villages. At the end of the summer, you will gather once again in the US for a joint debrief... sharing all that God has done.

IMB Job #: 113075

Location: Philippines

Team size: 15

Field expense:  $1082 plus round trip airfare, passport costs, & required travel insurance

Click for MORE INFO or TO APPLY

Dates for Summer 2017

May 29  Leader pre-training begins

June 1  Member pre-training begins

June 6  Teams travel to the field

Aug 1  Teams return for debrief

Aug 4  Students return home

Why has no one ever told me this before? I Believe.

Two planes, one overnight boat ride, one 2-hour boat ride, a three mile backpack walk, and a two hour car ride until we got to this village located on an island in Indonesia. People wonder a lot why there are people on this earth that have never heard the gospel, and that is just one example: because a plane will not take you directly to every people group. It requires a lot of walking and random car rides, after taking many planes, in order to share with someone about this entrusted gospel.

My team of three and our translator got out of the car and walked up to this hut built on stilts. We had just previously shared the gospel with this man who was so on fire for God afterwards that he wanted his family to hear also. So we went. We walked into the hut and were introduced to a family of two boys, a father, mother, aunt, and uncle. We were then introduced to a family in a neighboring hut that consisted of a mom and her daughter. We went into their hut and sat down while they were making food and that’s when I started sharing the gospel with her. I went through the whole story and then the food they prepared was ready, but I could see something in her face that led me to believe she gets it. So I prayed in that moment for The Holy Spirit to wreck her heart.

We ate rice and noodles, the typical food in Asia, and talked about everything else. When she started to collect the dishes from us, I asked her how she felt about my story and she responded: Saya percaya. I believe. She starts crying and hugging me saying again, “saya percaya, saya percaya.” Her mother then started doing the same thing right in behind her. The Holy Spirit was there. He had taken over her and her mother’s entire being and changed them right there in that moment.

Then all the men, four of them, sat down in the hut and our boys shared the gospel with them as well. They too responded, Saya percaya. I couldn’t handle it- the Holy Spirit was so heavy in that hut I just wanted to cry. Don’t worry, I did.

Later we shared the gospel with the other two women and they too believed! All eight people who were once identified as Muslims our now my brothers and sisters in Christ; are now spending eternity in heaven with Jesus.

We were sharing some more scripture with them, and as we read the Great Commission to them, one started crying and says, “Why has no one ever told me this before?” Why has no one ever told me this before.

This is reality. There are people on this earth that have not heard and will die without ever experiencing the true love of Christ. More than 70,000 people die every year without ever hearing the gospel. This is our responsibility as Christians to get the gospel to the ends of the earth- no matter what it takes. We should not live in anxiety about the persecution Christians face in these countries. “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power.” [2 Timothy 1:7] It’s time we grew a backbone and obeyed the calling of Christ on our lives, and let’s start with the people of countries in the 10/40 Window who have never even had a chance to believe.

-Moriah, 2016 Explorer & Evangelist Team

Man of Sorrows

This past weekend, several organizations in Mississippi came together to worship and talk about missions opportunities. One of the first songs that we sang was "Man of Sorrows" by Hillsong, and all that I could think about was this room at 6AM. 

Many mornings last summer, my team and I sat at this table and sang that song after our quiet time before we began our day. It is a beautiful description of the Gospel and something that we desperately wanted to be able to convey in our place for the summer.

As students begin the processes of summer missions, be in prayer for those who will serve in their hometowns and who stay within the States sharing the Gospel, and also pray for the ones who will go far away, to unknown places and unreached people groups. Pray that they too will know the beauty of this message and share it with courage.

-Bekah O

Philippines 2015

Man of sorrows Lamb of God
By His own betrayed
The sin of man and wrath of God
Has been on Jesus laid

Silent as He stood accused
Beaten mocked and scorned
Bowing to the Father's will
He took a crown of thorns

Oh that rugged cross
My salvation
Where Your love poured out over me
Now my soul cries out
Hallelujah
Praise and honour unto Thee

Sent of heaven God's own Son
To purchase and redeem
And reconcile the very ones
Who nailed Him to that tree

Now my debt is paid
It is paid in full
By the precious blood
That my Jesus spilled

Now the curse of sin
Has no hold on me
Whom the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed

See the stone is rolled away
Behold the empty tomb
Hallelujah God be praised
He's risen from the grave

Team of the Week: Urban Catalysts

Be part of pushing back darkness in Indonesia. Go deeper in your walk with Christ & put on the full armor of God. Daily opportunities to engage people with the Good News. It will not be an easy summer, bit it will be very rewarding.

Your team will be focused on walking the Spirit, praying diligently, boldly sowing the Gospel, working alongside national believers, finding areas of receptivity to the Gospel & making disciples. It can be difficult to get deeper in spiritual conversations using English only, so partnering with national believers is a must. Though the majority would claim to be Muslims, many are involved in mystic practices & dark magic. The area is known for a particular form of magical martial art. Many come to this area searching & praying for power & influence over spirits & people.

IMB Job #:  113104

Location: Indonesia

Team size: 4 (2 guys/2 girls)

Field expense:  $1313 plus round trip airfare, passport costs, & required travel insurance

Click for MORE INFO or TO APPLY

Dates for Summer 2017

May 29  Leader pre-training begins

June 1  Member pre-training begins

June 6  Teams travel to the field

Aug 1  Teams return for debrief

Aug 4  Students return home

IMB Southeast Asia Video

Nehemiah Teams has opportunities to serve in most of these Southeast Asian countries during June-July 2017. As specific teams are highlighted over the next several months, be praying how you can partner by GOING, SENDING, and PRAYING.

See the complete listing of 2017 teams

26 verses??

Most people who have grown up in church know that we need to be memorizing Scripture. We are told to hide God’s word in our hearts over and over again. Out of all the people raised in church, I have found very few people actually have Scripture memorized (other than John 3:16). After signing up to go to the Philippines, I read online that the organization I planned on going with would require us to memorize 26 verses over the course of the summer. I pride myself on being transparent in these articles and because of that I have to admit my first reaction was not a positive one. If I’m being completely honest I might have groaned and hoped that this was only a recommendation. Go ahead and judge me. I deserve it. 26 verses seemed like a lot and memorizing verses can be challenging. Obviously, I’m writing this article because my view has changed quite a bit. This is what I have learned about memorizing Scripture

There is power in Scripture. The Bible is God’s word and therefore just like Him the Bible is extremely powerful. 2 Timothy 3:16 says that all Scripture is God breathed reminding us that what we read in the Bible comes from Him. We have access to this power. It doesn't make sense for us to not do everything we can to keep this word with us at all times. In the Philippines we had to hike up huge hills in extreme heat. It was not an easy or enjoyable thing to do. During almost all of the hikes, I silently trudged up the hills reciting Scripture. There was a turning point in the summer where reciting these verses wasn't just so I could get them done and win the debrief competition (we did win by the way). But it was to experience the power of what the Scriptures say. When I wanted to sit and rest it was the reminder from Romans 10:14 that gave me the energy to walk to the next house. If I didn't spend that time reciting Scripture I probably would have fallen on the ground out of exhaustion and refused to move ever again.

I learned this summer that the best way to mediate on Scripture is by memorizing it. I spent so much time with the 26 verses I learned this summer and I can see the difference it made in my life. I have a new understanding of these verses that I would have not been able to comprehend from just reading over them during my quiet time. Memorizing is so much easier when we understand what we are memorizing. When I applied the Scripture to my life the task of memorizing the verse didn't seem so difficult.

We can easily defend our faith when we know what the Bible says and where it says it. I know my first reaction when someone tells me that the Bible says something is to ask where. If a person can't tell me I will search for it. I love hearing the wisdom of other people but I want to know that it is Biblically correct. When someone asks us where in Scripture we find what we believe and the best we can do is say it's in the New Testament somewhere, it hurts our witness. I spent so much time this summer showing people where in the Bible it says the only way to heaven is through Jesus. A lot of the times when people understood that what I was saying came from the Bible and not from me that is when they really started paying attention.

Hopefully, I will have the chance to go into countries where I can't have a Bible with me. I want to know enough Scripture that no matter where I am, Bible or no Bible, I can still spend time meditating on the word of God. It is important to keep what the Bible says with us at all times so no matter what situation we are we can depend on what it says.

This summer changed my mindset of memorizing Scripture. Since coming home I have continued to memorize Scripture and I have continued to learn about how powerful actively memorizing Scripture can be. I am happy that I had the opportunity to be required to memorize God's word and thankfully it has completely changed my life.

-Cassidy Winters

Read more from Cassidy... www.theodysseyonline.com/@cassidywinters

How can they believe..

Never would I have thought a picture like this could make my heart race. All over the world there are tons of unreached people groups who are hungry and thirsty for God's love. This summer I was able to live among just one of those groups. God has spoken to me through these Filipinos in more ways than I can understand, and because of that, this summer was one that I will never forget.

-Kate
Tropical Campus Disciplemaker, Philippines

"How then can they call on the one they have not believed in, and how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard. And how can they hear without someone preaching to them." Romans 10:14-15