Summer 2020: Upward Sports

IMB Job #:  16123
Location:  Toronto, Canada
Team size:  8 (4 guys/4 girls)
Field expense:   plus round trip airfare, immunizations, required travel insurance, passport & visa costs, etc.

Job Description: Students will join together with Upward Sports Canada in reaching student athletes and families with the Gospel. Toronto is home to over 6.5 million people with Evangelical Christianity merely at 3.5% of the population. Using sports, the Gospel is being bridged and many families are hearing the saving message of Jesus for the first time! Students will help organize and run summer sports camps, block parties and outreach events for student athlete and their families. Our ministry is focused on reaching all people with the Gospel, though our focus is Muslims families. Therefore, we desire the students come with a willingness to spend time with a variety of cultures while hearing about their country and cultural heritage Students applying for this project MUST not only be flexible with their schedules, but completely fluid! The life of ministry is one that changes by the minute, so fluidness is a must! The nations are being brought to us. Will you join in bringing the nations to Him?

Students must commit to the entire program from orientation through debrief. Your first stop will be a joint orientation with other Nehemiah Teams. Learning the skills needed to carry out your assignment as well as team building will fill these first few days. Your team will fly to your final destination for the summer. Following your ministry time you will return to the US for a joint debrief... sharing all God has done over the summer.

2020 Dates
March 15  Application deadline through www.imb.org/students
May 28  Member orientation begins
June 2  Teams travel to the field
July 27  Teams arrive at debrief
July 29 night/July 30 morning  Students return home

Cheers to a summer to remember!

With an opportunity to serve with a branch of the same organization that brought my family to church 12 years ago, I got to see the Church meet His people. Overwhelmed with the power of the Holy Spirit & the passion the Church has for His Kingdom! Cheers to a summer to remember!

-Carlee
P52, Canada

Why are they lost?

When you think of someone who is lost, how would you describe that person? I would describe the lost person as a sinner, someone who is rebellious and making wrong choices, and either doesn’t know about God or doesn’t want to know anything about God. 

In Luke 15 there are three parables- the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. I was challenged on my idea of what being lost means by this chapter. What do these three stories have in common? A coin or a sheep can’t make bad choices and choose to be rebellious. The prodigal son was rebellious, and he did knowingly make bad choices, so what does the son have in common with the coin and sheep? 

Possibly, the reason these three stories of lostness are told together is to show us that our choices are not the measure for what makes us lost. The common thread that makes the coin, sheep, and son lost is because someone is missing them. The shepherd, the woman, and the son’s father are desperately missing them- THAT is what makes them lost. Our world is filled with lost people- and what makes them lost is not their ignorance or rebellion. What makes them lost is that our Father in heaven has a PLACE for them, and because they are not there, He is desperately missing them, and wants them in their rightful place. 

This challenged me this week, and I pray it challenges you also to not only see lost people as Christ does, but to then also do something about it with the people who are lost in your community and workplace and neighborhood. God has a place for them. 

-Meghan
Toronto Summer 

Effective Survey

We have so enjoyed meeting the missionaries and church members who are already hard at work in Toronto. I’ve heard so many amazing stories of how God is working in men’s hearts, and we’ve only been here a short time.

This summer, we’re working at two university/college campuses in the city, praying for people, surveying needs and telling students about the love of Jesus. We’re also going door-to-door in the suburbs, flyering for outreach camps and trying to build relationships. We even get to be a part of two healthy, growing church plants! The work is needed. Toronto is beautiful on the outside, but in their personal lives, people are hurting desperately for community with others and their Savior.

-Savannah
Toronto Summer

Please pray as we do community outreach every Thursday evening. We go into different neighborhoods in our church’s area, doing door-to-door surveying & inviting people to church with the goal of showing our desire to care for the needs of our community. Pray with us for fruitful conversations.

Team of the Day: Toronto Summer

Location: Canada
Team size: 3

Job description: The greater Toronto area is one of the most diverse urban centers in the world. 50% of the population was born outside of Canada. As one of the most post-Christian cities in North America, this city sees itself as environmentally responsible, tolerant & justice oriented. It has a "Good without God" attitude that clashes with the non-Christian faith of many immigrants. 

As a part of the local team you will: go through disciple making training, lead disciple making training for locals & volunteer teams, be a part of outreaches in parks, camps, block parties & young adult events.

Update from Toronto

I arrived here on Tuesday, June 12th, after a week of orientation and training in Alabama, which I’m so thankful to have been able to attend (even though it was a week of sleeping on the floor and using porta-potties, lol).

The missionaries we are working with in Toronto (who are amazing and a huge answer to prayer) picked us up from the airport and took us straight to where we are staying for the first two weeks of the summer. It’s right next door to their own home, where their neighbor rents out their basement for people vacationing in the Greater Toronto Area. We’re in the Scarborough area, and in the span of about 5 minutes, we can walk from our door to the shore of Lake Ontario! It’s such a huge blessing to be able to walk right out the door and see such a beautiful example of God’s creativity and perfect design.

You may already know that spending my summer serving in Canada was not my first choice (I had more “adventurous” places in mind), but simply through the placement process as well as the preparation to come here, the Lord pointed out some things in myself, and challenged whether I was really willing to be obedient to go wherever He wanted to send me, or if I was only willing to go if it was somewhere that fit my personal preference. Please pray with me that the Lord continues to use circumstances this summer to weed out my flesh and make me look more like Him! 

Something I didn’t know about Toronto: there are 57 unreached people groups (2% or less are evangelical Christian) and 34 of those groups are unengaged, unreached people groups (no known evangelical Christians, and no one is actively seeking to engage them with the Gospel) in the Greater Toronto Area. THIS IS BIG. Believers in Toronto have the opportunity to find these people groups and actively seek to witness to them and to be light in their communities so that these statistics can change. For so many years, the only possible way to reach these unengaged people groups was to journey deep into the bush, or jungle, or wherever, learn their language and live with them. THIS IS STILL NECESSARY for many people groups all over the world. But because of how our world is now, metropolitan areas especially have the potential to reach these once hard-to-reach people groups in their own cities, and these once nearly impossible to reach peoples are more geographically accessible than ever before. 

This summer, my team and I will be serving in many different ways- devoting time to engaging students at two different universities, coming alongside a church plant to aid them in engaging its community, as well as getting to participate in the beginning stages of a new church plant in a town just outside of Toronto called Bowmanville. These are all aspects of ministry that I’m so interested in and passionate about, which is just further evidence that the Lord definitely knew what He was doing when He surprised me with Toronto. 

The Lord is sovereign and good. He has a plan and that plan is good too. Please pray with me that I can fully walk in the authority of His Spirit and be continuously bold to share about the God who pulled me from my brokenness and sent me back to share with others, so that they too can have peace and joy in His presence. 

My teammates and I are memorizing verses this summer, and one of them so far that has not yet failed to remind me of not only why I’m serving in Toronto, but also why I serve anywhere in any context at all, is Acts 20:24,

I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me- the task of testifying to the Gospel of God’s grace.

Lastly, I hope this encourages you to take notice of the people around you in your own communities- people who are broken and looking for a way out of that brokenness. Please send me any prayer needs you have, I’d love to be praying for you in the same way I trust you’re praying for me and the team here! There's so much happening here, so if you have any questions about anything I’m doing here, please feel free to write me and ask!

-Meghan

Toronto Summer

Spiritual Victory

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39

Team of the Day: P52 Toronto

Country of the Day: Canada

Pray for team members to seek daily spiritual victory through Christ who loves them.

Inside the Life of a Refugee

Meet Rashad: a young boy displaced from his home in Syria due to horrific events. Despite the many difficulties this boy has already encountered at such a young age, he still exhibits joy in all circumstances. This is one of many evidences that the Holy Spirit is at work in this young boy’s life.

My eyes swelled with tears as I sat with Rashad during our lunch time at camp, and he told me story upon story of his life in Syria. There are some things people should never have to experience, but certainly not a boy of only 13 years old – certainly not Rashad.  The only words I could even begin to muster under the cracking of my voice were, “I’m so sorry, Rashad.”

Rashad told of a time in Syria when the war had just begun to emerge where he was living. “The bombs would come almost every day,” he said. He described to me a day of terror in his home when his friends came and invited Rashad to pray with them in the mosque. His dad refused to let Rashad leave with them, deciding it was “just too dangerous.” Rashad became angry with his father but, nonetheless, he obeyed. Rashad later found out the mosque his friends attended was hit by a bomb and his friends were killed. I could hear the pain in Rashad’s voice as he fought through the story. He said, “I guess God had a reason for not letting me go with them.” I pray that reason is so Rashad will believe and trust in the Truth of the gospel. I trust that God brought Rashad and his family from Syria, to Lebanon, and eventually to Canada for a greater purpose than mere safety. But rather, for an eternal reason - so that the gospel might reside in their hearts until the day of salvation

Refugees are neither seen nor heard, but they are everywhere. They are witnesses to the most awful things that people can do to each other, and they become storytellers simply by existing. Refugees embody misery and suffering and they force us to confront terrible chaos and evil. Let us confront them with God’s Word.

There are more stories like these that I could include in this update, but truthfully, they are not mine to tell. Even as I write this one, I must fight back the tears. There are a many Rashad in this world, who have been brought to your backdoor for a reason much bigger than ourselves. Let our love for God, the lost, and our neighbors drive us to bring them the greatest news of all time.

-P52 Toronto

Passion for Sharing

We finished our first week of camp and it was a blast! We had a church from Ohio drive up to us to volunteer at camp. What a blessing Lifepoint Church was to us all. They were passionate about engaging children and sharing the Gospel with them! I am proud to say the Word of God was planted in the hearts of many this week at camp! We are encouraged by churches who are passionate about reaching the lost! Next camp starts Monday!

How can you pray?

• Pray for energy to press on even when we are exhausted (Physically, mentally, spiritually).
• Pray for boldness to continue sharing the Truth.
• Pray that we will put our preferences aside in order to do ministry well.
• Pray that we will fight sin in our own lives and together as a team.
• Pray for our supervisors (They have a handful with us).

From Canada with Love,

P52 Team Toronto

One Encounter

This summer has emboldened us to approach people for the sake of the Good News! We have learned the importance of getting to the point with people. It is common in this city that you will only have one encounter with most people, and our team sees the importance of sharing the Truth with people at the soonest opportunity. 

Praise God for what He is teaching us!

Pray that these single encounters will make eternal impacts.

-P52 Toronto

Persons of Peace

This summer is a learning experience for all of us. It is safe to say it is nothing like what we expected it to be, but it is far greater than anything we could have ever expected! We get to learn about & be exposed to religions that we had no understanding of prior to coming here. The Lord is using this time to sanctify all of us and show us His plan for reaching the whole world. Persons of peace are looking for us, we must keep looking until we find persons of peace!

-P52 Toronto

Open Field

We do weekly events that give us the opportunity to engage children with stories from the Bible. On Tuesday nights, we do an event called open field. It is an opportunity for parents to come and pay a very low fee for their children to play sports with other children for two hours. Each open field also involves a time of Bible study. 

Please pray that open field will continue to be an opportunity for people to hear the Gospel message! 

-P52 Toronto

Many Nations

The first month of being here we spent much time exploring and getting acclimated to this city. It was a challenging task, but it was rewarding in so many ways. God graciously allowed us to meet people from many diverse ethnicities and religious backgrounds and share the good news with them. This is a huge praise because most of them had never heard the message we were telling them! 

Since being here, we have been able to tell the message of Jesus to people from: Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Greece, Philippines, China, Korea, Lebanon, Egypt, and many more. We are blown away by the diversity here in the Greater Toronto Area. It is not uncommon to go to the grocery and hear a great multitude of languages being spoken.

Pray for those we have had opportunity to share with. 

Pray for more opportunities to follow up with them. 

-P52 Toronto

Meet the Team: P52 Toronto

Caitlen is a music education major at Delta State University in Mississippi. She enjoys using her musical ability to glorify and honor the Lord and invite others to worship. She is hands-down the greatest pillow fighter the world has ever seen. She adds a lot of character to Ole’ Canada!

Jake is entering his junior year at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) and is studying electrical engineering. He is obviously the brains of the operation and is always the voice of reason the Lord has strategically placed among this group of otters. He is a guitar enthusiast and often serenades us with melodious sounds both day and night.

Katy studies Christian ministry at Blue Mountain College in Mississippi. She adds the spice to our life! We always know when she is not around because it is way too quiet! She is bold and authoritative. Katy goes to battle each day for the Lord and for her team. The land of moose and maple syrup was not ready for this firecracker but she was certainly ready for it!

Coty studies Christian ministry at Blue Mountain College in Mississippi. He is a lover of new cultures, new people, and new food! Coty has found great joy in this endeavor. 

Upward Sports Camp!

First week of Upward Sports Camp is almost in the wraps! Kids are having a blast and so are we.

Pray for connections with families who are open to follow up.

Spiritual Strength

I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being... Ephesians 3:16

Team of the Day: P52 Toronto

Country of the Day: Canada

Pray for team members to deny their own striving and understanding and instead to rely completely on the strength of the Holy Spirit as they share the Gospel.