A Great Start...2008!

It has been a great start in 2008. We sent two teams to work with two churches, Emmanuel and People's Baptist Church. We learned a lot. Those two churches, knowing they were our first, were patient and helped us tremendously. We now have our schedule tweaked, have a better take on how to work with the churches and we know definitely that we must have participation of local members on our outreach teams. Toward the end of the first week, there was a day when we did not have local church members helping us in outreach because of miscommunication. We discovered that the Bajan people did not respond to us as well as they did when we had Bajan church members along with us. We felt this would happen, but now we KNOW that we must have participation and this is to be noted up front when we begin the process of working with a church.

GO-Caribbean is a take-off of GO Mexico and other GO (Gospel Outreach) projects. I used a lot of materials from other IMB missionaries to put together GO Caribbean training materials and forms. We understand that our objective is to "sow the seed of the Gospel" and to claim the promise, "...My Word will not return empty!" However, we also show the movie, "Facing the Giants" a couple of times during the week. It has proven to be a great evangelistic tool and God used it in those two weeks to see 15 people come to Jesus as Savior. Pastors will follow up on each person who came forward those nights. During the week we also encourage team members to share the Gospel, as God leads, when talking with people. Barbadian people are very friendly and received us well. They have a little different "twist" to the English language, but they are easily understood.

I believe God will use GO Caribbean in an even greater way as more people get involved in this ministry. We need people who have a passion for missions to go as a team member and then consider going back once a year as a TEAM LEADER. If you are interested, please contact me at 770.922.2027 or email me thomas@GO-Caribbean.org.

REMEMBER...we will host an IMB Frontliners Conference on Friday and Saturday, October 17-18. We will begin with a dinner at 6 PM and session to follow. We will continue on Saturday with breakfast at 8:30 and session to end at noon. The registration cost is $10 and covers all meals and materials. Call the church, 770.922.2027 to register.

We are now planning a minimum of 6 teams for 2009, beginning with two weeks in January. Let me know if you are interested or have questions.

~ Thomas

GA Snow Day In Barbados!

Yesterday in Barbados was sort of like a Conyers snow day. We have so little snow in the metro area that when it does snow, everything shuts down. That's the way it was in Barbados yesterday. You can see the flooded roadway to the mission house in the picture.

Below is the note I received early today from Jason.

"We had a “rain day” in Barbados (think snow day in Georgia). It started raining around 6:00 am and continued to rain off and on all day. The roads into the Baptist College flooded, as did many of the major intersections on the island. The schools closed early and most of the island shut down. Tony came by to check on us and to warn us not to try to go out. Pastor Sam also called to call off our outreach for the afternoon. He also suggested that handing out literature on Friday would be too late to get people to the movie, so we are effectively done with the Gospel Saturation effort and will wrap up with the movie on Friday. He suggested that we use the free time to pray for those who already have packets and for those who made decisions last night. We were a little disappointed at the loss of a day, but we made the most of it and spent two hours in group prayer this afternoon.

The rain did bring a welcome cooling in temperature, although the humidity is a bit higher (if that’s even possible). We are hoping that the rain is over for now and that the roads will be dry enough tomorrow to venture out to the beach in the morning before meeting back at People’s Baptist Church at 5:00 PM for a debriefing session with Pastor Taylor.

Pray that the weather cooperates tomorrow and that the rain does not keep people from coming to the movie. Also pray that any obstacles and distractions are removed so that the message is clearly communicated".

We continue to pray for the team, their travel safety and the showing of the movie tonight. We want God to be honored and set up the conditions in our lives that He might be honored in and through us. Praise the LORD!

~ Thomas

It's Pouring in Barbados...

The heavy rain started around 7 AM and a lot of water has fallen. The grounds around the mission house are flooded. The forecast calls for rain, scattered thundershowers for the next couple of days and clearing on Saturday when the team flies home. The team will go door-to-door today and tomorrow, show the movie "Facing the Giants" and then fly home on different schedules on Saturday. Pray for their safety as they fly home. The people have been gracious and 6 people from People's Baptist have gone with the team each day. It has indeed been a good partnership.

Last evening, Wednesday night, two people publicly trusted Christ as Savior after the showing of "Facing the Giants." Again, pray for People's Baptist Church as they reach out to these people in an effort to help them grow as new believers. Pray for the movie to be shown on Friday night.

Pray for revival in Barbados.

~ Thomas

The Blessings Just Continue...

I was reminded in my prayer time early this morning that in order for God to use us the way He wants, there must be total surrender and a daily desire to be re-filled with His Spirit. May God lead ALL of us to have that desire.

The team working with People's Baptist in Barbados continue to see God working in marvelous ways. Yesterday there were 6 church members working with the team going out door-to-door placing packets in the homes and inviting them to the movie, "Facing the Giants".

Today, pray that God would open doors to allow the team to accomplish what He desires. We consider it a joy to have the privilege to be able to fulfill this part of Acts 1:8, namely, to go to the ends of the earth to be His witnesses. For us, Barbados is the "ends of the earth."

We do the same type of Gospel Outreach in our communities and we seek God's leadership as we reach out to our "Jerusalem."

If you have a desire to be part of this ministry, don't hesitate to contact me: tbroadhead@hhbcga.org or check out the website: http://www.go-caribbean.org/. We invite other churches to be part of this project.

We need people who will go as team members for experience and training, and then commit to go back annually as a Team Leader. Pray about it and let me know if you have an interest.

More Good News!

I received a call this morning reporting that last evening the movie was shown in The Church of the Nazarene with pastor Errol, and 11 people trusted Christ as Savior. What great news! Halleluiah what a Savior!

Team 2 worshipped with People's Baptist Church on Sunday and will begin Gospel Outreach on Monday. There will be several church members joining the team as they go out into the neighborhoods saturating the area with the Gospel. Pray for Clarence and Marie, Gene and Kay and Jason and Toni that God will bless their ministry this week in that area of Barbados.

Things to pray about: (1) pray that the sowing of the seed of the Gospel will be successful (2) pray that God will call out Bajan Christians to help in the harvest (3) pray that God will use the movie, "Facing the Giants" as an evangelistic tool to lead people to trust Jesus (4) pray that the team will adjust to the heat (5) pray that God's will and purpose will be accomplished in all of our lives and that we will see more and more people involved in missions, maybe even GO-Caribbean.

If you are interested in learning more, check out our website: http://www.go-caribbean.org/.

~ Thomas

Emmanuel Baptist Church...Mission Accomplished!

We concluded our week with Emmanuel Baptist Church on Friday night, September 12. We spent the week going door-to-door along with some church members and covered many homes in their area distributing the Gospel of John, a salvation tract and info about Emmanuel Baptist. It was a great time of "sowing the seed". We also presented the movie, "Facing the Giants". There were two young adults who trusted Christ on Friday evening. Pray for Jeffrey and Mary as they start their new journey as Christians and pray that God will use Emmanuel Baptist to help them grow and mature as new believers.

Pastor Wood and the church family received us graciously and made us feel very much welcomed into their church. We made friends with several church members and cherished the time we were able to spend with them. We discovered that the church is an evangelistic church and our ministry was an encouragement to them and they to us. It was truly a great partnership.

The pastor has requested that we return and we will have further discussions as to the nature of our next trip in January 2009.

~ Thomas
www.GO-Caribbean.org

Hours Are Counting Down!

The hours are counting down and we will be leaving at 2:30 AM. There will be no sleep tonight because everyone is scurrying around trying to take care of those last details whether on the job or at home.

We believe God is going to do His work this week coming and we ask that you pray for us. We are taking a lot of supplies such as 5,000 Gospels of John, 5,000 Gospel tracts, and 5,000 leaflets about the churches we will be working with to hand out in our door-to-door Gospel Saturation project. We will be taking a projector for the showings of "Facing the Giants" in three different churches over the two weeks. Would you pray that God will anoint this message and decisions will be made for Christ? Pray that we will get through customs without incident as well as making our connecting flights on time. We are looking forward to an exciting time as God works in each showing of "Facing the Giants".

I have the info posted about Emmanuel Baptist Church: http://go-caribbean.org/emmanuel.htm. We look forward to working with Pastor Wood and the church family.

You can find more info about GO-Caribbean at http://www.go-caribbean.org/.

The entire team recognizes that we are incapable of doing what God wants to accomplish this week without a pure heart and right motive. Pray that we will be obedient to God and let Him work in our lives.

Check out:
Emmanuel Baptist Church, September 6-13 http://go-caribbean.org/emmanuel.htm
People's Baptist Church, September 13-20 http://www.go-caribbean.org/peoples.htm
http://www.go-caribbean.org/

P.S. Make your plans to be part of our Frontliners Conference on October 17-18. Send in your check ($10) to Heritage Hills Baptist Church, 2987 Hwy 212 SW, Conyers, GA 30094. The Friday afternoon dinner (6 PM) and Saturday continental breakfast (8:30) are included in the $10 registration fee.
http://www.macregion.org/ (Click on Frontliners button at top of page.)

~ Thomas
www.GO-Caribbean.org

Final Meeting...Ready to GO!

We leave on Saturday morning early, 2:30 AM. We had our last planning meeting tonight and we are ready to GO! We distributed the materials we are carrying and each is doing their part. Hopefully our plane can carry a big load because that is exactly what we have.

Our Frontliners Conference is scheduled for October 17-18, Friday night and Saturday morning, at Heritage Hills Baptist Church. We have a dinner on Friday night, the conference to follow and a continental breakfast on Saturday morning. The conference will end by noon. The registration fee of $10 includes the meals and materials.

IMB Missionaries, Rick Jenkins and Chuck Johnson will be leading the conference. Our major emphasis will be on the MACRegion. You will learn specifically about GO Caribbean Gospel Saturation, a project designed to saturate the Caribbean Islands with prayer and place the Gospel of John and other evangelistic materials in every household.
It is an effort to help Bajans understand that salvation is in Jesus alone. Our plan is to begin in Barbados with volunteer teams from Heritage Hills Baptist Church and teams from all over the United States to partner with Bajan Baptist Believers. Together, these teams Prayer Walk and go door to door to distribute the Gospel. Following each project, our desire is that a Bible study will begin in the area so new believers can be mentored and discipled. We will also seek to identify “Men of Peace.” These are individuals who become Christians, or request Bible studies or visits...More

If you would like more info about Frontliners Conference, feel free to contact me, thomas@GO-Caribbean.org 770.922.2027

~ Thomas
www.GO-Caribbean.org

Check Out People's Baptist Page!

The second week, September 13-20, the team will work with Pastor Sam and the People's Baptist Church. I posted a page about them as well as the invitation for their neighbors to attend the showing of the movie, "Facing the Giants".

Check it out at http://www.go-caribbean.org/peoples.htm

Our team has one more formal planning and prayer meeting on Wednesday, September 3, 6 PM at the church. We will arrange the supplies we will take including all the Gospels of John, Gospel tracts, and printed matter that we will place in homes during our door-to-door visitation. We are earnestly praying that God will use us in an effort to reach out to people and share the Gospel with them. We are praying that God will use us as we sow the seed of the Gospel and that we also might have opportunity to see people trust Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Prayer Requests:

• Pray that we will have pure hearts to be used by God in Barbados
• Pray for our safety
• Ask God to bless our partnership with the churches that the Gospel can go forth
• Ask God to use the movie, "Facing the Giants" as a tool to reach lost people
• Pray that we will be open to HIS leadership as we meet people in door-to-door Gospel Saturation

Pray for team one...September 6-13 and team two...September 13-20. We look forward to sharing good reports of God's work in Barbados. Pray for Revival.

~ Thomas
www.GO-Caribbean.org