Thursday, October 2, 2008

Preparing for 2009

Plans are underway now for at least 6-7 mission trips to Barbados in 2009. We will have two trips in January and at least one trip in February, March , April, October and November. Our Team Leaders are busy now enlisting team members for their trip. If you are reading this and God impresses you to at least ask some questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. You can email me, thomas@GO-Caribbean.org, call me at the church (770.922.2027) or my cell phone (404.213.5285).

On Monday night, we had a prayer/evaluation/planning meeting with our Team Leaders and all Team Leaders are planning to return for 2009. We all agreed it was a great experience, but that is not WHY we are planning to return. We are committed to fulfilling this part of Acts 1:8 challenge, to go to the "ends of the earth". ("But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."). We are also actively involved in our Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. We have chosen Barbados to fulfill our commitment to "...ends of the earth". Sure, we receive blessings, but we are simply seeking to follow God's mission madate for us.

GO Caribbean Overview:
GO Caribbean Gospel Saturation is an effort to place the Gospel of John or Gospel of Matthew, a Gospel tract and other information about a local church in every home in the Caribbean, beginning with Barbados. We will seek to identify “Men of Peace.” These are individuals who become Christians, or request Bible studies or visits.
  • The focus is on sowing and saturating the islands with the Gospel.
  • There is an emphasis on follow-up which involves planting, watering, and reaping by other groups after the GO Caribbean team leaves. We accomplish our part of the saturation process and leave the results to God, and the local Bajan Baptists.
  • We knock on doors with boldness because we have already Prayer Walked the area and prayed for the people living inside every home. We ask God to use our efforts to reach people.
  • As an evangelistic outrreach, we show the movie, Facing the Giants, on Sunday night for the church family and then we reach out into the community and invite everyone to the movie on Friday night. We had 15 decisions for Christ in September. Pastors and churches are mentoring these new Christians.

Team members must have a valid USA passport kept on your person at all times. On the flight to Barbados, you will fill out a tourist info card that you will present upon arrival at Barbados.

A team consists of 6 adults. Over age 18 preferred, under age 15 not allowed.

Minimum Experience Required: Active Prayer Life. Required Qualifications: None.

Health Considerations: What factors would influence the individual’s health and ability to do this job? The project will involve walking in the designated Gospel Saturation areas. The person should not consider working with this type of project if they are not able to walk 3 to 4 hours per day during Prayer Walking and Gospel Distribution. Some projects involve walking in hot temperatures.

Immunizations: None required.

HOW MUCH WILL THE TRIP COST PER PERSON? No exact cost can be given, because airline tickets vary.

Approximate Cost...EXAMPLE only:
$750 airfare from Atlanta (up $250 since January)
$105 for housing
$200 for meals
$22 required IMB insurance
$275 rental transportation and gas

$1,352 is the approximate cost per person.

Everyone will pay their own expenses, including me. That is a lot of money that some people do not have available. Begin praying now about whether God wants you to faith Him in funding this trip. This is a great way to spend your money for the Kingdom! Your investment could make an eternal difference in someone's life, including your own.

Let me hear from you.

~ Thomas

P.S. You still have time to register for the Frontliners Conference at our church, October 17-18 led by IMB missionaries, Rick Jenkins, Gary and Sis Tufts and Chuck Johnson. For more information, check out this site: http://www.hhbcga.org/Frontliners.html.

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