Our Frontliners Conference will be at Heritage Hills Baptist Church, Conyers, GA on October 17-18. We have IMB missionaries Rick Jenkins, Gary and Sis Tufts, and Chuck Johnson as part of the conference. It will be a great opportunity to learn about the MACRegion as well as GO Caribbean. Follow this link for specific information: http://www.hhbcga.org/Frontliners.html.
If I can answer questions about directions, lodging, or anything else, feel free to call me at the church (770.922.2027) or my cell (404.213.5285).
~ Thomas
Monday, October 6, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
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
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
Friday, September 19, 2008
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.
"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
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
Thursday, September 18, 2008
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
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
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.
Monday, September 15, 2008
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
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
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