Operation Gospel Outreach (GO) is a new strategy offered by the International Mission Board. GO is an aggressive plan for placing a portion of Scripture in every home in the Middle America region (Central America) by using volunteers from the United States and local national brothers to saturate areas with copies of the gospel.
“Operation GO Central America is bringing the gospel to 28.5 million homes in the next 10 years,” said Cleve Turner, project coordinator living in Costa Rica, Operation GO Central America. Turner has 15 missionary units working in the four countries. This is about one fourth of the total missionary force.
Operation GO began in January 2002. Since its inception volunteers and staff have distributed 200,000 gospels, planted 26 new churches, started 72 new Bible studies and have 1,000 new believers.
Coordinators — Cleve Turner and Larry McCoy, project coordinator for the Middle America region including Mexico — anticipate using up to 10,000 volunteers a year to prayer walk and distribute printed Gospels of John or Luke to individual homes. Teams hope to reach the nonliterate population in these countries by creating oral materials. Target areas include: Guatemala (Middle America region headquarters), Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras and El Salvador. The latter two are on hold until more Operation GO missionary staff is on board.
The International Mission Board in Richmond, Va., is an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest evangelical denomination, claiming more than 40,000 churches with nearly 16 million members.
The board’s main objective is presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to lead individuals to saving faith in Him and result in church-planting movements among all the peoples of the world.
“Every three minutes in Middle America, 12 people die without knowing Jesus as Savior,” said Turner. “That’s why Operation GO was created — to quickly spread the lifesaving message of Christ to every family. The Middle America Region of the International Mission Board, SBC, has invested a significant portion of its missionary force in Central America in Operation GO.”
Volunteers are a key ingredient to the success of Operation GO. This year alone, 409 people have volunteered their time and 242 in 2002. There are 17 missionary units — mostly couples working the areas. The volunteers and staff receive extensive training including cultural orientation and language school.
Alabama volunteers include members of First Baptist Church of Centre, who went to Guatemala in 2002. “This year 13 students from each school’s Baptist Campus Ministries at the University of South Alabama and the University of North Alabama took part in a competition to cover the most area in Guatemala,” said Amber Caldwell, enlistment assistant, student mobilization team, International Mission Board. First Baptist Church, North Mobile, in Saraland is scheduled to go in 2004.
The North Americans taking their hard-earned money and vacation time from work or school to come down and work is something local believers here cherish. There are instant friendships and precious times of fellowship in spite of language barriers. The GO teams serve as catalysts for change and action among the national brothers and sisters.
They give encouragement and inspiration to the local believers, and they in turn feel more ready and able to share the gospel after the North Americans, go home.
“As a member of the Operation GO team, I have the unique opportunity to minister not only to the recipients of the gospel, but also to the national pastors, believers and volunteers,” said Janella Griggs, two-year journeyman from Salem Macon Baptist Church in Notasulga, in Tuskegee-Lee Baptist Association. Griggs is a communications specialist for the Middle America region of the International Mission Board.
“The key verse adopted by the team that set forth the guidelines for Operation GO is Isaiah 55:11,” said Eddie Garner, Operation GO volunteer team leader from the University of North Alabama.
“Condensed, this verse says that God’s Word will not return void. For much of Central America the Gospel of John is given to each house; in Nicaragua the Gospel of Luke is distributed.”
“I have been so blessed to have the opportunity to lead many people to Christ right in their own home,” said Griggs. The Holy Spirit goes ahead of us and prepares hearts to receive His Word. It’s just astounding how He works. It is rare that anyone refuses to accept the gospel portion. For countless people this is the first time they’ve ever even held a part of the Bible.”
Operation GO has been the training ground for many to learn to share their testimony about the power of Christ in their own lives. People return with a renewed passion and boldness for reaching others.
Prayer is the foundation of Operation GO. Every saturation effort begins with prayer walking the village in which Gospels are distributed. People in the village will often join in the prayer walk and begin to pray with the team.
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