This summer I went on mission to a remote island west of the mainland Philippines. For security purposes we named it “little island.” I took part in this mission through Nehemiah Teams, a ministry founded by Jess and Wendy Jennings that partners with the International Mission Board (IMB). Our team consisted of five Americans and two native translators. Our team members were my little brother Colby, Austin Rowell, Bryant Sparks and Hagen Bray. Our task was to evangelize this unreached island and to survey several other islands in July for future IMB teams.
The story behind our assignment on this island is inspirational. Our Filipino supervisor shared the gospel with a man on a ferry two years ago. She shared for about 10 minutes, and they both went their separate ways.
However, she had written her phone number on the tract she had given him in case he had a question in the future. Several weeks later she got two phone calls from a woman and her son who happened to be that man’s wife and son. They said he had shared the story with them, and they wanted her to come to their island and teach them more about it. Our supervisor accepted the invitation, and when she went to the island she saw the dire need for the gospel as the only people on the island with any religious background were a few Catholic women.
She called Jess Jennings and explained the situation, and he quickly organized a Nehemiah Team who would serve on this island during the summer of 2014. We gladly joined.
We had one mission in mind as we traveled to “little island” this summer — make disciples. We did not want to simply share the gospel with 800 people and leave the island with no one to teach them. We organized our day into two sessions — door-to-door evangelism in the mornings and Bible studies with committed believers in the evenings. We were able to pour into followers each evening and watch them grow in their love for God and His Word. Our biggest highlight of the summer came in late July when close to 20 teenagers and young adults placed their faith in Christ and repented of their sins. We had Bible study with them every night, sang worship songs and had Q-and-A sessions where they could ask us any biblical questions they had. By the end of the summer 11 of these followers obediently took part in baptism. On our last night we were able to participate in a Bible study they conducted. They are now teaching and sharing the gospel with unbelievers on that island and discipling new believers.
I took two major things away from this trip. First never underestimate the power of sharing the gospel with one random person. Our supervisor did not know if anything would come of her obedience in sharing with that man but God convicted his heart, saved his family and began a revival on that island. Second never underestimate the power of teenagers and young adults when they are saved by Christ and eager to follow Him.
This summer was hard. This summer was challenging. However, this summer we were able to take the gospel to an unreached people group and watch people take hold of it and follow Christ. As Jess Jennings repeatedly told us, “No matter how hard it gets, Christ is worth it.”
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