Monroeville church takes first missions trip abroad

Cody Strother quickly learned the ease of sharing Christ with people of a different culture when he participated in Eastwood Baptist Church’s first international missions trip.
  
Strother traveled with 11 other members of the Monroeville church to El Lince, Costa Rica, May 25–June 2. Apprehensive about the language barrier and the reaction of residents to door-to-door evangelism, he said the people were responsive and communication was not an impediment.
 
“It seemed they were more responsive than people here in the (United) States,” Strother said.
  
As a result, numerous decisions were made among the 400 homes they visited, according to Pastor Gene Pickern. 
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Each [of the four Eastwood Baptist teams] included at least one member from the Christian Baptist Church in El Lince who introduced us and gave us an opportunity to share our testimony,” he said of the door-to-door witnessing. “Some shared through a translator, while others practiced so they could read their testimony in Spanish.” 
  
Eastwood members also reached out to area children, many of whom had never been to a church, by conducting Vacation Bible School.
  
Children were also the focus of the clown ministry team, which put on four shows for approximately 50 children. Whitney Kirchharr, one of the four members of the team, believes the ministry was effective in reaching children.
  
“We got to do little skits that were silly but had a meaning to them,” she said. 
  
As with the testimonies shared door to door, Kirchharr and the other clown ministry team members learned minimal Spanish, but one, Pickern’s wife, Julie, already spoke fluent Spanish. 
  
“What we couldn’t say, she could,” Kirchharr said.
  
Gene Pickern said the trip to Costa Rica came about because of setbacks he and his wife encountered as missionaries with the International Mission Board in the Dominican Republic, where they served from 2001–2005.
  
The couple was forced to return to the United States because of her jaw problems, which required joint replacement surgery.
  
But they retained a passion for international missions after Gene Pickern began his ministry at the Bethlehem Baptist Association church last August. “When Eastwood talked to us about me becoming pastor, we told them that we still desired to do international missions whenever possible through missions trips,” he said.
  
While Eastwood has participated in stateside missions trips, its first international trip was the result of a friendship the Pickerns began with Fernando Ponce, pastor of Christian Baptist, whom they met while attending language school in San Jose, Costa Rica. 
  
The Pickerns would visit houses with Ponce to encourage him in his work and help themselves learn Spanish.  
  
“We always desired to return there to serve again with our brothers and sisters in Christ,” Gene Pickern said. “When we called Pastor Fernando to discuss the possibility, he … felt our trip was an answer to their prayers for the church to be encouraged and challenged to reach their area for Christ.”
  
Eastwood’s entire congregation, which averages 180 in Sunday School each week, supported the effort.
  
“Eastwood has a long history of supporting missions, and many in the church were eager to explore the possibility of participating on this trip,” Gene Pickern said. “Many also contributed financially to make the trip possible, and the entire church took seriously the responsibility to pray.”