January 2016, Vol.3 Issue 5
For This Day
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
Justin Pelletier CDA 11th grade student shares the importance of a mission experience Over the summer, I had the
amazing opportunity to go to the
were called ministry sites. We would canvas,
going door-to-door and street-to-street attracting as many people as possible to come to our
site, which would include a fun, engaging dance
as well as two skits, and finally a Gospel presentation followed by ministry time. These ministry sites were our main resource in bringing the
Gospel to the Dominican Republic, and were
Dominican Republic with a team of 2,300 mis-
my personal favorite part of the trip! There is
trip, which is the largest to date, was centered
people face to face, and these ministry sites
brought forth in one moment?” 2,300 mission-
Christ to the people of the Dominican Republic!
yes to this enormous call.
There are an immeasurable number of stories of
Participating in a mission trip is a powerful
of my favorites is the story of men whom we
missions trip EVER! An experience like this al-
encountered was driven by the male leaders of
your regular routine, which causes you to see
people to accept the Gospel for fear of what
wouldn’t normally do. I had the opportunity to
crystal clear to us whenever we would give an
given the privilege of preaching for the first
glance at one or two men. On one hand, this
the leader he would give the approval for the
can Republic, putting on mini “programs” which
However, the trouble came whenever the leader
sionaries from all over the world. The mission’s
nothing like being able to love and engage with
on the verse Isaiah 66:8, “Shall a nation be
provided the opportunity to show the love of
aries put aside all of their differences and said
life change that I could share from this trip. One
thing, let alone participating in the largest
met at a ministry site. A lot of the resistance we
lows you to get out of your comfort zone and
the neighborhoods, and the unwillingness of the
things in a different light and do things that you
the male leaders might think. This was made
do this in the Dominican Republic, and I was
altar call, and the majority of the crowd would
time!
was helpful, because if our message touched
We primarily did street ministry in the Domini-
rest of the crowd to accept our invitation.
did not approve. In one instance, there were
two men who clearly were the neighborhood’s leaders at a ministry site. After much persistence, many accepted
our altar call, but some were still hesitant. A crowd even
began to listen to our conversation with the men. Powerful life change came whenever we personally witnessed to both men, leading them to accept Christ, and then
24 more followed them! This is just one example of the powerful life change we witnessed in the Dominican Republic.
Justin preaching at a ministry site
We are firm believers that the local church is the hope of the world. Going into a nation and leading large
amounts of people is great, but how truly impactful can it be if there is nothing set in place for when we leave? We desired to create a movement, and not just for a
moment. The most powerful way to accomplish this was to get the local church involved, because they are what will remain long after we are gone. This is the reason
that all of our translators were from local churches, and a conference was held involving 8,500 pastors to teach
spiritual stability. In partnering with the local church, we created a movement that will outlast us. Also, we were
able to model to our translators how to share the Gospel
The Gospel being preached at a ministry site!
effectively.
Monday through Friday, we visited ministry sites all day long, doing 3-5 large presentations per day. Through
all of these ministry sites, our team of about 20 people
witnessed close to 600 salvations! There were 5 teams in San Cristobal, the state that I was in, which was just one
of the 31 states. As you are probably seeing, the scale of
this mission trip was off the charts! To end the week, all 5 teams gathered at a local baseball stadium on Saturday night to preach the Gospel to nearly 7,000 people and
share the love of God with them. 402,266 reasons to cel-
ebrate! 402,266 is the number of times that all of heaven rejoiced! 402,266 is the number of lives changed, and
hearts that will forever worship and serve the Lord. This number is a miracle within itself, for anytime 402,266
people surrender themselves to Christ you know God is doing big things!
My team and our translators!