22 Aug Highlights from – JOY TO THE WORLD Mission Trip June 2017

Many people have inquired about our recent Joy to the World Missions trip.

Here is our very own Community Outreach Pastor Eddie Wilson, sharing some highlights!

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I am honored and privileged to share with you today all of the awesome details of our Joy to the World 2017 Congregational Missions trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica.  During the week of June 12th thru the 17th we took our largest team ever to Jamaica!  83 incredible team members, which included 21 awesome teens from our Real Joy Youth Group.  Over six days of ministry we were able to lead 1284 people to first-time decisions for Jesus! When you add this number to our previous trips, Joy to the World Missions teams have lead 11,012  people  to first-time decisions for Jesus!  That is just huge!  Each one of those numbers represents a precious heart.  We count souls because SOULS COUNT!!!!  Thank you so much for your prayers and continued partnership!

I am going to endeavor to give you a “Day by Day” synopsis of all that we did, but I need to throw out a few “Thank Yous” first. I want to say THANK YOU to Pastor Jim and Miss Anne for entrusting me with the position of Missions Director each time we go.  I am a better Christian/Husband/Father/Leader due to the 27 years of training and impartation from you.  Thank you for believing in me!  I also wanted to give a big THANK YOU to Pastors Richard and Joye Keane and Pastor Jean-Anne Murray, and the entire team from Family Church on the Rock in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  The itinerary you prepared for us was perfect!  Each and every time we come our “Strategic Alliance” gets better and better!

Day 1

Due to the size of our group we had to take 3 planes!  For some of our team the day started very early with a 3 am meeting to check passports and documents, to tag luggage, and to head out on our bus to the airport.  We had plenty of people on our team who had never been out of the country before and a handful that had never flown on an airplane before.  Most had never been on a missions trip before. We arrived at the hotel, checked into our rooms, and enjoyed dinner and a sunset over the Caribbean ocean before we had orientation with the Leaders from Family Church on the Rock.  We were ready to hit the ground running in the morning!

Day 2

One thing we do on our Joy to the World Missions trips is build in an hour of Prayer and Word time every single morning.  We require that our missionaries “Tank Up” on the Word before we go out and minister because you can’t give what you don’t have. (I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this is a great practice for us at home the other 51 weeks of the year!!!!)

When you have 83 total team members and 3 buses….you can cover a lot of ground!  We sent one team to Negril, home of the famous Rick’s Café, to minister.  Negril is on the westernmost part of the Island of Jamaica and Family Church on the Rock has a satellite church there.  Our Negril team ministered at Negril All Age Primary School and then spent the rest of the day in the main market there leading people to Jesus.

Our other two teams were ministering at Irwin Primary School and Flanker Primary school.  Over 100 students made first-time decisions for Jesus! 

We met up after lunch for street witnessing in Sam Sharpe Square.  Sam Sharpe Square in in the center of Montego Bay and is the busiest section of the city.  Our team split up into small groups and talked with people as they were walking thru.  We led over 20 people to the Lord!  After Sam Sharpe Square we went to West Haven Home.  It is a home for severely handicapped kids who have been abandoned by their families. Our team spent several hours just loving on those kids and singing them songs.  It was a special time.

After Dinner our team headed up to Moy Hall where our teens did “Kids Club” for all of the children in the community and the rest of us went up and down the mountain telling everyone we could about Jesus!

Later at Family Church on the Rock, Pastor Rob, our Youth Pastor taught a Leadership Lesson to our team and the Church that was amazing.  It was all about teamwork and making a difference in the Kingdom of God!

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Join us next week as Pastor Eddie continues to share how lives were changed through our recent missions trip…