18 Jul Update from our Joy to the World 2023 Missions trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica (Part 1 of 2)

We will continue in our series Joy-Lets (Discovering Five Sources of Joy from God’s “Throne Room”)

in August, because for the next two weeks in our Tuesday blog posts we are privileged to share with you
all of the awesome details of our recent Joy to the World 2023 Missions trip to
Montego Bay, Jamaica.

The following excerpt is from our very own Outreach Pastor James Biddle…

During the week of June 12th through the 17th , we took 63
incredible team members, which included 26 quality Joy Church members under the
age of 25!! With six days of ministry, we were able to lead a record number of
1,864 people to first-time decisions for Jesus! When you add this number to our
previous trips, Joy to the World Missions teams have led 14,795 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! All of this is fruit that
abounds to YOUR account as a partner with WCBI. Thank you so much for your
prayers and continued partnership! Many of our team members are current WCBI
students or alumni.
I am going to endeavor to give you a “Day by Day” synopsis of all that we did, but I
need to include a big encouragement to Pastor Jim and Mrs. Anne for your years of
investment and for entrusting us with this privilege to lead. I also wanted to give a big
thank you to Pastors Richard and Joye Keane, Pastor Earl & Jean-Anne Murray, and
the entire team from Family Church on the Rock in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The
itinerary you prepared for us was wonderful! We deeply appreciate our “Strategic
Alliance” and it gets better and better!

Day 1 (MONDAY)
Our first day began with our team meeting at 5 am. With Jesus and a little bit of coffee
too :), the team came ready to launch out! Our support team quickly checked
passports/documents, tagged luggage, and escorted everyone to the bus so we could
head to the airport. We had plenty of people on our team who had never been out of
the country before. For over half of our team, this was the first time that they had gone
on a missions trip with us. After a long day of travel, we arrived at the hotel, checked
in, and then ate our first of many authentic Jamaican meals! Because this was a new
hotel for us, we took a little extra time to get everyone settled in. This hotel and staff
exceeded our expectations and took great care of us during the week. We had an
orientation with the Leaders from Family Church on the Rock to provide our final
preparations and then got the team some rest to get ready to hit the ground running in
the morning!

Day 2 (TUESDAY)
One thing we do on our Joy to the World Missions trips is to build in plenty of time for
Prayer and Word 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.

(Iwould 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 63 total team members and multiple buses….you can cover a lot of
ground! The first school that we took our team to was Howard Cooke Primary School.
They allowed our team to minister during the general school assembly. Our team did
music and skits…had a lot of fun…and then our very own John Frease (Pastor Jim’s
and Mrs. Anne’s son) got to share the message and give the call for first-time decisions
for the Lord. Over 300 precious children responded!! John did a great job!

After the school ministry, our team had a quick breakfast and then headed to West
Haven Children’s Home for the disabled. West Haven is not an easy place to go to. It
is a home for severely handicapped kids who have been abandoned by their families.
Our team spent time loving the kids and staff. Some of our team played music and
sang (which the children really loved). Others played ball, walked around with them,
and just showed the love of Christ!! It was a special time! Two of the staff members
gave their hearts to the Lord while we there loving on the children!
Our next stop was at the Pork Pit (as is tradition!) This is truly an authentic Jamaica “pit
style” Jerk Chicken restaurant that our team will never forget. I can still smell the
pimento wood now!!

Next, our team was divided into three teams for personal street witnessing. We went to
a new place called “Harmony Beach Park” as well as “The Library” and Sam Sharpe
Square. This was our team’s first experience with witnessing in this environment.
Harmony Beach Park is a beautiful new development that is right on the ocean. People
come to relax, enjoy the breeze, eat, and just lay on a blanket to soak up some sun.
The library is the local “hot spot” for youth to gather after their classes are over. Sam
Sharpe Square is 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
through. This was the quickest that we have seen a team step out in boldness. There
was no hesitation. They were hungry to make sure people knew about Jesus. The
reason we minister there is pretty simple…if you can tell people about Jesus in Sam
Sharpe Square…you can do it anywhere!

By the end of the day, hundreds of people had been born again and many of our team
who had never led anyone to the Lord had the opportunity!!

We closed out the evening with a wonderful dinner and then an “upper room” meeting
time with Pastor Jim imparting to the team. Many were touched and blessed and
“tanked up” again to get ready for another great day!

Join us next week as we share about the rest of this amazing missions trip!