I believe that missions and outreach is the heart of God (Matthew 16:15) and I am so glad that through Reach, I have been blessed to be the hands and feet of God in ways and places that have changed my life and that I never would have imagined.
Going to third world countries and other continents with totally different cultures, lifestyles, languages, etc. has made me realize one thing over all, that no matter where people are or what the world is like around them, we all have a desperate need for God. And I have learned that He is the same healer, provider, protector, and savior here and everywhere else.
I have been able to see the pure gratitude on 250+ people’s faces (children and adults alike) as we were able to share with them the love of Jesus and care for them, feed them, and provide them with free dental care in an extreme poverty-stricken village. I have seen an abandoned chocolate factory filled up with people hanging on the chain link fenced windows in the middle of the night to hear the gospel preached to them. I have been able to visit a wonderful pastor and his family who held church in their house which had large jagged gravel floors and be able to buy the material and help do the work to replace them with smooth stained concrete floors and to see their overwhelming thankfulness. It brought me quite humbling tears of joy to see how God used us to bless them and their small congregation as we held service there that night.
I have been able to see a place where the leading cause of death for youths between 11-19 years old was suicide, because their lives and the world around them was completely void of any hope. I was able to go to them and offer peace, joy, and the hope of Jesus Christ and see them break and surrender their lives and let Him save them.
I once met a man who, unbeknownst to us until after my friend spoke to him, was going to commit a murder with a machete that day to avenge his son who had been attacked the night before. Because of the testimony that my friend shared with him about how God had given him the ability to forgive the man that tried to murder his son, that man, so full of anger, confusion, and fear wanted to know if God would give that same thing to him. We prayed with him and that man received Jesus that day and he went around the whole village telling people what Jesus had done for him.
I could go on and on about the wonderful things God has done and is willing to do here and everywhere else. If we will just go in faith telling people the good news of Jesus Christ.
Praise God for His wonderful work in the hour in which we live!
- Andrew Perry