REACH Commissioning 2009
Young orange-robed boys learning to be Buddhist monks in Thailand. A busy city street in Spain, glowing in the streetlights. Villagers displaying a pile of harvested grain in Zambia. Minarets of mosques towering over a city in the Middle East. These were all scenes from a slideshow during the REACH commissioning service on November 20, showing people and places in the countries the teams will be working in.
The teams are made up of 19 young adults from 10 different states. Their destinations this year are Spain, the Middle East, Thailand, and Zambia. They will be involved in ministries like engaging in friendship evangelism with Muslims, working in a coffee shop, teaching English, and helping out at an orphanage for HIV and AIDS orphans.
Mel Shetler, pastor of Maple City Chapel in Goshen, Indiana, gave the message. He drew lessons from Luke 9, which tells how Jesus sent out the disciples to preach the gospel and heal people. Shetler said Jesus is still calling out and equipping ministry teams and giving them a strategy to effectively minister. The REACH training, he said, had been a chance to grow in relationships and faith, and to learn the principles of the Kingdom of God. “As you go out from here tonight, those principles of the Kingdom are what He wants you to have on your heart, on your lips, at your fingertips, because preaching the Kingdom is what Jesus did.”
After the message, friends and family gathered around the team members and prayed about the challenges they would face. The list of requests included emotional health, harmonious team relationships, effective ministry, and good relationships with the governments of the destination countries. After the group prayer time, RMM president Joe Showalter gave a closing prayer.
