WINTER HAVEN, Fla.—”The summer of 2014 was a busy one at Faith Baptist Church,” says Peter Brock, pastor of missions and Christian Education. Faith Baptist participated in five separate missions trips this summer. Individuals traveled to Jamaica and Haiti, and teams traveled to Nicaragua, France, and South Africa.
Compass28:19, a ministry based in Ankeny, Iowa, organized the South Africa trip. Nine teens and two adults traveled June 30—July 14 to minister at First Baptist Church of Kokstad, located on the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The majority of the teens had completed a three-year theology course, and this trip served as a “missions practicum” capstone to that course.
The team’s primary task was to prepare for and conduct Vacation Bible School July 7–10. The team also ministered at two orphanages in Kokstad and Mataliele (which was “a special time of ministering in a small way to ‘the least of these,’ Brock says), visited a hospital, participated in various church services, and visited another church ministry. Brock says the “exposure to ministry in South Africa without missionary involvement was a unique and special privilege and joy.”
Throughout their trip the teens and adults stayed in the homes of First Baptist Church members. “Lifetime friendships were established between the teens and their host families,” Brock says.
“Several of the teens were challenged regarding ministry in general and a few for ministry in South Africa in particular. We praise the Lord for the opportunity to minister and to be ministered to and challenged as to future service for Christ.”
