Outreach ministry is a huge part of our week here at MTC. We get a priceless opportunity to reach out to those in the Camden County community to build relationships and share the Gospel. Each student is involved in a ministry team, and there are quite a few on campus. I am involved with the Boys Home ministry. There are seven of us on the team: an MTC staff member, two student couples, Josiah, and me. Each Sunday afternoon, we go over for about an hour to teach the guys at the home a Bible lesson. It's been incredible to see the guys' understanding about the Bible, God, and man grow by leaps and bounds as we've gone from Creation through Abraham and Isaac. Many of them have at least heard some about the Bible, but they never have connected all of the dots. Two of the guys especially are starting to really get excited. Last Sunday as we taught through the story of Noah and the Flood, one of the guys, Cody, (a seventeen-year-old tough guy) threw his hands up in extreme frustration and cried, "So we're all sinners!" When he put together the fact that all men are born outside of the Garden of Eden (and therefore are sinners separated from God) and the fact that all sin deserves death, he was completely overwhelmed with despair. He had never figured this out before.
This Sunday, we taught from the Tower of Babel through Abraham and Isaac (which was an incredible amount of ground to cover in an hour!). The guys really got into the story of Abraham sacrificing his son, Isaac. One of the guys was shocked that Isaac basically let his father sacrifice him. He exclaimed, "I would have poisoned my dad on the way up the mountain!" While this was pretty funny, it made us on the team think. None of these guys would EVER trust their dad with a knife. It saddened us to think of their rough backgrounds. But, despite this mentality, the guys were totally into the story and were literally on the edge of their seats as we dramatized the account for them. They were so sure that Isaac was the one through whom the promised Deliverer would come, and they were scared that he would be killed. When God provided the ram as a sacrifice, you could almost feel the relief they felt! It's so cool to see God bring these stories to life for them!
Most people would think that these guys wouldn't be paying attention to Bible stories (after all, these guys are teenagers). But, God is definitely doing a huge work in their hearts. It's amazing to be a part of it!
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| The guys at the Boys Home |
Please continue to pray for the guys, especially Cody and John who are recognizing their need for a Deliverer and are faithfully coming each Sunday to the teaching. Please also pray for the rest of the guys as we continue to develop relationships with them through our times on Thursday (where we do activities and projects with them) that they would have open hearts to hear God's Word. We never know how much time we'll have with any of them, so what time we have is precious! Please also pray that we'll be able to get through to the story of Christ by the end of the semester. It seems like you would be able to do this right away, but without an adequate foundation, these guys would be completely lost. Without the Old Testament stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, etc, Cody would not have come to the realization that he, too, is a sinner who cannot come to God on his own. It is our prayer that this foundation that we are building (which is also the method we will be using in our tribal works overseas) will prepare their hearts for the story of the promised Deliverer, Jesus Christ.
