PCA Students On Mission This Summer
This past summer, students from PCA embarked on transformational mission trips to the corners of the world to share the message and love of Jesus. Equipped with what they learned at PCA, high school students became the hands and feet of Jesus as they sought to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19).
Greta Anderson, Sara Belle Boyles, Emily Romfo, and Blaise and Saylor Sorensen ventured to Costa Rica, with the High School Ministry at One Fellowship Church, where they served a church and community near the city of Belen. The group distributed food bags, painted, power-washed, held a VBS for kids, and led a women’s ministry. Emily Romfo reflected on how grateful she was for the way she was prepared for the trip by her PCA Bible class, “I was able to show how to truly love an individual and radiate God’s love to those who may not know him.”
In the Dominican Republic with a group from King’s Cross Church, Anna Claire Romine utilized her Spanish language skills cultivated through years of study at PCA to converse and share the gospel effectively. "My trip to the Dominican Republic impacted not only the people we were ministering to, but it also impacted me because it better prepared me to share the gospel with others, especially kids. This trip also showed me how fortunate I am to live where I do and have the opportunities that I have here."
Danny Beech, ECBC Next Gen Pastor, led a team of families to one of the poorest sections of Palermo in Sicily where they assisted their Global Partners in putting on a Kids Camp, soccer tournament, women’s outreach activities, and evening family gatherings where the message of Christ was shared. Danny recounts how “one mother came to us in tears thanking us for coming and that these children had never seen anything like this!” He says there were, “Countless connections, conversations, and budding gospel relationships sprouted throughout the week.”
Joseph Terry was also a part of the ECBC trip to Italy, which underscored the need for a church plant in the isolated mountain towns above the city of Catania, Sicily where there is no direct access to an evangelical church. Joseph assisted with an American-Style Vacation Bible School which offered a host of games, crafts, music, and sports competitions. At the end of the 5-day event, the partnering pastor had 5 new families willing to meet with him to learn more about Jesus and discuss a church plant! Joseph was deeply impacted by the relationships with the Italian teenagers and the impoverished children: “I learned that there are strong Christians who live in foreign countries and speak different languages, but love the same God.” One of the things PCA has taught him is that he has been given the ministry of reconciliation, “PCA has taught me to ‘stand out’ and be different from the world as an ambassador for Christ both here at home and also out on the mission field.”
We’re grateful for how Lord is at work through our students here in Mt. Pleasant and across the globe to “be His witnesses” (Acts 1:8)! We’re prayerfully expectant about all the Lord may have in store during next year’s mission trips!