NEHEMIAH TEAMS: MORE THAN STATISTICS
Jess and Wendy Jennings, Nehemiah Team (NT) founders, speak to Baptist Collegiate Ministries nationwide to foster a global worldview for Christ. They gave the College + Young Leaders Team US and international numbers for 2019, and these statistics help tell the story of how God is working. NT sent out 62 teams who taught 1,074 English classes, baptized 91 people, conducted 1,220 Bible studies and ministered to 343 refugees and 187 orphans. Those teams distributed 280 Bibles and 2,736 tracts with 1,178 people indicating a decision for Christ plus 14,297 people hearing the Gospel.
But NT is more than statistics. It’s individual students like Cody (no last name for security reasons) going to unreached people groups sharing the Gospel with nonbelievers and encouraging local believers to do the same. NT missionaries go where less than 2% say they’re Christians. Cody has been on three NT trips. This past summer, he went to Southeast Asia. “One of the challenges we faced is that most of the national believers we met were hesitant or even resistant to the idea of sharing the Gospel themselves,” said Cody. However, when Cody’s team shared God’s story, a local believer did too. “He shared the Gospel numerous times on his own with people in his community,” remarked Cody
Like Cody, Jessica got out of her comfort zone and went to Southeast Asia. Her team taught English in the village of a predominantly Muslim country. “God did more for me this summer than I did for the people there,” said Jessica. God showed her how limiting her prayers are and how she needed to love people unconditionally. She learned about personal sin and, especially, about obedience. It wasn’t easy though. She said, “I won’t lie; this summer was the most incredible and the most difficult summer I have ever had in my life.” At first, she gave every excuse not to go. “God took all of my insecurities and showed me why he called me to do this,” she said. To those who hesitate to sign up next year, Jessica gave this advice, “Even if you are scared, just take a leap of faith and be obedient because God will do the rest.”