ENGAGE: A Global Mission Magazine of the Global Church of the Nazarene for Ash Wednesday, 5 March 2014 - Issue #74

ENGAGE:  A Global Mission Magazine of the Global Church of the Nazarene for Ash Wednesday, 5 March 2014 - Issue #74 
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When Wednesday changes how you see the world by Shannon Herndon
It was a pretty average Wednesday night in the city of Illescas, Spain. I took my daughter, Karis, to her new dance school at 6 p.m. so that she could try out the new class and see what she thought about it. I had an hour to kill, so I decided I could go to the local Aldi grocery store. We have a grocery store directly across the street from our home, so that is where I always shop...but Aldi carries items that aren't always found in regular Spanish grocery stores, so I like to run by every once in a while, to see what they have in stock. It is a rare trip to Aldi that I don't come home with a tasty treasure or two.
So, I drove down one of the back roads of town that take you to Aldi. The store is right on the city limits. You have to drive to get there. It was already very dark out, and it was starting to rain a little. All-in-all, not the most cheery of nights. And then, the night got darker.
I got to the point in the road where you drive past all of the "special" bars. You know. The ones you hope to never see a man you know coming out of. The kind of bar that exploits the women inside. They were all lit up with their neon lights, beckoning men of all ages and races to come inside. Having never been inside one myself, I can only imagine what I would find if I were to walk in. Something in me feels heavy and broken as I drive by, but that's what I do. I drive by.
None too soon, I am inside Aldi. Oh the treasures I found! The shopping only lasted 20 minutes though, and with every step I took down each aisle, the heavier I felt. My eyes kept filling with tears. Have you ever felt that? The heaviness that bubbles up and flows out your eyes? I get myself under control, make my purchase, and head out to the car. And I sit there in the dark.
How many people that night were sitting in the dark?
Helpless is the only word that could describe me in that moment. There was absolutely nothing that I could do to reach out to the girls in those dark places. No way to keep the men from going inside. And so I sat, helpless.
In that moment though, I knew there was one thing that I could do. Something that nobody could keep me from doing: I could pray. And so I started to pray. I had about 35 minutes before I had to be at the dance school to pick up my daughter, and although 35 minutes of prayer wasn't going to close down those places, I knew that's what I was being called to do in that moment.
I put my car in gear and drove to the first bar. I turned off the headlights and sat there. I watched the steady flow of men going in and coming out. And I prayed. I prayed for the men going in. And I prayed for the girls inside. I prayed that God would make Himself known in powerful ways in the days to come, that these girls would find freedom. You see, according to a U.S. Department of State 2010 report (http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2010/142761.htm), 90 percent of prostitutes in Spain (dancing girls would very often be included in this statistic), are victims of human trafficking. What does this mean? It means that they don't choose to be there, and they have no way of getting out. They are slaves. What do we do with that information? Slaves in Illescas....
And so I drove to the next bar, and I prayed.
And the next bar, and I prayed.
I wrote down the names of these places of bondage as I went by, praying for them. I only went to the ones that I knew about, the ones WITHIN the city limits. There are more. And God hasn't made clear to me yet what my part is in all of this. But I know that when you feel a heavy burden for something, there will need to be a response. The Holy Spirit prods us in that way, doesn't He? And so for this moment, my response is prayer. Not a simple "God, please protect these girls" prayer, but specific prayers for specific places and specific people. Not just the victims of trafficking, but the people using them, the people abusing them, the people selling them...
Until the Lord makes it clear to me how else I need to be involved in this specific brokenness that is so prevalent in our world, I will continue to pray. There are eight clubs within our city limits -- one club a day to pray for, plus one. Would you pray with me for these clubs? For the women in bondage there (voluntarily or otherwise)? For the people entering these clubs for what they think is pleasure? Please pray for these places by name:
Mi Muñeca Club
Helen
Club Kaly
Club Leo
Club King
Club Bolero
Club Times
Club Geisha
Isaiah 61:1-3 
"...He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners..."
Friends, how many of us have lived in bondage of one type or another? How many of us have been hurt, taken advantage of, abused? We each have a story that only we can tell. My prayer is that God will see fit to use me (and you!), to reach the brokenhearted, those who are captive, those who desperately need release from darkness. Thank you for joining me in prayer specifically for this part of the community that we call home. -- Shannon Herndon is a Nazarene missionary in Illescas, Spain. Republished from her ministry blog with permission.
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Ask the missionary: How have you developed? by Teanna Sunberg
Question: How, as a missionary have you spiritually developed along the road? And how has this development helped you with your missionary work? -- Tristan Wood
Answer
Once upon a time, a little slip of a Kansas girl was planted in a rural hiccup between two lakes. She dreamt of slaying dragons on the oceans of a Green Peace ship and rescuing exotically unexplored rain forests. She spent her summer days imagining danger-treks through Harriet Tubman trails, but nearly a century had passed since those golden fields had seen slaves. Then, at 14, she became a Christian and the slaying of dragons faded. Green Peace was deaf to evangelism, the forests had no ears and the history books had already heard the journeys of freedom men. And God? God wanted orderly, Christianly homes with safe citizens and predictable sermons of happily-ever-after lives.
So, it really is a shame that Baby X entered the picture a few years later.
The Bulgarian nurses called him Baby X. A screaming, squawking body of legs and arms and lungs ferociously announcing his arrival to a world that barely noticed. In a Slavic land where babies are bestowed with names like Божидар (God’s gift), Радост (Joy), Красимир (Beautiful peace), X screamed a voiceless truth: Unwanted. Orphaned. Broken. Unclean. A sexual oops of a momentary passion with skin a little too olive, and hair a little too dark, with features a little too fine, and a genetic code clearly written: Roma.
One begins to wonder what God wants to do with unwanted babies.
One begins to wonder what God expects us to do with unwanted babies and unsolvable problems.
I have learned that God calls us into the messiest, grayest, dirtiest, most complicated situations on the globe and then He begins His transformation in us. For His glory.
It makes no sense, really. Hell-bent souls and hellish realities and God wants to do some tweaking in me?
No epic dragons slain. No ultimate questions answered.
Our story has only one hero and it is not me. It is not you, either. And that is where the dying to what we can accomplish becomes painful.
A lifetime ago, we came east on an airplane with compassionate ministry inked on a visa. All the while, WE wondered what a couple of kids out of seminary could possibly accomplish for Jesus.
Prostituted women. Orphans. Adultery. Prejudice. Poverty. Illiteracy. Dirty water and dirty living and dirty bodies for sale. Souls rolling around in garbage and born in garbage and dying in garbage. It is the ear numbing, heart rending, mind blowing, exhausted ache of a world in turmoil. And, some of us wonder if that messy, sinful arena is where we Christians belong. And, some of us wonder if it is an arena where Christian holiness has a voice. This messy, complicated, controversial roaring question demands an answer: What do we do about the raw ache of hell on earth and souls on their way to hell?
The Sunday school children that we once were learned to say with Isaiah, “Here am I, send me.” But the sending and the going is only the beginning of the dying. I am learning that God does not want me to save the world. I cannot accomplish it.
I give my brokenness, my questions, my sins, my faults, my inability to say one coherent sentence in the midst of human tragedy and somehow, God, by the power of His beautiful, broken, bleeding Jesus-body dying for me, infuses the God-breath of life into this gasping world.
Only God is the hero of this story.
A humbling, upside down truth is this: we can just imagine that humans with perfect families and perfectly put together homes and perfect lives are the perfect candidates to fix this squawking, sinful, garbage-laden world. But, God birthed hope in a baby born to a not-yet family in the wrong place at the wrong time. And his letters tell a text of broken people with dirty pasts and diseased futures who get to be redeemed and adopted into his story.
The hardest part about being a missionary -- the hardest spiritual lesson -- is learning to die to the idea that I get to be the hero of this happily ever after. In all honesty, far too often, I want that glory for myself.
We seek to build Christianly safe, comfortable lives and we consider it God’s blessing because we have been good citizens. Or, we take on the world with projects and plans for sure-bet treks into the hellish points of the planet because we are big enough and strong enough. We know how to live good, orderly lives. We know how to slay the dragon, if only God would just get in line and help us accomplish our plan.
But, hell on earth is a horrible place, a desperate place, a tangled, torturous, unsolvable puzzle of history and culture and addiction and demons and my need to slay dragons, rescue people, and play God is foolishness.
In the twenty years that I have been a missionary, this is the second time I've watched neighboring countries slide into revolution. It is the hundredth time I've wondered what to do with babies nobody wants. It is the thousandth time I've looked at prostitutes and homeless souls and wondered where to even begin. In the face of these complicated issues, my only honest answer can be, "I do not know."
But, God knows.
He sent Jesus who spread his arms, spilled his blood, and poured out his perfect life for souls that could really care less. His victory over death and sin is the only hero-hope for the screaming, squawking body of arms and legs that is our world today.
May God continue to teach me, to teach us, that our only happily ever after is birthed in our brokenness, our humility, our hearts and lives lived out in raw honesty and dependence upon our Hero-hope.
"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever." -- Revelation 22:1-8 -- Teanna Sunberg is a missionary, a mom and a writer who enjoys studying about, writing about and lecturing in the area of Missiology. Together with her husband, Jay, they have the joy and privilege of serving the people of the Central Europe Field of the Eurasia Region. Currently, her family lives in Budapest, Hungary, but they have also called Bulgaria and Russia home over the past 17 years. She has authored various articles and chapters in mission-related publications including the Nazarene Missions International missions book, Cold Winds, Warm Hearts. She has written an upcoming children's mission book, Ivy Gets in Trouble, and is a regular contributor to Engage magazine's new Ask the Missionary column. 
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El largo camino hacia la apertura de un refugio para sobrevivientes del tráfico sexual by Gina Grate Pottenger
“Lleva mucho más tiempo del que te imaginas.”
Éste es el mantra de Rondy Smith cuando habla acerca de lo que conlleva el desarrollo de un refugio para víctimas del tráfico sexual.
Smith comenzó a realizar el trabajo inicial para el ministerio Rest Stop (parada de descanso) en 2011. Se trata de un centro de rehabilitación y refugio sin fines de lucro, el cual se espera que abra sus puertas en Nashville, Tennessee, Estados Unidos, en 2015. Estará estrechamente vinculado con la Iglesia del Nazareno de Hermitage, donde Smith pastorea desde hace mucho tiempo.
El proceso de establecimiento del centro lleva cuatro años, y está siendo ejecutado cuidadosamente para asegurar que el mismo esté adecuadamente equipado para brindar atención especial a las necesidades emocionales, físicas, psicológicas, económicas, y espirituales de los sobrevivientes del tráfico.
Smith (cuarta desde la izquierda, con la junta de directores), quien ha sido pastora asociada principal en Hermitage durante 13 años, comenzó a investigar el tráfico de seres humanos hace varios años. Durante un retiro silencioso en el verano de 2011, ella sintió a Dios moviéndola a liderar el desarrollo de un ministerio para mujeres y niñas que hayan sido explotadas sexualmente con fines comerciales.
Esa visión fue el inicio de la travesía en la que se convirtió la lenta construcción del ministerio Rest Stop, aprendiendo a medida que ella llevaba adelante la obra.  Rest Stop lleva como significado “Restore Survivors, Stop Oppression” (restaurar a sobrevivientes, detener la opresión).
Muchas organizaciones citan la cifra de 27 millones de personas como el total aproximado de personas esclavizadas alrededor del mundo. Cerca del 80 por ciento de las víctimas del tráfico son mujeres y niños, de acuerdo al Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos, y aproximadamente 50 por ciento de estas personas son menores de 18 años de edad. El tráfico humano se ha convertido en la segunda industria criminal más grande del mundo, a penas detrás del tráfico de drogas y genera $32 mil millones de dólares americanos anualmente, según los departamentos de salud y servicios humanos de las Naciones Unidas y el de los Estados Unidos.
Abriendo camino
La escala del crimen es abrumadora, pero esto no detiene a Smith.
Durante los últimos tres años, Smith ha desarrollado una "comunidad misional" en la iglesia de Hermitage centrándose en Rest Stop. Hermitage, la cual cuenta con un promedio de 750 miembros regulares, tiene una variedad de grupos internos llamados "comunidades misionales", los cuales están dedicados a diferentes actividades misionales tales como un orfanato en Kenia, el llenar mochilas con alimentos para niños de las escuelas locales, y el atender las necesidades de personas en situación de calle durante el período entre el otoño y la primavera. Rest Stop es uno de estos grupos, y ha atraído a un sector de la iglesia, incluyendo a muchos jóvenes.
“Gran parte de la respuesta tiene que ver con la pasión y la convicción de Rondy Smith,” dijo el pastor Howard Plummer. “Rondy es una competente y apasionada defensora de Rest Stop. Su puesto de presencia dentro de la iglesia hace que Rest Stop reciba mucha publicidad. Puedo observar que la congregación está interesada y está compartiendo la pasión con Rondy.”
Más de 100 personas de Hermitage han dado de su tiempo y sus habilidades para construir y dar forma a Rest Stop mediante actividades de recaudación y trabajo voluntario. Quienes son artesanos han contribuido su trabajo artístico para recaudar fondos; un contador está asistiendo con la contabilidad de Rest Stop; un ginecólogo ha prometido examinar y tratar a los sobrevivientes; un abogado ofreció su tiempo y experiencia para preparar el papeleo legal basado en el estatus de organización sin fines de lucro 501c3.
Aproximadamente 25 mujeres comenzaron a reunirse semanalmente en enero para un curso de entrenamiento de nueve meses en preparación para trabajar con los sobrevivientes. Otro grupo de 25 personas se encuentra desarrollando una empresa social que servirá como un servicio de alimentos directamente "de la granja a la mesa". La compañía no sólo financiará el ministerio, sino que también proveerá capacitación vocacional y trabajo para las mujeres que pasen por el programa residencial de Rest Stop en el futuro.
Y doce personas se han comprometido a orar semanalmente por el ministerio.
Dorinda Biggs es una de las guerreras de oración.
“Simplemente sentí que mi corazón se estaba alineando con la misión y la visión, así que pensé que sería una maravillosa oportunidad para que nuestra comunidad asista a las víctimas de este crimen tan terrible”, dijo Biggs. “Sentí que era algo por lo que podía comprometerme a orar, y deseaba ser parte de lo que Dios estaba haciendo mediante esta obra”.
‘En la casa de mi padre hay muchas moradas’
La red de voluntarios de Rest Stop ha estado recaudando fondos durante varios años para poder comprar una mansión que se encuentra situada en un terreno de 11 acres junto a la iglesia. La propiedad, llamada Treemont, ha estado a la venta durante muchos años.
Smith dice que Dios prometió reservar esa propiedad para Rest Stop.
“Él básicamente dijo, ‘En la casa de mi Padre hay muchas moradas. Quién mejor para que more en ésta sino las mujeres y niños cuyas vidas han sido un infierno, cuando esto será un adelanto de la herencia que recibirán si tan sólo desearan recibirla’”, dijo Smith. “Estas mujeres no tienen auto estima, su auto valoración está tan dañada, mucho más de lo que pudiéramos imaginarnos. Queremos decir, ‘Éste es su hogar durante los próximos dos años, porque tanto así es que las ama Dios y como también nosotros las amamos’”.
Ella dijo que hay quienes cuestionan su visión de alojar a ex prostitutas y drogadictas en una hermosa mansión; otros le han sugerido comprar una propiedad más pequeña y accesible para que pueda comenzar antes.
“Yo dije, ‘No, éso no es lo que me fue dicho que hiciera.’ Queremos la mansión.”
Ella espera haber recaudado los $1,5 millones de dólares americanos que significan el costo de la propiedad para fines de 2014, a pesar de que sólo han podido juntar una porción de esa cantidad hasta el momento.  “Dios ama los planes imposibles donde sólo Él recibirá la gloria”, dijo Smith. “Me siento muy animada por el apoyo con el que contamos, así como por los más de $100,000 dólares que recaudamos desde setiembre”.
Una asociación modelo
Smith y su equipo han estado aprendiendo a trabajar con mujeres que han sido explotadas sexualmente, así como la manera en que iniciar una empresa mediante la asociación con otra organización de Nashville llamada Magdalene. Ésta consiste de un programa residencial de dos años basado en las reglas de la orden benedictina. Magdalene tiene una historia de 20 años en el área de ayuda y rehabilitación de sobrevivientes del tráfico sexual. En 2001, Magdalene abrió su primer empresa comercial (la manufacturación de aceites esenciales) y luego agregó otros emprendimientos que van desde la producción de papel hecho a mano, hasta un salón de café. Operando bajo el nombre de "Thistle Farms" (granjas de cardos), la empresa provee capacitación laboral para los sobrevivientes, y muchos de ellos luego reciben empleo de tiempo completo.
Rest Stop se está formando parcialmente según el modelo de Magdalene y Thistle Farms, con el objetivo de comenzar con el mismo grado de éxito que Magdalene ha logrado con el correr del tiempo. El 72 por ciento de quienes se gradúan del programa de Magdalene están limpios, sobrios, y fuera de las calles luego de dos años y medio. Los consejeros voluntarios de Rest Stop ya han comenzado a trabajar con sobrevivientes que han sido enviados a Magdalene, cuya lista de espera es muy extensa.
“Éste es el trabajo de la iglesia”
Smith se encuentra en una transición gradual de pastora de tiempo completo en Hermitage a una de medio tiempo, para así poder eventualmente dedicarse a la dirección de Rest Stop en tiempo completo. Sin embargo, el plan es que Rest Stop esté directamente vinculado con Hermitage como un ministerio de la iglesia. "El involucrar a la iglesia local es esencial", dijo Smith.
“Éste es el trabajo de la iglesia. Si separamos a la iglesia, hacemos que ésta continúe siendo irrelevante ante los ojos de la comunidad. Siempre seré un vínculo pastoral con un pie dentro de la iglesia y con el otro dentro de Rest Stop”, dijo ella.
La asociación con la iglesia local no solamente beneficia a los sobrevivientes, quienes recibirán la oportunidad de integrarse a la vida de la iglesia; también bendice a la comunidad de la iglesia, quienes tienen la oportunidad de ser las manos y pies de Cristo para las mujeres y niñas que están siendo rescatadas de las manos de traficantes.
"Antes que nada, el ministerio de Rest Stop está generando gran emoción dentro de la congregación debido a que le da a los miembros una oportunidad muy significativa de utilizar sus dones y talentos en pos de ayudar a otros", dijo Smith.
"En segundo lugar, el involucramiento con Rest Stop está haciendo que la iglesia se sensibilice en cuanto a los aprietos en que se encuentran los perdidos".
“Cualquier iglesia que se preocupe por los demás será bendecida y saludable,” dijo Plummer. “El dar tu vida por los marginalizados y el utilizar tu voz para ayudar a quienes no tienen quién los escuche es vivir la vida de Jesucristo en el mundo real”. -- Traducido por Ed Brussa.
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The long road to open shelter for sex traffick survivors by Gina Grate Pottenger
“It takes longer than you think.”
That is the mantra of Rondy Smith when she talks about what it takes to develop a shelter for sex trafficking victims.
Smith began in 2011 to lay the groundwork for Rest Stop Ministries, a nonprofit rehabilitation center and shelter that is expected to open in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. in 2015. It will be closely tied to Hermitage Church of the Nazarene where Smith is a long-time pastor.
The carefully-executed four-year process of establishing the shelter will help to ensure it is adequately equipped to care for the special emotional, physical, psychological, economic and spiritual needs of trafficking survivors.
Smith, who has been senior associate pastor at Hermitage for 13 years, began researching human trafficking several years ago. During a silent retreat in the summer of 2011, she sensed God leading her to spearhead the development of a ministry to women and girls who have been commercially sexually exploited.
That vision launched a journey of slowly building Rest Stop Ministries from the ground up, learning as she went. Rest Stop stands for “Restore Survivors, Stop Oppression.”
Many organizations cite a figure of 27 million people enslaved around the world today. About 80 percent of trafficking victims are women and children, according to the U.S. Department of State, and up to 50 percent are under the age of 18. Trafficking has become the second largest criminal industry globally, second only to drug dealing, and rakes in $32 billion annually, according to the U.N. and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Clearing a path
The scale of the crime is overwhelming, but that’s not stopping Smith.
For the past three years, Smith has developed a “missional community” in the Hermitage church around Rest Stop. Hermitage, which runs an average of 750 in worship attendance, has a variety of groups in the church called “missional communities,” who are committed to different missional undertakings, such as an orphanage in Kenya, filling backpacks of food for children in local schools, and meeting needs of homeless men during fall through spring. Rest Stop is just one of these, and has attracted a segment of the church, including many young people.
“Much of the response has to do with the passion and conviction of Rondy Smith,” said senior pastor Howard Plummer. “Rondy is an extremely competent, passionate advocate for Rest Stop. Her high profile at the church means that Rest Stop gets lots of press. I observe that the congregation is engaged and sharing passion with Rondy.”
More than 100 people from Hermitage have given time and a wide range of skills to building Rest Stop through fundraising activities and volunteering. Artisans have contributed their artistic work for fundraisers; one accountant is helping with Rest Stop’s bookkeeping; a gynecologist has promised to examine and treat survivors; a lawyer volunteered time and expertise to set up the legal paperwork around the 501c3 nonprofit status.
About 25 women began meeting weekly in January for a nine-month training course preparing them to work closely with survivors. Another group of 25 people are developing a social enterprise that will be a farm-to-table catering company. The company will not only finance the ministry, but provide vocational training and jobs for the women who go through Rest Stop’s future residential program.
And twelve people have committed to praying weekly for the ministry.
Dorinda Biggs is one of those prayer warriors.
“I just really felt my heart was aligning with what the mission and vision was and I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for our community to help the victims of this terrible crime,” Biggs said. “I felt like it was something I could be committed to pray for and wanted to be a part of what God was going to do through it.”
‘In my Father’s house are many mansions’
Rest Stop’s volunteer network has been raising funds for several years to purchase a mansion that sits on 11 acres next to the church. The property, named Treemont, has been on the market for several years.
Smith says that God promised to save that property for Rest Stop.
“He basically said, ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions. Who better to live in a mansion than women and girls whose lives have been hell on earth, because this will be a foretaste of the inheritance that will be theirs if they can just receive it,’” Smith said. “These women have no self-esteem, their self-worth is so damaged, more than you can possibly imagine. [We want to] … say, ‘This is your home for the next two years, because this is how much God loves you and how much we love you.’”
She said that some have questioned her vision to house former prostitutes and drug addicts in a beautiful mansion; others have encouraged her to purchase a smaller, cheaper property so she can get started sooner.
“I said, ‘No, this is not what I was told to do.’ We want the mansion.”
She expects they will have raised the $1.5 million price of the property by the end of 2014, even though they have only made a small dent in that amount currently.  “God loves impossible dreams where He alone will get the glory,” Smith said.  “I am utterly encouraged by the base of current support and the over $100,000 we have raised since September.”
A model partnership
Smith and her team have been learning how to work with sexually exploited women and how to start a business by partnering with another Nashville organization called Magdalene, a two-year residential program based on the rules of the Benedictine order. Magdalene has a 20-year history of helping to rehabilitate sex trafficking survivors. In 2001, Magdalene opened its first business enterprise – manufacturing essential oils – and soon added other businesses, ranging from hand-made paper to a coffee shop. Operating under the name Thistle Farms, the businesses provide the survivors with job training and eventually many are hired full-time.
Rest Stop is partially modeling itself on Magdalene and Thistle Farms, with the objective of starting with the same success rate that Magdalene has achieved over time. Seventy-two percent of graduates from Magdalene are clean, sober, and off the streets after two and a half years. Rest Stop’s volunteer counselors have already begun working with survivors who are being sent to Magdalene, which has an extensive wait list.
“This is the church’s work”
Smith is gradually shifting from full-time pastoral ministry at Hermitage to part-time, so she can eventually move to running Rest Stop full-time. However, the plan is for Rest Stop to be directly tied to Hermitage as an outreach of the church. Involving the local church is essential, she says.
“This is the church’s work. If we separate from the church, it continues to make the church seem irrelevant to the community. I will always be a pastoral liaison with one foot in the church and one foot in Rest Stop,” she said.
The partnership with the local church not only benefits the survivors, who will be given the opportunity for integration into the life of the church; it blesses the church community to be the hands and feet of Christ to women and girls who are being rescued from traffickers.
First, the Rest Stop ministry is generating excitement within the congregation because it gives members a meaningful way to use their gifts and talents in helping others, she said.
Second, being involved in Rest Stop is softening the church to the plight of lost people.
“Any church that focuses on others will be blessed and healthy,” Plummer said. “Giving your life away for the marginalized and using your voice for those who have no voice is living out the life of Jesus Christ in the real world.”
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Heart of God: Regions beyond by Howard Culbertson
According to a passage in 2 Corinthians, Paul envisioned believers spreading the Gospel to regions beyond them.
“Our hope is . . . that we may preach the gospel in the regions beyond you”--2 Corinthians 10:16
The Apostle Paul poured tremendous energy into developing congregations of authentic Christ followers.  However, there’s another passion shining clearly throughout his writings. That passion is Paul’s desire to have the Good News proclaimed in places yet untouched by the gospel.
The hope expressed to the Corinthians to get the Gospel to “the regions beyond you” has fired the imagination of California pastor Paul Welsh.  Recently, Welsh blogged that while Paul did long for fellow Jews to embrace Jesus, “He couldn’t get his mind off those who had never heard of God’s love . . . those in the regions beyond.”
That image of “[preaching] the gospel in the regions beyond” has appeared with some regularity by missions mobilizers. Look at A.B. Simpson, for example. Best known for founding Nyack College and the Christian and Missionary Alliance, Simpson and his wife Margaret also composed gospel songs on missionary themes.  Thus, a hundred years ago, the Simpsons had believers singing words like these:
1. To the regions beyond I must go; I must go
Where the story has never been told.
To the millions that never have heard of His love,
I must tell the sweet story of old.
Refrain:
To the regions beyond I must go; I must go
Till the world, all the world,
His salvation shall know.
2. There are other “lost sheep” that the Master must bring,
And to them must the message be told;
He sends me to gather them out of all lands,
And welcome them back to His fold.
(http://www.hymnary.org/text/to_the_regions_beyond_i_must_go )
“Regions beyond” has also been used in the names of missionary-sending organizations.  The largest of those was the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, founded in Britain by Henry Guinness at the end of the 19th century. In the middle of the 20th century, RBMU (the acronym by which it was often known) sent Don and Carol Richardson to the unreached Sawi people of Papua New Guinea.
Peace Child (both a book and a film) recounts Don and Carol’s struggle to effectively communicate the gospel to the Sawi and the breakthrough that eventually came ( http://youtu.be/mm6R9EPtMHo ).  Don’s experiences with the Sawi “in the regions beyond” led him to encourage missionaries to look for “redemptive analogies” in the cultures of unreached people groups.
Bill Welsh reads 2 Corinthians 10:16 in the light of Jesus’ Great Commission: “[Paul] would say, ‘Follow me as I follow Christ.’ . . . Jesus said, ‘Go to the regions beyond. . . . Cover the world.  Leave no one out.’ . . . The world may not be waiting to welcome us, but those in the regions beyond must hear.  So we must go.”
Do we want our churches to be communities of authentic Christ followers?  If so, we must echo Welsh’s heart-cry: “May our heart and vision as a church never slip from doing all we can to reach those in the regions beyond.”
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Video: A school with a mission by Eurasia Region
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There is a school in Beirut, Lebanon, that is bringing transformation to many of its students. The Nazarene Evangelical School (NES), led by its dedicated director, Abdo Khanashat, for the past 47 years, has seen its share of success and trials. Due to the Civil War in Lebanon, Brother Abdo had to rebuild the school twice throughout its existence. Now, with the help of supportive staff such as, Marlane Mshantaf, the principal of the school, and Nabil Habiby, the Dean of Students, NES is seeing growth within the school and within its students.

To download this video, visit: vimeo.com/85333554
The dedicated staff of Nazarene Evangelical School in Beirut, Lebanon, have persisted through many trials to make the school a place where students are transformed daily through biblical teaching and the love of their teachers.
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