Panama Mission Trip

I had the amazing opportunity to spend last week in Panama working with a small church in developing outreach and evangelistic programs. We took a group of eleven people from our church to a small community called Margareta which is located near the port city of Colon.

We spoke to the church on Friday night in about focusing on a vision for ministry. We were able to be more specific and watch the church members strategically plan Saturday with a men’s prayer breakfast and a ladies’ luncheon. We capped off Saturday night with an evangelistic event that featured a movie for students and a marriage enhancement conference for adults.

One of the highlights of the week was teaching the kids to play American football on Sunday afternoon. After playing for about an hour and a half one of our ministers was able to present the Gospel in which 16 young men gave their lives to Christ.

Monday and Tuesday were spent out in the community meeting people and sharing information about the church. We were able to get two of our group into the schools on Monday and Tuesday to talk about what their life is like in America. Of course going to church and having a relationship with Jesus Christ is a part of that for them and they had the liberty to share that. Of the two people that we go into the schools one is a freshman in college and the other is a senior in high school.

Wednesday we took a tour day of the Panama Canal and some shopping and sites around Panama City before traveling home on Thursday.

I led our first group on a short term mission trip last spring and there were five members from Mayfair who attended. This year the group grew to eleven and each of them said that they would return next year if God opened the door.

It excites me to see how God is not only growing our church numerically but also growing the hearts of our congregation to be more outward focused instead of inward.