Colombia Evangelism Trip

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Conference youth department partnered with ShareHim ministries to send 10 Oklahoma young adults to Cali, Colombia to hold evangelism meetings during Thanksgiving 2019. This was a courageous decision as most of them had little to no experience preaching. Each young adult was assigned to their own church where they preached 10 sermons over an eight day period. Congregations varied in size from 10 to 70 members in attendance. All the sermons were provided by ShareHim and local translators were assigned for those who did not speak English.

Each day after breakfast, the team came together for worship to review the previous night and for discussion of that night’s topic. Additionally, Rudy Alvir, ShareHim representative, gave feedback and encouragement to those he had visited the night before. After the team meeting, everyone would spend personal time reviewing and practicing their sermon for that evening. Everyone was picked up early in the evening from the hotel to head to their local church to preach that night. Each church family was responsible for providing dinner to the preacher every evening, which varied from eating at their homes to taking them to local eateries. In the latter part of the week, many of the youth had the opportunity to do home visitations with the church pastor to meet potential baptismal candidates. At the end of the week, the team rejoiced as the meetings concluded with 10 baptisms and 12 commitments for baptisms for the near future.

When the trip was over and the journey back home began, many of the young adults shared how this trip had impacted their lives. One said, “[The experience] shaped me into a better individual and gave me a larger perspective over the integrity of God’s work.” Another said, “Preaching this week brought me closer to Jesus and I want to share Him more every day.” Yet another stated, “I grew in my relationship with God by learning more about Him and seeing His work in each of our lives.” May the Lord continue to fuel this new spark in their lives and open doors for continuing to share the gospel message anywhere. 

By Daniel Ortega

Communication and Young Adult Director