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Expectations, Challenges, and the Character of God

It has been five years this month since we uprooted our lives and moved to Puerto Escondido to serve with GEM. Those five years, we saw God do many things. We had many expectations of what we believed God could do. We saw lives changed by the Gospel. We saw some of our school parent’s marriages restored. In those five years, we saw God do many things and He will continue to do them through His people. As well as all the things we saw God do, there were many challenges. Conflicts that arose between staff members at the school, covid shutting the school down for two years, and many more challenges that arose. In light of all these things, God didn’t change who He was and what He does.

God is faithful to keep his promises. He is loving, kind, gracious, compassionate, and forgiving. These aspects of his character are the foundation for all the things He does. It is out of these things that He forgives, cares, loves, and pursues the lost and broken.

Recently, I have been reading through the book of Numbers. It is a continuation of the story of the people of Israel whom God had rescued from slavery in Egypt. God rescues them from slavery in Egypt and desires to guide them into a new land, the promise land. In Numbers 13:1-2, God tells Moses to send spies into the land of Canaan in which He is going to give them. God is promising in these first two verses that He will give Israel this land.

Somewhere along the line, the people of Israel missed this. Israel sent twelve spies into the land and they came back to report all that they had seen. The report revealed that the land was exceedingly great, a land full of milk and honey, and the produce was rich. However, ten of these men stated that the land was occupied by people who were very strong and the cities too strong as well.

Caleb and Joshua were two men who believed in the promises and character of God. Yes, there was the challenge of this land and all the people that had occupied it, but they had an expectation in their God and his character that proves true over and over. When the people heard Joshua and Caleb’s encouragement to go into the land, they almost were stoned by some of the people of Israel before God intervened. The story goes on, but because of the people complaining, God led them into the desert for 40 years. Those that complained against God and doubted his promises did not see the promise land.

There is a major difference between Joshua and Caleb and the ten other spies. We could say that for Joshua and Caleb that they had expectations of God’s promises to come true and embraced the many challenges that Israel faced because they knew they could trust the character of God. The other ten spies had expectations of what life should be like. They complained because life was not as they had expected which led to the challenges moving them into fear and doubt because they did not trust in God’s character.

May we all remember that “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression (Numbers 14:18). It is through our hope in the never changing character of God that we can embrace challenges and difficulties knowing that Christ is with us all the way through. Because of this, we can hope in the promises of our faithful God.

– Daniel McDonald, Director of Global Engagement

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Living Outside of Comfort

This past year was spent in a lot of prayer, specifically about where the Lord was going to lead me to teach after I graduated college, and in what ways He was going to lead me to share the Gospel in the years to come. I figured my mission field was going to be teaching middle school and serving with youth in a town I was familiar with. Well, that wasn’t exactly what the Lord had in store for me. Throughout high school, I was able to go on many short term mission trips to Nicaragua and the Lord began to give me a heart for sharing the Gospel in places that were out of my comfort zone and normal context. I left from those trips always thinking that short term missions were all that I would ever do and the Lord wasn’t calling me to do that full time. The more I prayed where the Lord wanted me, He began to surround me with people that were very mission minded like my sweet friend Sarah Beth Moore who also works for GEM. I watched her go through the process with GEM when she signed her contract and then she mentioned to me that they were looking for teachers. I was very interested, yet was also believing the lies that I wasn’t cut out to be a missionary. Sarah Beth then mentioned just talking to someone from the ministry before I gave up on the whole thing and so she connected me to someone who helped me realize how at home these people made me feel. After that first conversation I was still very nervous about committing the next two year of my life to living in a foreign country, so I backed away and prayed about decisions involving GEM. I still was worried about whether I was worthy and capable of this kinda thing.

In May of this year, God gave me complete peace and reconnected me with GEM after talking to my parents about it more. He was able to recultivate my heart for missions and gave me a passion for teaching students through the Gospel woven curriculum – which was one of the biggest things that drew me into this ministry as a whole. Once I met some of the other staff, I realized that these were people the Lord was placing in my life to be able to have a support system in Mexico while adjusting to the culture and being away from family and friends.

       The Lord has shown me so much through this process and has taught me to depend more upon Him. He has shown me that He has been leading me to this place and ministry all along and will equip me with His word and grace as I go and be obedient to His calling.  I’ve always heard that you grow when you are outside of your comfort zone and remain complacent in places that you feel comfortable. I strive to stay in a place where the Lord is challenging and growing me for the glory of His kingdom in ways that would never happen if I lived in the bounds of my own comfort.

– Kaitlyn Summitt, GEM Missionary

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FAITH: Fantastic Adventure in Trusting Him

My decision to join Global Education Ministries was made in one night. When I first met the recruiters for GEM, I told them I was planning on staying in Arizona and teaching at a school here. That had always been the plan. I wasn’t even going to attend their informational meeting later that night, but I ended up getting off work at eight, the exact time their meeting started. I wasn’t allowed to eat at work and they had food at the meeting. For a college student accepting free food is a no-brainer.

Once I got to the meeting, it was like God was talking directly to me with everything the GEM recruiters said. GEM’s teaching philosophy aligned directly with my own, and I suddenly wanted to be a part of this ministry. I think I ended up staying and talking for nearly three hours. By the end of the night, my decision was made. Though I still had to apply, interview, and be accepted for the job, in my heart I was committed. But what could have possibly convinced me to move 1,000 miles to a place I’d never been, where they speak a language I don’t know, and try to fit into a culture I didn’t understand in one night? Simple: It was God leading me to do so.

That is the short story of how I decided to join GEM. The longer story is really more about me learning to trust God. If I didn’t trust God, I wouldn’t have even considered GEM,  so this really is a big part of my story:

I was raised in an amazing Christian family and came to know Christ when I was just three years old. As a young child, I felt like my faith was strong but as I got older, it grew weak. I never fell away from the faith in any visible way. In fact, I tried desperately to grow closer to God by doing good works and being as perfect as possible, but He just felt so distant. So I settled for relying on God for salvation and relying on myself for every other part of my life. Yes, I need God and Jesus for salvation, but the rest of my life? I thought I had it figured out and there was no need for them. I believed I didn’t need God’s help or anyone else’s. I had it all under control.  However, anyone watching me would have thought I was a sold-out follower of Christ, but everything I did was for show; I was trying to prove I didn’t need God to control my life.  I lived this way all the way from high school to my junior year of college. Then God got my attention in a big and very painful way.

Junior year, I went through a very difficult breakup. It was my first ever relationship and I made a lot of mistakes. I was consumed with shame because of those mistakes and went into a shame spiral. 2 Corinthians 7:10 states, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” Godly sorrow is guilt, which I had felt, but after I repented, I had not embraced God’s forgiveness, so I lived in worldly sorrow and shame and it completely destroyed me emotionally and spiritually. I felt like I couldn’t even come to God with all the sin separating us. A few weeks after the break-up, I ended up in the emergency room with intense pain. There in my helplessness, I was wrecked by shame, was spiritually dead, and was in the most pain of my life.

Finally, I gave up and gave everything to God. I had five hours to think and pray in the emergency room. I gave God control over every part of my life, not just my salvation. At this point in the story, people expect to hear that my pain was miraculously healed, I was freed from shame, and mentally and spiritually perfect again. None of that happened. I was still in pain, still grappling with the fall-out of my relationship; basically a complete and total mess in every sense of the word. But, I felt God’s presence in a way I never had before. I suddenly knew that God was there in that room with me and would continue to be there for me wherever I needed Him. Nothing changed, yet at the same time everything changed. God’s presence is the most powerful thing I’ve ever experienced.

Throughout the rest of that year and the beginning of the next, I was forced to live in that power every day. I had ongoing health issues that resulted in constant pain and emotional issues. Between student teaching and the library at my school I was working 50 hours a week, which usually wouldn’t be an issue, but in pain, it was exhausting. I needed to rely on God and use his strength every hour, of every minute, of every day. And you know what? He provided every hour, of every minute, of every day. Never once did he fail me. He always gave me enough strength for that day. Not for the month or the week, but for that day. So every day I had to keep coming back to him.  I’m notoriously stubborn so it took 4 months of total reliance on God to cement my trust in Him. At the end of that 4 months was when I committed to GEM. I have no idea what will happen in Mexico. The only thing I do know is God will be there with me and for me no matter where I go, so my faith is in Him and only Him. I am so excited for this Fantastic Adventure In Trusting God.

– Mattie Napoletano, GEM Missionary

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Living the Life of a “Blank Check”

Hello GEM friends and family! Our names are Bailey and Derrick and we could not be more excited to become a part of the GEM mission and community. We have quite a unique story of how God called us to go and serve in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico but before we share our story we wanted to share our own individual journeys. 

Hello everyone! My name is Bailey Bartlett and I recently graduated from Liberty University with a degree in Elementary Education and Christian Leadership. I come from a strong Christian family and felt the calling to go into ministry when I was a teenager. My parents have been big advocates for ministry and missions and I never thought my story would turn out the way that it did. When the Lord called me into ministry at a young age, I had no idea what the outcome would be. The one thing I was certain of was my desire to attend the Largest Evangelical Christian School in the world, Liberty University. It was at my time at Liberty that God began prepping and preparing me for the calling that I surrendered too, but was still unaware of. You see, I had already planned out my life on my own terms and in my own way. My prayer of being a “blank check” in the hands of the Lord was quickly being filled in by my own will and agenda. For years, I wrestled with the calling of vocational ministry and wanted nothing to do with pursuing a career in Education. I wanted a career in ministry with built-in discipleship and a platform. In reality, I thought the calling of being a missionary could not have been a lower calling. I had no idea that I had idolized ministry and how I was so undeserving of the calling placed on my life. Truthfully we are called to missions and to go and make disciples. The mission has always been the same but the method may look different. I only wish I would have realized this and obeyed sooner. 

Hello, my name is Derrick Wood! At the age of 17, I decided to study to be a teaching pastor of a local church. That is what led me to go to Liberty University to study and graduate with a degree in Pastoral Leadership and a minor in both Biblical Studies and Expositional Preaching. I always told God in my prayers that I would serve Him in ministry, but He could never move me outside the United States. God would use my time at Liberty to show me missionaries and other ministries that were doing great things for the gospel, but that would never be me, I told myself. I had a deep love for the local church and a large heart to see people grow in discipleship. Looking back now at freshman year of college, God had bigger plans for my life than I ever thought to be possible. God would use those passions to partner me with a local church in Puerto Escondido and use me to teach Middle and High School Bible. 

 Bailey and I met two years ago at Liberty University while we were both in student leadership. At the time we both were not quite sure where God was leading but we were faithful to follow. The two of us both had a strong calling to go into ministry in whatever form God was calling. Little did we realize at the time what this would mean for us to follow where God wanted us. In the fast-paced rush of life as college students, we both quickly saw the real world starting to become more real as we prepared to graduate. Little did we know that God was already working in the details for we had our wedding date set, honeymoon booked, and everything else accounted for.  

One afternoon we sat down and talked about what we might do for work after graduating, I had no church leads and Bailey was still working hard to finish her degree. Our best option was comfort, which meant moving to Roanoke, VA near Bailey’s family,  to avoid being pushed too far. Even for a while, we discussed both teaching in a private Christian school where Bailey’s mother taught. Really things seemed to be going smoothly for us to start our marriage together. 

One day, Bailey’s “blank check” prayer would be answered when she encouraged me to go to a Ministry Fair that Liberty University was hosting. With little to no hope, I walked into the large and buzzing room to find countless ministries that were offering positions for everything from worship leaders, camp counselors, unpaid interns, and teachers, really anything but being a pastor. After a few painful conversations with people that were not even interested in talking to me, I awkwardly made eye contact and a half-smile with Rachel Hill from GEM. She was gracious to give me the rundown of information even after I told her I was wanting to be a pastor. After Rachel finished, as a joke, I threw out that my fiance was an Elementary Education Major. God was working his plan all along right into the details of this conversation, and Bailey’s “blank check” was about to be written. 

In the month of April, we both committed and signed a two-year contract to go and serve with GEM. We both will be teaching at Manantial School in Puerto Escondido. Bailey will be teaching third grade and I will be teaching Bible while interning at Camino de la Cruz.  Our wedding date is set for July 30, and we have booked a one-way ticket to Mexico. Only three days after our wedding, Bailey and I will spend our honeymoon making our way down to our new home in Mexico. 

We hope our story has encouraged you in some way and that you will be praying for Derrick and I as we step out in faith and into our calling as missionaries. In reality, all believers should live the life of being a blank check in the hands of God. There is no greater joy than experiencing the calling placed on your life, and seeing the Lord fill in the details in greater ways than you could ever imagine. 1 Corinthians 6:20 reminds us that we have been bought for a price and our bodies and lives are no longer our own. We are all called to ministry and to put away with the self-filled life. This is our testimony of what God can do with two nobodies who were willing to surrender their lives and agendas for the glory and kingdom of God.

– Bailey and Derrick, GEM Missionaries

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Gospel Motivated Language Learning

As followers of Christ, we have the greatest motivation to learn foreign languages because we serve a God whose primary means of communicating the gospel is through the use of language.

 

Throughout the Bible, we continually see how God utilizes language in incredible ways to do His will. We start out reading the familiar “and God said…” over and over in Genesis 1 where God chose to speak the entire universe into existence and manifest His power through speech. We see God interacting with His creation through speech and revealing the plan of redemption through language. In addition to this, we have the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ who is Himself identified in John 1 as the Word! Needless to say, the importance of language in God’s creation cannot be overstated or undervalued! 

 

Taking a step into the Old Testament, we see that early on in world history, all of mankind spoke the same language. As recorded in Genesis 11, we learn how rather than using the gift of a common language to live in the fullness of what pleased God, mankind united in their common language to rebel against Him and His command to fill the earth.

 

Genesis 11:4-9: “Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.”

After the dispersion of language in Genesis 11, we see God move in incredible ways through language in the New Testament. After Christ had finished His mission on earth and ascended to Heaven, He left the command known as the Great Commission for His disciples to preach the gospel to all nations. As the disciples waited to be equipped for their mission, they waited for the Holy Spirit, the promised Helper who would come to them with an extraordinary gift:

Acts 2:1-11: “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

The first gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit was manifested in the gift of language to God’s people! They were blessed with the ability to speak in other languages so that they could fulfill the command of Christ to disperse the gospel to all nations. We see that God gave the gift of language fluency in order to communicate the gospel to those who were being saved. 

What happened in Acts 2 was not a commonplace event- the disciples were divinely given the ability to speak in other languages fluently at that time, so that they could declare the mighty works of God. However, for most of us preparing to share the gospel with people who don’t speak our language, we’ll need to learn their language using commonplace tools and methods- with the help of the Holy Spirit. As we strive to learn the language of the people we are serving, may God open doors and grant opportunities to speak the truth of the gospel in a new language and may God use the spoken Word to give faith to the hearers: Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” 

May God speed the day when we will all witness together the reunion of all of our languages being used for their highest purpose: Revelation 7:9-10: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

– Mallory Knight, GEM Sponsorship Coordinator

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Abundantly Clear

When I look back on my journey to Global Education Ministries it is quick in time but very detailed in how. Each step you will hear about may not mean much when you read it, but at that moment for me or my family, or even someone around me, that was a clear message from God that this is what I was supposed to do next.

I was saved at a very young age but my mom and pastor at the time wanted to make sure that I truly understood what I was doing. After a little while and many questions, everyone decided that I was ready and there was no reason to stop me from inviting Jesus into my heart if it was what I really wanted to do. From then on I have always been very strong in my faith and knew that I loved God and even helped others around me to love God too. I came to notice this not because of all the VBS events or camps I had volunteered at but after leading my high school Fellowship of Christian Athletes club. Here I was able to see many people who were not too sure about God or what it meant to really live out your faith. I knew when I was president of our FCA club that I needed to be living out my faith as an example to others.

In my senior year of high school, I applied for a scholarship program to teach in Wake County for three years after my graduation. I planned to return to my hometown after I graduated to teach locally. Although, now I am excited to tell you how God has shown me he has a different and much bigger plan for me than I could have even planned for myself.

Within just a short month, starting in mid-March God began to set pieces into motion for His plan to take place. In mid-March, I attended a career fair through UNCW and this is where I first interacted with Global Education Ministries. This led to a more in detail meeting the next day to discuss what the organization is, and it was supposed to be about an hour, but we sat talking for over two hours. As these meetings took place, I felt comfortable and excited and continued down the path I felt was right. Nearly a week later after this meeting, I was asked to interview with the founder of this organization. This meeting was supposed to be in person at the GEM offices in Wilmington, NC. The weather in Wilmington on this day was unsafe, so we met through Zoom for two and a half hours and somehow the weather did not interrupt. After that interview just four short days later I was extended a contract to teach with Global Education Ministries for two years at their Manantial School in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca.

This contract came with lots of excitement but also many nerves as this made this opportunity real and something I needed to seriously consider. In the same week, I received my contract from GEM I also submitted my edTPA (internship assessment for graduation requirements), started teaching all subjects in my internship classroom, took my final licensure test, had my second formal observation, and then substituted for my partnership teacher for the first time. To say that week was a busy week would be an understatement. I had briefly discussed this opportunity to work with GEM with my family but not at all as much as I would have liked to. My family is very important to me so I really wanted their opinions and support with this new opportunity.

Thankfully, Spring Break for me was right around the corner, so I was able to come home and discuss the contract and opportunity with my family then. This is when I saw even more that this is what God wanted me to do. As each step of the way, God continued to open doors but not just for me but my family as well. On Easter Sunday I was at home in Raleigh for spring break and at church, our pastor’s message felt like it was directly for myself and my family to hear. He said that we need to not hold onto this message inside the four walls of the church but to go and tell, and do not be afraid for God will roll the rock away. Then as I thought through more questions there was little to no push back in each situation. Things like my healthcare coverage or phone plan that I thought may have been an issue were both already covered in Mexico. God has taken care of everything along the way and made it so clear at the same time so that I know that I am truly supposed to combine my passion for teaching and love for God to work with GEM.

Now I am so thankful for this opportunity and have loved sharing how God has been working in so many ways throughout this new journey. Also, I am thankful that God knows our needs and has a specific plan for each of us because as I look back, I see how many other things have been tied to me being able to do this now. I am so thankful that God will turn our mess into our message and that he loves us no matter what.

– Sydni Williams, GEM Missionary

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A Calling

Hey everyone! My name is Heather Hall. I am a recent graduate of Asbury University and a new missionary with Global Education Ministries. I will be serving as an English teacher at La Luz School in Juquila, Mexico. I would like to begin with an introduction about who I am and why I am going to Mexico. Like I said earlier, my name is Heather. Since I was a kid, I wanted to be a teacher. I used to play school with my dolls and even created a binder where I would store their assignments! I also had a passion for overseas missions, even though I didn’t have a full understanding of what that was. My dream was to teach at a small school in a rural village overseas. God used this idealistic childhood fantasy to open my heart towards missions and prepare me for the future.

 

When I was 16 years old, God gave me the opportunity to travel overseas for the first time, and I went to Costa Rica with a mission team from my church. I was amazed by the kindness and generosity of the people I met and kept in touch with a few local girls in the following years. It broke my heart to leave those people after only a week and, after that trip, I knew that a mission trip wasn’t enough. God had given me a desire to live life with the people and not just drop in and out at our convenience. After the trip, I also decided to continue learning Spanish with a newfound motivation and used it to communicate with a few of the girls I met in Costa Rica.

 

When I entered college, I chose to pursue a missions degree because my heart was still drawn towards long-term missions. Other students had told me that “Missionary Methods and Problems” had caused others to realize that long-term missions wasn’t for them. However, I loved the class and it only fueled my fire for missions. During my freshman year of college, I began volunteering as an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher at my church and fell in love with it. During my college years, I taught English as opportunities arose and became involved in the World Gospel Mission center at my university. We hosted missionaries from all over the world, and I got to have conversations with them as I wrestled with God’s calling on my life.

 

After my Junior year of college, my plan was to go back to Costa Rica for a missions internship, but I was unable to travel due to COVID. However, God opened the door for me to use my COVID room and board refund to complete my CELTA (English Teaching Certificate) coursework and teaching practicum online with a school in Mexico over the summer. That summer, He also gave me a vision of myself kneeling in a classroom, confirming my calling as a teacher. This past Spring, I did my internship with a language school in Spain, where I taught English classes online. While teaching, my face would light up, and I knew in my heart that this is what God created me to do.

 

During this time, I was searching for something to do after graduation, and I found some job postings for English teachers at Global Education Ministries. The more I looked into the organization, the more I was drawn in. I could see their heart for Jesus in the centrality of the Gospel in their schools, the honoring of local leadership, and the open invitation to all regardless of their background or how much they can pay. I began the interviews and was able to witness these ideals being lived out in the lives of real people who faithfully follow God’s call. I came to a point where I knew that this was the next right step in my journey with Jesus. He used a sermon to break down my fears and lead me to commit. Ever since then, my calling has been confirmed. Yes, there are still fears and doubts and questions. But God is bigger than all of that, and He will provide what I need. He says, “So do not fear, for I am with you; Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10 NIV)

 

**You can follow my adventures here: https://heathergranaventura.blogspot.com/ and join my prayer team on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/408866517078866)

or by email (herha8@gmail.com)!

– Heather Hall, GEM Missionary

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Gospel Threads

Weave It Wednesday is here! We’re so excited to share ideas and resources for you to weave the gospel into every aspect of your classroom instruction.

Our desire over the course of a school year is to show our students a beautiful picture of Jesus formed through constant Gospel Woven Instruction. This happens most effectively and naturally by breaking the gospel into parts, or threads, and weaving a particular thread of the gospel into a class lesson. These threads are each part of God’s story of redemption: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration.

Creation

Key themes: Origin and Identity

God’s story begins with him miraculously bringing everything into existence, including the first humans, Adam and Eve, who were created as image-bearers to reflect his character. This defines them and gives them their worth and value. They enjoy a unique relationship with God and were made to worship him, obey him, and love him.

All things find their worth and value in Creator God, and yet all of us have looked to someone or something other than God to define us. We all have a fundamental belief about our origin and identity—who or what made us who we are, and what defines us.

Fall

Key themes: Brokeness and Blame

Adam and Eve rebel against God, choosing to believe lies about themselves and their Creator. This rebellion, called sin, brings about relational brokeness, hiding, shame, blame, separation from God, sickness and death.

The world we live in is not as it should be. Brokeness is all around us. Everyone has a fundamental belief about why things are broken and tend to place blame on others. However, God’s Story shows us that our own sin is the primary thing that wreaks havoc on our lives and reveals our deep need for redemption through a Savior.

Redemption

Key themes: Rescue and Deliverance

God enters a covenant relationship with his chosen people, Israel, and throughout their history, rescues and redeems them in countless ways. His final act of redemption comes when he becomes a man in the person of Jesus Christ, who through his life, death, and resurrection, brings redemption from sin and reconciliation to the Father.

All of us look to created things to save us, rescue us, give us significance, and make us right with God. Money, possessions, acceptance, approval, relationships and achievements all seem to offer some hope for repairing the brokeness in our lives, but the gospel tells us that Jesus is our only hope. He is the only one who can rescue us from our brokeness and restore our relationship with God.

Restoration

Key Themes: Hope and Transformation

After the resurrection, Jesus ascends into heaven and sends his Holy Spirit to live in his followers, giving them new desires and the power they need to walk in his ways to become more like him. Jesus began his reign as the King of his people while on Earth, and he will one day return to make all things new —establishing his full reign and ushering in his kingdom where God’s people will worship him perfectly for all of eternity!

There’s a deep longing within each of us for change… for things to be made right and good. For some, this means finding a job or spouse, world peace, a perfect world without poverty, disease, or evil. What we’re all craving is a mending of the brokeness. We want restoration, and the restoration that Jesus brings starts right now in the life of the believer, making us free to live in his ways even in the midst of a broken world as we eagerly await Christ’s return and the future hope his kingdom in all its fullness!

Huge shoutout to Saturate for their incredible resources that really helped GEM create our foundation of gospel-woven instruction!

Which gospel thread do you think is the easiest to weave into a lesson plan? What about the most difficult? We want to hear from you in the comments!

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A New Way to Look Back

Having the opportunity to serve with GEM has been an amazing experience of faith in my personal walk with God. I saw God moving and acting supernaturally in every area that I needed support before moving. As I started working in the school, His Spirit kept giving the help and encouragement I needed to best serve my students.

But as the weeks passed by, I started to focus more on the to-do’s and eventually I found myself frustrated and tired. I felt this way because I was not meeting my personal expectations as a teacher. When we finished the first quarter, I was tired and disappointed at myself for not achieving the professional goals I set. And disappointment is an exhausting feeling.

One day, the Spirit guided me through the scriptures and spoke to my heart through this piece of Solomon’s prayer once they had finished the Temple:

“Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors. And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need” (1 Kings 8:56-59).

We know that the path in the desert to the promised land was filled with challenges, idolatry, murmuring, and even doubting God’s provision. The thing that the Spirit made me realize is that even with all these hard events, Solomon looked at the path of the Israelites in the desert and prayed to God, thanking his faithfulness. Even with all the difficulties and the sinful nature of his people, God kept his promise. He sustained them even in their rebellion. Solomon looked to God and remembered how good He is. I realized that I have an unconscious tendency to look at the challenges, the failures, and the wrongs. The Spirit showed me that I needed to change my perspective from the fallen human and imperfect nature to the unchanging, all-powerful, and faithful God we have. God sustained me even in my failures.

It’s important to look back and see how we can improve and make things better. But the real improvement does not come from our independent desire and effort to fix mistakes. As Christians, the only way to improve ourselves is to walk the path of dependence on the Lord – through prayer, listening to His voice in the scriptures, and taking the leaps of faith that He guides us to. Leaving Brazil to come to Mexico was a huge leap of faith for me, depending completely on His grace and support. Now He’s asking me to trust Him in a way that’s not as visual or tactile as it was in the beginning. He didn’t stop sustaining me when I arrived in Puerto Escondido; He is still interested in sustaining me in all areas of my life. 

My goal for this next semester is to fully understand and practice Paul’s testimony about depending on God: 

But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me (2 Corinthians 12:9-11).

– Jady Vaneli, GEM Missionary Teacher

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10 Things You Don’t Know About Being a GEM Missionary

Two years ago, I signed my initial contract with Global Education Ministries (GEM). When I signed my initial contract to serve in Mexico, I had no idea where God was leading me, and yet as I reflect back on my time over the last two years, I am blown away by God’s faithfulness through it all. I went in blind, trusting God, and two years later, I could not be more grateful. Because of this, it made me realize that I knew very little about what it actually meant to be a GEM missionary before actually moving to Mexico, and I thought it would be fun to share some of those things that might not be known on the surface about serving with GEM. 

I have asked some of my fellow GEM missionaries to help me compose this list of ten things, and here it is!

10 Things You Don’t Know About Being a GEM Missionary

  1. (Specific to GEM Missionaries in Mexico): Not everyone loves Mexican food when they move to Mexico. For several missionaries, the food is actually a huge adjustment. Kayla Morales said, “When I first moved to Mexico, I really struggled with adjusting to the food. I promised I’d never like it and that I’d survive off of cereal. But now, I could eat it every single day. When I visit the USA, I crave authentic Mexican food.”
  2. In moving to another country, naturally you get excited and start preparing to be immersed in the culture. There are so many things that are different when it comes to the culture of another country. As a missionary, you learn to put your own cultural understanding aside in order to learn and take part in the culture that you are living in. This looks like learning how to make traditional food, commuting like the locals (bus, taxi, moto, car, walking, etc.), learning a different language, and so much more.
  3. When you move overseas to serve you will leave behind family and friends, but you will be surprised at how much the Lord blesses you with another family—one so special, so connected and so united for the same purpose.
  4. As a GEM missionary, you come in expecting awesome relationships with your students and their families because naturally our main way of ministering to the community is through our local schools. However, the relationships you get with your neighbors and those outside of the school are such unexpected gifts that bless each of those who serve with GEM.
  5. One really special part about serving with GEM is that once you are a GEM missionary, you are always a GEM missionary. You become a part of generations of people who have served with GEM before your time, and you welcome those that come along after you join as well. 
  6. Many people have this specific idea of what the life of a missionary looks like, but one thing every GEM missionary quickly learns is that life as a missionary just becomes normal every day. It is not that extraordinary. Yes, you live in a foreign context, but it becomes very normal quickly. We live in houses or apartments. We drive cars, motos, or take local forms of transportation. Our days look similar to those in the States— We wake up, have time with Jesus, go to school and work with our students, come home and spend time with family or friends, cook dinner, etc. As a missionary, we pursue others for the sake of Christ, but it is simply a part of the normal rhythms of our lives in the location that God has us for that season. 
  7. GEM is a young ministry, and it is growing more each year. Because of being a younger ministry, being a GEM missionary means that you are a part of what GEM will become. With it being less than 10 years old, every GEM missionary has the opportunity to impact and shape the culture of our ministry in significant ways. 
  8. Being a GEM missionary is more than just your position within the school. You are a part of a community and a local church too, and so much of it intertwines in some pretty unique ways. Many of us work together, worship together, eat together, pursue school families together, plan and prepare for our classes together, and so much more. Being a GEM missionary means that your life is lived on mission in community everyday. 
  9. GEM missionaries are so blessed by those who are partnering with us from the States. While the financial piece of people partnering with GEM is so vital, we also have many people that are regularly praying for us and our schools and encouraging us through notes, phone calls, or care packages. Also, teams come to serve our schools each year through summer camps, Spiritual Emphasis Week, coming to paint our schools, help us prepare for the school year, and more. Our hearts are so encouraged when others walk alongside of us in these ways. 
  10. One of the biggest things that we have all learned as a missionary is that we come to serve, teach, and bless the people, but we end up being served, blessed, and taught more than anyone else. Serving with GEM is a tremendous privilege and blessing, and God uses it to sanctify, mold, and encourage us far more than we could have ever imagined.

**This list was compiled from the following missionaries based on their time serving with GEM: Meg Herring, Kayla Morales, Maggie Addison, Annie Balsey, Kristen McDonald, Daniel McDonald, and Rachel Hill. 

-Rachel Hill, GEM Missionary