Global Outreach helps prepare new missionaries for the ends of the earth
PONTOTOC COUNTY, MISS. (WCBI) – Inside the headquarters of Global Outreach International in Pontotoc County, men and women are preparing for the adventure of a lifetime.
‘All that is standing between them and the mission field is being prepared to go so they can be effective, so they can learn culture, how to assimilate, and how to share Jesus and raise funds to do what they are called to do,’ said John Darnell, CEO of Global Outreach International.
Darnell says Mission Orientation Training is an intense week of training for missionaries who will serve around the world. Global Outreach was founded in 1970 to plant churches in Ecuador and Latin America through farming. It now partners with churches to help send missionaries around the world and ensure they are equipped and prepared for their work.
‘Jesus said, ‘What man sets out to build a tower and doesn’t count the cost, it is not only a cost of following Him, but also a stewardship and planning, how am I going to be effective to care for the orphans God has called me to care for, care for the children who don’t have a clinic,” Darnell said.
Shirley Syevson is a retired nurse from Illinois who will help get a medical clinic started in Southern Kenya. She is going into mission work full-time and says the training answers a lot of questions and provides a strong foundation.
‘Some of my concerns have been, how to do newsletters, how to do fundraising, how to present what I am doing to other people to come alongside and be a part of it. Resources have been amazing here,” Syevson said.
There is also training for mission kids.
‘The thing about missionary kids, if you can imagine being 8 and moving to Kenya, I grew up in the same house my entire life, how do we help kids understand who they are in Jesus, we have a training curriculum for the kids, they walk through,” Darnell said.
As part of the training, missionaries share their testimonies at area churches. Tupelo’s West Jackson Street Baptist Church held a Global Missions Night. Orly Dilbert and his family will be working with Christian camps in Spain. He says the training is first rate.
“Awesome, great, we are learning, we are having an amazing time, blessed time, our kids are happy and every night they are tired,” Dilbert said.
The Global Outreach Missionaries will take what they have learned through the week back to their homes and home churches and start raising support that will get them on the mission field, sharing the Good News.
Global Outreach International currently assists 368 missionaries serving in 68 countries.
To learn more, visit their website at globaloutreach.org
