Alaska Mission Team Week 6 Update
Dear family and friends,
The last ministry event for the team was the Sunday evening service at Soldotna Baptist Church. The team was given the entire service to describe what God was doing through the mission team. The team members sang choral music, gave testimonies of God’s work in the lives of others and themselves and described the various ministry venues that God had used them in. Mr. Z delivered a short challenge to the congregation regarding missions.
The last three days of the mission team were dedicated to rest, debriefing and evaluations, and packing — about a day of each. The Zukowskis evaluated each team member personally. Additionally, each team member filled out a very specific written and anonymous “peer evaluation” regarding each of the other team members as individuals. In the end, each team member had a cumulative view of himself or herself from team leaders’ and peers’ perspectives including strengths, weaknesses, gifts, personality assets and liabilities, ministry performance, and an “other” section for general comments from peers. Each year team members glean strands of truth about themselves via these evaluations and thus may find opportunities for growth as a result. Group meetings were also held to share areas of growth, ministry experience, the effect of culture on ministry, and generally how God was changing each individual into the image of Christ.
As for “rest,” the team spent a day sightseeing on the beautiful Kenai Peninsula. God spared no creative act when he made Alaska. Glaciers, ice fields, mountain ranges, volcanoes and tundra cover the state. Oceans, rivers, lakes and streams are particularly rich with fish in Alaska. A vast diversity of flora and fauna all conceived in the mind of God can be found in abundance. They all exist in the extensive wilderness over which five separate climatological regions continually influence the complicated weather patterns in the state. That is Alaska. He has revealed Himself in His world, and it is hard to miss that point in Alaska. Yet many do!
The BJU Alaska Mission Team exists to 1) expose college students to missions and ministry in Alaska, 2) encourage local pastors, camp directors and missionaries by providing teachable human resources and 3) to participate in making disciples for Christ.
How has God enabled these functions in 2008? The men on the team combined preached full Bible messages on at least 27 occasions. The women on the team combined gave at least 15 extended personal testimonies of how God was working in their lives in addition to opportunities during camp counseling. The 2008 BJU Alaska Mission Team involved 16 individuals in nine different ministry venues1 in two distinct cultures where they preached or assisted in the communication of the Gospel to at least 420 people using at least 12 different ministry tools2 resulting in at least 15 decisions that were verbalized. Additionally, three members of previous BJU Alaska Mission Teams returned to Alaska on their own this year for extended personal ministry opportunities. Several of this year’s team members expressed similar desire for next year. Moreover, team members repeatedly were required to exercise self-restraint, patience, faith, cultural sensitivity, flexibility, deference to others, endurance during sickness and fatigue, and many other character traits that are required to be in the possession of those pursuing Christian service. It was encouraging to see self take a back seat to Christ and others in the lives of young people who have grown up in a culture flooded with the sins of narcissism and relativism.
Perhaps the greatest joy of leading a mission team is “seeing” God work in one’s own life, one’s family, the lives of team members, and those who are recipients of the team’s ministry. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it (1 Thess. 5:21). God is at work!
For the team, Mr. Zukowski
1 2 camps, 6 churches, 1 radio station,
2 Preaching, teaching, missionary stories, testimonies, radio, counseling, staffing, missionary aviation, door-to-door visitation, music, crafts, and games.