Torches for the Jungle

Church Family,

I hope that you’ve heard the phrase around Ingleside, “Going with the gospel; here, there, and everywhere.” This phrase seeks to communicate the high value that we place on obedience to the command of Scripture in Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Followers of Christ are to be witnesses locally and around the world. I’m so thankful that we can have an impact to “the end of the earth” at Ingleside. In fact, sometimes the actions that we take “here” directly connect to “everywhere”! Here’s a recent example to celebrate.

Our Missions Offering at Xtreme Week resulted in a great outpouring of generosity from children and their families, as well as from many of our staff, including our Lead Pastor, who got slimed! The $25,000 that was given will allow missionaries in Venezuela to bulk-order 500 torches! (A Torch combines a flashlight, a lantern, and an Audio Bible into one versatile solar-powered device to share the Gospel.) We heard from one of those missionaries recently. He said, “With the funds raised by your kids during Xtreme Week and with other funds that have come in, we now have enough to place an order for 500 torches. This is a good amount, as it fits on the small airplanes that fly into the jungle where we are. We already have the villages picked out where we hope to place these torches. They are villages that have never heard the name of Jesus and have never seen a missionary. It goes without saying that these are extremely hard villages to get into, which is why they still have not been contacted.”  Click here to watch a 6-minute video describing this outreach in more detail.