Mark Gillmore: Welcome once again to the Go Mission podcast.

I’m Mark Gilmore and today I am here with two young men, Jonathan, my son, and Judson, a college student.

And together we’ve had recently an amazing opportunity.

You know that I often have the opportunity to speak to you from different corners of the globe on the mission fields of the world.

And just recently, the three of us, along with a team of 17, had the privilege to travel to the island nation of Grenada.

It’s a Caribbean island about 100 miles north off the coast of Venezuela.

So really on the south side of that Atlantic Caribbean region.

This was a remarkable trip.

And it all started back a few months ago when Jonathan had the opportunity to find out something that God is doing of great significance in that island.

Again, the island of Grenada.

So, Jonathan, welcome to our podcast.

Jonathan: It’s good to be here.

Mark Gillmore: Why don’t you just share with us how God connected you to this island and to the open door that’s there.

Jonathan: Last summer, I had the privilege of interning at Grace Baptist Church in Kettering, Ohio, with Pastor Josiah Kagan, and he had connected to this open door in Grenada with the need for Bible distribution, and he had been in contact with missionary Tom Patterson, who happened to come through last summer and give a report of what God was doing on the island And they had already been in partnership in creating awareness, raising funds.

And it kind of began when missionary Tom Patterson, who served in the island of Grenada 30 years ago, was in contact with some local pastors.

And they expressed the need for Bible distribution.

And he, working with the Fellowship Track League, mentioned he could provide them many tracks. but they said we need Bibles.

And so God put it on his heart to start raising awareness, raising funds all through the COVID time.

And it was just a miraculous set of events that allowed him to raise the funds for 80,000 Bibles to be produced.

They’re custom made, they’re beautiful Bibles made just for the island of Grenada.

And God really opened up the hearts of the administration there in Grenada to welcome the Bible Project.

And through a series of miraculous events, really, of God opening up their hearts, the Bibles were able to come to the island and they were in transit last summer.

And so God just put it on my heart to really go where he was working.

That was the phrase that God really used in my life.

Go where God is working.

And I saw God was working there and I wanted to be a part of it.

So I was going to, made plans to be going with their church there.

And just the way things worked out, I was actually able to go by myself in January and connect with a number of the local pastors there and be a part of the first school that Bibles were distributed, and 400 students, 400 public school students received the Word of God in their own hands, and that was just a tremendous thing to see.

So I got to spend a week there in January seeing what God was doing, and that stirred faith in my heart to really just be a part of where God was working, and I wasn’t really sure where that would lead, but I was open to

Mark Gillmore: God working in the future.

Wherever I go, I’m always watching for those steps of faith that really do, like you say, open up into a place where God is working.

And when you told me about this missionary Tom Patterson and the vision that these Bibles, some 80,000 Bibles, could be printed and could receive permission by the government to distribute free of charge across the nation.

What an incredible vision.

What an incredible step of faith.

And the miracles that produced those Bibles at almost below-cost production brought them onto the island.

And now there’s that incredible open door to partner with those local preachers and pastors.

And that’s kind of where our team comes in and the trip we just were on.

So Judson here is with me, and he has been a college fellowship president.

And COVID really began to mess with some hopes and dreams that you had for your fellowship and in its experience while you were leading that over the last several years.

So describe to us a little bit what that was like.

Judson: So back in the fall of 2019, I was a sophomore.

And actually, Jonathan’s fellowship, he was the president at the time.

And my fellowship were going to go together to P&G in the summer of 2020.

And we had just had our first planning meeting, starting to look things over.

Went on Christmas break, came back for about a month or so, and then COVID shut everything down.

So we were excited about the trip and promptly went home and didn’t even hardly think about it because we couldn’t go.

And that was tough, but we didn’t know then that even for the next few years, things would be pretty closed.

So we didn’t go to P&G that summer.

The next summer, our fellowship thought about trying to do a trip.

It just wasn’t possible still with COVID restrictions.

The next summer, which would have been last summer, we had talked about going somewhere and just logistically it didn’t work.

And actually, last summer, I connected with somebody and we had a potential for this summer to go somewhere.

He contacted me earlier this year and said that wouldn’t work because of COVID.

So even here in 2023, we still had COVID messing us up, which was crazy.

And that one we were excited about.

We’re getting ready to roll.

But I think even that idea prepped us for this Grenada trip, just getting our hearts ready to go on a trip.

And God closed that door but opened this one.

Mark Gillmore: That’s encouraging to realize God’s got plans that maybe are even greater than what you had in mind.

And so tell us a little bit about what you did on this trip.

How did this trip fulfill and even succeed in fulfilling the expectations that you had for a trip with your college classmates?

Judson: I definitely wanted something for my fellowship that would give us a vision of how God could use our lives.

You know, we’re here in Bible College training for the ministry.

And we had an opportunity earlier this year to do something just here in Wisconsin.

But I wanted something that would give us vision that we could fight for and pray towards at the end of the year, end of the summer.

And to be able to present this to my fellowship then, and not all of them were able to go, but then to present to the rest their opportunity to pray for us, to go with us, even in prayer, I think was helpful for me, helpful for my fellowship, just to see what God could do.

And then to get onto the trip and see what God did was an answer to prayer very directly.

Many, many stories we could tell just how God answered prayer in the moment, and to know that there were people specifically from my fellowship, but many others, praying in that moment.

And then to see God work in and through our lives on the trip, stuff we’ve talked about, prayed about, trained for, but then to see it in action just for those two weeks.

To come off of school and then to go right into something like that

Mark Gillmore: to see God work was just amazing.

What would be one of the highlight opportunities that you and young men and ladies had?

Judson: I think for me, with the gospel services we did every night, the first week primarily and then the second week, That combined with the soul-winning right before, where you’re just immersed in gospel.

Go soul-winning, looking for opportunities to share the gospel.

Sometimes you get to share the gospel, come back, and then go to a gospel service.

And when you’re just immersed in the gospel like that so much, it does something to you.

It changes your perspective of the gospel.

It changes your mindset.

And I remember one night, there was a certain man that I just stepped into his workplace there.

He’s by himself.

And I just got convicted right away.

I just gave him the gospel. and I went through the whole gospel with him and it was really clear from his perspective.

Didn’t quite get saved, but then came back that night to the service and got really burdened for him.

He didn’t come, ended up coming a few days later when we weren’t there and got saved.

But just that mindset where you’re determined that these people have to get the gospel and it’s exciting too.

It’s not a drag.

You’re preaching the gospel and it just energizes you.

As tired as we were every night, didn’t always want to go out on the streets and find people, but you had to.

It was just a drive inside.

We’re giving people the gospel.

We’re going to go meet them on the street, try and talk to them there.

If not, let’s see if they’ll come to the service tonight, and we’ll preach to them, and people got saved.

Mark Gillmore: That first week, we were in a new community for the preacher and for his people where they were literally planting a church with nightly tent meetings right in the center of that village or small town.

And the thrilling thing that I saw was that you young preachers, future pastors, evangelists, missionaries, you were the ones doing the preaching.

And what a privilege it is.

You know, we could have had some veteran evangelist, you know, who’s preached meetings across America come and be our preacher.

But that doesn’t grow you as much as when you’re the preacher.

And I saw both of you, Judson, Jonathan, preach the gospel.

The hand of God was on you.

We had, I believe, six young men on our team.

All six got to preach at least twice, preaching the gospel, and really be on the front lines of that ministry in that way.

I was just thrilled.

I felt like I was a backseat rider, And that’s exactly where I was supposed to be.

And you all were taking the lead, and I was thrilled with that.

Jonathan, as you think back on the trip, what’s a highlight from your perspective?

Jonathan: One burden that had begun to stir within me back in January as I was talking with one of the local pastors was he had a vision to not just reach his island, but to reach multiple islands down the chain of the Caribbean with the gospel, with the Bible project.

And that really got my attention.

And I just thought it would be the coolest thing if we could go island hopping with the gospel, with Bibles.

And so that was a prayer on my heart that I began to pray as the trip began to materialize.

And on the second Friday we were there, we were able to go to the next island up and bring several thousand Bibles, connect with the local pastor there, really encourage him, and just blitz the place, blitz the streets.

And God gave us a school on the spot as we were traveling through the local pastor’s son.

He had a connection.

And they worked out the details. were able to come in and present the Bibles to the school there and tell them we, you know, the project would return.

And just to see that trip, that little excursion come to pass was a dream prayer of mine.

And I even told God, you don’t need to do this to strengthen my faith, but if it would be your will, I’d be more than happy to go and do that.

And it was maybe our most tiring day of the whole trip, but to see God’s hand in that and just the excitement in the team and the great satisfaction that came to me by leaning into bringing the gospel to a new place, to a fresh place, was greatly, greatly encouraging to me.

That would be a highlight for me.

And then also there was one man that we really began to seek the Lord in prayer for his soul.

And he would come each night with questions.

And he just said he wasn’t ready to believe.

He wasn’t ready to submit to the Lord was how he put it.

And he had been in many religious settings.

And it wasn’t until we returned a week later after our first week of meetings there that he finally came up to me and said he was ready to believe.

And I have a picture with him, and I want to frame it and put on it.

The same came to Jesus by night because I never saw him in the daytime.

He always came at night and had questions just like Nicodemus.

And to see him believe on Christ for forgiveness of sins and eternal life, I’ll never, never, ever forget that.

His name is Adrian, an old man, and he finally submitted to the Lord.

So that is a highlight that just kind of sums up the individual personal work in the gospel we were able to see happen, and then to see that island trip come to pass with bringing Bibles to a new place.

Mark Gillmore: Isn’t it, how’s it hit you when you’re handing out a couple hundred Bibles to students?

How’s that touch your heart?

Judson: It’s amazing.

It’s amazing.

I think of John 1 where it talks about Jesus being the word.

And just to think you’re literally handing them Jesus.

Yes.

And every time, the first time it just made me cry.

Just realizing that you can’t, nothing can stop that.

It’s the word of God. and just look at a kid and say, here, take this Bible, and they love it.

Mark Gillmore: You feel like this almost is like the greatest moment their life is going to ever have to receive the value of the eternal Word of God.

You just feel how precious the Bible is.

Your Bible is now their Bible and the potential life-changing moment it is to hand out the Word of God.

What a privilege.

And that literally is what’s happening in that island.

I know there’s probably so many testimonies we could take from our team, just like the ones you’ve shared.

What do you see as the future of the opportunity there in Grenada, Jonathan?

Jonathan: Well, I see the connection with the local pastors as incredibly encouraging.

Even we were able to meet at the end and discuss how every believer can be equipped to study the Word of God and to share the word of God and to obey the word of God.

And they were very encouraged by that.

And they obviously have, they see the need there.

They’ve mentioned it to me and others that believers would be discipled and that that would be at the root of the gospel advance going forward on the island and to the next islands.

So I think a long-term connection with them in discipleship and every believer being equipped to obey, to study, obey, and share the Word of God is a powerful thing.

And I think God’s going to continue working there.

I don’t think it’s a flash in the pan what he’s doing there.

There’s a great open door, a great open door.

And so I think, I believe that God’s going to honor their faith and not just spread the Bible physically, but in the hearts of the people.

Mark Gillmore: Missions is a partnership.

And when leaders from our nation partner with leaders in the other nation, the exciting thing is those leaders are already there.

They have the vision.

This work is not in the hands of foreign missionaries. is in the hands of local, national men who have a vision for their own nation, not only to distribute Bibles but to plant churches.

It’s an island nation of about 100,000, about 105,000 people.

And how many churches would it take to church and reach that nation?

And these men are catching that vision, and I certainly look forward to future partnership opportunities that I know God may give to both of you as God’s connected you in a very special way, in a personal way to these men on that island.

Well, I hope you’re encouraged over and over again.

I just try to highlight us with the reality that there are incredible open doors.

Until our Lord returns, he says, to account his long-suffering as a day of salvation.

And we should expect to find open doors like this in Grenada and in other places in our world, in our lifetime.

So remember, the only way to stay at peace in a world of turmoil and uncertainty is to stay on mission with Jesus in his Go Mission.