Orlando: When the world comes to us

Our Rock Ministries 2014 Creative Arts Team: Paola M Colunga, Daniel Burkeen, Steven Scallion, Alayna Dublin, Alonso Doria and Christian Stringer. Lyndsy Lanee Donnell was also with us during the month of June but had to return home to Texas because of illness.

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Central Florida is fortunate to be blessed with more than 50 million souls to minister to throughout the year.

Orlando has broken its record of people passing through the city with 59 million people, representing different cultures, ethnicities, languages and races. It is beautiful to imagine the hearts that could be touched, seeds that could be planted and souls that could be saved.

students orlando note300What is even better is the thought that one changed soul can change a nation or area. As we spread the gospel to one person, that one person can spread it in their home, and then “Bam!” From right here in America, we have reached China, North Korea or even Pakistan. It is doing what we as Christians are called to do—make disciples. And we do it without even crossing international waters.

My group held conversations with people from more than 70 places. Many are places where missionaries are not even allowed to go. However, God gave us the privilege to be ministers of his gospel to these people in a place where we are free to be from any religious background and to freely practice it. We were ministering to people from Kyrgyzstan and North Africa without fear of what the repercussions from its government would be.

As beautiful as this picture is, it also is overwhelming. The challenge and command to evangelize is never an easy task. It’s never easy to share one’s faith. However, when we look at Orlando, we feel what Jesus felt in Luke 19 as he looked over Jerusalem.

This was another big lesson for us at ROCK Ministries. We have learned to have such a deep love for people that we do not keep the gospel from them. We see the need. However, it is easy to be pompous and get caught up in the fact that they need what God has given to you and is also available to them. So, we must love people with a passion strong enough to combat the selfishness that hinders our sharing the gospel.

As part of the Creative Arts Team of ROCK Ministries, we had the privilege of ministering to people after drawing them in with our songs and puppet shows. We had the opportunity to pray for and plant seeds in the hearts of many people and their families.

Despite the hesitant and skeptical feelings I pray as Paul in Ephesians 6:19-20, “Whenever I speak, words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains… that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” This has been my key verse as I stepped out of my comfort zone and into a sea where I am completely dependent on God—to whom be all glory.

Alayna Dublin, a student at Mountain View College in Dallas, served with Go Now Missions in Orlando, Fla.


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