We had a great youth camp with the churches of the Columbia Basin Baptist Association in the Tri-Cities, WA area on July 13th-17th. Camp Director, Mike Ersham explains, "Mike Thibodeaux from Portland, OR, was our camp pastor for the week.  We learned not only about the love that God has shown for us, but also that as Christ's followers, we are called to love others with no hesitation. The Lord's hand was evident once again as many students made decisions. As Youth Pastor at Willow Creek Baptist (Heppner, OR), I was blessed to see three of my own students become followers of Christ. Upon returning home, I've been happy to see the fruits of these new relationships. I've seen one student in particular, a freshman, become a light in his own house. His family has come to church a few times already, having never set foot in our congregation previously over the last six years. His mother reported to me that he sat with her one evening and said that she should expect to see a change in him."

Ron Shelby, youth pastor at Richland Baptist Church (Richland, WA), shared, "What an incredible week at Youth Camp . . . seeing the Lord transform many lives including those new to the gospel, those who have grown up in the church but not truly surrendered their lives to the Lord yet, and even those who needed to surrender specific areas of their lives including areas of hurt and unforgiveness! It is also a great blessing to see these students go home, share these decisions with their families and keep growing as followers of Christ!" There were approximately 162 people in attendance at camp and 119 of those were students.  There were 15 professions of faith in Christ, 18 recommitments, and 31 students who publicly walked through biblical forgiveness regarding someone who wounded them.  That's a total of 64 public decisions.  Thanks for praying and investing in these lives.

 

 

This year's mission to Rwanda is going to be a great trip. It will be our sixth mission to Rwanda. Mike and two other team members will participate in partnership with ERM Rwanda on this mission.

Our team will serve in two regions over two weeks. In the eastern region, 170 pastors and leaders will be trained in Simple Evangelism who will, in turn, train their congregations. The Gospel of Jesus will be proclaimed to approximately 3,000 Rwandese in a regional crusade with a church plant to be started through the follow-up of those who make decisions at the meeting. Our team members will also share Jesus with Rwandan pre-teens and teens in schools that give us this opportunity and in local churches.

During the second week, our team will serve at ERM's Hope Vocational Training Center (HVTC). For the first time, Mike will train 40 graduates of HVTC in Simple Evangelism. We are praying and asking the Lord to call out and raise up from among these graduates young men who will be church planters in Rwanda. In addition, our team will also be sharing the Gospel from creation to Christ over several days with the more then 200 students at HVTC.  Please join us in prayer for Rwanda Mission 2015.   Simply Devoted to Christ! Mike & Debbie Thibodeaux

Learn more our Rwanda partner - ERM Rwanda.