Great Commission Update - Aug 2025
Regional Mission Project
By Jim Shankula, Shadow Mountain Coordinator
[The Shadow Mountain Team] served with 57 people in four locations from July 27 through August 2: Hispanic churches in San Jose, Salinas, Gilroy, and San Martin.
Our fun theme for this year was “Super Circus”! All of the locations decorated creatively, and we even had a few clowns! The kids like to participate, especially in the songs.
Each day our teams visited the neighborhoods near the churches, to invite children and their families to the activities, give out gospel tracts, and talk with those interested about how to be saved. Sometimes our teams wondered how effective it was to go out the same week as the event. But on Wednesday evening a lady showed up at our event with her family. She had received an invitation that same day. While her two children participated in the event, the lady sat in on the adult study. At the invitation, she trusted Christ as her Savior. They came again the next night! Praise the Lord! It was worth visiting the neighborhoods!
Our Bible lessons were on “Jesus My Savior and Friend” (CEF curriculum). Our teachers kept the children’s attention with illustrations and drama and explained the gospel clearly. Every day the children had an opportunity to make a decision for Christ.
On Tuesday, in Salinas, when the invitation was given at the end of the lesson, first one little girl raised her hand and came to talk with the teacher, and then another child, and another. In total, 14 children came forward to trust Christ as their Savior. Praise the Lord! The counselors took them to quiet places where they could talk with them about their decision. Those places happened to be where our next activities would take place, so we had a good delay waiting for them!
Our game, craft, and verse learning times are all creative and fun for the children, helping to build relationships with them. Even craft times give opportunities to encourage the children in their decisions and remind them about what they are learning in the Bible lessons.
The total attendance at the four locations was 99 children, 40 youth, 80 adults. Total decisions for Christ at the four churches was 20 children, 7 youth, and 1 adult. All the praise and glory to our Lord Jesus Christ! At the end of the week each child received a Love-in-a-Box, packed with school supplies, hygiene items, and toys by a family at Shadow Mountain.
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August’s Featured Resources:
The News You Need.
The Peace You Crave.
Politically neutral, Christ-first news
“The Pour Over gives you a fresh way to engage with the news. Our email cuts through the noise on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in a quick, digestible format that leaves you feeling informed (not drained) and focused on Christ.”
NAMB Podcast (13 minutes)
Mark Clifton welcomes JJ Washington, Director of Personal Evangelism for the North American Mission Board, to talk about the importance of personal evangelism in the local church.
Some highlights from the episode:
What does a church look like when personal evangelism has left the room?
How can your church develop an effective evangelism strategy?