Serving with Nehemiah Teams (NT) is not a typical summer job, but then again the organization’s mission to fulfill the Great Commission in this generation is not a typical goal.
“People are going to go to hell without hearing about Jesus,” said Beth, a student from Florida who will head up an NT this summer. “If so many people haven’t heard, how can I stay here?”
Thousands of people groups worldwide have little or no exposure to the gospel. The goal of NT is to help college students and recent high school graduates feel the urgency of reaching the nations and then respond, said Jess Jennings, an International Mission Board (IMB) representative in Southeast Asia who provides leadership for NT.
NT began as a way for missionaries like Jennings to train local believers in church planting and evangelism. From the beginning, Jennings and his wife, Wendy, natives of Alabama who have served with IMB since 1993, hoped to see students serve in missions too. When they saw an opportunity to start NT training in the United States, they worked with their Alabama connections to bring the program to DeKalb County.
IMB partnership
Though the couple is passionate about getting Alabama Baptist students involved in missions, the opportunity to join NT is open to all young adults ages 17–29 who are willing to serve. As a program of IMB, NT partners with IMB personnel and other global agencies to fill requests and meet short-term needs. Missions opportunities are posted on the IMB students website, and students choose projects that fit their interests, skills and budget.
In early summer team members gather in Alabama for one week of Bible study, team building activities and cross-cultural training. Teams then depart for their missions assignments.
The work can be intense, said Tyler, a former youth pastor from Texas who has served with NT in Africa and now trains future NT leaders and team members.
“It’s definitely not glamorous but the work is rewarding,” he said. “Experiencing life in another culture for the summer made a lasting impact on my life.”
The teams have worked with field personnel in remote villages and urban centers sharing the gospel in areas where Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and tribal religions are dominant.
Noah, a student from Gadsden who spent summer 2016 in Southeast Asia, said the experience opened his eyes to the view of missionaries in a country with little evangelical presence.
“I didn’t realize how much cultural norms influence how people accept you,” he said. “Just our presence can affect the view people in the community have of Christians.”
Recognizing that many of the world’s unengaged people groups have large populations in the U.S., the Jenningses began a separate ministry, Project 52 (P52), in 2011. Similar in approach to NT, P52 prepares students for strategic opportunities of service among refugees and immigrants in several large U.S. cities, including Charlotte, North Carolina, Detroit and San Francisco. Like their NT counterparts, P52 team members spend a week in training and then complete their assignment on the field.
Sarah, a student from North Alabama who has worked among refugees for the past several summers and now serves as P52 coordinator, said that as a teen she thought missions service could only be overseas. Working with P52 opened her eyes to the opportunities God has presented in the U.S.
“The Lord is about saving people, and being involved in the Great Commission is about making His name known here as well as in other countries,” she said.
Because of their short-term service, many students answer the call to career missions. To disciple those young people in the U.S., Jess Jennings and his staff began Advance Operations Training (AOT), a six-month leadership development program for missions volunteers. Through AOT, students who have participated in NT or P52 commit to 16 weeks of Bible study and leadership development and an additional eight-week missions assignment.
Investing in young people
AOT is a strategy that has worked well in Southeast Asia where approximately 60 national believers have been trained in church planting and evangelism. Jess Jennings recognized a need to “make the same investment in American young people.”
In January 2017, AOT began its first class in Alabama at the newly opened AOT Training Center in Mentone, where participants spend mornings in Bible study, prayer and quiet time and afternoons in various team-building and cross-cultural missions activities.
Jess Jennings believes students who have an immersive missions experience like those available through NT, P52 and AOT will be challenged to consider career and long-term missions. Alabama Baptists play a significant role in making that happen, he said.
“We pray that pastors, youth leaders, students and parents will become more aware that there is a gap-year type program in Alabama that is very much Southern Baptist and very much a part of IMB’s strategy to reach people groups throughout Southeast Asia,” he said.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Names changed for security reasons.
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Nehemiah Teams by the numbers
Since the program’s beginning in 2004, more than 2,300 young people serving on more than 500 teams have been trained and sent out by Nehemiah Teams to more than 60 unreached people groups in 30 countries.
About 180 students are deployed each summer.
Each Advance Operations Training (AOT) class can accept 12 trainees, evenly split between males and females. Classes will begin each August and January. Applications for the next class set to begin in August 2017 are due by July 17.
The AOT Training Center in Mentone is under construction.
Plans for the 60-acre campus include 40 trail shelter-style cabins, eight outhouses, 12 meeting tents and six to eight RV sites to accommodate missions teams.
Immediate needs include:
- Laundry room for trainees ($4,000)
- Lawn care equipment ($1,200)
- Trail shelters for housing trainees ($6,000 each)
- Outhouses ($1,000 each) (TAB)
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Students needed for Kingdom-focused assignments. Opportunities include playing soccer with teens in Africa, working out at CrossFit gyms in Central Asia and planting churches in Southeast Asia. Travel required. Training available.
For more information about AOT, Nehemiah Teams and P52, visit:
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