The following is a post sent in March by Scott Boatwright after returning from Guatemala with a team from his church, Summit Crossing in Madison, AL and a few others from Georgia and Alabama.
I just keep saying WOW, it seems that every where we turn we are reminded of our trip. This past Sunday our Pastor preached on Reaching the Nations, I'm not sure but I think God is trying to tell us something here. I have been told from several people that have been on mission trips in the past to hold on to the high and I must say I know exactly what they are talking about. It is extremely difficult at times to do that being back in our every day lives. I've got to say for Charlene and myself we will be forever changed as a result of the Holy Spirit using this trip to change our hearts and lives. We know that God has something in store for us and are praying for direction for what that is. I will share a little about how our group got to this point and some of our greatest moments. I have been leading our small group of 16 for the past 2 years or so, we had started praying in Dec of 2010 for God to direct us where to get involved missionally in our community and he lead us to the Homeless. Not long after we started working with the Homeless we lead me to start this book series called Radical (anybody heard of it :), and then Secret Church happened so not only did that turn our little group upside down God had us do Radical Together next. We knew then that we had no choice, that we are all commanded to GO and after a lot of prayer and God connecting us to One Way we ended up with all of you guys in Guatemala. I have already started talking with several in the Group about where we are going next.
Now for me some of the moments that stand out was definitely the last 2 1/2 days. This was such a humbling experience to watch this family go from complete worry to joy in just a couple of days was overwhelming for me. To know that we have so much here and to see them so happy with just some new tin over their heads really put things into perspective for me. To have the kids serve us drinks on the 1st day to helping build their home the 2nd day by helping carry the tin. But the greatest moment was to watch Juan get on his knees with Dave and Roger and pray to receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior will be that HIGH that snapshot that carries me forward to know that now he can lead his family spiritually is joy to me. I had struggled a little earlier in the week with not being able to spend more time on home visits etc., but God told me during that last day that we had been on a 2 1/2 day home visit and to just trust him and he showed me the end result. Another moment for me that I continue to reflect back on is our time with Pastor Morales and his church on Sunday. The presence of the Holy Spirit was just awesome, being able to worship our Lord with other believers from another country like that was just wonderful and something I will always remember. I could just keep on going but I will end by saying I enjoyed serving with all of you and hope and pray that we will have the opportunity to do it again.
In Him,
Scott Boatwright
Every time we are obedient the Father uses our time on the field to challenge us, stretch us and teach us in order that we will be more effective at sharing His Gospel in our own backyard! Scott and the small group from Summit Crossing are doing that very thing. They are very involved locally in their own backyard and at the same time willing to be stretched by going to the nations to share, learn and grow. The Father has a glorious plan of using the Body of Christ to each the world and teach His Word!
