Wish List Archives - TEAM Christian Missions Blog

Why Would You Read in Your Own Language?

Students in a region of Chad are coming alive as they read their language for the first time. But in order to sustain a literacy movement they need books.

Dec 05 2016

Why would you learn to read in your own language when you could learn French or Arabic instead? For generations in Chad, the answer has been that you wouldn’t. Schools push their students toward success by teaching all classes in Arabic or French. Local languages are used for conversations in the village. But when a neighbor girl asked Rivers Camp for help with her homework, the TEAM missionary quickly saw that the plan for success was failing. When Rivers asked the girl to read a French sentence she’d written in her notebook, “she read beautifully,” Rivers says. “The problem was,…

Operation Joshua aims to give every Greek family access to the New Testament.

Dec 28 2015

How many Bibles do you own? Two? Ten? As I am writing this, I have a Bible sitting next to me on my desk, a Bible app on my phone and an Internet full of websites that can pull up a Bible in seconds. I so often take for granted having the inspired Word of God at my fingertips at any time. But for so many around the world, easy access to Scripture is simply not the reality. You might immediately think of an unreached tribal community or a rural village. You probably do not think of Greece. One of the…

TEAM staff pray for Pastor Rodriquez and his wife as they work to bring light to La Paz. Photo by TEAM staff

Dec 15 2015

Pastor Rafael Rodriguez and the El Faro congregation in La Paz know adversity. In seven years, their church in Mexico has been burglarized three times, and last year an arsonist ignited their sanctuary — just to watch it burn. But through every setback, God has refined their community and sharpened their focus. When Pastor Rodriquez trusted Christ 30 years ago, he did not feel called to be a pastor. “I didn’t know you could be that,” he recalls. “I just wanted to serve. That’s all I wanted to do.” Years later, Rodriquez connected with La Paz de Cristo, a TEAM church plant, where he was…

Dave and Cheryl Jereb provide food, skills training and the gospel message to their community through Fish for Life. Photo courtesy of Cheryl Jereb

Nov 30 2015

History is full of missionaries who found success by blending in with the local culture. TEAM missionary Dave Jereb found it while building a reputation as a crazy, old, white guy. Dave and his wife, Cheryl, came to Zimbabwe with a vision to provide sustainable food sources and job training for needy communities through aquaponics, a self-contained system for growing produce and fish. The fish live in tanks, and the nutrient-rich water is piped into plant beds where crops grow hydroponically. The plant roots cleanse the water, which is then pumped back into the fish tanks. Within a few months, fresh…

In Defense of the Charity Gift Catalog

Oct 21 2013

Today, TEAM Stewardship Manager Mark Watson contributes to the blog, addressing the growing trend of Christmas charity gift catalogs. If you’re like me, starting right about now, your mailbox is cluttered with Christmas charity gift catalogs. Especially if you’ve been involved in missions or child sponsorship for a long time, these catalogs will find their way in-between other catalogs for shoes, sweaters, electronics, hunting gear and just about everything else. You may drop your holiday postal pile on your kitchen table and ask yourself, “Should I look through all these gift catalogs this year? Should I look through any of them?”…

Tag - Wish List

Why Would You Read in Your Own Language?

How Many Bibles Do You Own?

A Church in Mexico Refined Through Fire

A Crazy Man, Fish and the God Who Provides

In Defense of the Charity Gift Catalog