News Updates from the GCA Team
Central Asia
GCA team members just returned from training believers in 4 Central Asian nations. We also had believers from another 3 countries in the region come in for these trainings as well. All of these nations are Muslim majority countries that are minimally reached with the Gospel. Encouraging brothers and sisters in these areas was a great joy!
An encouraging 2023 recap video!
Click the video above to see a quick recap of some of what God did here at the GCA in 2023. This video covers some amazing highlights. Team members were recently able to train believers in our 50th nation since launching in 2018. We also surpassed 50,000 trained and tens of thousands of reported decisions for Christ (it is hard to verify the actual numbers of salvations and whether someone truly trusted Christ, so we just try to give a general picture of decisions that have been reported after GCA trainings). We will also be closing out the year with our One Year Discipleship tool in 50 languages. We are praising God!!! Click the video above for more!
Our 50th Nation!!!
In November, GCA team members were able to train believers in the Philippines and Japan. The training in the Philippines marked our 50th nation! We've been able to do multiple trainings across many regions of several of those individual nations as well. At the beginning of the year, we set a team goal of reaching our 50th country with in-person, on-the-ground training since launching in 2018. We are thanking God we reached this goal.
Asia in October and November
In October and November, Nate was in Asia meeting with partners and staff in 4 countries, including a Muslim nation, a Hindu nation, and two Buddhist nations. The couple in this picture are two of our treasured partners and they were able to travel and train with Nate on this trip. This picture was taken in Thailand, were they did a training with Cindy Anderson, author of the Multiplier's Mindset (you can get that book here).
The Middle East and Israel
In September, we traveled and trained in the Middle East, including in Israel. A large group of GCA supporters and partners joined us for the time in Israel. It was amazing. We got to see Biblical sites, do a training (pictured above), and share our faith. We also had two GCA staff teams doing two separate trainings in a nearby Arab country. Thankfully, our last team members made it out of the region 6 days before the attacks in Israel. Our hearts are grieving for the conflict that is ongoing in the region and we are praying many will find Jesus in the midst of this war.
The Horizon music festival and evangelism training
In September, GCA team members were in Nebraska serving with the Horizon team. Nate got to share the Gospel with the crowd (pictured above) and the team also got to train around 50 local believers, many of whom volunteered for the next two days of the festival, sharing their faith. It was a great time and we treasured meeting and getting to partner with Jerry, Brent, Ken and the team. We look forward to the next Horizon event.
Iceland and Sweden in August
In August, GCA team members trained believers in Iceland and Sweden and even got to be a part of a large outreach in Sweden. We were even featured in a local Christian newspaper (pictured above). Please pray for our dear friends Roger and Marie Arnfjell (see more about them here) and their incredible work in Sweden and across the globe.
Nightvision 2023
We've been serving with Nightvision and the PHM team for the past 13 years and this year was one of our favorite years so far. GCA staff couple Russell and Tabitha Baker led the evangelism team at the event and several other staff and even one of our international partners were there to help. Many trusted Christ and more than 40 were baptized!
South America (April, 2023)
Our team was recently in Brazil and Colombia where they did several trainings, some in big cities and some in rural areas (including one in the Amazon). They trained hundreds of believers how to share their faith and make disciples. One story was particularly special. Drew (above, left), asked the young lady in the picture above what the greatest thing that had ever happened to her was (that's how we start the One Minute Witness). She said, herself, having fun, going to the beach, and enjoying life was the best. He then asked if he could tell her the greatest thing that had ever happened to him. She said yes, so he shared his testimony. Afterwards, she wanted to hear more, so he shared the gospel with her and she put her faith in Jesus. Then she said, "ask me that first question again." So Drew asked, "What's the greatest thing that has ever happened to you?" This time she responded differently, and said, "this was." Stories like these are happening all over the world and you are a part of them all. Thank you.
South Asia (March, 2023)
Two of our team members traveled to a South Asian country we had never been to before. It is the seventh most persecuted nation on earth. Shortly before this trip, a regional terrorist group renounced its ceasefire with the government and began ramping up its attacks. Additionally, there was tremendous political chaos and even an earthquake during the trip. But, God protected our team. On this trip, we spoke to 1,350+ over the course of 4 trainings in 3 cities, but there were so many kids, so we think it's safer to say around 750 adults were trained. Our partner in this region is an incredible man of God and it was a joy working with him! Thank you for your part in this work.
The Middle East (Feb, 2023)
Our team had a wonderful time training believers in 4 Middle Eastern countries and preparing for a trip back to this region in the fall. As a ministry, we are committed to equipping believers in strategic places to share the Gospel and make disciples. We feel this region is an essential one to be working in. Thank you for your part in this work.
1300+ trained in Asia and Europe (Nov, 2023)
The GCA had teams training believers in South Asia, East Asia, Central Asia, and Europe in November. In the picture above, Chris is teaching in a predominantly Muslim nation in East Asia. In the past year, GCA staff members have trained 7,150 believers in 14 countries and our 13 GCA IAP partners have reported training 25,650 in an additional 9 countries with GCA trainings (your support made those trainings possible as well). We've recently been getting updated totals from our partners and have been amazed by all God has done. After subtracting 2,000 to make sure we aren't double counting any who have been to multiple GCA trainings, we believe God has enabled our team to train 30,800 believers in 23 countries this year. About half of those trained were trained in the world's three most unreached countries. Praise God! Additionally, there have been 17,849 decisions to trust Christ reported during outreach times in 2022, with a large majority of these, 15,477, in Burundi (Pastor Serges and his team have done amazing work this year). As we wrap up 2022, we are thanking God for the 43,203 trained and 20,751 decisions for Christ since the GCA launched five years ago.
The BEST FACTS conferences with Josh McDowell and Brady Cone (September, 2022)
We just wrapped up 4 trainings with world-renowned author and apologist Josh McDowell (pictured above in the middle) and Brady Cone, the founder of Calibrate Ministries (pictured above on the left), where 1,670 were trained. We focused these conferences on defending our faith and reaching people in the LGBTQ+ community with the Gospel. We also trained participants on Oasis World Ministries' One Minute Witness evangelism tool.
By God's grace alone, after these conferences, and several others led by GCA staff and partners globally (including 2 in Muslim nations and one in a Hindu nation in the past 2 weeks), more than 25,000 have now been trained since the launch of the GCA in 2018. We are absolutely amazed by what God has done.
By God's grace alone, after these conferences, and several others led by GCA staff and partners globally (including 2 in Muslim nations and one in a Hindu nation in the past 2 weeks), more than 25,000 have now been trained since the launch of the GCA in 2018. We are absolutely amazed by what God has done.
Middle East Recap (August, 2022)
Our team just returned from a special time in the Middle East. There was definite spiritual battle happening on this trip; some team members were questioned by authorities, others experienced sickness and injury, there were numerous travel obstacles, a demonic manifestation, and even opposition from a Christian leader in one area. Still, our team was able to train 300 believers in this strategic part of the world.
The believers in these countries were timid about sharing their faith. One mentioned how they had been drug in to the police in the past for questioning. Another, in a different location, mentioned that 10% of the people in the country work for the secret police. Still, at least 5 people (4 from Muslim backgrounds) trusted Christ during the course of this trip! And, many others were very interested when they heard the gospel.
After our training in one country, a local leader reached out to let us know that this was an essential training for their people and that the church there needed to embrace the call to evangelism. They realized that if they didn't, they would dwindle away and cease to exist. Another leader in a separate country messaged after the training in that location and mentioned that they had shared the gospel with relatives, noting that the training had given them renewed courage and determination for evangelism. Praise God.
In spite of some of the difficulties, we had a wonderful and blessed time together along the way. This trip concluded in Europe, where we met with a large group of Muslim background believers from a partner ministry. Thank you all who supported us on this trip and prayed while we were away!
The believers in these countries were timid about sharing their faith. One mentioned how they had been drug in to the police in the past for questioning. Another, in a different location, mentioned that 10% of the people in the country work for the secret police. Still, at least 5 people (4 from Muslim backgrounds) trusted Christ during the course of this trip! And, many others were very interested when they heard the gospel.
After our training in one country, a local leader reached out to let us know that this was an essential training for their people and that the church there needed to embrace the call to evangelism. They realized that if they didn't, they would dwindle away and cease to exist. Another leader in a separate country messaged after the training in that location and mentioned that they had shared the gospel with relatives, noting that the training had given them renewed courage and determination for evangelism. Praise God.
In spite of some of the difficulties, we had a wonderful and blessed time together along the way. This trip concluded in Europe, where we met with a large group of Muslim background believers from a partner ministry. Thank you all who supported us on this trip and prayed while we were away!
Amazing Milestones!!!
As of July, 2022, the GCA staff team has physically ministered in 31 countries and we've done virtual trainings in several other countries (all together, we've been able to train in 40+ countries). In that time, our trainers have trained 16,015 people. Together with our partners, we've seen 11,004 people trust Christ since launching the ministry 5 years ago. We are humbled and amazed by God's goodness.
A Wonderful Time in Africa (May-June, 2022)
Our team recently returned from an incredible time training believers in Namibia, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Kenya. Here is a picture of Drew teaching in Ethiopia. On this trip, 850 believers were trained and 640 people trusted Christ during outreach times.
GCA Burundi Update (May, 2022)
Pastor Serges and his team have been training believers with the Exponential Harvest and have seen nearly 3,000 new believers in the last few of months. Amazing!
New Jersey! (April, 2022)
The GCA recently trained a church in New Jersey on evangelism. One participant said it was the most impactful thing she's ever experienced in church. Many others remarked how they had never had an evangelism training like this before. Pray God would continue using this church to reach their community.
South Asia and the Middle East (March, 2022)
Several GCA team members recently did 14 trainings in three different nations in South Asia and the Middle East. A total of 1650 believers were trained. This was a three week trip with an incredibly tight schedule but the team experienced God's blessing at every turn!
2021 Ministry Recap (click play, you'll love it!)
Since launching in 2018, the GCA staff team has grown by 317% (from 6 to 19) and we've seen 12,403 trained and 2,902 indicated decisions for Christ in more than 30 countries! Praise God! Thank you for your part in this work.
You can find out more about some of what God has done since we launched 4 years ago by clicking here.
You can find out more about some of what God has done since we launched 4 years ago by clicking here.
November 2021: The Middle East & Africa
Six GCA team members recently returned from an incredible time of ministry. The team introduced leaders in the Middle East to some of our training and resources in preparation for more training in the future. After the Middle East, they traveled to Uganda for a conference with John Kamanzi and Foursquare in Uganda. Several international GCA partners also joined us in Uganda. The conference was amazing. About 300 were trained in evangelism and discipleship. We also went out witnessing, applying the training, and over 200 trusted Christ. In the picture above, staff member Michelle Kachuriak is debriefing the evangelism time with participants. Pray for the participants as they continue discipling the new believers with the One Year Discipleship tool.
July 2021: El Salvador and Honduras
Here's a picture of one of the trainings on a recent trip through El Salvador and Honduras. Nate and Chris traveled with Tom Elie, president of Oasis World Ministries, on this one. Over 700 believers were trained and more than 300 people put their faith in Jesus during outreach application times.
2021: The Great Commission Academy
Both Steve Shadrach and Tom Elie were guest instructors in the training pictured above. The Great Commission Academy classes happened weekly throughout most of 2021. More than 170 believers from Bhutan, Burundi, Cameroon, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, India, Jordan, Martinique, Namibia, Pakistan, Romania, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, UAE, and the USA were involved in the Great Commission Academy, with the majority of the participants coming from India, Bhutan, Uganda, and Cameroon. This has been going for most of the year and it is very exciting.
2020 Recap: 8,500 trained & 2,000 new believers in 27 countries since launching in 2018!
Here is a picture from a recent outreach time in Uganda. Two participants at a recent Exponential Harvest training are sharing the gospel with a woman and child at the marketplace. In the first three years of the GCA's existence, more than 8,500 believers have been trained and more than 2,000 have trusted Christ in 27 countries.
November 2020: Trainings and a free new e-book!
Some of the Cameroonian leaders we have trained did our Exponential Harvest training in Doula recently (pictured above). 200 pastors and leaders were trained and 163 people came to Christ in the outreach time during the two days! Another Cameroonian conference is scheduled soon.
We are continuing to train a group of pastors and leaders in S. Asia every week. It has been a wonderful few months with this group. After teaching through our Exponential Harvest training, we have continued with the Pastoral Epistles, principles of counseling, hermeneutics, and more.
Our team also just completed a short and encouraging book titled Contagious Faith: 10 Keys to Living out your Faith in a Pandemic. You can get a free digital copy of that here. We hope this little book encourages you to share your faith boldly during these times of uncertainty!
As always, we continue posting new video content daily. You can get all of our videos on our YouTube channel here.
We are continuing to train a group of pastors and leaders in S. Asia every week. It has been a wonderful few months with this group. After teaching through our Exponential Harvest training, we have continued with the Pastoral Epistles, principles of counseling, hermeneutics, and more.
Our team also just completed a short and encouraging book titled Contagious Faith: 10 Keys to Living out your Faith in a Pandemic. You can get a free digital copy of that here. We hope this little book encourages you to share your faith boldly during these times of uncertainty!
As always, we continue posting new video content daily. You can get all of our videos on our YouTube channel here.
October 2020: One Minute Witness Bootcamp
We recently partnered with Oasis World Ministries for a national evangelism training conference and outreach time. Our team led the livestream for the event. You can see a short summary of the One Minute Witness, one of the main parts of the training, above! Of course, if you haven't yet subscribed to our YouTube channel, please do that!
2020: Virtual ministry!
It’s been a busy season of ministry here at the GCA. We’ve also had some personal highlights. One of our team members, Philip, just got married! Here is a quick summary of some of what we’ve been working on as a team.
Before COVID, we had trained around 7,500 believers in 25 countries on evangelism, discipleship, and Great Commission ministry, in just over two years. Although the pandemic has grounded us, we’ve continued doing weekly virtual trainings with leaders around the world. The picture above is from a recent training with leaders in a persecuted country (which is why their faces are blurred).
We’ve also been raising money and helping to support many of our global partners who have been hurt by the pandemic. Many of their countries have been impacted severely and many of them are having trouble getting their basic necessities. Thank you for helping us help them.
We’ve also been working on new resources and updating old ones. We just finished a massive update of our BEST FACTS apologetics workbook. That’s available here. We also have our new BEST FACTS tract for skeptics and free video series that go with it as well.
Talking about videos, we launched our new YouTube channel in March and already have more than 200 new videos uploaded. Please subscribe if you haven’t already. We think you’ll love the Great Commission Alliance Media channel on YouTube.
Well, that’s it for now! Thanks for you support of this ministry! Thank you for helping us multiply Christ-like multipliers until the Great Commission is completed!
Before COVID, we had trained around 7,500 believers in 25 countries on evangelism, discipleship, and Great Commission ministry, in just over two years. Although the pandemic has grounded us, we’ve continued doing weekly virtual trainings with leaders around the world. The picture above is from a recent training with leaders in a persecuted country (which is why their faces are blurred).
We’ve also been raising money and helping to support many of our global partners who have been hurt by the pandemic. Many of their countries have been impacted severely and many of them are having trouble getting their basic necessities. Thank you for helping us help them.
We’ve also been working on new resources and updating old ones. We just finished a massive update of our BEST FACTS apologetics workbook. That’s available here. We also have our new BEST FACTS tract for skeptics and free video series that go with it as well.
Talking about videos, we launched our new YouTube channel in March and already have more than 200 new videos uploaded. Please subscribe if you haven’t already. We think you’ll love the Great Commission Alliance Media channel on YouTube.
Well, that’s it for now! Thanks for you support of this ministry! Thank you for helping us multiply Christ-like multipliers until the Great Commission is completed!
2019 Recap
It is hard to believe all that God has done in the past 2 years of the existence of the GCA. He has been so faithful in helping us reach the world for Him and train others to do the same. Since the start of the GCA in January of 2018, our team, by God's grace, has been able to train believers in 24 countries in the regions pictured above. In these countries we have been blessed to train more than 7,000 leaders! When we train pastors and leaders we not only teach them how to share their faith and do discipleship, but we also put a big emphasis on multiplication of both. We want to go on trips that make an eternal impact, but we know the importance spiritual multiplication has had in our own lives. We have a desire to multiply Chris-like multipliers for the Great Commission. So, when our team goes abroad or even on domestic trips, we make sure that the leaders we are training are also equipped to train their congregations or those around them. This is strategic because the local leaders overseas know their culture better than we do, and the languages better that we do and therefore, once trained in evangelism and discipleship, can better replicate the process with their communities.
On a side note, we've also over doubled our staff since the start of GCA. We now have 15 wonderful staff members, the newest being Tabitha and Russell Baker who joined us the end of the summer!
It is amazing all that God has done through our team in the short 2 years of the GCA. Thank you for your prayers and support for our ministry!
On a side note, we've also over doubled our staff since the start of GCA. We now have 15 wonderful staff members, the newest being Tabitha and Russell Baker who joined us the end of the summer!
It is amazing all that God has done through our team in the short 2 years of the GCA. Thank you for your prayers and support for our ministry!
2018 Recap
We wanted to encourage you with what God has done in and through the GCA over the past year. In a little over a year, we were able to partner with 20 ministries and churches in 17 different countries! This led to 4,000 people trained in discipleship and evangelism and over 1,000 decisions to trust Christ. God also grew our team. We started in January with 6 staff members and we are going into 2019 with 13!
The picture above was of the team that led one of the Africa trips. It was an incredible time. Thank you for partnering in this work!
The picture above was of the team that led one of the Africa trips. It was an incredible time. Thank you for partnering in this work!
New Discipleship Resource
Tools are very important as they can catalyze effective evangelism and discipleship. Our BEST FACTS apologetics tool has been a great resource and it is part of the developing GCA discipleship curriculum. Our Great Commission Leadership workbook and 101 Easy, Effective, and Exciting Evangelism Ideas book are other key resources for this ministry as well. Today we received word that our newest resource, which will actually be the starting workbook in the GCA discipleship curriculum, is now available on Amazon as well.
Following Jesus: Discipleship Essentials is a resource designed to help a younger believer get a firm foundation in the key principles of our faith! It is also a tool that enables more mature Christians to disciple younger believers. This tool was developed based on the content in MPM's discipleship packet and we are so thankful for the way this packet was used for so many years.
Following Jesus: Discipleship Essentials is a resource designed to help a younger believer get a firm foundation in the key principles of our faith! It is also a tool that enables more mature Christians to disciple younger believers. This tool was developed based on the content in MPM's discipleship packet and we are so thankful for the way this packet was used for so many years.
Myanmar and Trainings
"Myanmar! A country full of wonderful people, beautiful smiles, amazing scenery, incredible flowers, tasty foods, fun games, exciting wildlife, and so much more!"
-Nate Herbst
In May of 2018, team member, Nate Herbst traveled to Myanmar to train pastors and church leaders in discipleship and evangelism. Thank you for praying for this trip.
We partnered with 13 organizations in 9 different countries which resulted in 2700 people trained to better do the Great Commission and 900 decisions for Christ.
We partnered with 13 organizations in 9 different countries which resulted in 2700 people trained to better do the Great Commission and 900 decisions for Christ.
