Tag: church

It Is Written Missions: Miracles & Answered Prayer in Costa Rica

In March 2021, It Is Written conducted two mission trips to Costa Rica. The two groups went to a small countryside town called Las Juntas de Abangares to build a church, conduct medical clinics, and hold evangelistic meetings. Members from churches in Tennessee, California, and Washington, teachers and students from a church academy from Greeneville, Tennessee, and even our very own evangelism assistant, Maria Rayburn, and her 12-year-old daughter Gabriella were able to join in the trips. 

After months of planning and with 2020 behind them, the volunteers were beyond excited for this trip. After a four-hour flight, the team landed safely in Liberia, Costa Rica, and quickly removed their sweaters! From Liberia, the team traveled to Las Juntas de Abangares where they were greeted by howler monkeys in the trees right outside their hotel. 

Morning came rather quickly, courtesy of fruit bats outside the hotel windows. Shortly after breakfast, the team started work at the church building site. Some moved dirt while others raked it to level it out. They leveled the foundation and began building walls. The team needed a compactor to complete the floors, but there was nothing available to rent in the entire country. So the team prayed. The local pastor was driving to another town to see if they had a compactor when he happened to see one in someone’s yard. He stopped and asked if the owner would rent it—and he did! What a miracle.

The sun was extremely hot with temps usually above 90, and the team was so grateful for the daily lunch served at the church elder’s home. Next to his home is a small hut with a tin roof which serves as the local church. The local church community was extremely grateful for the work put in by the mission volunteers to build an actual church building.

Every night the group split up into small groups to do evangelism and maintain social distance. Maria was able to translate the meetings from English into Spanish. At one of the meetings, four children stepped forward in response to an appeal inviting Jesus into their lives and hearts. The students gave a health talk, told a children’s story, and shared a sermon that they wrote from their study in Steps to Christ.

During the day, another part of the team held free vision and medical clinics. The missionaries saw almost 750 patients, dispensed hundreds of pairs of glasses, and helped many people with joint pain and general health. Patients were given Steps to Christ in Spanish and invited to the evening meetings.

On one particular night, shortly after finishing the evening meeting, a church member came to Dr. Gordon Guild and said she was not feeling well. Dr. Guild examined her and believed she may have had a minor stroke. Dr. Guild and the rest of the team prayed over her that night. By the next morning, she was feeling much better and was back in the kitchen. Praise God for His blessings upon this woman!

Toward the end of the trip, rain was predicted just before the church floor needed to be poured. The students worked hard to complete their prep work before the rain moved in, and then they started praying. The following day, God held off the rain—it rained all around the team but not at the work site—until the floor was poured and walls finished. And then the heavens let loose. As the rain fell, the team reflected on the power of the Holy Spirit that had also been poured out during their time in Costa Rica. The people who had attended the evening meetings now had a place to worship, pain had been relieved, sight given, and hearts had made decisions for eternal life. These were mission trips for eternity. 

It Is Written is planning more mission trips for 2022. Please check itiswritten.com/missiontrips for updates as travel restrictions are reduced.

It Is Written Launches Sermon Series Podcast with John Bradshaw

The It Is Written In the Word sermon series is now available as a podcast, making it easy to listen to the Word of God wherever you are! Taking you deep inside the Bible, In the Word presents inspirational preaching on a wide range of biblical subjects. A new episode is posted every Friday.

John Bradshaw, It Is Written president, presents each sermon. “We have so many programs that we want to share as podcasts,” he said. “In fact, people have been podcasting our programs before podcasts were a thing. They’d download them and listen while walking or driving. We have a full-time channel and our website and app, but podcasts are one more way we can share our life-changing programming with a huge global audience. I’m looking forward to seeing what God will do.”

A screenshot of In the Word on Apple Podcasts.

The first podcast episode, “For Us,” examines the book of Hebrews and what Jesus is doing now. “Forgiveness,” the most recent episode, discusses forgiveness and its power to mend and restore a broken heart. Other titles include “Dog Food,” “Gracious,” “The Temple of God,” “Lightened with His Glory,” and “The Unsung.”

The uplifting sermons are perfect for listening on your next trip or commute to work. They are also ideal for your church or small group. In addition to a podcast, In the Word is available as a TV program on It Is Written TV or on DVD for purchase.

Listen to In the Word on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, and Castbox.

It Is Written and Local Church Leaders Reopen Churches, Provide Community Services in India

After years in disrepair and closure, 53 churches in east central India have been reopened and spiritual, health, and social services have been initiated to keep them active with the help of It Is Written. In November 2018, It Is Written began an initiative with local church leaders to reopen 50 churches that had been closed due to lack of funding. The initial assessment was not encouraging. In addition to being without a pastor, the church yards were covered in garbage, windows were broken, and doors had rusted shut with no keys. Some churches were used to store tobacco or cotton while others were serving as shelters for beggars, sheep, and buffalo. Despite these discouraging odds, It Is Written representative Josephine Biegler, chose 53 churches to reopen. 

Local leadership team at one of the churches

To ensure the churches stayed open, new church leaders had to be trained and paid. Twenty-five Bible workers were selected and began training. They studied the life and teachings of Jesus; Bible doctrines; Daniel and Revelation; history of the church; world religions; health principle; the gift of prophecy; major and minor prophets; and the writings of Paul. Jack Phillips, It Is Written Bible Work Coordinator, traveled to India and conducted a special course on practical methods for giving Bible studies and reaching the local communities.

After thorough training, these Bible workers were placed in the villages to care for their two assigned churches. They cleaned each church, and professional repairmen made repairs and painted walls. Each church was given a new PA system, a culturally essential component to corporate worship. The Bible workers faced prejudice from community members because community members’ trust was damaged or broken when the church closed. 

Community health workers were hired to help the Bible workers overcome this prejudice. These ladies created a way for the Bible worker to enter the community with the gospel. Each worker was given training, a scale, stethoscope, blood pressure machine, and the book Where There is No Doctor in Telugu, the local language. The health workers check glucose and blood pressure levels, care for fevers, and bandage wounds. They taught about cleanliness and educated the villagers about the harmfulness of tobacco and alcohol. These women visited every home–Hindu, Muslims, and any other religion–praying for the suffering at the end of the visit. Some of the villagers accepted Christ because of the health workers’ invitations.

Newly opened churches began conducting night literacy classes in 26 of the churches. Eight adult literacy volunteers taught basic reading and writing along with Christian songs. They also prayed with the students and encouraged each to come back to the church on Sabbath. Through their efforts, people accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior through baptism. 

A United States sewing ministry partnered with the churches to offer sewing classes for local women. The ladies learned how to make garments, were given a brand-new sewing machine, and were invited to accept Christ as Savior. They left the class spiritually fed and with training to become financially independent. 

The health and social services were augmented with spiritual resources. Students from an Indian theology school conducted a three-day evangelism program in each of the 53 churches. Their program helped support the Bible workers in reaching the unreached and gathering the scattered members. These students visited the entire village, prayed with everyone they could, and invited the community to the meetings at the church. Later, another seven-day revival meeting occurred in 10 of the newly opened churches. These meetings were targeted to the local youth. They learned songs, Bible stories, and skits and left encouraged to be the strength of the new churches. Many young people gave their lives to Jesus Christ through these meetings. The younger children were not left out. Last summer, over 60 days, two college students conducted Vacation Bible School in 20 of the reopened churches. They worked with the village children, taught them new songs and Bible stories, and made crafts. Nearly 800 children participated. 

Earlier this year, the It Is Written Eyes for India program conducted a medical camp for 100 villages including the 53 villages with newly reopened churches. Medical physicians from the United States provided free medical expertise and partnered with local nursing students. Over 2,300 patients were treated, over 4,500 people were screened for cataracts, and 927 were selected for cataract surgery which began on February 24. 

During the month of February, two It Is Written mission teams traveled to India to hold revival meetings at 20 locations covering the 100 villages that also received medical care. Over the course of the month, approximately 4,500 people attended these meetings throughout the sites. God poured out His blessings, and 1,197 people accepted Jesus into their hearts.

And the work hasn’t stopped. Ongoing plans include quarterly meetings conducted by a local Indian evangelist to cover spiritual growth topics like the Sabbath, stewardship, continuous soul winning, children’s Sabbath school, and health. The churches continue to hold youth ministry events and widow prayer ministry activities. Every quarter, the church will also conduct an eight-day training for elders to equip them to serve the church and community. And 48 more churches have been selected for reopening and have already been cleaned. In May, the It Is Written Hope Awakens sermons were translated into seven Indian languages and livestreamed in Facebook to the entire local area. Thousands have seen the broadcasts.  

The infrastructure is established to ensure these churches stay open for many years to come and continue growing and serving their communities with the love of Jesus. The treasurer for the local church in India writes, “Thank you It Is Written for entrusting us with the resources we desperately needed to reopen churches….Thank you Ms. Josephine and the It Is Written team for everything, and we request that you continue to support the work we are determined to undertake here in India. God bless you all.”

This project was made possible through the support of It Is Written donors. To donate to future It Is Written mission and humanitarian projects, click here and select “It Is Written Missions.”

Bible workers and community health workers

Eyes for India camp

It Is Written Continues to Air Church Programming in Response to Church Closures

Updated 5:11 p.m., June 9, 2020.

It Is Written will continue to air relevant, uplifting, and inspiring content for those who are unable to attend church. Join us this weekend on It Is Written TV (www.itiswritten.tv) for Bible study with special guests Dr. Michael Hasel and Dr. Frank Hasel, followed by a special sermon from the In the Word sermon series.

During the Bible study, aired multiple times during the weekend, the presenters take an in-depth look at how to correctly interpret Scripture. The study guide used in the program and written by the Drs. Hasel (cousins) can be accessed here for free. Past Bible study programs can be viewed here.

Following the Bible study, John Bradshaw preaches a sermon from the In the Word sermon series. Those episodes can be viewed here.

See the schedule below for airtimes.

Schedule:

(all times are North American Eastern Daylight Time)

Friday

8:30 p.m. Bible study; 9 p.m. Sermon

Saturday

10:30 a.m. Bible study; 11 a.m. Sermon

1:30 p.m. Bible study; 2 p.m. Sermon

8 p.m. Sermon

Sunday

10:30 a.m. Bible study; 11 a.m. Sermon

8 p.m. Sermon

It Is Written TV is available online at itiswritten.tv and on YouTube, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Google Play, Roku, and through the It Is Written mobile app.

It Is Written TV features not only a 24/7 livestream but also all It Is Written programming on demand: the award-winning It Is Written series; the new shows Conversations, Line Upon Line, and In the Word; several Spanish series, including Escrito Está; It Is Written Classics with founder George Vandeman; and other high-quality programs.