The Peru team was preparing to launch on their mission trip. They were leaving from Dallas, TX and going to Iquitos, Peru. One of the activities that they did before they left was to take time to focus their hearts on what God has in store for them on the trip. They had decided to do this outside on the first evening. As they were talking about the power of God and how He works they were able to observe a typical Texas lightning storm. It was a great time to visualize the power of God on display as they were preparing their hearts to see this power at work in Peru.
This power of God was clearly seen in the impact of the trip. The churches were so impressed with the team, they asked for Julio, the Peruvian missionary, to come run a training for their youth. I had the privilege of being part of this training. Two months after the team was there, I was leading a training team to equip 30 youth from three different churches. During the training, one of the youth surrendered their life to Christ after being confronted with the Gospel as they wrote out their testimony. They realized they didn't have a testimony because they had not surrendered their life to Christ. But they told their group that they wanted to do that immediately.
The day after the training, we took 17 of the students and leaders 30 minutes up the river via boat to a remote village to do outreach. This team of people shared the gospel with almost all 300 residents of the village. They went door to door and talked to someone from every house. As a result of this trip, many professed faith in Christ for the first time.
The students that were trained did not stop when they got home from the trip, but they took over the children's ministry at their home church and began running that. The impact from one Explore team resulted in the multiplication of ministry and impact with many churches.