JOYCE DAVIDSON Acting as ambassadors for God, at home and abroad

A notice on our church bulletin board stated that a pastor from Ambassadors Outreach was coming to our church.
The word ambassadors stirred up memories of working at a local outreach ministry. My job title at the ministry was secretary, but I knew my mission was to be an ambassador for God.
A message by my pastor, the Rev. Julius T. Davis Jr., enlightened me on how to effectively reach people by deciding to love them. Choosing to obey would allow the Holy Spirit to empower me to fulfill his calling.
Soon after hearing that sermon, a little 5- or 6-year-old boy came into the center. Usually the kids had to leave the building if it wasn't their day for after-school activities. With a look of fear in his eyes, the little boy quietly took a chair in the hallway. Not wanting to leave, he didn't move or make a sound as he sat in the chair. Whatever was going on in his life, he needed to feel safe, secure and loved. Instead of sending the child out of the building, I decided to love him by showing him that I cared about him.
Started hallway ministries
This was the beginning of what I called the hallway ministries. Eventually, teens and young mothers began to visit me at the center. I asked a young mother who stopped in regularly where would she spend eternity if she left the building and died.
A few days later, she ran into the building with tears running down her face. She was grief-stricken because three of her friends died instantly in a car accident after they left her apartment. The young mother fell on her knees in front of my desk and asked how could she, her child and her mother be saved. On her knees in front of my desk, she accepted Jesus Christ as her savior. Shortly after giving her life to Christ, she found a church home and eventually became a Sunday school teacher.
Learning more
Knowing how an outreach ministry can impact lives, I looked forward to learning about Ambassadors Outreach. Leroy Simmons, an evangelist at Friendship Baptist Church, met Pastor Pedro Sortica, the co-founder of Ambassadors Outreach when he went to Brazil.
Minister Leroy and his wife, Virginia, have hosted missionaries from Africa and Brazil in their home. When asked to interview Pastor Pedro for the church newsletter, I was delighted to do so. Through an interpreter, Pastor Pedro told me that Ambassadors Outreach, which is in the state of Mata Grosso, focuses on teens. Through long-term and summer training schools, the ministry reaches out to 18-year-old youths.
Ambassadors Outreach also provides summer camps. Through the camps, youths can impact the lives of Indians who live in the Amazon. According to Pastor Pedro, there are three groups of Indians; a progressive group, a less-progressive group and a group that does not wear clothes.
Pastor Pedro, who has a vision to serve Latin American churches and Latin American youths in the United States, and minister Leroy Simmons, are Ambassadors for God. They have shown their love and obedience by fulfilling the Great Commission.
XDavidson is a member of Friendship Baptist Church in Girard.