The STSM Updates series will highlight current STSM trainees sharing about their experiences of the training process. This week’s update is from Jeremiah Leung of the South India team!
Hello! My name is Jeremiah Leung. I just graduated from Biola University studying Communication Sciences and Disorders. This summer I will be going to South India through the STSM program. It will be my second time going to India and I am thoroughly excited to see the missionaries, seminarians, and students we worked with last year once again.
The conviction to go back to India started the moment I left. I kept thinking, “Who else, if not me, will go back?” The kids and seminarians said things such as, “See you in heaven” and “Goodbye forever” which shook my world. I couldn’t stand the idea of being a one-time missionary to never return. I felt that God was calling me to explore the conviction to go again. So that brings us to STSM 2K18.
The training itself has been very similar to last year’s curriculum and format. As a second timer, I admit that it is definitely not easy when it comes to battling pride. This type of pride is a subtle urge to feel like I’m above the teachings and that I don’t need to hear many of the same talks. But God has been reminding me in my daily devotions that this ought not be the case, and that I should constantly be learning and relearning everything, humbly recognizing that I can never completely grasp the depths of who God is.
Currently, we are in the middle of realizing the need for missions on a global scale. Each week, we have been learning more and more of the depravity of the gospel around the world, while growing in our understanding of the need for missionaries to be sent out. As always, the Great Commission is the main passage of study for this particular topic.
Pastor Sam Bay taught this Sunday and his main message to the STSM trainees was that our goal this summer is not just to #GO to the nations, but primarily to #makedisciples. He spent this Sunday exhorting us to lose our lives for the One who saved us only that we might gain it, but only by obedience to God’s commands which allow us to be effective disciple-makers. He acknowledged three main responses to the Great Commission which are the Sacrificial Sender, Sacrificial Goer, and the Disobedient. So which are you?
Though I am physically a Goer at the moment, my heart battles against the whispers of Satan that tempt me to be disobedient. Before the training process, I had decided in my heart to be a Sacrificial Goer, but I find myself constantly doubting the purpose of this trip and doing many things halfheartedly. Though this may be the current state of my heart, I wish this were not the case that God would heal my heart in this way.
I am so excited to be going to India for the sake of the gospel. The trainings have been reminding me that my life is simply not mine. That is the pure truth and anything other than that is pride and is from Satan. However, I believe that desiring to live for God’s glory is a far more meaningful way to live your life. I want this to be my life. I want my life to be filled with purpose for God’s Gospel.
But these things that I ask of cannot be done without prayer, so I ask for prayer in several aspects of this trip.
1. My leaders, Andrew Kim and Joseph Han. That though they are just as broken, God would use them to lead our team of fallen sinners to display the love of Christ. And that God would strengthen them for the trip that is ahead, especially in India where it is so stressful.
2. My team. That we would not just long to be “close” to one another, but to minister to each other in Christ’s love so that it would be clear evidence to the nation of India that our God is real.
3. India. As the nation with the most unreached people groups, India deeply needs the gospel. Please pray that its people would have softened hearts to our God who already claims victory.
4. The Christians in India. The nation of India is slowly closing its religious openness to Christianity because of the installation of a new Prime Minister. Pray for strength and endurance for the missionaries and seminarians that are there faithfully living for Christ.
Jeremiah Leung is a graduate of Biola University and an STSM trainee on the South India team.
