Greetings friends and family, my name is Vanessa Metelus and over the course of the past two years, I have had the opportunity to mature in the Lord like never before. I went through a phase of my life where I came to realize that it was not enough to know of the Lord but the importance of having an everyday personal relationship with Him simply because He allows a sinner like me the opportunity to come before His holy throne of grace over and over again. I came to realize that my life is indeed no longer my own but is His because I chose to crucify the old me with Him the moment I let Him into my heart. In the midst of that journey of self identification in the Lord I came across a very powerful command in scripture; a command that I believe most of us Christians takes too lightly.

The Lord Jesus Himself gave us the command to “make disciples of all nations.” I must  admit that even though I had heard and read the command to make disciples many times before, it was not until I went to college that I realized the importance of such command. I consider myself very blessed because I do attend Liberty University which is a very missions minded Christian School, However, the command was not given solely to those who attend Christian schools but it was given to every last one of us who proclaim Jesus to be Lord of our lives. And, so my first semester at Liberty University, I became convicted of the fact that while I am in the comfort of my lifestyle in the US, about half of the world have never even heard of this Savior of mine. Because of my conviction, I began to pray asking the Lord to lead me in the path that He sees fit for me. At first, I thought the Lord wanted to take to me to the Middle Eastern Buddhist country of Bosnia and so I began to pray for the people of Bosnia and for God to give us a team of missions minded people to go with us there to spread His good news. However, as I began to plan for my trip, the Lord took me on a different path to the West African 98% Muslim country of Senegal. In Senegal, I saw why Jesus took the beatings, torture, and mockery. I saw so clearly why He stayed on the cross as my heart began to break the people; His people. My heart was breaking for the very same things that break His and so in that I found much joy.

When I returned from Senegal, I made a decision that I would do my part in fulfilling the great commission. I also realized that although the rest of the world needs to hear about Jesus, many people in the United States need to know Him as well, and, so my work did not stop in Africa. At School, It is my duty to make it out every Saturday with a group of believers to go spread the good news. My greatest desire is that the Lord’s work through me does not stop in Lynchburg but continues when I do come back home from school. So I welcome you to pray with me that the Lord supplies His servants for the movement to fulfill the great commission in the Newark area through Bethesda COGIC and any other church for that matter. I figure it this way: If the Lord who is all Holy and all Righteous is willing to give a sinner like me who’s righteousness is as a filthy rag the opportunity to tell people about His holy, pure, and righteous name, I should consider it more than an honor to complete the job because after all, He does not need me to do it but He chooses to let me.

                                                                        In awe of the One who saves,