March Internship Report – Alexander Noriega

Published March 17, 2017

Northmoreland Baptist Church, Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania

Ministry Highlights

It has been great to see Centershot become more positively received, not only among the lost but our own church members as well. While we aren’t aiming to get all the lost people to immediately attend our church, we have been making it our goals to 1) share the Gospel with them, and 2) establish a relationship with them. Both of these have gone great, and these people trust us (and they all sit and give us their attention when we share the Gospel, no fidgeting or talking or nothing!). I’m looking forward to us fostering these relationships we’ve made, hopefully culminating in these people coming to know Christ as their savior.

Our welcome team has been assembled and the people taught what the purpose and vision of the team is all about; helping to lead our people to being faithful ambassadors of Christ, treating our guests and first time visitors with the love and importance that they are worth. They aren’t random walk-ins, they are God’s gift to us to minister to, and the welcome team is just our way of helping our church to grow in this area. It will be launching in March!

I was able to train more people for website maintenance, bringing the total amount to 4. This was pretty encouraging, as now when I leave the church I know there will be people who know what I know and can do what I do; my departure won’t be a handicap! It was also encouraging that they were willing to volunteer their time to maintain the things that need to be tweaked each week. We got a lot of servants here at our church and I’m really grateful for that.

Key Prayer Requests

Last month was a time of trial for a lady in our church. She had a foot infection and had been in a terrible fight with her insurance and of the infection spreading and the threat of losing as much as her whole leg. Thankfully though God has answered her prayers and ours, and as of this writing (March 6th) she is doing very well! Her insurance is helping and this trial has brought her closer to the Lord. Keep praying though!

While I am still an intern at Northmoreland, Kimpi’s internship has officially ended! He will still be busy for the eight weeks, traveling to various churches and trying to raise support for ministry back home in Myanmar (Burma). Keep him in your prayers, that God will meet all of his financial needs and then some. He has a great vision for how he would like to impact his culture, and I think we all could be a great benefit to him and the work that God has laid on his heart.

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but please keep our Pastor in prayer. He has a great vision for the church that God has placed him at, wanting them to be more and more like Christ and focused on evangelism and reaching our community for Christ. I’ve been able to see the steps we’ve made in leadership and in church growth since I’ve first started here as an intern and while I recognize we still have a long way to go, God has really blessed us with the progress we have made. Our Pastor is an incredible man, one who takes his God given commission seriously, and one that recognizes that we are dealing with other human beings and knows the patience and love that we ought to be leading in.

On a more selfish request, I would definitely appreciate any prayers regarding my future post-graduation. My personal desire is to stay in the area and continue attending Northmoreland, not as a paid position but working in the area. I want to continue to live with this church and to aid Pastor Seboe in his vision for NBC. That being said, I am also aware that God may have different plans for me. So pray that God will grant me wisdom and discernment in these matters, opening doors where He wants me to go and closing doors where He wants me to leave from.

Prominent Lessons

In prepping for the Welcome team launch in March, I’ve had to do a lot of reading! In addition, I have done a lot of work that involved talking with some leaders in the church and gathering their insight to how to establish a welcome team. It was really helpful as they gave me a lot of good things to think about. I’m much more confident about launching it in March.

It is hard to get a lost person to attend your church if you do not have any connections with them. Thankfully with our ministries at our church we’ve been able to create relationships with the lost to gain their trust. Centershot is one example of this. We are already making plans for a Sportsmen’s banquet in March, and many of the Centershot attendees plan on coming to the banquet. We have invested in their lives, and they have taken note of that. Our hope now is that along with the Gospel presentations, some of them will turn from their sins and trust in Christ. Please keep them in your prayers.

Key Goals for the Next Month

To have projects 1 and 2 wrapped up, paperwork and all.

To get our travel routes mapped out before Easter.

To continue training our website volunteers and welcome new team members.