In many parts of the world, there are groups of people who have never heard the Gospel and have no missionary presence. The International Mission Board aims to change that

In 2023, the International Mission Board (IMB) launched Project 3000, an initiative planning to deploy 300 missionary explorers within five years to engage over 3,000 unreached people groups.

Activating College Students

As a college student in South Carolina, James Reece was involved with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM). Some of Reece’s friends in BCM were involved in Palmetto Collective, which is a two-year program through the South Carolina Baptist Convention for college students who feel called to local and international missions. Once Reece heard about the program, he knew he needed to apply.

Taking a Trip Like None Other

Reece heard from a friend that Palmetto Collective was putting together an international trip that was going to be different from any other trip they had taken in the past, which intrigued him. Palmetto Collective planned to take Reece and five other students to countries in South Asia to share the Gospel with unreached people groups.

For a semester and a half, the students prepared for their trip. “For me, this was exciting, because other trips I’d been on in the past focused on meeting practical needs,” shared Reece. “This time, this was going with nothing else in mind other than sharing the Gospel.”

The students traveled to South Asia, met up with their missionary partners, and then split off into different groups with those partners. “God is moving in ways we can only imagine to get the Gospel to people who have never had the chance to hear it,” Reece shared with awe.

Reaching the Unreached

Reece had the opportunity to share the Gospel with a group of 15 people who had never heard it before — and 11 of them prayed to receive Christ. “I got a message a week ago from a missionary who got to return to that village. A family that chose to believe shared with him that something had changed in their life. They feel peace, not because anything physical has changed, but because they feel God’s presence in their life. They stopped worshiping their household gods, which wasn’t even taught to them, but they felt that that was the right thing to do because of what they were feeling.” 

“Two months ago, they hadn’t heard the name of Jesus, but now they have audio Bibles that recharge in the sun,” Reece added. “God sees and cares for these people who have been overlooked for centuries.”