Natasha Bajema Serving Teen Challenge Jamaica

While I spent most of my life in Michigan, I have been living and working in D.C. for over five years.  I moved to D.C. in 2008 to begin an international relations career with the Department of Defense.  When I began attending National Community Church (NCC) in 2010, however, my path unexpectedly started to change direction.  The seed for my current missionary work for Teen Challenge Jamaica (TCJ) was planted with my participation in NCC’s mission team in January 2011. 

In the lead up to my first trip, I expected that I would be giving something back by helping the people of Jamaica as God has blessed me so richly in treasure, time and talent.  I did not expect to gain so much more in return.  During that week, I spent time with the men of Teen Challenge Jamaica worshiping the Lord in song, word and prayer, establishing lifelong bonds, and beautifying their building.  As I observed the great work that God was doing to transform lives through this program led by Executive Director Anthony Richards, my life also changed in profound ways, many of which have yet to take shape.  My spiritual journey has since become deeply intertwined with my work for the Teen Challenge ministry.  At each step of service, God has been stretching me and growing me spiritually to give me what I need to serve His Kingdom.

It was while I was painting on the third-floor balcony at TCJ that God used the opportunity to place a specific calling on my life to serve him by helping to direct the TCJ Women’s Center.  Rather than immediately quit my job and move to Jamaica, NCC Senior Pastor Joel Schmidgall advised me to take small steps towards the calling and see where God would lead me.  After all, there was not even a TCJ Women’s Center at that time.

After the mission trip, I continued my support for TCJ by organizing a fundraiser in August 2011.  With the help of friends, fellow supporters and NCC and TCJ, we raised $2,700.  With these funds, an 8-bed Women’s Center was opened on September 1, 2011 under the leadership of Barbara Richards.  I returned to Jamaica in November 2011 to spend a week with Barbara and the girls living in the home and to a mural on the interior of the home.

In January 2012, I traveled to Teen Challenge in Argentina again with a team from NCC.  Working side-by-side with the students, we installed the insulation and ceiling panels for the chapel of their training facility.  I also helped out in the production center for the dairy and agriculture farm which allows Teen Challenge Argentina (TCA) to be nearly self-sustainable, making it a model for other centers around the world, including Teen Challenge Jamaica, which has also launched several micro enterprises.

In February 2013, I returned to TCJ, this time to lead a NCC mission team to help with construction at the farm and explore the potential of a ceramics business to support the Women’s Center. since this time, Executive Director Anthony Richards has chosen me to assume responsibility of U.S.-based operations and accounts from TCJ Founder, Pastor John Steigerwald.  I returned to TCJ in July 2013 to meet with Anthony and Pastor John to begin the transition process.

In 2014, I will be traveling to Jamaica at least twice to support TCJ.  This past January, I participated in a small team to help lay the foundation of the new ministry center on the farm.  In August-September, I will be leading another NCC team back to TCJ to provide construction support at the farm.  I am also prayerfully considering working for TCJ on a full-time basis.