God continues to inspire our church planters in Latin America to abandon everything to win the lost. Recently in one of our church planting rallies, a university professor in Chile heard about a community that desperately needed to hear the Gospel message. At that moment, God laid it upon his heart to plant a church in that community. Out of sincere faith and obedience, that night he resigned his job as a distinguished professor and left his comfortable lifestyle to offer God’s plan of salvation with the lost. He, along with his wife and their small child, drove all night to get to this community. When they arrived, he got out of his car and immediately began walking the streets and preaching the simple message of a Savior who came and died for their sins. With nowhere else to sleep that night, this precious family slept in their car. They continued to preach the gospel by day and sleep in their car at night for several weeks. God honored their humble faith and obedience and within a short time, more than 100 people had come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They now have property and are constructing a church.
In 2011, more than 850 Latin Americans have answered this call to plant a church. Many of their stories are similar. Pray for us as we coordinate this church planting initiative in Latin America and train these new church planters. Perhaps you would like to connect with one of our church planters and sponsor their training for $100 per month for one year. If so, please contact us.
Throughout the history of our ministry, sometimes God’s plan has happened so fast it felt like a whirlwind just took over our lives. The end result has always been a beautiful advancement of His plan. Even though the whirlwind might feel wild for a bit, every moment is worth it.
Welcome to “Whirlwind M25!” We just got word this morning, that our offer to purchase property was accepted. Our ministry will soon include a 2 ½ acre campground. This campground will serve as an outreach center to its surrounding impoverished community. This community has NO Christian church – this will be its FIRST one to bring the light of Jesus Christ. We will offer meals to the children, tutoring and enrichment classes as well as children’s church services. We will also offer help for the elderly of the community and other outreach opportunities. The campground will also serve as a retreat center for the kids of our partner feeding ministries in the city. From time to time, we will invite these children to a special retreat to escape the harshness of city life while learning more and growing closer to God.
Here is a video that shows the property and talks more about our plans:
This is truly one of those God opportunities! We are able to purchase the property at HALF of its appraised value. We have a couple of key donors who are working to help us raise the money for the purchase (PRAY for this effort). Truly EVERY door is swinging open as God shows His might to make this happen. It is ALL God (and it’s happening FAST)!
We feel it proper to call this expansion of our ministry, Project M25 (based on chapter 25 in Matthew), which will encompass all of our current and new benevolent ministry activities. From now on, as you hear us talk about Project M25, that will include the outreach activities at the new campground and it will include our work at other feeding centers. God has a grand vision for helping “the least of these” here in Ecuador.
We will have more details coming soon… as soon as we can catch up with this whirlwind! PLEASE keep us in your prayers because we NEED them. (This is all in ADDITION to Bobby’s current work in Church Planting throughout Latin America.) And please send donations to help make this project happen. We need operating funds quickly to get this up and running. We also need work teams to come and help improve the property. Every bit counts as God pulls His people together to accomplish amazing results.
Thank you for your support and prayers!
Bobby, Tamitha, Jordan, Jonathan & James
We hosted our first ever Agape Christmas project where we shared Christmas with 300 of the poorest children in Ecuador. This event was a joint effort with 2 different feeding ministries inside the heart of inner city Quito where poverty and desperation are rampant. Each of these feeding centers offer daily meals to children who often have no other food all day long. Most of these children work on the streets and many live away from their families in tiny, dirt floor shacks with other children. Those who do live with their families are often sharing a single-room shack with multiple families.
God placed these children on our hearts and, thanks to our generous ministry supporters, we were able to provide a special Christmas event for these children. We held a special kids service to share the true message of Christmas. God moved mightily in these services and we estimate that 50 children came to accept Christ for the first time. We also shared a meal with the children, making sure they each received a nice portion of meat since that is something the feeding centers can seldom afford. We ended the celebration with a special gift for each child which included clothes, shoes, a toy and candy.
The smiles on their faces were priceless. We were so blessed to be a part of this day and pray that the seeds of the gospel message will continue to bloom in their lives.
Thank you to everyone who had a part in sharing God’s love with these children.
Here is a video about the event
On December 17, we will be sponsoring an event at the Genesis 7 church and feeding center. This center offers a hot meal to needy children, serving roughly 200 children daily. These children are living in some of the poorest and most desperate situations we have ever encountered here in Ecuador. The majority of them work in the streets and are unable to attend school. Most live in crowded, make-do shacks with dirt floors and no running water.
Genesis 7 is a church started by an Ecuadorian couple who were burdened for these children. They scrape and sacrifice to provide a meager plate of rice and whatever else they can afford for these children. This meal is frequently the ONLY meal these kids receive each day. The church tries to help however they can with their physical needs as they offer them the hope of Jesus Christ.
Our Agape Christmas event will be a special day for these children as they are invited to attend this celebration where they will receive a good meal and likely their only Christmas gift which will include a bag of candy, a toy, a shirt and pair of shoes. The event will also include a special service with clowns, drama, puppets, games, and most importantly, the Gospel message. This is sure to be a day the children will not soon forget.
Please join with us to help make this event possible. We need $15 per child to be able to provide these items.
Donate here
Here is a video highlighting this project:
Kidfest Ecuador (or Festiniños as we called it) was everything we could have dreamed of and MORE! God shook our little campground and moved in life-changing ways among the teachers and the children.
We hosted a group of 45 people from Living Waters Christian Fellowship in Fountain Valley, California as we collaborated with the Church of God in Ecuador to host the first ever Kidfest event. The team from California offered intensive teacher training in Children’s ministry as well as a weekend camp for the kids.
We began the event with around 100 teachers. These are Ecuadorians who are currently teaching in Sunday school or have a desire to work with kids in their churches. The event was kicked off as National Overseer, Richar Mendoza, shared his passion for children’s ministry to become a priority in Ecuadorian churches. Then, the teachers spent an intense day learning creative methods they can use in their ministry. On the final day, we had a commissioning service where each teacher was confirmed in their calling and sent forth to do the work of the Kingdom.
Then the fun REALLY began as 300 kids arrived for a weekend of camp! For most of these kids, this was their first time to ever attend any type of camp like this. One hundred of these kids were from the local social ministries (ministries that reach out to street kids). This was a life-shaping weekend for sure.
There were lots of time for fun and games, but the most amazing part was what happened during the worship services. In the very first service, I could tell the teachers were getting frustrated because the kids were VERY restless and not listening well. Imagine, a room crammed to capacity with kids who are NOT used to this type of service. But as the altar time began, the Spirit of God moved in a mighty way and there was a sweet hush as the kids really plugged in. Many children came forward to pray with the team, but afterwards they began to huddle in little groups praying for each other! They were weeping as God touched them! The Ecuadorian adults were amazed, as they had never seen God move among children in this way.
Throughout the weekend, God continued to move like this in our services. Children were speaking in tongues and worshipping God in pure joy. One man, who heard about the service from a counselor, showed up 5 hours early for service so that he could be there (at this KIDS service) to receive the Holy Spirit. A little girl who lives in an abusive situation, prayed with the team and later told her counselor that she knows now that God is with her and loves her. Another child felt called to become a preacher. REVIVAL was sparked among the children of Ecuador during Festiniños.
The teachers are HUNGRY for more training, and we are going to help provide that. The pastors are beginning to understand the importance of children’s ministry and are working to establish that in their churches. The churches are DESPERATE for that type of worship. God is going to do some miraculous things!
We want to thank those from Living Waters who sacrificed to make this event happen. Also, thank you to our many friends and family members who gave to help sponsor the children from the social ministries. And as always, thank you to everyone who continually supports our family, allowing us to be a vessel for God’s blessings.
Here is our video recap:
Presently we are serving as full-time missionaries in Quito, Ecuador. We primarily work with the Church of God Seminary here to assist and train local ministers who are on the front lines of a vast mission field. We are passionately following His call on our lives as we dedicate our lives in service to Him.
PRAY for our ministry
