Ministry Updates - September

Leadership Team -

I'm really excited about one of the growth steps we've taken this month.  Belkis has been working as the leader of the children's ministry since June, but this month we named four more individuals as the leaders for other branches of the ministry. 

Since the beginning this mission has been about empowering others in ministry.  God made it clear early on that my job here in the Dominican Republic is to work myself out of a job.  To raise up not just managers or good volunteers, but true leaders with vision, passion, courage, determination and the ability to lead others to carry out their vision. 

As much as possible, I try to stay out of the way, teaching and guiding by asking questions and allowing God to speak and the youth to discover the answers among themselves.  I try to listen carefully, and let the team seek the Lord and make decisions together about where to go and what to do next.  This isn't always easy.  Sometimes I get excited and say too much, but I'm always trying to give away responsibilities, never taking away opportunities from them to serve, learn and grow.  This is their ministry, and in order for this to last and for them to really enjoy this, they need to feel that sense of ownership. 

I've been working with the five leaders on our "leadership team" for many months, almost a year, gradually revealing more and more responsibilities of the leadership, teaching them effective ways to carry out these taks and allowing them to lead in these areas.  This month we officially gave away those responsibilities to these leaders.    I'm excited to see them step into these roles and continue to lead this ministry.

Our finance/leadership team is pictured below.

Front row, L to R:  Kenia (Finance Team), Belkis (Children's Ministry), Oscar (English/Discipleship)
 Back row, L to R:  Venisa (Team Aprentice/Assistant), Yahson (TV Program)

Children's Ministry -  

Here are some pictures I took recently of the children's ministry in Prudencio.  We were able to greatly increase our number of student contact days in this community -- from twice a month to twice a week - starting in September.

Meralys leading the worship/music time.

Venisa teaching the Bible Story

Luis presenting the reading/writing lesson.

Preparing the snack they receive on Saturdays. 
Juice and popcorn!

Batey Construccion - Prudencio

English & Discipleship Ministry

The English & Discipleship classes in Prudencio are going well, though we lost several students at the start of the school year.  Some have other studies in the high school or university and others have found new jobs that keep them from attending class in the afternoons.

Teachers:  Mario, Jessica, Oscar and Venisa

One afternoon we went with the jeep and took the extra time to visit the homes of some of the students who haven't been able to attend to see how they're doing, and see if there's a better time to hold the classes.

It was fun to see how excited the students got when they
saw their teachers coming to visit them at home.

TV Program -

The last main branch of the ministry is the tv program.    The team that regularly teaches/preaches on the tv program consists of six people.  They take turns preparing messages and sharing the Word of God with the people of Hato Mayor through the television.  We have one hour of live broadcasting two days a week.

One thing that has been really exciting for us is the book study we've started together.  We want to learn more about communicating the Word of God, so we started reading a book together called "Communication" by Andy Stanley.  Thankfully, the book was available in spanish.

I can't tell you how much fun it has been to be a part of these discussions.  This team is so passionate, and they are learning so much from this book.  There is never a dull moment.   Even though there are just six (or seven, including me), we find ourselves raising our hands, and working really hard not to interrupt our brother or sister.  We are so excited about what the other is saying, that we are on the edge of our seats, just waiting for an opportunity to respond and build off of one anothers' ideas.  What a great experience!  May God bless this group of young preachers with all they need to communicate in such a way that inspires others to follow Christ.

Visitors:  Kurt Nelson

One last exciting thing that happened in September was a visit from our friend Kurt Nelson.  It was great to have Kurt here for a week.  I was thankful for the time we had together to talk about things we are learning, visiting some of Kurts' friends in Guayabal, and we even made a trip to La Victoria prison.  A small group of us went to visit, worship with and encourage men inside the prison walls.  It had been a while since I had been there, and it was a blessing to go back.  We should really go more often!