The Day to Day of Fulfilling The Mission

The past 5 months have flown by fast and the end of year holiday season is upon us. I can’t believe how much has happened in the last 5 months and can’t wait to tell you what we’ve been up to and to share some BIG news!

Intentionally Reaching Out

Over the summer we hosted our annual “Believers World Outreach” Missions Team. We have worked with “BWO” for over 11 years now and are amazed at the lives that have been transformed by the Lord through this partnership, including our own! We took the opportunity to reach out into multiple local communities in an effort to share the gospel in Jaco as well as other surrounding communities that receive far less outreach than Jaco.

While the team was here, two of the leaders, Sandy and Illeana, shared a little bit about how they have been impacted through our ministry. Listening to this video was a tremendous encouragement to us and a reminder that God is working in ways we often don’t even realize!

In October, our church reached out to the local children by hosting a Night of Light outreach. Our goal was to show them that Jesus is the light of the world and came to have a relationship with them. We had a great turn out both among our church volunteers as well as the local children!

Intentionally Making Disciples

We have continued devoting our time to making disciples as one of our primary ministry focuses! While discipleship certainly isn’t glamorous, it is highly necessary! God has called us to intentionally invest in those around us. We have been doing this by meeting weekly with a group of men and women to study God’s word, offer counseling, and discuss topics such as spiritual growth, victory over sin, marriage, parenting, and just about every area of life. By getting into the trenches with people and “doing life together”, we have created greater opportunities for discipling them as they witness our life example and we teach them God’s word.

God has also led us to launch a new format for our mid-week studies. We started following a 6-8 week schedule and are focusing on one area of life in each 6-8 week session. Our goal is to help people discover God’s plan and power to transform each area of their life. In our first 8 week session, we studied marriage. We specifically focused on God’s Principles for a Healthy Marriage. We had about 20 people from the church commit to attending weekly. The study went far better than we imagined as it gave an opportunity for people to connect and interact with each other around God’s Word. Another unexpected blessing was the new people who came to the study and started attending the church as a result of it.

Intentionally Moving Forward

As we close out 2016, we have established a new Ministry Core Team and have begun training them to take more responsibility in the church. The Lord has led us to form this team in an attempt to prepare more people to fulfill roles in ministry both within the church and our community. As a result, we are beginning to see new people step up and take ownership of the church and its responsibilities.

By establishing this team and investing in them, it will free us and the church to begin focusing on new ministry endeavors, such as our Tekoa Project Discipleship Program and training church planters. We believe God has given us a specific vision to impact Jaco and all of Costa Rica for the gospel. Forming this core team and focusing on these new ministries is a step in fulfilling that calling!

We are excited to be finishing 2016 on a strong note and look forward to what God has in store for 2017. Speaking of 2017, we have 2 BIG Announcements to share with you in the next post! Thank you for your continued support of our family and ministry!