News & happenings

La Misión de Guadalajara

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:49:53 -0500

This past Sunday, June 22, we had our last service for the next year (it’s itineration time!) at the church we helped start and co-pastored for the past 4 years. What a blessing it was to see the faces of the people who have been impacted by “La Misión de Guadalajara”.

We have had the privilege to pastor along side Daniel & Laura Garcia who not only are colleagues in the ministry, but some fantastic friends. God has placed a vision in Daniel’s heart to see this church make an impact in a city of over 8 million that is full of religious tradition, but lacks a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that is so desperately needed.

We have been in rented facilities since the beginning  when we started the church which has presented various challenges (we are now in our 3rd facility) but we know God has a piece of property that we will one day call the permanent home of “La Misión”. Sometimes it’s  easy to focus on the fact that in the area where the  church is located, one acre of property costs about $250,000. But we strive to focus not on how big the need might be, but rather how big our God is and the  fact that he delights in providing for his church and  people.  Please pray for “La Misión de Guadalajara” and pastors Daniel & Laura Garcia, that God will show himself strong on their behalf and that of the church and city of Guadalajara.

If you would like to visit the website of our church, you may do so by going to www.lamision.cc
(the website is in spanish)

Trip to Cuba

Sat, 3 May 2008 08:27:02 -0500

I just returned from a week in Cuba. I am continually amazed at the work of God in this island nation that has for the past 50 years lived under the most difficult of circumstances. But as difficult as it has been, the church continues to grow at an incredible pace. The Assemblies of God has over 3000 churches of which most of the new ones are “house churches”. I have visited several of these house churches that are for the most part very very humble, but are changing the lives of many.

Latin America ChildCare has been ministering in Cuba for the last 11 years but in a way that is different from any of the other 20 countries in which we minister. In a communist/socialist country like Cuba, all education is done by the government and a church is not permitted to have a school. So how we minister to the children is through other ministries of compassion and Bible clubs where the children can come and hear the message of the Gospel as well as receive something to eat. As well, many times there is medicine that is given, clothes, basic hygiene supplies and shoes.

I attended a 2 day seminar for all our LACC team while I was there. For purposes of organization, the country is divided up into several districts of which each district has a team that carries out the ministry of LACC. The first day there were reports given by each of our district and team leaders of the ministry that had taken place. I was greatly impacted as I heard how many children had been touched. Currently there are over 2650 children being ministered to through the ministry of LACC.

In one of the evening services there was a spontaneous time of worship at the conclusion of the message where many of our team went to the platform and lifted their voice in worship as they sang of the wonderful Lord and Savior that we serve.

Much has been made of the changes that are taking place under the newly elected president. Cubans can now own a cell phone, but just to open an account you must pay $110. They can stay in a hotel, at the same rate as a tourist (I paid $65 per night for a very very mediocre hotel). They can buy a DVD player at about $75 or a own a computer at $750. But in a country where the average salary is $17 per month, it’s still pretty much just a dream for the vast majority.

There has been control and oppression for many years in this nation, but there is a resolve in the church and the verse at the top of the platform of the church in which the seminar seems to mean a quite a bit more in the setting of this island. It said: “Si el hijo os libertare, seréis verdaderamente libres” ---- “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed”

Mud Cookie Economics in Haiti

Mon, 3 Mar 2008 07:09:03 -0600

What would you do if all you could eat was a cookie made of mud? The recipe is one part dirt, one part shortening and half a cup of water. In many countries throughout Latin America & the Caribbean the poorest of the poor eat rice and beans. But in Haiti, the poorest of the poor can’t even afford to eat that. I recently saw this story posted below on the Fox News website. It reiterated to me the great need in so many countries where Latin America ChildCare is working and ministering and the fact that we are not even scratching the surface of what we can do in this the poorest of the poor in the western hemisphere. As you read the story below, please consider how you could make a difference with us in this island nation and remember the words of Jesus Christ when he said, “when you have done it to the least of these, you have done it unto me.”

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — It was lunchtime in one of Haiti's worst slums, and Charlene Dumas was eating mud.
With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies.
Charlene, 16 with a one-month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau.
The mud has long been prized by pregnant women and children here as an antacid and source of calcium. But in places like Cite Soleil, the oceanside slum where Charlene shares a two-room house with her baby, five siblings and two unemployed parents, cookies made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening have become a regular meal.
"When my mother does not cook anything, I have to eat them three times a day," Charlene said. Her baby, named Woodson, lay still across her lap, looking slightly thinner than the slim 6 pounds 3 ounces he weighed at birth.
Though she likes their buttery, salty taste, Charlene said the cookies also give her stomach pains. "When I nurse, the baby sometimes seems colicky too," she said.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is increasingly concerned about food prices, which are up as much as 40 percent on some Caribbean islands. Floods and crop damage from the 2007 hurricane season forced the agency to declare states of emergency in Haiti and several other countries.
Caribbean leaders held an emergency summit in December to discuss cutting food taxes and creating large regional farms to reduce dependence on imports.
At the market in the La Salines slum, two cups of rice now sell for $0.60, up 10 cents from December and 50 percent from a year ago. Beans, condensed milk and fruit have gone up at a similar rate, and even the price of the edible clay has risen over the past year by almost $1.50. Dirt to make 100 cookies now costs $5, the cookie makers say.
Still, at about five cents apiece, the cookies are a bargain compared to food staples.
Merchants truck the dirt from the central town of Hinche to the La Salines market, a maze of tables of sweet-smelling vegetables and meat swarming with flies. Women buy the dirt, then process it into mud cookies in places such as Fort Dimanche, a nearby shanty town.
Carrying buckets of dirt and water up ladders to the roof of the former prison for which the slum is named, they strain out rocks and clumps on a sheet, and stir in shortening and salt. Then they pat the mixture into mud cookies and leave them to dry under the scorching sun.
The finished cookies are carried in buckets to markets or sold on the streets.
A reporter sampling a cookie found that it had a smooth consistency and sucked all the moisture out of the mouth as soon as it touched the tongue. For hours, an unpleasant taste of dirt lingered.
Assessments of the health effects are mixed. Dirt can contain deadly parasites or toxins, but can also strengthen the immunity of fetuses in the womb to certain diseases, said Gerald N. Callahan, an immunology professor at Colorado State University who has studied geophagy, the scientific name for dirt-eating.
Haitian doctors say depending on the cookies for sustenance risks malnutrition.
"Trust me, if I see someone eating those cookies, I will discourage it," said Dr. Gabriel Thimothee, executive director of Haiti's health ministry.
Marie Noel, 40, sells the cookies in a market to provide for her seven children. Her family also eats them.
"I'm hoping one day I'll have enough food to eat, so I can stop eating these," she said. "I know it's not good for me."

February 2008 Newsletter

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 09:17:55 -0600

Below you will find our latest newsletter with a testimony of one of our former LACC students, Miguel Ovalle, from the Dominican Republic. It is one example of many that demonstrates the grace and love of Christ in the lives of so many children who come through our schools.

You may also download a copy to your computer in pdf format by clicking on the icon.

LACC Testimony

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:30:59 -0600

When Beatriz was a young girl growing up in the slums of El Salvador, most people would not have thought that she would amount to much. After all she was just one more little girl growing up in poverty. Maybe she would be a maid and clean houses for a living or work in some other low paying job, but no one would have thought she would end up as a missionary alongside her husband to the country of Nicaragua. No one except her teachers in “El Liceo Cristiano Juan Bueno” and her sponsors in the United States who thought that they could make a difference in this young girls life.

Take a moment and watch this short 3 minute video and see what a difference a Christian school and a sponsor can have in the life of a girl growing up in poverty in Latin America.

Pentecostalism and the Poor

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 19:27:56 -0600

Recently I saw this video that NBC Nightly News used as part of their newscast one evening. Rev. Eugene Rivers, pastor of Azusa Christian Community, shared his views on why the Pentecostal Church is such a force in 3rd world countries and especially among the poor.

Even though I did not agree with every aspect of what he said, as someone who has worked with the poor in Latin America for over 15 years, it was great to see this video and and a fantastic explanation of why the message of pentecost "works" so well in much of the 3rd world. Our message is not only one of hope and equality at the foot of the cross in a world and culture where there is little hope and equality is non existent in a class structure that the vast majority will never climb. And then to see the power of the gospel with signs following is a combination that makes a difference in the lives of millions and millions of the poor.  As it relates to "prosperity". When it comes to the message of the Kingdom and the topic of prosperity, don't look at prosperity with distain and think of it as the "Robert Tilton" message where you give a dollar and receive a 7 Series BMW car. Don't be afraid to use a Biblical principal because of the error of some. The truth is, I have seen family after family after family "prosper" because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Poor communities are full of families who don't have enough food to eat, they live in alcoholism, in drug abuse, in prostitution, in physical abuse etc.... Their lives are less than prosperous. But God steps into their lives and they become a new creation and the addictions are gone, their attitudes and priorities change. They actually begin to care for their families and instead of wasting what little money they have, it is used in a healthy and wise manner. Before long they are able to move out of the shanty hut to a better community, get a better job because they are reliable and can be trusted. There lives and families have "prospered" because of the transformation that has taken place in their lives because of the Gospel. Will they own a new Beemer? No, in fact they still may never even own a car, but you better believe their lives have been prospered because of the Gospel.  I have a book that a Nicaraguan Pastor wrote. It’s called -- "De la Orilla del Fracaso, A la Prosperidad" -- “From the Brink of Disaster, to Prosperity" At one time he was a Sandanista soldier who had killed numerous people in some pretty cruel ways. He was a drunk, beat his wife, had raped women and much much more and ended up in a prison. He heard the Gospel preached, had a vision, gave his heart to the Lord and responded to a call to preach and now lives with a family that God restored. He earns less than $300 USD per month, rides a bicycle and wears used clothes. But he wrote a book on how God, how the message of the Kingdom not only rescued him from the pit and hell he was living in, but brought him into a prosperous life.   That story can be repeated over and over and over again throughout all the world. And you better believe its a prosperous life. The problem is that so many of the American Christians cringe and the mention of the word "prosperity" because of the perverted use of some. Don't throw out a vital part of reality for so many because of the misuse of others.   Democrats, republicans, independents, or Hugo Chavez will never, never, never have an impact on the poor and give them the "lift" they need and prosper their lives like the power of the Cross.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Power of Pentecost makes a difference in the lives of the poor and the wealthy alike.

Fall 2007 Newsletter

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:19:28 -0500

Below you will find our latest newsletter which contains an update on our ministry in Mexico and the Caribbean.

You may also download a copy to your computer in pdf format by clicking on the icon.

Video Report

Mon, 8 Oct 2007 15:59:05 -0500

Take a moment and watch a recent video update I did that will give you a quick update on our ministry throughout Mexico and the Caribbean.

If Dreams Were For Sale

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:03:01 -0500

Our family has been involved in full time missionary work for over 15 years and we have been involved in a number of types of ministry from teaching in Bible School, ministering through youth camps, building churches, planting churches. But one ministry that we have been intricately involved in our entire missionary career is the ministry of Latin America ChildCare. Sometimes when you are involved in a ministry for so many years, one goes through times of discouragement and wondering if what we do really makes a difference. Sometimes it is in those moments that God lets us know that our work is not in vane and he really is in the business of making a difference in lives. Recently God hammered that fact home to me through a powerful testimony of what God can do not just in one life, but an entire family.

We were at a luncheon that was held in the honor John Bueno, one of the founders of Latin America ChildCare (LACC). Part of the program that we had organized was to bring in someone whom John Bueno had had a profound impact on the destiny of their family. The theme of this luncheon was “If dreams were for sale”. Here is a synopsis of the testimony that we heard.

The year was 1966 in the Central American country of El Salvador. A pastor by the name of Tobias Caballero died suddenly and left a wife and 7 young children behind. They lived in one of the poorest areas of San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador and obviously their lives were in turmoil. At the time, John & Lois Bueno were missionaries in El Salvador, pastoring a great church and had already started several schools in some of the poor barrios of San Salvador. This newly widowed pastors wife came knocking on John’s door one day asking for help for her children. “Could you please help my children go to school and get an education?” John was touched not only by her story, but by the need as well as began to help several of the children attend school and eventually all seven of them. A mother left widowed, the children fatherless and all living in extreme poverty. Of course Jesus was pleased with the kindness offered on their behalf. But that’s not where the story ends.

One of the core values and motivations that we (LACC) are driven by is that we believe that God cares about the poor and has a plan for their lives just like anyone else and that part of what we can do on behalf of the poor is not only to love them, but in tangible ways demonstrate that God has a future and hope for their lives.

All 7 children completed their education in the LACC schools and continued their education in the university system as well and today all are serving the Lord and involved in ministry and professional lives.

Let me quickly tell you what they are doing in 2007:
Tobias – Electrical Engineer, Minister, Missionary
Alfredo – Minister, Consultant & Instructor
Ruben – High School teacher in Language Arts & Computer Science
Martha – Accountant, Service Company Management
Sara – Executive Secretary and active in ministry
Raquel – Lawyer, University Professor, Judge, Consultant for UNICEF,   works for El Salvador Attorney Generals office
Pablo – Pastor

How can 7 children who lost their father at an early age, growing up in extreme poverty turn out to be so blessed? Someone bought their dream! Someone believed that God had something better for them.

As Alfredo shared with us the testimony of his family and thanked John Bueno and LACC for “buying their dream”, God reminded me that there are so many more testimonies throughout Latin America and the Caribbean just like the Caballero Pineda family and so we continue to buy the dreams of thousands of children who will one day make an impact on their world as well.

Thank you for not only helping us to “buy the dream”, but for buying the dream of children for yourself.

Won’t it be awesome one day to hear all the testimonies in heaven as we see all the lives that have been affected by the power of the Gospel!

Haiti - Pernier School Update

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:04:41 -0500

The work on the school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti is progressing well. The foundation work is done and walls are going up. The children are attending school in makeshift classrooms in the church sanctuary building which is located next to the new construction.

Please continue to pray with us that the new school construction will be finished by our target date which is January 2008.

Click here for a fascinating look at Haiti