The Timothy Project

Here is the report on the work so far:

VBS: Among the three sites we have averaged 270 children per day

Disciplenows: Among the four sites we have averaged 125 teens per day and night.

The evangelism today had a great turnout but hard to give a number- I would guess over 75 in each site, so that would be 150ish.

TOMORROW: is the big day- all four locations of Disciplenow are meeting together in the afternoon to have a sports competition with a closing worship service. The CSBC team will be leading VBS in the morning as usual, have lunch and from there go to the BIG EVENT and stay straight through until 9pm.  It will be a long day, but should be lots of fun.

How can you be praying?

• For stamina and health- it is hot, there is lots of activity and little sleep.
• For the closures tomorrow in Santiago at the VBS’s and Disciplenows- it is never easy to say goodbye.
• Pray for our leaders who will continue to work in each area, that the seeds planted will grow roots and blossom into active obedience to God’s Word.
• For the BIG EVENT: pray for our Dominican leaders as we use this event to deepen our friendships with the teens of these communties, to gain their trust and acceptance so that we can help them come to know and follow Christ.

11. DR on list of failing nations (DR1.com)
The Dominican Republic is on the Foreign Policy magazine’s list of countries in real danger of becoming “failed nations.” In the Western Hemisphere, only Haiti and Colombia are on the list of 20 nations that Foreign Policy and the Peace Forum consider as being at risk of failure. According to these sources, unequal development is one of the common symptoms in these countries. Heading the list are Ivory Coast, the Congo and the Sudan. In the first annual report of this nature, Foreign Policy says that unequal development allows injustices to become the principle cause of instability and not just poverty. Demographic pressures and high criminality are also contributing factors. With the exception of Colombia and Iraq, the other countries on the list receive very little foreign aid or international attention. Twelve social, economic, political and military factors were used to measure the different countries. In the first twenty nations listed, the report says that many of the central governments have lost control of their territory or have lost the ability to employ their forces in a legitimate fashion. Other governments lack the capacity to take collective decisions or have lost the capacity to provide public services. In other countries the population depends almost entirely on a black market, does not pay taxes or engages in a lot of civil disobedience. On the list of twenty, Haiti is at number 10, Columbia is at number 14 and the Dominican Republic is at number 19.
See http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=221

Today was an awesome day- we had a special event this afternoon that went extremely well. The team divided in two groups and went to two completely new communities (we have been prayer walking there this week) to do general evangelism. I haven’t gotten the full report but from what I saw and heard, it went better than we could have imagined. I guess you guys are doing a good job praying for us all!

I am about to leave to have a brief sharing time with the team as they finish up activities tonight and will try to post more around 10:30pmish tonight. I am going to post a few pictures in the Cool Spring album before I leave so you can see some of what took place today!

I hear from the teams that the DiscipleNow program was a success. Please join me in praying we can continue to build on what has taken place this week. Many of the youth in The Hole and Villa de Yaque have expressed interest in studying the Bible more- pray we can work with them to make that happen!

Tomorrow the morning routine is the same except we will start an hour later to give some time to catch up on rest. Right after lunch we are heading into The Hole of Gurabito where we have been prayer walking to do a special youth evangelism activity. We have two different sites picked out; pray with us as we seek God’s direction in how to minister to this community.

Tomorrow night we will have a closing worship service in each of the DiscipleNow areas and get the groups ready for our big sports day on Thursday. More about that later! I know you are praying for the team- it is evident.

As we reached The Hole this afternoon, Victor (our leader in that church plant) informed me he had to take a young man to a drug rehabilitation center- he had been asking for help and was ready to go. Dwight’s team was there to work for the afternoon so they had a special prayer time with him just before we went to take him.  It won’t be easy, but Jose Miguel says he wants to turn his life around and find the Lord. Pray with us he will!  His picture is in the Cool Spring album.

Other news: all the ministry seems to be going very well. Some of the team members are feeling a little sick- they have had a jam packed schedule so it could be a combination of heat and lack of sleep- we are giving them an extra hour of sleep in the morning and it should be an earlier night tonight so we hope they will be well rested and feeling 100% tomorrow. Keep them in your prayers!

The ministry is just awesome- tomorrow afternoon we are going to do a special evangelism outreach in the area where the teams have been prayer walking- it will be interesting to see how God works! Pray for our Dominican helpers that one of them will be called to work in this area.

I posted a few pictures just now and will try to write another update tonight, after the evening activities.

Your comments have been shared with the group- I print them when I get a chance and give them to Dwight to read to the group- they are loving them!

Here are some comments from the team members:

Danielle says: God truly blessed us again today! Our plans were drastically changed when we left our supllies at the hotel, but God worked through us and blessed our efforts still.  The teens were so excited about learning about God and singing the songs! I can’t wait to see what else God has in store!

Jen says: Today was amazing! Especially at DiscipleNow when it was getting dark and we had no lights.  It seemed no one was listening and it just wasn’t working out. But when we started to use flashlights, the kids were coming up to us for the light so they could read their Bible. They were so interested and wanted more! It was awesome how God worked it out!

Wendy says: I can’t even describe what an amazing day this has been! It was incredible to see God’s word speak directly to the hearts of the teens- our team felt the Word come alive as teens poured into God’s word and our lesson with so many questions and much excitement- we even offered to take a break, play a game, but they wanted to finish the lesson. Some were reading God’s word for the first time! We have been blessed beyond comprehension in just one day!

Joyce says: God has already blessed us so tremendously and we’ve only been here for a couple of days. On Sunday morning our team was called upon to participate in a  morning worship service- we were prepared for SS but not for the church service. In a matter of minutes we decided what we would do and then we were overwhelmed with the message God shared through our team. Courtney gave her testimony and had several people tell her how much they were moved by her words- she has been asked to share her testimony on the radio Saturday morning. The pastor’s sermon was shaped around the message of our skits and we left the service so blessed we couldn’t stop talking about it.  This morning we had a prayer walk in an area of extreme poverty, and yesterday we witnessed answered prayer by visiting the new homes of refugees we visited and prayed for last year.  God is here and so present…it’s such a gift to be serving such an awesome God!

We finished up the day at Pastor Ramón’s house with a cookout. The porkchops went over BIG, along with the casabe, a special Dominican bread.  It was great time for the whole group to be together and relax, while the youth had a chance to run around and make noise; where they got the energy from I don’t know!

The Disciplenow’s went over really well. I am so thankful for the reports from the team and the translators. Keep up those prayers!

 From all reports, the ministry is off to a great start and I am excited to think about the fruit of this project. I visited several of the VBS sites this morning and the DiscipleNow sites this afternoon and was very pleased with the quality of the program and how the children and youth are responding. Teams 2 and 3 did wonderful to jump right in and get started.

One of our new believers that is helping in Villa de Yaque is having a difficult struggle at home. Without going into details, please join me in praying for her and her family, for encouragement, for wisdom as she strives to put into practice what she has learned from Jesus. I have invited her to join us for lunch these next few days so she can find comfort and support from fellow believers. Pray for all of us to be effective encouragers to her during this tough time.

Well, they are all here, safe and sound! There were lots of smiles and obvious joy at being reunited.  Please keep all the team in your prayers as they begin the heart of their ministry tomorrow morning, for restfulness and for spiritual focus.  It is hot and humid here which drains energy fast, and they are working in areas where Christ’s light is shining but dimly. 

The group today shared the “This little light of mine” song, where one young lady begins with her light, singing confidently, and one by one others join in singing with lights shining. But then comes Satan and discouragement causes the lights to go out one by one, until the same girl is left singing alone, with her light shining, but gradually the others come back and their lights begin to shine and they sing together. It brought tears to my eyes as I reflected on real people who have struggled through the spritiual attacks, often left standing alone for Christ. It encouraged me to be reminded that God’s light will prevail in the end.

I thank God for the lights that are shining through people who have placed their faith in Christ in each of these communities where we are planting a church. Yet I know the attacks of Satan are real and new believers are struggling- pray with me that this week will be one of encouragement to them, as well as bringing about a turning to Christ among the youth in these communities.

It was a short night but the team looked rested and excited for the day.  Today they shared at two different churches, both in Sunday School and during the worship services.  It was a great beginning! I was moved to tears twice during the service.  The group is resting and regrouping right now and at 3:30 will head to Villa de Yaque and then the Hole. Both are areas where we are planting a church.  Today we will share with the community at large and tomorrow begin children’s ministry in the morning and youth events in the afternoon.

Please be in prayer for these two new church plants, for the developing leaders as they work alongside the volunteers, for the communities to be open to the message. I pray that there will be a great turning to God as there was in Ninevah so long ago!

Also, remember to pray for teams 2 and 3 that are currently traveling, that they arrive safely and ready to join what God is already doing!