The Timothy Project

It never seems to end- the blessings of God are without measure. Alyson and her family arrived Saturday, we had a great time sharing over a wonderful meal that Mecho and Pilar prepared. We had the “gang” from Los Ciruelitos which includes one Yankees fan amidst a majority of Red Sox fan. Alyson had brought a party pak of Red Sox plates, cups and forks which we used with great delight. Jose Sr. took the leftover plates to share with his Yankee fan friends at work!

Alyson challenged my seminary class (Missions) with a reflection on Acts 1:8 and how we can help those we lead to appropriate this challenge of the Lord’s for ourselves. From there we visited in Villa de Yaque and Los Santos- Los Santos had a very well prepared service for Father’s Day prepared. I am so impressed with the leadership there! Continue to pray for them and for the church to establish itself firmly in the community.

Today is Father’s Day here in the DR and we had a great service at church- a gift for the Fathers (something Lexington Baptist left for us) and a message of the gift of Christ- to drink from the WELL of Living Water. Each person was given a cold bottle of water to remind them of the message. (I was given the priviledge of sharing the message.) We finished with a dedication prayer for the young people who will be going on a mission trip to Nagua this week.

In just a little while I will pick up Hannah and Brittany at the airport. be in prayer for all of us this week!

Well, I don’t know what to say except for THANK YOU for your interest in our work here in the DR. We are approaching 1,000 daily “hits” on the website for the month of July. The stats record daily unique hits- that is to say that if you go to the website from the same internet address more than once in a day, it is only counted as one hit.  As of 7:00pm tonight we had 982 daily unique hits!

I am overwhelmed with the interest and prayer support that this site is generating. I had considered myself a failure in terms of communication with the outside world of what was happening here until the Quest team showed me how to do a blog and the rest is history! Having two groups here this month helped tremendously I know to boost the numbers, and I hope that those people will continue to log on to find out what is happening and how they can pray specifically for the ministry here! Blessings to you for your support and prayers!

We are looking forward to Allyson Clark’s visit this weekend. She has been coming for 5 or 6 years now with the Quest team of New England.  This has been a wonderful partnership and friendship for me and for the Santiago gang! She is bringing her dad and sister to see the places she visits and works in year after year!

We will spend some time Saturday visiting the missions, enjoying Pilar and Mecho’s food and a special treat from Alyson’s dad, and Alyson will speak with my seminary class as well about developing mission leadership. 

On Sunday, two young ladies who were here on the Quest team in Fenruary arrive for a week long stay- so it promises to be a great week with our “Questies”! As I have shared often, the value of volunteer partnerships is without measure.  Keep Alyson and her family in your prayers as they travel this week in the DR as well as for the bonds of Christian love that will be nurtured by their visit. And keep Hannah and Brittanny in your prayers as well as they travel and minister here in the DR.

I haven’t talked too much about Esperanza International but I think we are going to hear a lot more about it! I have been working for almost a year now with this Christian foundation; we are on the verge of beginning a pilot project here in Santiago. 

The foundation was established by David Valle, a major league ball player who spent the early part of his career playing ball here in the DR. It is focused on fighting poverty, teaching skills and providing small loans which enable people to earn a living.  They have an excellent track record here in the DR and I have enjoyed working with the Director, Carlos, and the others who helped do our economic survey.

We have been ready to go for a while now yet our funding was rather meager.  We now have a commitment that is giving us good reason to think big! Instead of looking to hire one person we are looking to hire three! I believe in the next month we will interview 6-8 candidates, selecting two or three, and also rent office space and get started!

Obviously, this is a lot to deal with. I would ask that you would pray for the director of human resources and myself as we interview the potential candidates, for each one who will interview, and for wisdom to choose the personnel that will be so vital in making this a transforming presence in our church planting areas.  Pray also for the logistical decisions about office space, that it will be a strong beginning in all respects!

It was a first for me- leading a memorial service here in the DR. Jose agreed to come with me- I so appreciate his willingness to be involved. We are dealing with an incredible heat wave, and he works at a shoe factory all day (no air!); I picked him up from work and he was with me in Villa de Yaque and then again in Los Santos.

We had a group of 16-20 adults gather in the home of Nidia and Gerao, grandparents of the young girl who drowned. Lots of tears, lots of anger at the loss of a young one.  I shared Psalm 90, Ecclesiastes 3, and 2 Samuel 12 (David’s experience of losing his child) to comfort the family and community and also to gently remind them that they need to move beyond their grief at the appropriate time.  We had a chance to share some thoughts together and pray together.

One thing I see happening is a greater urgency among the community leaders to work together to protect the young people. We are hoping to have a Civil Defense team come soon to lead a 1st Aid workshop and help raise awareness of the dangers of the canal. I am hoping to do that by Friday, or one day next week.

Continue to pray for the family. Nidia’s daughter (the mother of the young girl who died) called her yesterday to admonish her not to beat herself up with guilt, letting her know that she didn’t blame her for what happened. I am so thankful for this because Nidia was beside herself with guilt, feeling responsible for the accident.  I thank God this tragedy didn’t tear a family apart, but brought it together in support of one another. 

Everytime I come home from Los Santos I find myself saying I need to spend more time there- it is obvious that the people are open to the Gospel and want to have a church there. The process just seems slow to me and so often they get the left-overs of my time. Please pray with me during this next month as I ask God to show me the steps to take to move our developing church closer to being a strong, vibrant church. Most of all ask the Lord to continue to work in the hearts of the people and call out leaders to guide the growing church.

We had a group of 15 tonight for Bible study and I was so encouraged as I see them follow along the story and reflect on how to obey it.  They are preparing a special Father’s Day activity for Saturday night (we have different dates to celebrate this!). I am so encouraged to see them working together for the benefit of the community! One of the things they are working on is a drama of the Prodigal Son. It should be a special event! Pray for Sol, Ely and several others as they prepare!

Well, I have had my few days of rest and now am immersed once again with an abundance of ministry projects. I have been praying for some time for Hannah and Brittanny, two young ladies from New England, who are coming to stay with me for a week. They were here in February with the Quest Youth mission team.  They arrive Sunday!

One project I have been thinking of and praying about is to faciliate a Dominican youth mission movement. We receive mission groups all the time from the States and I believe the Dominican youth who receive these groups are ready to do some “going” of their own. So with Brittany and Hannah here to help us, it looks like a group of 10-12 youth will head to Nagua next Wednesday to work with our IMB missionaries John and Barbara Randolph.

Please be in prayer for Francisco (youth director) as he gets his group prepared to go. It sounds like there are some resistant youth to deal with in the area we will be but our “rapsters” are pretty cool and have a powerful message- join us in praying that the youth of “Calle Clara” will be open to the message of God’s love and plan for their lives.  We will be in Nagua, about 2.5 hours from Santiago, on the north coast, working in a rural area. I am not even sure what to expect so it will certainly be a missions adventure.

Pray also that this experience for Francisco and his youth group will be a spark that ignites a hunger among Dominican youth to be involved in missions.  I appreciate special gifts that are helping to cover the cost of transportation (our very own mission van) and food. Sleeping on the Randolph’s floor and Barbara’s offer to prepare food for us in her home are keeping the costs way down. 

Gabriel called today- it is so interesting how God works- I was sitting at my desk saying to myself I need to call him, and the phone rings and it is him! I wanted to pass on to you that the ministry there week before last is enduring- the church is FULL of kids, and 4 or 5 mothers have started coming as well. Remember, we are praying for 10 new families to be added to the Christian family and to the church, so our job is not complete, but we can rejoice in seeing things develop positively.

This Friday they will be showing a Christian film outside- I think at the park near the apartment complex. The movie is Somthing to Sing About; I have shown it before and I think it will be a great tool for the community. Remember this Friday night in your prayers!

Yesterday I was cleaning out all the papers that I have accumulated in my “agenda” (my daytimer).  I came across the list of names of the two groups that were here this summer and started to take them out, thinking now that they have arrived safely home I didn’t need to have their names close at hand. But then I thought again- I no longer need to be concerned about medical emergencies, about some sort of harm coming to them, etc. yet I realized I needed them. To pray for the work they helped with while here, for the people they ministered to, and to encourage me when the going gets tough. So how could I discard their names? I kept them with a promise to myself and to God to lift them up before Him, asking his blessing on each of them. I regret I don’t have a list of names of all those who have come to work here.  But even without specific names, I continue to give thanks for the impact that they have made for the Kingdom of God and on my own life and ministry.

It is hard to measure spiritual work. Decisions of faith and baptisms, new bible studies begun and new churches established are some of the measures we use, but who can tell what God is doing deep in the soul of a person? Who can tell what the final result will be? One who rejects the Gospel today may later come to faith and make an incredible impact in their community.  The work this summer has been far and wide, from Santiago to San Francisco and Bonao. More than 20 communities were touched in some way by volunteers this summer. And in every community I see fruit developing, but who can say what will be the final result?  I have learned the hard way, that our job is to be faithful in planting the seed, in watering and nurturing it, and it is God’s job to bring about growth and the hoped for harvest. That brings us to prayer.  All our work won’t produce the crop we long to see, only God working in the deep recesses of people’s hearts can do that. And for that to happen, we need to constantly ask Him to break down the walls of resistance and gather for Himself a faithful church that will be His hands and feet, showing His love to all.

For all those who have come to work alongside us, I don’t know what to say but thankful. For your faithfulness, for your commitment, for your encouragement to me and the other brothers and sisters with whome you worked. I thank all of you who are diligent to check out the website and pray- this page has received almost 900 hits this month- I hope we can pass 1000!

God desires that no one should perish but all receive everlasting life. Let us continue to pray that it may be so here in the Cibao region of the Dominican Republic!

Many of you  have prayed for my seminary class and a young pastor named Gerry.  Some of you have worked in Jayaco where he pastors. Saturday I wasn’t really excited about the material for our class, and decided to treat them to a pizza instead and listen to what they are doing in their ministries, helping them formulate their class project (a plan for missions in the local church).

Gerry was overflowing with excitement- they are finishing up an evangelistic campaign during which many churches have received volunteers from various countries. He has had over 70 decisions for Christ this week. 

He has been working for some time to combine his interest in basketball with his pastorate, using it as a tool to reach the young men of his community. He shared yesterday he has a tournement set up that will last over a month, that enthusiasm is high, he has secured their commitment to attend church during this tournement time and time to share the Gospel during the actual tournement. 

It was so encouraging to see a young leader exploring ways to reach the unreached. Please pray with him this month as he works with the tournement, as he prepares his meditations (sermons), and as his church seeks to disciple all these new believers!

Most of all, let us give thanks for him as a young pastor and ask God to continue calling out more and more young people to be pastors and missionaries.