Every Day Ministries

Payita is a small town to the north of our home base of Nagua. God has deeply impressed upon our hearts the need to invest into the spiritual soil of that area. 7 months ago, we started a Bible Institute in Payita. There is a faithful core of pastors and leaders receiving a feast of spiritual teaching every week. Several weeks ago we had the privilege of speaking and leading worship at a united service with all the regional churches of Payita. It was a powerful time of spiritually sowing seeds of unity and love in the pastors and believers. We believe that the spiritual atmosphere over that area is changing bit by bit. The other day we were asked as a ministry to come speak at a local elementary/middle school about violence and respect. Hundreds of children gathered and listened attentively to the Biblical message about sowing and reaping and how to cultivate a healthy, loving environment in their school. The director and the accompanying local pastor were beaming from ear to ear because that was the exact message they needed to hear. Little by little, the fabric of Payita is changing. Please pray for the pastors and churches of this town. Spiritual transformation is taking place.

For the past 10 days we have been visiting many different towns, visiting homes, praying for the sick, doing pastor/leader teachings, and healing services. We have seen many healings of different sicknesses, praise the Lord! People are accepting Jesus for the first time, and many are being encouraged in their faith in Him. This past Saturday we also, together with the visiting team, hosted a regional women’s event for over 300 women. It was a powerful time of teaching and worship! We are thankful to God for this team, which represented many churches from across the United States. The Word of God and the power of God is transforming this nation!

Last night we ran an open air service in the community of Kilometer 5 of Nagua. There were numerous church congregations and members of the community in attendance. After some lively worship, the word of God about unity was shared. The main point of the message: there is only one church, which has the same central Biblical values, Christ, the cross, and salvation by faith through grace being the most important. The body of Christ must work together in love. That is not an option. At the conclusion of the service, two young men came forward to give their hearts to the Lord. It was a joyous moment! All in attendance were impacted by the message. Praise God for opportunities to minister to His church!

It was a fabulous week with the team from Ontario, Canada. We were able to pour a large floor in the church of Yabacoa on Wednesday and then on Thursday we finished pouring the altar and office floors for the church in Mella. Also on Thursday, door to door ministry had some exciting fruit… a man was led to the Lord in his home. Praise God! The pastor from Mella, Abelino, was beaming from ear to ear with thankfulness as he said good-bye to the team on Thursday afternoon. The kingdom of God was advanced greatly there in that town.

The week with the team from Canada has been very exciting. This past weekend we were able to host a training seminar for children’s ministers, feed a whole town and provide each household in the same town with chickens to raise as a source of income. We spent Monday and Tuesday working on a new church construction project in Mella and then Tuesday night we had a powerful celebration service at a church in San Rafael we had previously constructed. Wednesday we are planning to pour the floor of the Church of God assembly in Yabacoa. Please keep us in your prayers as we serve Jesus this week with the team and see lives transformed for eternity and communities encouraged by the demonstration of the love of God.

There is one body, one church, one Lord, one baptism, one Father. That is the message that we took to the town of Cotui last night, a 1.5 hour drive from Nagua. We were asked to preach and lead worship at a multi-church gathering in this city, and we had been looking forward to this day for a long time. The worship team from Nagua led us to the presence of God, and the Word was preached powerfully. All in attendance shouted AMEN to the truth that our Christ-imparted love is the distinguishing characteristic for us as Christians. As we drove home we gave thanks to God for this opportunity to encourage the believers of Cotui.

True worship transforms the life of the worshiper and those around him or her. Last weekend we ran a 2-day worship retreat in a rural area and the Holy Spirit was powerfully poured out upon those who attended. We were in the church for at least 5 hours each day praising God and receiving the teaching of the Word on worship. The churches that attended were forever marked by the presence of the Lord Jesus with us. Just this past Thursday we were in a large outreach event with our Nagua worship team leading the music. There were over 500 in attendance from the community and it was a night of celebration and rejoicing in the presence of God. Many lives were touched by God’s presence that night. God is good!

Yesterday was one of EDM’s office days, where we were available to meet with pastors, process requests from the pastors and churches, and put our heads and hearts together as EDM staff to plan out the week. We had a good number of pastors dropping by to say hello, and were able to plan some special appointments with pastors who had special requests. Our new office in Nagua has already been a great blessing and it has barely been open for 3 weeks now. It is a vital meeting point that this ministry has needed for some time. Please pray that God would continue to provide funds to maintain this office to better serve the pastors of the northeast region of the Dominican Republic.

We went to a rural area this morning to follow up with some pastors about their church construction projects. One of the pastors, Maria, started to weep with tears of joy as we explained that we were interested in helping them finish their church. The water from the nearby river regularly floods the town and enters the church leaving mud and silt. Among other things, they need a new wall cement coating and a raised floor. They were at a standstill in the construction and the pastor didn’t know what she was going to do. Brothers and sisters, she was weeping for joy over the prospect of a simple, 1-room church of about 27 feet by 45 feet. Praise God that we can be conduits of God’s blessings!

We were stuck in the middle of the rice fields far from home. But to start from the beginning: A few days ago we were traversing the countryside scouting out some more potential church construction projects. Trying to save some time we asked some folks about a shortcut between where we were and another location where we needed to go. We were told that a road does connect the two locations, but it is in very bad condition. Note: when a Dominican tells you a road is bad, it is very, very bad indeed. We found the road and began the trek on a very muddy and uneven road. We passed by a large flatbed truck that had been heading in the same direction, but had sunk hopelessly deep into the mud. Nevertheless we kept on going and about a half a kilometer further, the wheels of our vehicle got stuck in the mud. Very stuck. One wheel spinning in the air stuck. To make a long story short, rice workers seemed to appear out of nowhere, and before long there were 6 men working on trying to push us out. After about an hour of struggling, we were able to lift the back end of our vehicle out of the mud enough to get some traction and move forward. Praise God! Rescued by the rice workers! They did not think twice about dropping everything to help us out. We were able to continue on to our next church stop and several hours later we arrived home. Muddy, but thankful for God’s provision of some friendly rice workers. Oh and yes: we did successfully get to investigate some church construction projects.