Dominican Republic Update

Dear Friends of Mission Surge,


The trip to the Dominican Republic last week was extremely productive. We hand delivered the three laptops provided through your generous gifts to Mission Surge. These computers will allow three indigenous pastors to communicate with our Dominican leader here in the United States in order to receive weekly training, direction, and encouragement. They will also allow our Dominican leader in the states to receive reports from our indigenous workers. It is such a blessing to be able to remain in constant face to face contact with our point men in the DR without the $700 plane ticket!

We were also able to meet with the Executive Director of the Dominican Baptist Convention and hear his vision for the Dominican. This allowed us, at Mission Surge, to begin formulating a plan to further Manolo’s vision for his people. God is already working in mighty ways in the DR and Mission Surge has an opportunity to be involved in what He is doing. Here is a summary of the possibilities in the DR.

First, we hope to provide training to those men who are already actively planting churches and cell groups in the DR and some of their key leaders. Three trainings will take place over the course of a year with assignments that must be completed between training sessions. Through the training these men receive we hope to, not only speed up the number of churches being planted, but also strengthen the individual pastor’s spiritual life, family life, and church.

Second, we hope to provide funds to help these faithful men overcome financial barriers in their own lives, ministries, churches, and missions. There are times when these men hit road blocks that they cannot financially overcome. These road blocks slow down their ministries and productivity. We hope to be able to help them get to the next step in their vision and work.

Finally, we hope to financially send and support Dominican missionaries to other Latin American countries. There are several benefits to using Dominican missionaries rather than American missionaries. One, they already know Spanish. Two, they already know the Latin American culture. Finally, they have already proven that they can plant cell groups and churches in a Latin American context. If God allows us to fulfill this part of the vision, then we can begin to link up American mission teams with Mission Surge missionaries all over Latin America. It is exciting to think about.

Of course these are all just initial impressions and ideas. A meeting will take place between Gene Pickern (the Dominican leader here in the U.S.) and myself in a few weeks to map out the vision and plan for the DR. I will update you on that later.

Mission Surge is now tweeting! For those of you who are interested, you can sign up to follow me here: http://twitter.com/#search?q=Missionsurge Spread the word if you don’t mind!

Let me leave you with a few prayer requests.

1. Pray for our board meeting Wednesday night. It is going to be a very long and complex meeting as we elect officials, wade through 501(c)3 paperwork, and debrief concerning our DR trip and upcoming opportunities.

2. Pray for Gene and I as we sort through the possibilities and make plans concerning our DR work.

3. Continue to pray for people to commit to make monthly donations to Mission Surge so that we can prepare a more accurate budget and projection of future ministry. Pray that God will continue to raise up people to support this work in the midst of these hard economic times.

4. Pray for open doors to share about Mission Surge in local churches. If your pastor, or a pastor you know, may be interested in allowing one of us to come share about Mission Surge or preach a revival, evangelistic crusade, or conference, please direct him to www.missionsurge.com and have him contact us ASAP. This year is filling up fast! Also, If your church has an upcoming missions conference or event that we could set a table up at, please let us know.

Thank you for your prayers and support. God is working and we are honored to be a part of what He is doing to reach the world. We are grateful that you have partnered with us in this task. Please share this report with anyone and everyone that may be interested in the work of Mission Surge where we are seeking to impact individuals, families, churches, and the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!