Mission Surge Dominican Republic Update

Hello from the Dominican Republic,

I arrived here Monday night at 11:45 p.m. and was up and running with our first session of pastor/church planter training Tuesday morning.  We met in Cuatro de Agosto at a local church in order to teach a group of Haitian pastors and potential church planters from the area. Here is a pic of some of these young men and a few of their wives who were in attendance.  Pray for them!

Here is a picture of the church's pastor and his wife!  From his humble congregation he has raised up four leaders who have planted 4 churches, some of which are stronger and larger than his own!  He ended Tuesday's time together asking who was going to be the next one to leave and go begin a new work.

We finished up this afternoon and will speak at a prayer and fasting service tomorrow before repeating the training in Sabana Perdida on Friday and Saturday.  We are defining the biblical gospel and teaching them how to call for a biblical response to the gospel.  We are also teaching them how the gospel should impact the lives of individuals, families, churches, and communities as they live in obedience to God's Word.  Inter-twined in this teaching we are doing a brief exposition and overview of Titus.  The pastors and church planters seemed to benefit from the time together and I appreciate your prayers and gifts that have made this effort possible.  I hope to continue periodically updating as I am able.  Please continue to pray.  God is working in the lives of the Haitians here in the Dominican Republic.  Every training session we do will be for Haitian pastors and church planters!  They are working hard and have planted over 100 Haitian churches in the DR since the earthquake!!

I want to conclude this post by giving you a taste of the worship of this small group of Haitians we have had the privilege of working with over these last 2 days.  Pray for them, share this update, and enjoy.

New Year Update! 2014

Dear Friends of Mission Surge,

2014 has started with a bang!  God has already honored so many prayers and efforts just in this first week of the New Year.  He has given much vision and put many possibilities before us.  If the rest of the year continues to be as rapid and rewarding as the first week, I am convinced that God is going to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ever ask or imagine. 

As 2014 begins, I wanted to update you on what is happening…as briefly as I can.  These issues are so important to me I will be posting them in various forms in various ways so please don’t grow weary if you see them more than once. 

1.  Please pray for me as I travel to the Dominican Republic February 24 through March 6.  I will be training church planters and pastors in Santo Domingo on February 25-26.  On Thursday the 27^th I will be speaking at an all- day prayer and fasting event in Santo Domingo.  Then I will be traveling to Sabana Perdida on February 28 and March 1 to train pastors and church planters.  I will speak in one of the churches on Sunday March 2 and then travel to Santiago in order to train another group of church planters and pastors on March 3-4.  On March the 5^th we will meet with some of our key pastors that we support.  It will be a busy time!  Please pray for me, the pastors and church planters, and Mandy as she manages the 5 children and home in my absence.

If God spurs your interest in this work, and would lead you to give to help cover the costs of this training, the projected budget for the entire work is $2500.  We estimate training 100+ pastors and church planters!  That means that we are feeding and training each pastor for roughly $25 each.  If you are moved to help this project, just mail your tax deductible gift to our NEW ADDRESS

Mission Surge

c/o Kevin Ivy

1126 Tanyard Road

Crystal Springs, MS 39059

2.  Please pray for us as we continue to gather footage for the DVD tract I shared with you about in the last update.  We are in the process of videoing the documentary, the gospel tract is written and waiting to be published, the study book is in process, and the sermon is already recorded.  We hope to be able to release this entire outreach project in April!  Please pray for this endeavor.  It will cost between 2500 and 3000 dollars to complete.  We want to make this product available free of charge (as we do everything at Mission Surge).  If you feel led to help make that possible by giving financially to help cover this project we would greatly appreciate it.   We believe this product is going to be extremely helpful in attempting to communicate and spread the gospel here in the buckle of the Bible belt and beyond.

3.  I am excited to announce our first ever Men’s Conference to be held on Friday April 11 and Saturday April 12 in the Jackson, MS area.  We want to invite and encourage all men and their sons 12 and older to attend this event.  This is going to be an in your face look at the church in North Korea followed by an in the mirror look at ourselves!  We are going to have with us Tim Dillmuth from Seoul USA http://www.seoulusa.org/ as one of our speakers, some powerful videos, break-out sessions, and vendors.  More details such as exact location, cost, etc., will be coming soon. We are going to make it as low-cost and accommodating as possible.  For now, just know that it will be a weekend you will not want to miss!  Please go ahead and pencil it in on your calendar and plan to attend:  April 11-12, 2014...and spread the word to the men in your churches!

4.  Mission Surge Website:  Our goal is to have the website www.missionsurge.com rebuilt this year to be more up-to-date and easily accessible...and finally get that "Pay Pal button several of you have asked about working."  In the next few weeks you should be able to listen to new sermons every week on the Mission Surge website and at kevinivy.com.  Please check it out.

Finally, if you have not signed up to follow the Mission Surge blog, like us on Facebook and to follow us on Twitter, please do so right now!  You can do so here:

Follow the Blog:  http://kevinivy.com/

Like us on Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mission-Surge/145423062144598?ref=hl

Follow us on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/missionsurge

And then please please please PRAY and SHARE!  We need your help to get the Word out!

In Christ,

Kevin

Dear Friends of Mission Surge,

I know that it has been some time since you have heard from me.  Between Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year time has just slipped right on by.  Here we are in 2012 and I have a rather lengthy series of prayer requests and information.

Let me begin by reminding you that the vision of Mission Surge is to impact individuals, families, churches, and the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Most of what you hear about is our work in the world.  I want to begin this newsletter with a prayer request and announcement about our hope of impacting the family with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

I just hung up the phone after talking with my friend, Scott Brown, who is the head of the NCFIC (The National Center for Family Integrated Churches).   This organization has a wealth of information for fathers and families that I would heartily recommend to you.  You can check it out at ncfic.org.  They are in the process of translating much of their material, including the NCFIC website, into Spanish.  This will prove to be a costly endeavor.  The entire project will total almost $30,000.  

Part of the project includes translating select audio messages from past NCFIC conferences.  This part of the project will include sermons on the sufficiency of Scripture, a love for the church, family reformation, child training, fatherhood, etc.  I am convinced that this will be a worthy endeavor and will benefit us greatly as we seek to encourage our Dominican brothers to lead their families well.  The cost for this portion of the project is $3125 and Mission Surge wants to help!  I encourage you to pray that we are able to raise this money before next Friday, February 17.   I will update you on the progress.  If you would like to make a donation to help make this project a reality you can click here http://missionsurge.com/631556.ihtml do so.  Any help would be greatly appreciated by Mission Surge and NCFIC.

Secondly, I want to update you on our Dominican Republic work.  Bro. Gene Pickern, the former missionary to the DR who organizes and arranges our training sessions and trips will be going to the DR in February with his wife Julie.  Many of you know they had to prematurely return home from the mission field in July of 2010 due to Julie being diagnosed with Muscular Sclerosis.   Julie has been praying and hoping for an opportunity to return to Santo Domingo.  Though it seemed impossible, her prayers have been answered.  I will let her tell you in her own words.  

The IMB and my doctors have given me permission to go back to the DR  for a visit! Bless the Lord, O my Soul! It is something that I never thought would happen. Then again, I never thought at one point I would be living or walking. God can do anything.  Now I'm going back to the DR! We want to ask you to pray very specifically about some things.

PRAY FOR:

1) SAFETY TRAVELING- in the airport as well as plane and DR. Ask the Lord to help us make our connecting flights with His peace & me not falling down! Also the traffic itself in the DR can be hairy, not to mention how hazardous walking can be, at least for me. 

2) OUR HEALTH - while still in the states and in the DR. Pray blood clots do no set in on the plane rides, and that I don't have any MS episodes. Also please pray that Gene's heart remains strong & healthy - no episodes with him either!

3) THE CHURCHES - will be gathering together their Bible Study groups to hear my testimony. Pray God will cause people, lost and saved, to come. Pray HE will prepare their heart to hear. Ask the Lord to me give me HIS words, wisdom, and heart. Please pray for the interpreter (Wilfrido). Pray believers will be encouraged and lost people will be saved. But most of all, pray GOD receives the glory.

In Christ,

Gene and Julie

We praise God for Julie being able to return to the DR and for Gene being able to return with her and minister.  He will be contacting many of our church planters and pastors while there to receive an update on their work.

Next, continue to pray that we are approved at as a 501(c)(3) organization.  All the paperwork has been turned in.  We have answered several questions and sent in more info as it has been requested.  The application is still pending, but we are getting closer!  Please pray that we get approved soon!

Next, I still have several open dates this year to travel and speak.  I would love the opportunity to come share with your church.  We can encourage your church with an evangelistic event, a family conference, a church revival, or a missions conference.  We can even come and share our "Mission Surge" conference where we define the Gospel and then share how the Gospel impacts individuals, families, churches, and the world for the glory of God.  We would love an opportunity to invest in your church family.  If we can serve you, please do not hesitate to call!

Finally, take time to check out our website if you have not done so recently.  There are some new pictures, new documents, and even some new sermons that have been uploaded.  We hope to continue to add more resources to the site in the coming weeks.

So….pray for the translation of the NCFIC resources into Spanish and give to make it reality if you feel so led.  Pray for the Pickern's as they travel to the DR this month.  Pray for our 501(c)(3) status to be approved soon.  Check out and share the website with someone today.  And finally, pass this info along to everyone that you can!

P.S. If you have not signed up to follow my blog or to follow me on twitter, please do so today at kevinivy.com and http://twitter.com/missionsurge

In Christ,

Kevin

Mission Surge Update

Dear Mission Surge Friends,


I wanted to give you an update of what has been going on with Mission Surge over the past few weeks and an idea of what the future holds so that you can join us in prayer.

First, we are grateful for how God has worked. A team of 4 men just returned from Southeast Asia and training Vietnamese pastors and lay leaders related to Operation Backdoor. Mission Surge was prepared to spend $600 for this training. However, just before we left for SE Asia, the number of pastors and lay-leaders increased so that we had to pay $1100 to cover the expenses (travel, food, etc). This took $500 out of our fund that we had planned to use to purchase laptops for our contacts in the Dominican Republic. We chose to follow God’s guidance step by step and trust Him for the funds for the laptops if He wanted us to have them. So, we spent the $1100 in SE Asia.

I returned from SE Asia and discovered that our DR trip (to deliver the laptops I could not afford) had to be postponed. In the meantime, God placed on someone’s heart the burden to purchase the remainder of the laptops. Through that time, the trip was rescheduled for a couple of weeks later. The trip was postponed in the Providence of God. God impressed someone to meet the need. The laptops have been purchased, and will be delivered Dec 6 to the DR God willing. God is Sovereign and He is our provider and we give Him thanks. When we learn to wait upon Him, He will accomplish what He wants done.

Last weekend we held our first ever Mission Surge Conference. We had many great men of God come and share with us over the weekend. Everyone was encouraged and challenged. Video and audio of the conference will be available in the near future.

I also want to inform you guys that the Mission Surge website is live. Please take time to go check it out. Over time we will be adding video of the sermons preached at the Mission Surge conference last weekend. We will also make available different Bible studies, resources, and helps to encourage you as individuals, families, churches, and in our mission to reach the world. Most of these resources will be downloadable and therefore free! The website is http://www.missionsurge.com/ Please go check it out and share the link with your friends, post it on Facebook, forward it through email, and help us get the word out.

Next week we hope to apply with the Federal government for 501(c)3 status. We have been approved by the state and given a state tax ID number, but we have not filed federally yet. That process is supposed to begin this coming week. Crossing this bridge will allow people to receive tax credit for their gifts to Mission Surge. Pray that it goes smoothly and that the funds necessary are made available.

Pray that God’s will be done concerning the timing of our upcoming DR trip Dec 6. Many important things are going to take place on this brief trip that will lay the groundwork for the future. The DR is our most stable work and we need this trip to solidify some things. You can learn more about our work there at: Reaching Santo Domingo

Lift up those pastors and lay-leaders trained through operation backdoor. Continue to pray for God to raise up individuals to support the financial needs in that ministry. You can see these needs at: Operation Backdoor

Finally, please be in prayer about a possible open door in Kenya. Mission Surge has the opportunity to be involved in the training of 400-500 Kenyan pastors in April of 2011. We have been quietly praying that if this is God’s doing He will call out the right pastor to go. One of our board members has indicated that he is feeling led to take on this training opportunity in Kenya. Now, we are waiting on God to prepare the funds to host the conference (transport, feed, and house these Kenyan pastors who do not have the funds to attend otherwise). The cost is estimated at $5000. I know that is a big chunk, but when you think about it, we can train 500 pastors in Kenya for a week for $10 apiece. Not too bad? Please pray that God will raise up 10 people to give $100 a month for November, December, January, February, and March. That will provide the needed funds to do the work. Pray that God would put it on someone’s heart to contribute the total amount, or on 5 people’s hearts to give $1000 each. If He wants this to happen in Kenya, He will raise up the needed support. Please pray that He would do His will in the matter soon so that we can begin making preparations on this end to go.

Finally, forward this around to your praying friends. If you are reading this on the Mission Surge blog, through Facebook, or if a friend has forwarded it to you and you would like to receive email updates directly from Mission Surge, please email kevin@missionsurge.com and put UPDATES in the subject line and you will be added to our email list.

Thanks for praying for us.



In Christ,



Kevin
kevin@missionsurge.com
http://www.missionsurge.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Florence-MS/Mission-Surge/145423062144598?ref=ts
kevinivy.com