Hebron's Global Missions Blog

Japan Disaster: Answering the Call

2011-03-14T12:36:00.004-04:00

We have all seen the video from different media outlets and felt totally heart broken. It seems like an overwhelming task. The people of Japan are in desperate peril. We as the body of Christ can harness a power through prayer that is stronger than anything the secular world can offer and they have awesome resources.

Here is what I encourage us to do over the next few days as the tragedy of what has happened in Japan continues to unfold...

Baptist Global Response, our International disaster relief and humanitarian aide organization, has suggested the following:
1. Pray! Pray for those suffering physically. There is a basic need for water, food and shelter. It is still cold season there.
2. Pray! Pray for those suffering emotionally. Many lost loved ones. Aftershocks continue and fear rules with each new tremor. Emotional shock leads to physical manifestations that can be fatal themselves. Pray for healing.
3. Pray! Pray for the responders as they go. Pray for the Japanese government and international organizations as they try and come up with some type of a unified response plan. Pray that all work together to speedily reach those in need.
4. Give! We have a great vehicle to give through: Baptist Global Response (BGR). Their website is: www.gobgr.org. Please go there for updates and options for giving. One hundred percent of your donation will go to provide appropriate relief. Right now, monetary gifts that can be used locally in Japan will go to purchase water, food, medicine and shelter. These are much more effective than gifts of any kind.
5. Go! Consider going and helping. Especially if you have certain skills that are needed and you are properly trained in disaster relief from a sanctioned organization. Again, BGR would be happy to help you if God is leading you.

We, as part of the body of Christ, are called to stand in the gap for those in critical need. Japan needs our help!God bless...Pray for Japan!
Ron

Coal Miner's Daughter-Kentuckey Partnership

2010-03-11T16:20:00.013-05:00

Tammy Lawell is Hebron's director to the women's ministry and one of the leaders of our Kentuckey Partnership. I asked Tammy to share with us on how the partnership in Williamsburg and Corbin is going. Here is her blog.

It is hard to put into words how in awe we are at all the Lord is doing through our partnership with Appalachia right now. Our October trip to the Williamsburg/Corbin, KY area left many of us wanting to go back as soon as possible. Seven of us girls were able to return in February. One lady (Beth Gross) spent the weekend helping the missionary (Melany) with activities for the teenagers in the community. Beth learned the heartbreaking stories of several and is still in contact with some of them. Six of us arrived on Sunday night and stayed through Thursday. We saw snow and freezing temperatures everyday but had some beautiful photo opportunities! Our group of six worked to help organize donations at Melany’s warehouse. We were also able to catch up with individuals we had met in October while also making some new friends!
During our October trip, Ted Cone volunteered to drive a trailer full of supplies for us. While there, I asked Melany to show him around the warehouse in hopes that men’s teams could go and help with some of the work. The two of them were instant buddies! Ted has taken several of the guys there over the past few months to see the facility.
Last weekend was the first of many trips that will be planned to work at the warehouse and later, in the community. The first team had to be made up of electrical contractors who could re-wire most of the building. Ted and Eddy Sharpton led a group of 12 to travel there last weekend. Eddy’s brother, David, a pastor at Maysville Baptist, was able to go to help. One of the team prayed to receive Christ early last week. A second prayed to receive Christ on the ride up to Kentucky on Friday morning! That man’s wife prayed to receive Christ last night (Monday).
Melany and her family passed out flyers in the community over the weekend announcing the first-ever worship service to be held at the warehouse on Sunday. David preached the message and 10 individuals prayed to receive Christ. Another two rededicated their lives. Everyone involved can’t stop talking about how powerful the service was! Melany has already had lots of calls asking for services to continue there. The Director of Missions for her area is hoping to help start a church there. David termed it WOW (Warehouse of Worship)! (See picture below of prayer time at the end of the service.)
In addition to the changed lives, the Lord also allowed the team to get much more work done than they had anticipated! Most of the second floor is now re-wired including the family’s living quarters. One of Melany’s daughters has been going around counting the electrical outlets they now have and is thrilled to know she will be able to plug her nightlight in. The teenage daughter is thrilled to now have an outlet in the bathroom for her hair dryer and curling iron! Our guys were also able to install a furnace in the coldest part of the upstairs. (We could see our breath in most of the building the entire time we were there!)
Ted and Eddy will make a return trip there this coming weekend to work on the downstairs electrical system. In the next few weeks or so, they will be taking plumbing teams as well as heat/air teams. General construction teams will be needed later. Part of Melany’s ministry is doing home repairs so there are plenty of opportunities in that area as well. Eastern Kentucky is in what is known as the “poverty pocket of America.” Many live without electricity and/or in homes in very poor condition. The needs are great, but our God is greater! It is a privilege to be His hands and feet in that area!

A letter from a Haiti missionary

2010-03-08T17:54:00.003-05:00

We had a team that has returned from Haiti. Jim Peevy, who is one of the team members, penned his thoughts in letter form and it touched my heart. Please read on:

Dear Friends and Family,

I want to share with you not only the events of my trip to Haiti but also some of the cool things God showed me along the way. The trip itself was pretty extreme due to mostly the travel that it took to reach our area of destination and the hot temperatures that we worked in. The team that I was a part of was made up of mostly people from Hebron and others from churches in North Carolina. Everyone on the team seemed to mesh well together and we were tremendously blessed by the work we were able to accomplish, the relationships we were able to build with the Haitians, and by the fellowship we enjoyed with one another.
After arriving in Santo Domingo at 2:00 pm on Saturday (Jan. 20), we stayed at the SCORE (Sharing Christ Our Redeemer Enterprises) complex in Juan Dolios until around 11:00 pm. During the wait time, we packed up three trucks with water, rice, beans, and cooking oil that would be distributed to the different areas in Haiti. At midnight, we embarked on a long, extremely uncomfortable 9 hour journey aboard a travel bus to the country of Haiti. Crossing the border was fairly easy during the wee hours of the morning so we arrived in Crox – de Bouquet at about 9:00 am. We stayed with Joel Hess, a missionary from SCORE, who lives on a gated compound with plenty of yard space for all of the tents we slept in.
After resting up for a while on Sunday afternoon, we all piled on the bus again and went to see for ourselves the devastation that took place in the city of Port au Prince. Pictures don’t due justice to what actually took place in this city. Buildings were crumbled on top of one another, there were stories of thousands lost lives, and you could see hundreds of tents which now represented the homes of the local residents.
On Monday, we started out by sweeping the floors of the school building where we were going to be constructing classroom walls. While we were working, many children and adults from the surrounding village would come by to see what was going on. Some of the children would want to join right in and help with whatever we were doing. While we were waiting on the building materials to arrive, I was able to meet a couple of young men, Jimmy (20 yrs old) and Marc (25 yrs old). Both of these young men were Christians and we talked about how God had a purpose for them living right here in Haiti. I told them how blessed I was to be able to see the joy in their lives even among the harsh circumstances. Over the next 3 days, I would get to know both Jimmy and Marc fairly well and I really grew to admire them.
As I and some of the other team members visited both the homes of Marc and Jimmy, Marc made it know that he enjoys playing basketball and that his favorite player is Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics. I told him if he could get us a ball we would play. That afternoon Cary Strange and I played pickup ball on a broken up concrete court with a group of Haitians that would high-five each other after good plays and argue any bad calls. I never dreamed I would get to play basketball in Haiti, so that was pretty cool. After basketball, we went over and watched some of our team members play soccer on a mostly dirt field. It was neat to get to hang out with all of the kids in the village and to see their passion for what they enjoy doing. We finished the day by having a time of devotion and worship back at Joel’s house with all of our team members.
On Tuesday morning everyone was moving a little slow because of the aftershocks that took place around 1:30 am. Everybody in the house had to come out and sleep in the yard with the rest of us, so it took a while for us to get back to sleep. The good part was that we continued to hear the people in the local church worshipping up until 2:30-3:00 am. Work continued that day on the walls in the school, but I spent most of my day visiting different homes around the village and the children in one of the local orphanages. My heart was broken to see the conditions that so many of these children had to live in and I even had a couple of them ask if they could go home with me. I believe God knows each of these children’s needs, but I continuously asked myself what I should be doing to help. We had a very powerful time of devotion and worship that night. It was awesome to hear how God was speaking to so many of us through the situations we had been in so far.
We started out Wednesday by going to visit the Good Rest Missions orphanage led by Pastor Bob Nunley. This amazing man is 74 yrs old and has headed up this orphanage practically by himself for the past 34 years. The needs are so many among the 60 children or so, but none bigger than for someone to be ready to take Pastor Bob’s place when the Lord has finished His good work in him. I believe God is preparing that person even now. Pastor Bob translated as one of our men shared the gospel through the use of an evangicube. The passion that Pastor Bob demonstrated while preaching to these children was extremely inspiring. I pray that I will be just as willing and determined to follow whatever God calls me to do throughout my life.
We did go on to finish up the school walls that day and we had a time of prayer with Pastor Wildo before we left the work site for the final time. It was bitter sweet that afternoon because as we were telling the people goodbye, you could sense that they truly did not want us to go and part of me did not want to leave either. Obviously I was ready to see my family again, but in some small way many of these people felt like family. You want so much to help their situation change, but I am thankful to know that so many of them do trust in God and believe that He is in control. May God calm their fears about the earthquakes and use the Christians as a witness during these uncertain times.
We left Joel’s house on Thursday morning at 4:30 am for another uncomfortable, long 9 hour bus ride, but the Lord brought us safely back to Juan Dolios and I rested well that night at the Embassy Suites Hotel. I thought a lot about the different people I had met and the different sights I had witnessed, and I believe God used many of them to teach my heart more about Him and more about others. First, God is alive and well in Haiti! The #1 accepted religion in the country is voodoo, but I witnessed Christians who were not ashamed of their faith and who appreciated the encouragement from fellow Christians. Second, there are people in Haiti who are much richer spiritually than many Americans, but we too often view riches from a materialistic point-of-view. Many of the Haitians we met are at peace with God because they have personally accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and they have the assurance based on God’s word that they will be with Him in heaven when their life down here is over. Peace, joy, and assurance of Heaven. Now those are for sure some of the true riches in this life. Finally, the people of Haiti are just like people anywhere else. They want to be loved and know that you care. It’s amazing how God can connect the hearts of people even when there is a language barrier.
Sorry if the letter has been a little long, but there is so much more I could tell you. I just wanted to give you a small glimpse of how the Lord had worked while we were in Haiti. Thank you again for your support financially and/or for your prayers. I pray that if you have not had the opportunity to go on a mission trip that you will seriously pray for the Lord to make a way. That’s what I did and it was an amazing experience. God is good all the time and all the time God is good.

Sincerely,

Jim

Haiti Log 2

2010-02-11T20:50:00.017-05:00

Haiti Update Log 2
The conditions in Port Au Prince are like most major disasters. Very tuff! We travel at a snails pace at best with most roads impassable by fallen cinder blocks and pieces off concrete that were once a building or someone's house. Some roads show evidence of major earthquake damage with gaping cracks and uneven asphalt breaks which slows everyone down and backs traffic back for miles. Communication is sparse at best. I've been trying to blog for three days and only been able to make a few calls. Getting supplies whether medical or building, is an adventure in itself. It seems everything goes in slow motion except time which goes by so fast. I am leaving tomorrow and I am asking myself, "Have I made a difference. Have I helped the Haitians. Have a bettered God's Kingdom." I know this I have helped and gave my all this week to glorify God. I believe that the Christians of Haiti have the opportunity to transform this island and change it forever. Today the Christians of Haiti stopped everything they were doing and had all day prayer and praise services were ever they could. They started singing hymns outside are compound and every were we worked you could here Christians praying and praising. We heard and shared reports of salvations and ministry to the lost as teams came in to report every evening after diner. So far of the 11 days of disaster work their has been 6859 ministry contacts, 126 salvations, 72 ministry sights assessed. It's a start in the initial phase of recovery. If all christian organizations can get together I believe we can be a great asset to the churches and communities of Port Au Prince. I believe Port Au Prince will come back better than ever!

Haiti Disaster Relief

2010-02-08T20:06:00.012-05:00

Haiti Recovery trip 1 Log1

I find it hard to express in to words what I have experienced in the past couple of days. The sights, smells, noises and feelings you go through will effect you for a lifetime. Pictures do not give it justice. One has to be here to realize this is a disaster of biblical proportions. The people of Haiti are still trying to come to gripes of what has happened to their Island. They stand in lines must of the day. There are food lines, medical lines, government assistant lines, faith based lines, and the list goes on and on. Change is coming but at almost a snails pace. Most of the dead are still entombed in collapsed buildings. Southern Baptist are doing assessments as fast as possible. SBC medical teams are literally seeing hundreds of patients a day. They are doing everything from delivering babies to amputating crushed limbs. They work long hours sometimes 13 hour days! Thousand more need to be seen during these desperate times in Haiti. A lot of water wells were damaged during the earthquake so good water is scarce. We have teams on the ground that I am working with that are purifying water and drilling by hand new wells. I am working with a team that has a drill that is the newest and easiest hand drill that will hopefully help Haitians get safe water economically and quickly. We started drilling today and drilled 16 ft. I feel certain tomorrow we will hit water and the people of this village will go to the church to receive not only fresh water but the Living Water, Jesus Christ. I hope I can report to you soon with more pics and stories.

South Asia update

2010-01-20T22:55:00.018-05:00

South Asia Update
What a great day it has been! Again, we had many opportunities to minister in the name of our Lord Jesus. As we get ready to close out Awana's leadership training to South Asia missionaries I can't help but think about the theme God has put in my heart, "It's about reaching the children. There are sooooo many children!" I heard many times this week about the 4-14 window. We all have heard about 10/40 window, reaching the geographical area that has been closed to the gospel for so long, but the 4-14 window was totally foreign to me. It is the age group that is specifically targeted inside the 10-40 window, children and youth being reached for Jesus Christ. Obviously Awana is a perfect ministry to help the churches of South Asia reach their 4-14 widow.

We had a couple of hours of free time and went on a Safari. Lions, tigers, and bears! Lions , tigers, and bears! Want a fun time we had as Matthew, Awana missionary from Deli, was our guide. He kept Steve and I in stitches with his practical joking. Matthew is a godly single young man who works at the national office for India.

Last night we had a closing banquet for the missionaries. We had a great time of fellowship and sharing how God has worked in our lives the last few weeks. We had a cultural dinner and I can describe the food with two words, spicy and zesty! Its like dynamite between two pieces of bread with hot sauce! The cooks at the ministry compound looked out for Steve and I and made sure we had something to put the fire out. Seriously, the food was very good and I may put on a few pounds.

This morning we met with two missionaries that have a much needed ministry in South Asia. Doug Harstine and Rajpal Bhatkar of Faith Comes by Hearing ministries are committed to reaching the nations with the Word of God in Audio, offering the Bible in a format that will connect with the world's 50% illiterate population. To accomplish this enormous task, the Lord has assembled a group of committed leaders and dedicated servants of His Word to develop into a reality the vision of bringing His church together and making disciples. This bible audio box is powered with four different options built right in to the box; electrical, battery, solar, or by hand crank. It never runs out of juice!

I have to go for now. It's tea time! Till next time, may God be with you.

South Asia update

2010-01-20T08:22:00.011-05:00

Report from South Asia
Yesterday was a busy and awesome day in Bangalore, India. It started off bright and early with devotion and leadership training at the Awana South Asia training with missionaries from all over the region. Then it was off to a church that Compassion International was sponsoring in a poverty stricken area in Bangalore. Awana and Compassion have a great partnership in this area. Compassion has started Awana clubs in the area and they're making an incredible impact in the lives of children and youth. Compassion has an after school program out of this church were they teach the youth proper hygiene and biblical principles. They also provide a great meal and of course a full Awana program. Compassion is very detailed in their labor with a stat sheet on every child so they may be sponsored by the more fortunate people of the world. It is great to see how this type of ministry is making an impact in the community. The pastor shared with me how twenty years earlier when his father pastored the church and Compassion Intl. began the sponsorship that the community was like Sodom and was morally bankrupt. But over the years the children's biblical lifestyle rubbed off on their parents and change slowly took place. Now those children in the beginning are now parents themselves and have their children in a biblical atmosphere. A whole new generation has emerged that is hearing about Jesus. We had the blessing of sharing the gospel with about 200 youth and many were saved. Rest assured Compassion was following up as soon as we were finished.

It was off to Baptist Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Bangalore to meet up with a couple who have a mission near the hospital and we followed them to Rahab's Rope headquarters. This is a much needed ministry in the area to prostitutes. Rahab’s Rope Women’s Center is a place that provides food, shelter and protection; a place of education and training; a place where the whole person is ministered to spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and financially. It is a place of hope, a place of transformed lives. It was founded in 2004 by Vicki Moore who is a member of Riverside Baptist Church in Gainesville, Ga. The Moore's said their vision is simple, "Rahab’s Rope is to give hope and opportunity to women and girls that have been forced into the commercial sex trade of India by providing a safe and loving environment that will enable them to grow and develop both physically and spiritually". Most of the ministry is funded by clothes and jewelry that the ladies learned through classes at the center. It is then brought back to Gainesville in a shop called Rahab's Rope on Bradford St. on the square in Gainesville. The money made at the store all goes back to running the ministry in Bangalore. Ladies of Hebron I implore you to go shopping at Rahab's Rope. It is quality Stuff!

I'll keep in touch!!

South Asia Update

2010-01-19T01:22:00.011-05:00

Awana International Partnership
Five years ago there were less than 400 clubs/churches with with Awana children's ministry working in all of South Asia. Hebron members and Awana missionaries Steve and Debra Cohoon took their calling of reaching children for Christ to South Asia. Steve and I were traveling through Bangalore yesterday heading to appointments and there were kids everywhere you looked. Steve looking out the window said, "This is why I am here. You can't help but fall in love with these beautiful children. They need to learn about Jesus". Steve is the Director of South Asia were there are now 2,911 Awana Clubs and over 193,000 children that have already been reached in the past five years. But that is not even a drop in the bucket when you realize in the city of Bangalore itself has over 13 million citizens!

So what's been the difference? Leadership! "The new leader based strategy of ministry has allowed us to see God multiply the ministry in an area of the world that God is opening to the Gospel of Jesus Christ". There's right now 20 full time faith missionaries in South Asia (11 in India, 5 in Nepal, and 4 in Bangladesh). These missionaries are all from their perspective countries (not American missionaries) gathered in the city of Bangalore for three weeks of intensive leadership training.

Awana's vision is to keep multiplying leaders and clubs. "We plan to implement the Leadership Based Strategy in Sri Lanka (4 clubs have already started that have reached 270 children already) and Bhutan in 2010. We hope to see over 100 clubs/churches using Awana as an evangelistic tool in each of these countries by the end of the year".

You can make a difference on this side of the world by going with Hebron this summer to India and Nepal. Begin to pray today about what part you will play in reaching the children of South Asia for Christ.

2010-01-18T02:22:00.007-05:00

Hello from South Asia!
I just wanted to give a small report from Banglore, India. It's 75 and sunny with low humidity! But truly the story here is about the children. There are so many children and they love to come to church. AWANA is reaching India for Christ one child at a time and their parents are one step behind following Christ also. I had the honor of preaching Sunday morning at one church and going to an Awana club at another church in the evening with South Asia Awana director and friend Steve Cahoon. He is doing an incredible job training Awana missionaries on this side of the world. This morning I had the blessing to do the devotion at the South Asia Awana International Mission Training Conference. I will send more pictures and updates soon.

New ESL Class!!!

2009-12-14T17:05:00.001-05:00

We are adding a new adult Spanish Bible study class on Sunday mornings starting January 3, 2010. (This class will be taught only in Spanish)
One of our bilingual ESL teachers is going to be leading the class. (Monica Alexio - her husband Jose will be with her)

It will be at 11:00 am in Modular D, Room 6, following the English Lessons From the Bible class that meets at 9:30 in the same room.

Coming and Going part 3

2009-11-30T16:17:00.008-05:00

North America Project

Kentucky

Hey! Sorry this edition is a little late.

We had such a great Thanksgiving at the Brent house. Everyone was home and my dad and I along with an old high school buddy, Rick Calcagno, played a little golf. I thank God for my dads recovery from cancer and he has a great wife, Wanda, who is such a wonderful godly lady. We had such fun time this Thanksgiving with a lot to be thankful . Did I tell you that my little girl is home where she belongs? Did I share with you my boy, Brian is going to graduate from college next semester? And did I tell you I am still madly in love with my best friend and high school sweetheart, my gorgeous wife, Tammy. I am so blessed with a great church family too! I bet you have a lot to be thankful for also.

There is an area and a people who have really struggled lately trying to figure out what they have to be thankful. Hebron's ladies were there to help them fix their eyes upon Jesus so they too could give thanks. The people of Appalachia was our ministry target last month and is today's partnership spotlight. Our ladies packed food and clothes and headed for the hills of Kentucky to the towns of Corbin and Williamsburg. While there they ministered to other ladies going through very hard times. The ladies also visited a homeless shelter and nursing home. Under the direction of Tammy Lawell, Hebron Women's ministry handed out everything they brought and also worked at a nursing home, school, and a ministry site that has some great potential for future work in Williamsburg. This site is under the direction of a great couple who are from the area and know the hard times the city is going through. The ministry is housed in an old RC Cola plant that needs some tender loving care and that's exactly what our ladies gave them. The ladies of Hebron have challenged the Hebron men to partner with them to take on this ministry project and help restore this old Cola plant to a well oiled ministry machine. When finished this plant will be able to house and feed 78 people. It will have a clothing ministry, food pantry, youth hall, multiple stall his/her bathhouse and ministry office. Guys lets step up to the challenge!

Coming and Going part 2

2009-11-19T10:35:00.006-05:00

The Samaria Report for 2009 - North America

New York - Lake Placid

We have a great partnership with our North American Mission Board, (NAMB) in the Olympic Village of Lake Placid. Derek Spain, who was our former Student Ministry pastor, is the NAMB missionary for this region. The name of his ministry is North Country Ministries. Through this ministry Derek does outreach at all of the sport venues at the Olympic village in the Lake Placid area. He works with athletes from all over the world when there in the area training or competing at a world class events. Bible studies through out the week are a regular occurrence. Another ministry that has been born from his work in the Adirondack's is the Hospitality to the Internationals. This ministry is aimed at international athletes who are training in the area. Some of these athletes have sold everything they have and have left it all behind to chase their dream of becoming a world class athlete. Derek and his people offer everything from rides to a place to lay their tired bodies and something warm to eat.

Derek is also pastor of Lake Placid Baptist Church. He has a growing congregation that have sold out to help Derek reach their community. Two years ago Derek added an associate to help with his growing and challenging ministries. Dacula's own Jeff Grey has joined the ministry and has played a big part in helping Hebron feel welcomed when we have gone up to serve in the North Country.

This past winter Hebron went to Lake Placid to do sports outreach at the Wold Championship of Bobsledding and Luge. We also helped out with the ministries I just mentioned along with ministering to Derek's congregation. It is definitely hard soil to break with ministering to the athletes but so rewarding when you earn their trust enough were the ask you to pray for them right before their race.
I hope you will pray about going to the North Country and help Derek reach his world for Christ. You may ask, "Is it very cold?" Well let me just say you really can't tell the difference between 5 degrees and 25 below. It's a dryyyy colllllddddd. Just dress in layers and let the Holy Spirit warm you up!!!!

We will continue next week with more adventures in Samaria in part three in our series of Coming and Going 2009. See Ya, I'm Out!

Ron

Coming and Going

2009-11-02T17:27:00.008-05:00

Here it is November 2009! I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. What a great year for missions at Hebron. God has blessed us with the best seat in the house to see Him do what only He can do, give abundant life. I am going to try to give you a kind of year in review even though we still have two months to go and many opportunities left this year to grow God's kingdom . I will also try and give you a little preview of what God has in store for us in 2010. God has empowered Hebron to go and has revealed to us where to go to share the greatest Truth known to us all, Jesus saves!

Hebron is an Acts 1:8 church. Jesus shares in that passage with his disciples two major keys to do His work. First off He is going to give His disciples the power it needs to do ministry. It is the same power at His disposal that He will give to His believers to witness. Then secondly where they are to use the power to expand the kingdom. He says in Acts 1:8, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the "ends of the earth." Think about this for a moment. The disciple's home at that time was Jerusalem. It is were they lived, worked and played. Jesus also said for them to expand into the province of Judea to build the kingdom. Thirdly, he said for them to go to a place not many Jews would go, a culturally diverse place called Samaria. This was a place considered on the "other side of the tracks" to the Jews. Then in the same sentenced He told them to go to the "ends of the earth" and spread the gospel. Now these men didn't have a commercial jet plane to take them around the world. They didn't have a cruise ship to take them around to exotic places. But they did have the power that moves mountains!

We are commissioned to do the same work as the disciples were called to do. For we are disciples of Jesus Christ ourselves. Hebron is a New Testament church called to reproduce ourselves not just in our community but also to the "ends of the earth." We are called to witness in our community, state, North America, and to the "ends of the earth." Christ is giving the people of Hebron the same power He had to move mountains and the same power the disciples had to grow His Kingdom. Hebron, we have the power to go! And go we did in 2009! Lets take a look at where we've been and where we are going in the future.

Report for Ends of the Earth 2009 (for security, names and places may be abbreviated)
East Asia
This area of the world is a strategic partnership with Hebron and the IMB. We have been working with D for about three years. You can believe that when an East Asian gives their life to Christ they are not playing around. This is a closed area to the gospel so a life in Christ is not appreciated at all by the Communist government and persecution could and does happen on a normal basis when the government seems fit to flex its muscles. In the three years we have worked with D we have been able to plant several churches and have lead dozens to the Lord.

This past spring we back to the main city on H Island and worked with D. We worked with a string of churches we helped start in the past. As with a lot of churches they were having growing pains and really needed our help. We were able to help strengthen these churches and start a new house church. Twenty five people asked Jesus to be their Lord! What a rush! It was a very special mission trip because my wife was able to go on this journey with me and see the work going on that I am always talking about.

This summer Rando Acres led a team to the H Island again to do work in the universities and go in to new areas on the island that are yet unreached. Some of the team stayed and worked in the main city with the universities while Otis and Sandra Jones went with D and some local Christians south to the new areas. Rando's team had great success and were able to lead several to the Lord at the schools and introduced the new converts to the house churches to be followed up on. The new area that Otis and Sandra worked was hard soil and met up against some persecution. They had to leave town in the middle of the night so they would not get local Christians in trouble with the law. They spent the rest of the time looking for people of peace and prayer walking new areas. D is from a farming family so he knows what to do to prepare hard soil for a later harvest. He needs labours from Hebron to stand beside him and work the fields of H Island. Pray for D and his family that 2010 will be a great year of harvest and new fields (villages) open up their hearts to the Lord.

Central America and Caribbean Basin
Panama
I met Moses Vega back in the late '90's when I took a group of college/career age students on a mission trip. This mission changed the direction of my ministry life as well as others on this journey. I never met a man so passionate about reaching the nations. Moses along with his wife and children are a church planting family. I remember a conversation I had with him in 1998 at a debriefing at night on the beach in San Felix. We were sitting by a fire and with the flames of the fire glowing in his face, with tears in his eyes he looked at me and shared how he wanted to reach Panama for Christ. Moses shared about remote villages all over Panama that were still unreached. He told me about the burden he had for the Guaymi, Kuna, Terbi tribes that still needed to hear about Jesus. The Holy Spirit used Moses Vega to challenge me to open my heart and ministry up to these people of Panama. Hebron over the last several years has helped Moses with his dream to reach the remote areas and also the big city Panama, Panama City.

This past July Hebron teamed up with Moses Vega and E3 Partners to plant six Baptist churches in the Panama City area. Two of the churches were Kuna tribes outside of Panama City up in the mountains. All in all 867 people gave their lives to Christ! That's right, 867 new souls were born again. Thirteen Hebron people will never be the same again. We bonded and worked so well together with the Panamanian Christians. New friendships have started that will last for eternity. We will be back to help the Vega family again in July 2010.

Dominican Republic
A new partnership was born in 2009 out of a vision trip Pastor Kevin and Pastor Dustin went on from a contact one of our missionaries has, Jeff Seigal of Global Baseball, with Score International in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In late July Dustin led 49 students and leaders to Santo Domingo. They did sports evangelism, children's ministry, door to door, and began the start of a church planting movement. Out of this trip 80 people were saved and many Christians encouraged. One of our young adult leaders, Ronnie Melin, has committed to stay one year to kick off church planting. Already six churches have been born from this effort.

South America
Brazil
Another partnership was born in 2009 in the country of Brazil. The Pantanal is the largest swamp in the world and encompasses a large part of the real estate on the west side of Brazil. In the middle of the swamp the Paragauy River snakes its way through jungles, mountains, and flat lands. This is the land that Carl King, former IMB missionary, has been ministering in for years. If you ever read John Grisham's book The Testament you would get a realistic feel of what life is like in the Pantanal. Carl took John Grisham there twice on mission trips and it so moved John that he penned The Testament. Its about a lawyer"s adventure looking for a missionary who was left with a large inheritance from one of his clients who passed away. We were actually ministering off the boat that John wrote about in the book.

Our Adventure started off loading the 70ft river boat, the Pantavida in the city of Corumba. It would be a 360 mile round trip mission journey on the River doing medical,dental,water purification , and church strengthening. We stopped several times along the river visiting indigenous tribes in Brazil and Bolivia. Every patient seen was witnessed to about Jesus. Every one of them was sick with worms from drinking the river water so all was given worm pills. Many of them learned to brush their teeth for the first time. Over 300 people were seen and ministered to one way or another. Fifty eight people gave their life to Christ. Awesome!!! We are looking to plant some village churches and do some training for leaders while continuing to put water systems in very village on the river. The cost is between $75 $110 for every filter. This past trip we put in ten filters. Thank you Hebron!

Next week we will continue with part 2 Of Coming and Going.