Dominican Republic Archives - Mission to the Americas

You helped me overcome my fear of the spiritual gifts

April 9, 2012 by ecoach Leave a Comment

Nearly 60 Young Life leaders from the Dominican Republic crammed into a standing room only classroom over 3 days to learn more about the person and work of the Holy Spirit from PRMI’s Dunamis team.

We were there in 2011, teaching on basic theology on the person of the Holy Spirit and what the Holy Spirit does.

Where were we?

We were at Vida Joven’s Pico Escondido camp in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.

The camp is tucked away up a rutted dirt road on a green mountainside, about 1 hour south of the city of Santiago. Cool refreshing breezes were on order each camp day through it rained occasionally during the camp.

Jarabacoa is a small destination town (pictured on the plain below from the camp). People from the city come out to this valley for their summer vacation homes.

Year round residents have motorcycles to get around. Dodging motorcycles and mopeds while navigating narrow windy streets is an art form, as they seemed more numerous than ants in a colony.

We want to learn more!

We were one class in a larger conference that had over 200 participants at the annual training camp for Young Life leaders.

Some were in our class last year and remember the visit with Sam Hale.

Our ministry’s partnership with PRMI, and faithful support from our ministry partners allow a new team to once again stand before these ministry leaders.

The level of interest in our topic is much greater than the year before. You can see eagerness to learn more and feel the excitement and expectation in the air.

In our short time together, we gave a snack-sized version of PRMI’s Ignite 2 material on the Spiritual gifts, specifically focused on

How we cooperate with the Holy Spirit in kairos moments.
How we experience guidance of the Holy Spirit
How manifestational gifts of 1 Corinthians 12 work in ministry moments.

Of course, there is too much material in a short little space.

Part of PRMI’s ethos is practical lab-time as well, where we break into little groups of 3 or 4 and pray one for another and see if we might experience one of these gifts.

It was this experiential element that went much further than a lecture ever could.

Here are some of the comments received

“This class opened my eyes to something I didn’t know much about – spiritual gifts. I want to know more . . . . “
“You gotta come learn how the Holy Spirit works with us!”
“This class helped me overcome my fear of the spiritual gifts. You presented them as if they were normal. . . “
“You helped me see a better way to use the spiritual gifts.”
“I want more classes like this.”
“This gave me a chance to discover my spiritual gifts.”
“I’m not afraid anymore.”

During one class, team member Susan taught on how we receive guidance from the Lord, dwelling on various ways we experience that guidance.

We had a lab time of personal prayer ministry during class that allowed students to practice receiving guidance from the Lord.

As we debriefed with the class, there were stories of God speaking guidance and some experienced a few of the spiritual gifts. They got to experience what was being taught.

“I really liked the prayer times in groups of 3. I got to experience a gift.”

Prayer Clinic

One growing feature of our visits with Vida Joven is a prayer clinic. People seek out the Dunamis team for personal prayer over very deep issues. We hear stories of trauma, hurt, abuse, brokenness, but also hope and optimism as people seek God’s guidance for their future.

It is also a chance to bring in others who want to learn prayer ministry. Some of the Vida Joven staff joined us in this.

While I cannot reveal personal issues, the prayer clinic was a powerful healing time for many of the people who came. We saw some healing, prophesy, inner healing of deeply traumatic wounds, and even a deliverance.

Staff members helping us with translation got to participate in these sessions and learn some of the practical elements of the PRMI ministry style.

The Outpouring:

We believe Sunday was a significant turning point for Vida Joven. At a general assembly of their entire leadership, Rafa, their national director, shared the vision of reaching 540 kids for Christ in the next 3 years.

Realizing they can’t do alone nor in their own strength, all 200+ leaders spent an extended time in prayer.

It started as a small group time of personal repentance.

It moved deeply into a spirit filled moment of intercession for souls, crying out for the young people in this nation, and then a shift to a clamor for an outpouring and infilling of the Holy Spirit.

A description is beyond words for the sense of expectation that moved over that group.

You changed my ministry

One student in particular told us her story of how her ministry has changed in the past year.

She has experienced a deeper relationship with Jesus, a stronger sense of empowerment in ministry, and we bear witness to that.

She lead worship during the prayer time and it’s clear that she’s received an empowerment to do that.

She’s gained a greater confidence in particular because of some personal prayer ministry she received the prior year from our visit.

From the event organizer

A student said to me,

I really enjoy the Dunamis classes.

I ask why?

Because the Spirit of God was always there.

(If you want to contribute to this trip, click here for more info).

Come over here and help us!

March 27, 2012 by ecoach Leave a Comment

Because of the long term leadership development impact we have had in Nicaragua, the national Director of Young Life in the Dominican Republic has asked me to come with a small team from PRMI to provide training over there.

Last year, we participated in the Dominican Republic training camp in Jarabacoa.

Young Life’s ministry is to help share the gospel with kids. Their leaders work in some of the toughest barrios, among the urban poor, and often in conditions that most North Americans don’t ever see. We get to come along side these ministries to help them reach their goals.

They want to double their reach by 2015.

Listen in as Rafa give that invitation:

Again, I am not sure how to have removed the wind noise from the recording, but at least you can hear the translation

“I have seen God use them in a great manner here in Nicaragua, and I want God to use the team in the Dominican Republic as well.”

Read the prior report on the Dominican Republic trip:

Another DR Leader writes:

Our volunteers and leaders are very well trained on how to do direct ministry but have not yet been trained well in the person of the Holy Spirit.

The reality of our young people today is that they have a poor concept of who the Holy Spirit is and how He works.

We think that having Chris here will be a great blessing and the spirit of God will be with him to instruct us. We hope to learn as much as we can from Chris and use it to expand the Kingdom of God.

Help me Fulfill this call:

We’ll definitely need your support to give this training to over these leaders of Young Life in the DR.

We will be focusing on about 40-45 of them for the teaching time.

I’ll need your support to cover the airline ticket. Tickets are approaching $600.

Donate through Paypal, and let me know by email that it was for the DR trip. Anything over and above will be used for ongoing ministry expenses.

Video Report From the Dominican Republic

April 28, 2011 by ecoach Leave a Comment

This was the 4th country I’ve taught in this year.

Read the prior report on the Dominican Republic trip:

As of this writing, I have raised about half of the $1500 needed to cover the time and travel for this trip.

If you want to make a project gift on line, use the PayPal button and send me your receipt by email with a note that it was for the Dominican Republic trip.

I’ve outgrown my pastor

April 22, 2011 by ecoach 3 Comments

While in the Dominican Republic to give training for Young Life, I sat across the wooden picnic table from a young student leader from a poor barrio of the city. We shared a meal together and I listened to his story.

Learning in English

He was eager to practice his English with me. His accent was weak (not too noticeable), and his grammar was excellent. He had a job in a call center for English speaking customers of an American telephone company. In this part of the world, bi-lingual people are in demand.

Given his roots in a poor neighborhood, he proudly told me how he studied English on his own, and with God’s help and his own determination, he “got it” in a few years. This young man is smart and has a will to succeed and improve his lot in life.

Mastering English was part of his ticket out.

Learning Theology

He had been hungry to learn English. He was also hungry to learn more about God. He told me about his studies in theology – picking up what books were accessible in either language. He had read theology articles on the Internet and read his Bible.

His insatiable thirst led to a deep conversation over dinner in with me about God’s calling on his life. He wants to grow spiritually, he wants to live out his purpose for God.

The Conflict

The conversation took a deeply personal turn. With some felt conflict in his heart, he shared with me how he feels like he’s outgrown his pastor.

His pastor labors in that poor community, without the resources to study or improve professionally. His pastor never completed high school, and this young man thinks most of his pastor’s professional training was acquired mostly from Christian cable television exported from the United States.

Being an independent church, there is no access to supervisors who can help a pastor grow, nor access to ongoing regular training. There is little access to denominational conferences for personal growth.

As such, the pastor gives a steady diet of motivational sermons along the same general theme: God is bigger than your problems and He will see you through.

This young man is loyal to his pastor. He realizes the limitations of his pastor’s education and training and scope of preaching.

These two ingredients — loyalty and desire to grow — create a conflict in his heart about wanting to leave his pastor and church to continue his own personal growth.

Something has to be done.

Much of the conferences that I’ve seen promoted by churches in the years I have been in Panama, plus the years of mission work in 10 different Latin American countries, show a steady diet of motivational preaching.

We attended a church for 1 year that preached some variant of the same theme week after week: God is powerful and he will bring you through your problems.

The sermons “pump you up” to face the challenges of the week, and give you the strength to survive another day. In a poor barrio, where life is survival, this is a powerful message. It is a true message.

But to a growing middle class – where survival is no longer an issue – this message gets stale. It becomes a lopsided diet of the same basic ingredient.

Self-determined people who improve their lot in life, like the young man sitting at dinner with me, can quickly outgrow their pastor.

What can I do?

Lack of pastoral training and development is a problem that propels me to the mission field. I saw it when I was in Costa Rica in 1997.

I have met many Latin American pastors that

May not have finished high school
May never have completed university.
Lack the financial resources to grow their skills.
Are tent makers trying to survive week to week.
Have little to spare on their professional development.

There are exceptions of course. Stellar pastors with education and access to resources to make their professional development happen.

While my main teaching focus on evangelism training, part of what propels me to Latin America is to give ourselves away in training pastors.

I want to be part of the solution to this problem.

As I sat across the table from a teary-eyed Young Life leader as he poured out his internal conflict with me, I saw the impact this problem creates.

This young wants to be more effective in reaching lost kids. He wants to grow his skills and theological understanding. His feels his pastor can’t lead him anymore.

This shouldn’t be.

Ministry with Dominican Republic Young Life

April 20, 2011 by ecoach 3 Comments

On the final day of the Leadership Camp for 159 Young Life leaders in the Dominican Republic, we heard quotes liked these.

“Your visit was a huge blessing. Your teaching has helped me to understand more about the Holy Spirit.”

“Thank you, that teaching was awesome and gave me some clarity to some things I have experienced.”

Young Life Leaders give themselves away in ministry. Once a year, they get to be fed and trained in at their annual leadership camp at Pico Escondido, Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.

The camp is tucked away up a rutted dirt road on a green mountainside, about 1 hour outside the city of Santiago. Cool refreshing breezes were on order each camp day and the lack of rainstorms meant lots of outdoor time. The camp itself is under development with more dormitory buildings coming online later this summer.

Jarabacoa is a small destination town (pictured on the plain below from the camp). People from the city come out to this valley for their summer vacation homes.

Year round residents have motorcycles to get around. Dodging motorcycles and mopeds while navigating narrow windy streets is an art form, as they seemed more numerous than ants in a colony.

Nicodemus visits

Our particular class had close to 50 students, those who had been in leadership with Young Life for more than 3 years.

In John 3, Nicodemus visits Jesus at night for 1-1 conversation away from the peering eyes of his leadership team.

He had deeply personal questions for Jesus.

Away from other people, he visits Jesus aside for personal Q&A.

After the second class on Who is the Holy Spirit, many Young Life leaders started seeking us out 1-1 for their Nicodemus visits.

Who is the Holy Spirit?
I had this experience. Was the Holy Spirit working in me?
When I came up out of the waters of baptism, I was so excited I started praying in tongues. Was that the Holy Spirit?
Does I have to display a certain manifestation to prove that I have been filled with the Spirit?
This happened to me, what was it?
When I’m alone, I sometimes pray in tongues. Is that normal?

I’m convinced that more personal ministry happened as a result of these 1-1 conversations rather than in class time. Some of these led to personal prayer times and personal ministry as we poured ourselves into these leaders.

What is clear among these leaders is a thirst to know more.

More about the Holy Spirit
More about how to cooperate with the Holy Spirit
More about how to pray in the Spirit
More about how to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit.

First trip might lead to second visits

What is normally a 20 hour course was condensed into 5 hours spread over 4 days. While that gave our team a lot of down time, that down time began to fill up with the Nicodemus visits and conversations.

The thirst to know more, and follow up conversations indicate a desire to keep learning more. Next month, we’ll have those kinds of conversations that may lead to future team visits.