Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Extreme Peru 2

All of our work here at Extreme starts with the 40/40s. 40/40s are pairs of young missionaries (Each pair consist of 1 Peruvian and 1 non-Peruvian) that go out in their assigned locations with the goal of planting churches. If I have my stats correct, by the end of this year Extreme will have deployed 40 pairs into the mission field.

Many times we have short term groups come down to help reach the community. We call these groups "Momentum Teams". These teams do all kinds of things to assist the 40/40s in reaching the locals in the community. Just a few short weeks ago we had a team (20+) right here in Arequipa for 2 weeks. They did everything from painting to festivals to soccer (futbol) and volleyball tournaments. Here are a few stats from those weeks that show the momentum and the contacts that we received for the the 40/40s to follow up on. 

  • 1812 came to our events and heard the gospel message and met our 40/40s in their town.
  • 282 people accepted Christ, almost all in and around the 40/40 church plant areas.  Most of these people already know our 40/40s                  
  • 365 more people have requested a visit by our missionaries in their home, also in and around the church plant sites.
On top of all the lives that have and will be changed as a result of the hard work from this past momentum team many of the team members left transformed as well. A number of those team members showed interest in some of our long term opportunities both here on the field and in the US. 

Here is a link to some of the photos from the Momentum Team in Arequipa: https://picasaweb.google.com/extremenazarene/ExtremePeru2ArequipaMomentum1#

Once there is a group of people with their own pastor that meets regularly and has a steady income and meets all the requirements set by Extreme, the next step is to build a building. A place for the Church to Meet, to Worship God and to Grow! This brings us to our "Construction Team". Like the momentum teams, these teams come down for 2 weeks, only their focus is to build a structure that is needed for a place to gather. 

This week we will be breaking ground and pouring the foundation for a Foam Block Church right here in Arequipa. This if the first of many foam block churches to be built in and around Peru. I personally am excited to get to help with the construction of this building (and not just because I get to skip class).  

More on the foam block church to come.


Go to www.extremenazarene.org and see how you can be a part of this extreme ministry.

Check back there will be much more to come. Because when it comes to Winning Lives for Christ, "There is no Off-Season".