Dick Nicolson's World Summit Testimony

This testimony was written by our Latin America Regional Director Dick Nicholson.


Communiqué—August 2006

There is no doubt about it—last night’s King’s Castle Leadership Summit in La Vega, Dominican Republic, was pretty special!

The event, planned (excellently) by Nelson and Rennae DeFreitas, was attended by over 300 young people from eight or nine countries around the region. It was something to behold!

First, the fact that these many young “warriors” paid $100 to get into the campground at La Vega, and raised that amount plus airfare ($700 or more in some cases), was impressive. Talk about being motivated!

Then, the energy released in every part of the gathering was amazing. It’s always impressive to see hundreds of young people, all wearing special T-shirts with Scriptures on them, jumping up and down and shouting praises to Jesus—though I’ll surely never be able to keep up! The chapel rocked. I felt that same energy in the World Missions (Chi Alpha) Summit in Louisville over New Year’s and a year before that in Buenos Aires at the Global Student Encounter.

They were excited about winning the world for Jesus! It was missions-emphasis night, and the platform was draped with the huge posters we see in the U.S. churches during missions convention time. The thing is, it is fresh in Latin America, still a novelty. I had to tiptoe around five young people with digital cameras who were taking shots of the posters!

About 200 of the 300-plus young people responded to the call to missions. An hour later, as we left, they were still weeping and letting the Harvestmaster know that they were ready to go—“Here am I; send me!” Today on the flight back to Miami I was reflecting on last night’s happenings and recognized a deep-down ache in my gut as this thought gripped me: it’s been a long time since I have seen anything similar to that in any American church, at least with the young people!

I had seen about 75 people respond to a similar call in Managua, several hundred in Buenos Aires a while back, scores in San Salvador, but very little of that kind of missions passion do I see released among our youth here. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not pounding on the American church. I just sometimes wish this awesome missions passion we are seeing throughout the region were more common at home. It is contagious, however, and many groups are coming back from AIM trips to the nations and pumped by what they’ve experienced, so maybe something good is happening after all . . . .

They had special prayer for Haiti, Indonesia, India, and Israel. We heard challenges from several missionaries from LAC to other nations, and it had its effect. The passion to reach the lost is undeniable.

I loved watching the youngest DeFreitas boys jumping up and down, singing the songs, praising Jesus, and pumping their fists in the air as they joined the excitement. Several of the MK teens were fervently praying with a Latin or Caribbean colleague or joining in the skits. I just know the future is bright if our MKs are helping by leading the way in reaching the nations for Jesus! I can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds.

I’m not sure how big this missions thing is going to get in our region. It might be greater than anyone has imagined until now, but I’m grateful for your involvement in King’s Castle, Masters Commission, and a host of youth and children’s ministries. Their passion for loving God and answering His call are a means through which the Spirit is preparing a generation of youth, some of them our own kids, to shake the nations.

This is going to be amazing to see!

Blessings, Dick

Kings Castle World Summit

If you’ve ever been to a championship game, whether it is little league or major leagues, then you know the excitement about the BIG game. There is energy, there is cheering and there is expectation. And that is exactly what it was like in La Vega, Dominican Republic.

In August, we spent five days in La Vega with over three hundred young people from eight countries in Latin America and we experienced the energy, heard the cheering and felt the atmosphere of expectation. The energy, cheering and expectation had nothing to do with a sports event; rather it was a spiritual event.

The Kings Castle World Summit takes place every other year and it was our privilege to host this year’s event. The purpose of the event is to share evangelism material, vision, methods for reaching the lost as well as experiencing a life-transforming encounter with the Holy Spirit. For many of the Kings Castle warriors the event was a place of miracles. That is true for Rosemary, Miguel and Oriali.

When Rosemary got off the plane from Peru she couldn’t even believe that is was real. She was only able to raise $650 for her plane ticket; and the lowest price that she could find was over $1000. The day that she purchased her airline tickets to come to the Summit was a day where her only hope was a miracle. She prayed as approached the ticket counter. Nervously she explained her situation to the agent. It turns out that the agent was a Christian. The agent searched and searched, it took so long that Rosemary was sure that it was not going to work out and finally the agent looked up from the computer. She said “It’s a miracle! I found a ticket for $630!!!” That was just the beginning of Rosemary’s miracle. During the World Summit Rosemary was called to missions. She will definitely be purchasing airline tickets in the future. Now her faith can take her to other continents.

Miguel is called to Haiti. Miguel’s heart is broken for the children of Haiti. Miguel is a warrior. And to be perfectly honest, it takes a warrior to live in Haiti. Haiti is the poorest nation in Latin America. Most Haitians would do anything for an opportunity to live in Dominican Republic. Miguel will do anything to live in Haiti. He came to the Summit to share his vision with warriors from all over Latin America. We planned to take up an offering for Miguel on missions night. So many were praying that God would provide in a BIG way. Yet the reality is that we were taking up an offering in a chapel full of students from third world developing nations. Honestly, I was just hoping for more than $100. Yet it is amazing what God did with a group of students whose hearts are broken for the nations. The offering was counted and we could scarcely believe the result; $800!!! I’ll never forget the smile on Miguel’s face that night when he came to know personally that the God who calls is also the one who provides.

Oriali studied Television production and broadcasting in college. She had a degree and a good paying job in the television industry here in Dominican Republic. Yet she told us, “I was miserable because I knew that God had called me to be a missionary”. Yet Oriali, like many other Dominican students, don’t know have a clear path to missions, there are VERY FEW Dominican missionaries that serve as a model to follow. Oriali knew she was called, she just didn’t know how to follow that call. During the World Summit, God put into motion direction for her life and finally the “path” that she was praying for. Kings Castle will begin filming children’s television this year. Oriali will be going to El Salvador to help begin this new area of ministry. She is excited for the opportunity to use the talent and education to reach the children of Latin America with the gospel. Her path is clear now and the impact is immeasurable.

Oriali, Miguel, and Rosemary are just three examples but there are so many more stories that have come out of the Summit. Basically, we just kept hearing the same thing over and over again, “God has called me to missions” , “I am going to Bible school because I want to preach the Gospel”. Yet my favorite testimony was expressed is just a few lines but I believe it is a true reflection of what God is about to do as a result of the World Summit.


“Every day of the Summit, I felt more and more love for the children that live in the forgotten, unreached countries of the world and now I believe that we will be able to accomplish our goal of reaching one million children very quickly.”