The day they called him Pastor

....he wasn't preaching a sermon. 

Arismendy is from a coastal town in Dominican Republic. Before he enrolled in our missions training school (Comisión de Maestro Quisqueya - CMQ), he had never flown on an airplane, never even experience an extended road trip, and never walked very far to get places. There was always a mototaxi to get around town. Yet as a third year student in our missionary training program, his mission would take him by airplane to the far away jungles of Ecuador to live among the Shuar Indians. He would walk up to 6 hours on foot just to reach their villages and preach in their tiny churches. And though electricity is scarce in the DR, Arismeny spent six weeks in places so remote that only solar panel provided the meager moments of electricity.

Arismendy is six feet tall, a dark skinned Afro-Caribbean young man. For the Shuar, he was a foreigner in every sense of the word. When he first arrived to serve the Shuar tribe, the Indigenous people had difficulty pronouncing his name, so they would call him "Negro."  Arismendy felt so out of place, and the kids would often make fun of him as he tried to learn to play soccer. Soccer was new to Arismendy since he grew up playing only baseball and basketball in the DR.

He knew that he needed to connect with these kids somehow and win their respect. So he became determined to love the things that they loved. This meant that he needed to learn to play soccer and he needed to eat with them. Arismendy would learn to eat grub worms and play soccer for hours. The day he made his first goal was significant. After that day, he began to hear the kids calling him "Pastor" instead of "Negro." The more time he spent with them listening to their stories, eating the grub worms and drinking chicha* the less he heard them calling him “Negro.”  Though he had walked for hours to preach in the pulpits of the jungle churches, it was not eloquent preaching that won him the title of “Pastor.” It was eloquent loving.

*Traditional Chicha-makers grind the maize and then chew it to moisturize it. After the human saliva breaks down the starch, the balls of chewed maze are put in large clay vats and warm water is added. After several days of fermentation, Chicha is ready to be consumed.

Prayer Meetings are a Waste of Time???

They all live in tin shacks with dusty dirt floors. Some of them do not own shoes. Big sister helps little sister fold her hands to pray. And in this moment where the children of this small Haitian village take a moment to connect with the Heavenly Father, some will trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior, others are praying to be healed of sickness, still others pray for their next meal. It just warms your heart to see this picture of the simplicity of turning our thoughts and attention to Creator God in beautiful conversation. We call it prayer.

And just yesterday I was sent a blog post, written by an American Pastor, “Why Prayer Meetings are a Waste of Time.” The post makes the claim that people pray so that they can feel better when something tragic happens, such as last week’s Boston bombing,  and that this is not the purpose of prayer. Though the blogger makes some good points, and certainly the title was all about shock value, still, I was saddened by the Pastor’s disillusionment with prayer and church prayer meetings. 

We could spend some time here doing in-depth studies and theological evaluations about the purpose of prayer, but as I ponder the sweetness and simplicity of these two sisters, I am so glad that when we are at the end of our resources, when I cannot solve the problem of hunger and poverty on this island, we can pray. And, we can teach our children to pray. And when the adults fail, and the government fails, and life is hard, and sickness is scary, and earthquakes happen, and sin is real, there is a Savior. A Savior that you can know, and experience, and talk to, every day in prayer. 

Prayer is wonderful all by yourself but oh the sweetness when you are weak, and not even able to connect your brain cells together, much less fold your hands, and there is that sister and those brothers around you and you come together to pray. I don’t think that this could ever be a waste of time. 

Just ask the shoeless sisters. 

(This photo was shot by our Missionary Associate, Alex Rousonelos  at a King's Castle outreach in Haiti, with Engage Dominican Republic students, Dominican missionaries Miguel & Mairelys Ovalle and Hidekel King and Haitian King's Castle warriors) 

What the Earthquake Destroyed

On January 12th our island was shaken by an earthquake that caused the destruction of the principal city of Port-Au-Prince. Since that time your television set, newspaper, internet and email inbox have been filled with images and words describing the horrific results of this kind of destruction. To see the rubble, the blood-stained clothes of impoverished children and watch the desperation of a mother in the aftermath of this event is gut-wrenching from across the ocean but to experience it with the people of this island has been indescribable.

Three days after the earthquake Nelson loaded up supplies and left in the middle of the night with a group of colleagues to reach Miguel Ovalle, a Dominican missionary who lives with his family in Port-au- Prince. He was able to see and experience first hand what the earthquake destroyed. He saw the buildings, the roads, the vehicles and the wounded. He wept at the sight and sounds of such tragedy. Then there was that glimmer of light in the midst of such black darkness. It was something else that the earthquake destroyed.

The seismic phenomenon had begun the break down of the division that kept these two nations on one piece of land so separate. For the first time in history Haiti was dependent on supplies and relief that could only come to them by crossing the border. A border that represented years of racial hatred, prejudice and pain. The Dominican Republic and Haiti share the same piece of land in the Caribbean and they also share a difficult history. The history between these two countries is a road stained with conflict, racial prejudice and hatred. The result is a border that separates the languages, the culture, the sport, religious tradition but most tragically, the people.

Yet, since that tragedy of Jan 12, the separation has been diminished. Something is changing in the culture. Dominicans are responding, both in the church and secular organizations. The grocery stores have places to receive donations. Our church leaders have met and ministered to Haitian church leaders. God is at work. Many have responded. Maybe YOU have responded. Some have sent a monatary gifts, others were able to donate tangible items and others have volunteered time and expertise.

As we look to the future of this island we can see something else in the rubble. Doubt has been destroyed by the earthquake. No longer will we see Haiti as a barren wasteland with no hope of a brighter future. The world's response to this tragedy has taken away our doubting. There are so many dreams being born in the debris. But as we dream was see the greatest hope in the children.

The future will be built by the youth and children of this nation. It is our passion to reach them with the only true hope for Haiti found in the Gospel. For we are convinced that with the redeeming power of the Gospel is power to transform this nation. With the Gospel comes wisdom, integrity, and the principles of the Kingdom of God that not only give us a hope for our eternal destiny but make a difference in the here and now. And because of the Gospel we have a true hope that is rising from the rubble of what the earthquake destroyed.

"For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace." Colossians 1:5,6

The Dirt Cookie

Yes, I am still writing about our trip to Haiti. There was so much to share and so much that I never want to forget...

We drove into Citi Soleil as Pastor Miguel shared with us the sad and difficult history. It is known as the poorest and most violent ghettos in the Western Hemisphere. Bullet holes decorate the walls of the shantytown shacks and buildings. The children run around naked with bloated bellies. The sadness is so real that it is almost tangible in the atmosphere.

Until we arrive at church. The people are gathered early in the morning. The sweet smile of my Haitian sister greets me at the door. She is beautiful in the midst of the misery of poverty. Her dress is bright green and freshly pressed. Her eyes dance with the joy of the Holy Ghost and I can see that there is no misery too deep that cannot be redeemed.

The children filled the church and we played and sang together. We painted their faces with butterflies and hearts and then someone said, “Jesus--here on my forehead”. JEZI-- of course!!! Then they all wanted JEZI. Red, yellow, black and white, in big letters we painted JEZI!!! As I painted, I prayed “this one is yours Jesus all the days of her life. This one is to be redeemed, rescued by the all-powerful, no violence-too-violent, no-suffering-too severe, no-poverty-too-painful ONE and only REDEEMER. “

When I was in language school, I remember so well when Doug Peterson, our Area Director at the time, taught about what he called “redemption and lift”. I have later learned that this is actually a term coined by social scientists. Historically, repentance and conversion, not social programs, have been the only effective solution for a myriad of problems such as child abuse, child exploitation, poor working conditions, low incomes, high unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse and teen pregnancy. God helps a father to stop drinking and start working; as a result he has more money to provide for the family, he becomes a leader in the church. He is faithful to his wife. He is a good father to his children. His life takes on real meaning.

I have seen the reality of “redemption and lift” over and over again here in the Dominican Republic but never did it feel so true, so authentic as it did in that little wooden church in Citi Soleil.

As we drove away from the sadness and the beauty, Pastor Miguel stopped to purchase something that was being sold on the side of the road in that ghetto. We didn’t know what it was. It turned out to be a perfect representation of both sadness and beauty.

Our last night together in Haiti, we decided to celebrate communion with our missionary host Pastor Miguel and Mairelys. He brought out the strangest piece of “bread”. It looked more like clay than bread. He broke it up and gave each of us a piece.
Then Miguel talked to us about the moment when Jesus broke bread with his disciples, future world changers, just like us. He said that it must have been a difficult moment, as he knew what was to come. Jesus knew that He would soon take upon himself the bitterness of the sin of the whole world. Then Miguel read the scripture and we ate the bread together. An incredibly bitter taste filled my mouth. It was pasty and hard to swallow, a taste that lingered and was difficult to remove from your teeth and tongue.

Miguel explained to us that this was a “dirt” cookie that he bought in Citi Soleil for just a few cents a piece. He told us that many Haitian children survive on eating these “dirt” cookies that are made of mud and lard. It represented to us the terrible reality of poverty that is a result of sin in this world. Tears poured down all of our cheeks, as we together had tasted this reality in more ways than one and that taste would not be easily removed from our memories or our hearts.

Still, the sadness was quickly displaced by the joy of knowing that this bread and the juice that we shared together were the symbols of the very real REDEMPTION that we encountered in Citi Soleil. Because even in Citi Soleil, there was no misery too enormous that can eradicate hope that comes from our resurrected Christ and His saving work.

Viv Jezi!!!
Jesus Lives!!!

I have always said that this blog was more about never forgetting all the amazing works of our missionary God than it was about writing for an audience. I am always amazed when I find out that someone actually reads this stuff. I have always needed a place to put down the details of every story of grace, every miracle big and small, and a place to express this enormous gratitude that fills my heart because of this privelege that I have to serve HIM. So that being said there is at least one more story about Haiti to come.

A Walk in Bonis' White Shoes

Bonis has some nice white shoes. Seriously, I have always admired how white he keeps those shoes walking around here in the Dominican Republic. Bonis is a missionary intern from Castillo del Rey (King's Castle) in Nicaragua. And as a missionary, Bonis is walking the walk of faith in those white shoes. He has come here on a very tight budget and there are days when he doesn’t have a peso to his name. Today was one of those days.

Today he was supposed to come the office and share devotions in our staff meeting. The title of his message was to be “The benefits of obedience”. He walked out the door not sure how he would get to office and praying for God to provide transportation some how, some way. He has been serving in a small town 45 minutes away from our offices, so it was going to be a long walk in those white shoes.

As he walked Bonis contemplated what he would share in devotions. He had hardly walked just a few blocks when a car pulled over. It was someone Bonis had never seen before. Bonis explained to us that it turned out to be a brother who had seen him at an evangelistic event. The brother offered him a ride to the capital.

This morning we were all encouraged; there was not a dry eye in our devotions. We all understood. Every one of us is walking this walk of faith, in one way or another --just without the white shoes.

Day 1 continued-- Beautiful Feet

It wasn't long before the men of the village pulled together some corn from the crop that was growing on the mountain. They made a fire with the old husks, and cooked us some corn. Some of it even popped up like popcorn! It was dry and not very sweet, most likely due to the scarcity of water in the region. The sweetness of this corn was really found in the act of sharing. We had brought goodies for them, but they also gave of what they had to us. On this side of the island, we have erroneously believed that Haiti is full of people that always take, and never give.


We then gathered together in the church, and Pastor Samuel told the story of the rich man and Lazarus found in Luke 16. He must have been an amazing storyteller because the people were mesmerized, and the children were completely quiet. We did a program, and a prayer tunnel. We prayed for everyone on that mountain. It took awhile; I think we counted over 200 people squeezed in the little church.

Among those 200 people I saw a woman who was wearing a familiar shirt. I took a second look, and realized it was the same shirt that was given to my boys when we visited Life Church in Roanoke, VA. Now, this was amazing to me because we were really in a remote place. How did that shirt get to somebody way up on this mountain? I asked Pastor Samuel. He was not nearly as amazed, and I loved his answer:

“Sister Rennae, you say that shirt was from an Assemblies of God church. Well this church is an Assemblies of God church, and we are all one family. Pastor Bill (Bill Smith, our AGWM missionary) is always giving us donations to take up the mountain. We load up our back packs and mules, and bring whatever he gives us.”

Each of the kids received cookies, a pair of flip-flops, and the Book of Hope. They were thrilled! Then we began our walk down the mountain. As we walked, some of the children followed, holding our hands to keep us from falling. It was steep going down! I noticed that my little traveling companion had no shoes. Flip-flops would be useless for going down this mountain. I had been regretting the whole day that I was doing this hike in converse tennis shoes knowing that I had a perfect pair of hiking shoes in my closet. My regret quickly turned to gratefulness for my undeserved abundance.



Coming down the mountain we took time to stop and eat our lunch. Granted, it was about 4:00 pm, but there was no way that we could have eaten while at the church with people who had such need. We had brought a few extra sandwiches, but our traveling friends were more than we expected. So we prayed for the multiplication of bread, and God supplied the need. The funny thing was, that just like there were leftovers in the story of the Gospels, we also ended up with leftover sandwiches!!!

Coming down the mountain, I looked around at my tired, smelly, and filthy team. Our shoes were dirty from the hard climb. But one thing is for sure, our feet were BEAUTIFUL!

How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"
Isaiah 52:7

Day 1 Walking and Singing Together...

"If you want to walk fast, walk alone; if you want to walk far, walk together." African Proverb

During our training days I shared this African proverb with the warriors. We talked about how missions requires partnership. In order for us to go to the ends of the earth we would have to be committed to the long walk TOGETHER. Little did I know that we would LITERALLY be walking far together during our trip to Haiti.

Pastor Miguel told us that we would have to be up early the next day (4:00 AM) because we would be traveling far into the mountains. He was taking us to a place called Pino that no foreign team, American or any other country for that matter, had ever been. He said that even the UN had not visited this place because it was so remote. For places like Pino, humanitarian supplies are dropped from helicopters. We drove up in a tap-tap (a converted pick-up truck that holds passengers in the truck bed on small benches) and met Pastor Samuel and his wife along the way. Pastor Samuel pastors an A/G church in Port –a- Prince that planted this church in Pino. It is the only evangelical church for these mountain people. Pastor Samuel’s church also sponsors the children to go to school right there in the church. It was a two-hour drive up through the mountains to get to the bottom of the Pino Mountain.

Our wonderful missionary host, Miguel Ovalle, kind of left out a detail when he told us that we would be walking three hours to this remote community. He neglected to mention that we would be climbing a mountain. As we climbed this mountain it became very clear as to why we were the first foreigners to visit Pino. It was a STEEP desert mountain filled with cactus. We had one mule that carried our water and our puppet stage and then each of us had a backpack full of ministry supplies like cookies and candy, copies of the Book of Hope, our lunch and a big bottle of water.

As we gathered ourselves together at the bottom of Pino we saw a group of women and children washing clothes and filling buckets with water. This was the river that served the mountain people. This was the only water that they had access to. From this river we walked three hours to get to the community where the Pino Assemblies of God church was located. I snapped a picture of the children with buckets of water on their head; amazed at their ability, and also struck by the harsh reality of their daily lives.

We walked together Dominican missionaries with American missionaries, Haitian pastors, Dominican Castle warriors and Haitian castle warriors and as we walked we shared. We learned Creole along the way. We laughed together. We learned together. Pastor Samuel showed us the Voo-Doo witchdoctor houses. He showed us trees with Voo-doo symbols and he reminded us that this was the ONLY church in these mountains while Voo-doo places ofworship are scattered throughout the mountains.

Voo-Doo temple that we saw as we climbed the mountain

Pino Assemblies of God Church

When we finally made it to the top of the mountain we were greeted by the community of believers that was waiting for us at the church. The humble church was made with wooden poles and palm leaves for the siding. The roof was made of tin; the floor was a dirt floor with small wooden benches. (My friend Shirley, who used to be a missionary to Haiti, calls them "cut-your-butt" benches, which is a much better description)

Upon our arrival Pastor Samuel gathered us all together on that mountaintop standing outside of the church with the mountain views all around us. He said “Let us give thanks to the Lord for bringing us safely”. We expected him to begin with a prayer but instead he began to sing. The words were strange to us in Creole but the tune was well-known by all who were gathered on that mountain. He sang “How Great Thou Art” and as he sang I heard my beloved Dominicans join in “Mi Corazon entona la cancion, cuan grande es El…” It was overwhelming. Tears filled my eyes because I knew that I was in the middle of the most beautiful moment. It was as though the complicated political, cultural border that divided these two countries was magnificently erased by the beauty and greatness of the God who had brought us together.

Check back again for more of Day 1.

Getting rid of my shades…

Ninoska, a Castle Warrior and I at the border about to cross into Haiti

For sixteen years I have lived, worked, and loved this island that is known as Quisqueya. Our work has been on the Dominican side and it was only this past week that I finally was able to cross to the Haitian side. Going to the other side was an amazing experience that has enriched my life tremendously and changed everything that I ever believed about Haiti.

The Dominican Republic and Haiti share the same piece of land in the Caribbean and they also share a difficult history. The history between these two countries is a road stained with conflict, racial prejudice and hatred. The result is a border that separates the languages, the culture, the sport, religious tradition but most tragically, the people. Everything that I ever understood about Haiti until this past week I understood with a Dominican understanding. It was like I was looking across the border with a pair of tinted glasses. I was close enough to see Haiti but my view was darkened by those Dominican shades.

I could see Haiti because so much of Haiti is here. There are Haitian Beteyes (Haitian communities usually for the purpose of farming) where we have been active in ministry for years. There is the history of independence from Haiti. Dominicans celebrate independence from Haiti. Independence was won in this city, Santo Domingo and my children have studied in a Dominican school. I have visited the monuments and sang the songs of liberty. My neighbors across the street are Haitian and I have missionary colleagues that plant churches among the Haitian community. Haiti has always been here, but I have never been to Haiti.

Last week, we took a team of Dominicans (Kings Castle warriors) to work with our missionary Miguel and Mairelys Ovalle in Port-a-Prince. Miguel has been a part of Castle practically from the beginning of Castle here in the DR. He and his wife are THE ONLY Dominican missionaries the LIVE FULL TIME in Haiti. They are giving their lives to reach the children of Haiti and that speaks volumes to the Haitian church.

If you could hear each story you would find that each of the Dominican Castle warriors would tell you about someone in their lives who did not understand why they wanted to go to Haiti. Someone who did not think it was worth the money to be spent on one week in a place of so much hopelessness. But this is a group of warriors they have heard the call to go to the other side and together we took off the shades of our understanding and got to see Haiti in a whole new light.

Impossible Tasks

Here in Dominican Republic it is not uncommon to see all kinds of things being transported in unusual ways.

I have seen a family of six riding on a small motorcycle.

I have seen seven children going to school on a motorcycle.

I have seen a washing machine strapped to a motorcycle.

I have seen 20ft bundles of rebar being dragged by the passenger on the motorcycle.

I have seen tricycles, bikes, that served as the local garbage collectors piled so high that the driver could not see what was in front of him.

But in my humble missionary opinion this photo wins the prize. I love it!For me it is the perfect metaphor for our lives and ministry at this moment. Here we are given a task that just seems impossible to accomplish given the resources that we possess.

On our island slavery is a HUGE issue. Over 300,000 children are enslaved through forced labor or prostitution. I am just trying to save 27.

Drug abuse and drug trafficking are out of control. Just a few days ago, Yudi, one of our missions students, got a call saying that her brother was murdered by drug traffickers. Now she has two brothers that are dead because of drugs. Yudi is the ONLY Christian in her whole family. We are committed to see this one young, spirit filled women be the transformational generation in her family.

There are still 6,620 unreached people groups in the world. In India alone there are 2,190 unreached people groups. Misael and Deborah, newly appointed missionaries from Dominican Republic have a passion to reach just one of these groups. They are presently raising support from our Dominican churches to go. Our job is to train them to go and train our churches to send these missionaries.

So given such a sizable task, we can sit and look at this big job and complain about the economy and how few resources we have, or we can put the car on the bike and make it happen. We choose to make it happen.

What is your impossible task? Are you waiting for the economy to improve before you make it happen? Are you waiting for the perfect timing and better circumstances when all the while if you just took a chance on what you you had right in front of you, your mustard seed could actually MOVE A MOUNTAIN.

"I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." --Jesus in Luke 17:20

Muddy Shoes, 6,000 Souls, Giving Groceries and a Toilet Story

Muddy shoes and beautiful feet - Yudi is a second year Master's Commission student who was out in a rural town doing children's ministry when she found herself in the middle of some deep mud. She was out inviting children to an afternoon evangelistic activity. As she walked she saw three kids playing in a basketball court that was just beyond some really deep mud. It was so deep that her shoe got stuck in the mud and she had to dig it out. As she was digging it out the young girl that from the church that was with her told her, "It's ok Yudi, we really don't have to go so far in this mud." Yudi was determined. She was gonna make sure that those three little boys were invited to the actvity. Sure enough that the first children to arrive at church were the three boys from the muddy barrio. The left their muddy shoes by the door of the church and sat on the front row. It turns out the Yudi's muddy feet were the most beautiful of all. As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"(Rom. 10:15)

6000 souls- Elias and Merary spent last weekend putting together a Kings Castle soul-a-thon event. Their faces were lit up with joy as they were able to reach 6000 children at the event!

Giving groceries- Keila was so excited as she told about how her young people were able to give out groceries in the neediest barrios of her town of Villa Altagracia. Keila shared "I had been hoping to recieve bags of aid from an American organization for feeding the poor. We waited and then I decided to challenge the young people of my Kings Castle team not to wait. We can each bring and donate a bag of groceries from our own families resources to give out in the communtiy. We called them 'bags of love' and distributed the bags door to door."

A Toilet Story- Pastor Reynoso called me the other day to tell us about how his church has been ministering to 337 children every week . Now he pastors a church of only 75 members but they are serious about reaching out to the children in their impoverished barrio. They have carefully kept records of each one of these children. They know their families and their stories. The make it a point to learn about their needs. One little boy in particular was a regular attender to the children's ministry and came to church every time the doors were open. They noticed that every time he came he would use the church bathroom as soon as he arrived. Then someone went to visit the little boy's home. They learned that the family was so porr that they did not have a bathroom. Pastor Reynoso and his wife decided that they would personally do something to help. The gave took out their own toilet and gave it to the family and helped them build a bathroom. Pastor Reynoso's wife was happy to help. She said, "I wanted a new toilet for our house anyway."

Angelo is going to PERU!!!!

I must admit that I was surprised that Angelo was even interested in Master’s Commission, our missions training school. Angelo is quiet and from the small town of Azua. Yet he was determined. This past summer Angelo was one of the first class of students in Dominican Republic that was the first to graduate with a major in missions and theology.

Since entering Master’s Commission Angelo has felt called to missions and he made it his goal to do his missions internship in Peru. Financially, this was an extremely lofty goal for a guy from Azua. Yet the biggest challenge was the fact that his family was in the middle of a crisis. His father had been unemployed for six months. As a young adult in Dominican culture, Angelo was expected to contribute to the family finances and all the more so in the situation of financial crisis.

So Angelo had a decision to make the day that he bought tickets to Lima, Peru. The tickets were found at a significant discount if he could leave on the 31st of October. Would he stay and find work? Or would he move forward with his ministry plans in Peru? Angelo took an enormous step of faith and purchased the airline ticket. The flight would leave the day that his father was to complete six months of unemployment.

Yet the God who calls is also the one who provides. Just a few days before Angelo’s flight was to depart, his father was was hired at a new job! This was just the confirmation that Angelo needed. His family was taken care of, his missionary budget was supplied and his Friday, Angelo will get on a plane headed for Peru to serve and love the children there.

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.”