Vision for Nicaragua

I am beginning to reach the point in my life where I constantly find myself ready to "jump the gun" and I begin placing myself in various types of "real jobs" before I have even received my college diploma as I will in May of this new year. Though I get excited about every potential job opportunity and begin placing myself and my future wife, Miriam there. My mind is always on my first missional love, the country of Nicaragua.

I feel God has put this passion for this country in my heart and given me Miriam to better equip me to serve Him and those in Nicaragua. It is obviously not the first place a typical American would desire to go to. It is hot year round with most places not having air conditioning and it is also third-world country with the daily struggles that come along with that status evident in everyday life of those born there.

I have recently been thinking through some thing God has placed on my heart for my work in Nicaragua in the future. I believe this will be further down the road as I try to manage my student loans and all of the changes that come with the transition from college to newlywed life and a new job.

But I would just like to share this idea and vision for you to begin praying through this alongside of me that I bring glory to God wherever he places me today, tomorrow, or forty years down the road. I have been called to vocational ministry for three years now. But with that said, I have never felt called to be a preaching pastor in the pulpit week in and week out. I feel more called to be teaching and "getting my hands dirty" alongside of believers and unbelievers.

God has recently put on my heart to begin exploring options of teaching pastors in the area of youth ministry and outreach in the local seminary just outside of Managua. Nicaragua has huge numbers of young people and teens but very rarely have I seen them in the churches there. I believe this is due to the lack of tailored programs and ministries for them. In Nicaragua, the young people are some of the strongest supporters for the political parties and elections. They want something and someone to believe in. As far as I know, there are very few if any classes being taught. I would like to teach classes to better equip the pastors to reach the young people in Nicaragua.

As well as teaching the pastors youth classes, I feel another strong way of equipping the pastors to reach out to the unchurched in their communities is by teaching the pastors English in the seminary or having lessons in my home. English is such a desirable language for people to learn in Nicaragua. It opens a world of opportunities in the job world and around the world for them. As these pastors begin  to learn English they can then go back and begin offering and teaching what they have learned to their church family and the community in which they live and their church is located.

In the United States our churches have staffs of five pastors to up to one hundred different paid ministry positions in the same church. In Nicaragua, this is not the case and the pastors are normally bi-vocational to be able to provide for their families. This can some times limit the amount of time these pastors can spend in their communities visiting houses, though these pastors are very diligent in doing so. The opportunity for these pastors to learn English as well will allow them to offer these to their members and unchurched members to bring them into the church not only to teach them English but to build relationships with them. And what better material to give them to practice their reading than the Bible itself!

When I dream big, I know my God is bigger and He can make a mountain move. My prayer is this small vision can bring change and a revival to the churches and people of Nicaragua. My God is faithful and His will is always done! I just hope to be one of his many tools in completing His will in the country of Nicaragua.

Making Disciple-Makers By the Numbers

As Christians, we are called in Matthew 28 to make disciples but I feel we are not called to make only disciples but we called to make disciple makers. For example, I would like to take your typical evangelist. Let's say they make one disciple per day per year, this is what it could look like on a thirty year timeline:

End of:
1 Year: 365 disciples
2 Years: 730 disciples
3 Years: 1,095 disciples
10 Years: 3,650 disciples
20 Years: 7,300 disciples
30 Years: 10,950 disciples

In summary, this is a very fruitful method and a very rapid moving method in the beginning stages.

Now, let's look at what a disciple-maker will look like on a thirty year timeline, with a disciple-maker timeline we will assume the disciple maker pours into two people for one year and then we send them out and they make disciples.

End of:
1 Year: 2 disciples
2 Years: 4 disciples
3 Years: 8 disciples
10 Years: 1,024 disciples
20 Years: 1,048,576 disciples
30 Years: 1,073,741,824 disciples

In summary, this is a slower moving method in the beginning but if each disciple-maker continues to disciple and pour into people lives this is a much more impactful method. I know this is a big numbers thing but more important than the numbers is each individual life change this numbers represent!



*Numbers adopted from Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries.

Hardin Day 1

After a late night arrival of Hardin Team 1 we spent yesterday in the community of San Judas in Belen Baptist Church. We we went to the normal Sunday service and Sunday school afterwards. 

After lunch a few of the men on the team went to La Panama school to start brainstorming and getting our plans together for the weeks work projects. 

It was really amazing to walk the campus of La Panama and hear about each project Hardin has done throughout the years. From the school walls, to play ground equipment, to running water. It is exciting to be a part of a ministry and teams that invest in the same people and communities year in and year out!

Following the time there we came back to the house made and ate some of Jimbo's famous guacamole and returned to Belen and San Judas to evangelize in the community before the evening service.

We are headed to La Panama again this morning to begin sharing the gospel with each class and student! Please be praying for these times.

A Huge Change in La Chureca

Sometimes on the mission field with short term mission trips alone you very rarely get to see huge changes like the one I was able to see today. My first year I visited Nicaragua I was here for one week not realizing I would plan to spend all of the following summers here. The first time I visited what here is called La Chureca it was a scary, dangerous place. As you turned the corner and began to drive down this road in the bus the kids weren't playing or smiling, rather digging through trash and giving the cars and visitors the middle finger with smug faces.

This place was hopeless and one could easily think that once you have arrived here there's no way out and no way to change your situation.

But any answered prayer came via Spain and over the last few years they had been working on and funding a project in La Chureca to change the image of this place and make it a terrible situation something good. I was able to see the final project of this today. After some back and forth begging between Miriam, I, and the security guard we were granted access into the now recycling factory that is La Chureca. It's incredible! Check out these photos of before:

And now the finished project and new look of La Chureca: (note these two photos are the same exact locations.)

Just know that prayer and perseverance can change something or someone without hope and turn it into an opportunity for growth, progress, and something beautiful!

Interns!

Tonight is an exciting time as we add two interns to our summer staff. It also means that our next team is very close to arriving in the next week (June 15th). Please be praying for Taylor and Kaela as they'll be flying in and arriving here in Managua in the next few hours! I'll leave you with this boy walking his pig! 

And pigs being pigs in the mud:

Back to Nicaragua

Today marks my second trip to Nicaragua this summer. This trip will be much busier with missions arriving in about a week and a half. Once the first arrives June 15th the mission house will be full until the end of July! This is a very exciting time of the year for Partners in Christ and I. We have been working and planning very hard and we know God has amazing things planned for these groups as they do His work here in Nicaragua. I will be writing more often now that there's much more activity kicking up with the teams arriving. I will keep you posted on Facebook and Twitter (@kegandewitt) each time I post a new blog! Thanks for reading and God bless!

Final days with CCS

The final day we spent in the community was a semi-longer one but a very special day. We were able to go into the community public school and share the gospel with every student and teacher in both the morning and afternoon class sessions. This was an awesome opportunity as many of the students put their faith in Christ as a result of this gospel presentation! Balloons are a huge hit with students, I have never seen such a long line of students waiting for just a normal blown up balloon. We ran out!

We were also able to have a special meal for the teachers. They really appreciated us doing this for them. One teacher said, "I am so happy you took the time to do this for us because sometimes we feel like our work isn't valued here." We didn't realize our chicken and rice lunch with the small gift of school supplies would go such a long way in encouraging these teachers. Ms. Sonya from the team did a great job leading a devotion with the teachers entirely in Spanish! I was very impressed.

 The team's final day consisted of a few R&R activities around Nicaragua. We spent the morning at the market and then had a great lunch at La Catarina overlooking a beautiful lagoon. We zip lined and visited the volcano in the afternoon.

The team headed out early this morning to fly back to Knoxville. Please be praying for their travels throughout today! I thank God for giving us a great first team to work with, the kids, faculty and parents of Concord Christian School are great people that are passionate about serving and sharing the Gospel to the nations!

El Cañon and Sunday Service

Saturday we were able to spend the day in the orphanage in El Cañon, playing with the kids and cleaning. The team brought little styrofoam planes for the boys to make and fly which was a big hit with them. Also in the orphanage I was able to go with Pastor Josue and help lead a discipleship class with the older boys of the orphanage. This was a great opportunity for me to share about my life and ministry to boys interested in being involved and working with the local church. Pastor Josue stressed to them that no matter what profession they go into that is their ministry and mission field. 

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to preach to the church and I spoke on John 9. The story is about a blind mans life that was changed by Jesus and how he then went and told EVERYONE about it. We need to be as bold as him, some people didn't even think he was the same person because he was so radically different after meeting Jesus.

Sunday night we showed the movie Courageous. This was a great activity for the community! After talking with Pastor Alfredo I learned that had 10 first time guests that night which is incredible news for a small new church plant like this one is.

Keep praying God is definitely working here! Pray for energy for me and the team as it was a late and long Sunday and we have a early morning today.

We're headed to share the Gospel in the school! I'll write soon!

Church Painting and Rooster Crossing

Yesterday we spent the entire day inside of a brand new concrete church. This church was a really good sized church here in Nicaragua but it needed some color so we made that happen. The Concord Christian School team was very diligent in working throughout the day to finish the entire inside of the church and as you'll see in following photos it looks great and much more inviting than plain unfinished concrete walls! I asked Pastor Armando, "What do you think?" He told me, "It looks so amazing, I'm very happy!" We're heading down to El Cañon today to visit the orphanage today and do some cleaning there along with playing with the kids. 

Be in prayer for me as Pastor Armando asked me to preach to his church this Sunday!

On a side note, I hit a rooster with my truck today. Not on purpose he just flew up in front of it and met the hood and windshield during flight. First time for everything here in Nicaragua!

Before:

After Primer:

After: 

God is doing some amazing things here and I am excited to see how he uses this new church to reach even more people in the community! 

praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. - Acts 2:47

First Team!

The first team of the summer arrives tonight. The staff and I are all very excited to begin all of the official work with the teams and communities. The prep work and supplies have all been bought and we are just waiting for the plane to hit the runway here in Managua.

This team is a school from Knoxville, Concord Christian School. With them, we will be painting a local church, visiting the orphanage, and playing sports with the kids in the community. 

I will post more details about our week as we get more busy! God bless and please be praying for the teams safety as they begin traveling shortly.

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 

- Philippians 1:6

And so it begins...

I am currently riding in the car to the Nashville airport to log my first batch of air miles in my journey back to my second home, Managua, Nicaragua! I am very excited it has been almost 10 months since my feet have been on Nicaraguan soil but that drought ends today! Please be praying for safe and smooth travels today!

Update: I am at my gate and should be boarding the plane to Miami very shortly.

My God Provides!

This past Friday, I lost my job and was very distraught and struggling with how I was going to make the extra money that I had just lost with those hours being taken away. With multiple expenses coming in my near future I began to pray and I tried to fight off the stress and have full faith in God. In James 1, my dad reminded me how it speaks of trials and that in return produces steadfastness. Steadfastness means to have loyalty in hard times and most importantly as believers to be loyal and have faith in God as believers. 

I woke up this morning around the same time I would have gone into work at my old job. I used this extra free time in my morning to read the word, pray, and just worship my God. I was continually reminded of the story of Job and how God gives and takes away but he gave thanks to God in all circumstances. As I walked by the coffee shop here on campus, Blessed Be Your Name was playing over the speakers, yet another reminder. 

Then God opened up his flood gates to me! I went to the rec. center here on campus (my other job) to see if there were any shifts available for me to pick up. I then talked to a coworker working the front desk and he told he how he needed to give up a lot of his shifts over the next couple months for various reasons. I had no idea what his shifts were and told him to give me a list of them and I would see if I could cover any of those shifts for him. A few minutes later I received an email from him, the shifts he needed to give up were on Monday and Friday mornings. The same exact hours I worked at my old job! I would not have a drop off in hours at all. But it does not stop there, there were also Saturday morning shifts that I was free to pick up also! And guess when those shifts begin, the day after I receive my last check from my old job. 

Throughout the last few months I was receiving paychecks weekly and had mastered saving and budgeting my money very well. But it is very rare to have a job or two that will allow me to receive a paycheck weekly. God allowed me to have time with a weekly paycheck to learn how to be a good steward of my money and then he takes away my job but gives me more hours and pay at my current job to allow me to not lose any time or money. My God provides, when He and I am ready! His timing is never wrong!