The following series of posts will fill you in on some exciting new aspects of our ministry - which are also opportunities for people to get involved, if they wish to do so.
Before I start in on the new things, however, I'm going to post an updated version of the ministry overview, which can also be found in a tab at the top of this page, right under the header, where you can easily find it if you wish to see it again, or share it.
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Allen
and Trish Sowers have been working in Honduras since 2001. They now
work in partnership with their son, Russell, and his wife Iris.
Together, they have successfully established ministry relationships
with over a thousand indigenous pastors and their churches. In
a typical year, these Honduran pastors see over 15,000 professions of
faith and plant 60 plus new churches! Through
dynamic partnerships with churches, organizations, and individuals,
this ministry enables the Honduran pastors to minister to their
congregations in a wide range of areas. Funds, food, vitamins,
motorcycles, school supplies, clothing, computers, construction
materials, etc. - when someone has a resource that they are willing
to donate or sell at a greatly reduced price, we provide the
transportation, logistics and oversight to put it into the hands of
those who will utilize it in the service of God and their community.
Overview
of our ministries:
Feeding
and Nutrition Programs: In
partnership with “Kids Against Hunger” and others, we distribute
food, vitamins and worm medicine through 120 church-run feeding
centers, orphanages, victims of natural disasters, and other
programs, providing about
1.2
million meals
per year.
With
matching funds, this all happens for about a penny a meal!
Pastor
Training School: We’ve
conducted 50 pastor training programs involving hundreds of pastors
and support several training programs in local churches.
Bible Book Store: These materials are purchased wholesale and sold at cost. Even at cost, a simple study Bible can equate to an entire week’s wages for a pastor. To date, we have supplied approximately 40,000 Bibles and study materials, including about 8000 study Bibles.
Church
Construction:
We partner with rural mountain churches in their church construction
by supplying the materials to install the roof (congregation supplies
the land, labor, and other construction materials). In this way, over
120 churches have been built. A typical roof for a church of 250
members costs approximately $1,000.
Gifts for Gracias: Christmas gifts, school supplies, and gently used clothing are distributed to pastors and their families, to orphans and special needs families.
Sustainable
Ministry: We
have started a coffee farm in order to help fund our ministries. We
are praying that in a few years 50% of our ministry cost will be
funded by the profits. An acre of coffee (2000 plants) costs $2500 to
plant and take to production. It is expected to produce $45,500
dollars of income over the next 30 years.
Teams: We organize and host servant- focused teams from the U.S. and Canada with the desire to share the love of Jesus Christ, these include medical, dental, construction, and evangelism groups.
Motorcycles for Supervisors and Pastors: Many of our pastors walk 40 to 60 miles a week to visit multiple churches. In partnership with the Christian Motorcyclists Association and others, 166 motorcycles have been distributed to indigenous missionaries and pastors.
Mules
and Horses for Pastors:
Some pastors cannot afford to maintain a motorcycle or live in areas
where the “roads” are impassible even
for motorcycles!
We have helped over 70 pastors purchase a horse or a mule.
Bridge
Projects:
In Honduras, tens of thousands of people lose the ability to travel
outside of their immediate area (to hospitals, markets, etc.),
because of seasonal flooding. In cooperation with businesses in the
U.S., we import re-purposed cable for the construction of bridges in
rural areas. We partner with local governments and humanitarian
groups to build safe bridges which connect otherwise unreachable
areas to needed services. To date, we have 15 completed bridges, and
half a dozen are in the planning stage, including 2 “bridge in a
week projects”, (a group has offered to fly Russell and Allen to
Haiti to show them how to build a cable bridge).
Other
projects include:
Missionary kids camp, schools, houses, clean water, and other
municipal projects.
Please
consider partnering with the Sowers ministry in making an eternal
difference:
- $1.25: To plant a coffee tree (sustainable ministry)
- $2.00: Feeds a child a nutritious supplemental meal 2x per week for a year
- $4.00: De-worm 100 children for a year
- $7.00: Supplies a Sunday school teacher with materials for two years
- $16.00: Sponsors a church based feeding center with 80 children for 1 month
- $20.00: Provides a pastor with a study Bible
- $125.00: Plants & maintains 100 coffee plants, providing work for the local people plus generating $2275 in profit (funds for the ministry) over the next 30 years
- $180.00: Buys food, vitamins, worm medicine & study materials for a feeding center for 1 year
- $250.00: Purchases a horse for a remote indigenous missionary
- $300.00: Provides an indigenous missionary 50% of his annual support
- $1000.00: Puts a roof on a new church
- $1000.00 Provides a motorcycle to a pastor
- $1200.00: Helps build a home for a poor family
We invite you to learn more by
visiting us at Sowers4Pastors.com
or Sowers4Pastors.blogspot.com
Or on Facebook at Sowers4Pastors
Our email address is
allen@sower4pastors.com
Donations can be
made online using this link, or by mailing a check
payable to:
The Foundation for Missions
PO Box 560233
The Foundation for Missions
PO Box 560233
Orlando, FL
32856-0233
Be
sure to write "preferenced for Sowers Ministry" on an
enclosed paper, or on the donation website
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