The Missionary Telenovela

This week’s conversation with Trish involved a continuing story. Trish laughed and said it was sort of like the missionary equivalent of a telenovela. This blog post really needs a narrator with a great speaking voice, but you’re just going to have to use your imagination.

Narrator with great speaking voice: Previously on Sowers4Pastors, Allen and Trish were in Seattle.

Allen and Trish had never been to the Seattle area before. But, they have friends there who were interested in becoming more involved in Sowers4Pastors’ ministry.

Narrator with great speaking voice: Providentially, Kelsea, the ministry intern, is also from the Seattle area.

While in Seattle, Allen and Trish discovered there wasn’t any one church that was ready to commit to becoming a Sister Church. However, there was a huge interest in sponsoring children, in general. They decided to set up a sponsorship program with the local community, rather than with a single church. They simply needed to find an ideal community in Honduras for a new sponsorship program, where the children will only be made available to people in the Seattle area.

Kelsea’s sister agreed to head up the program on the Seattle side. Rather than sending letters to individual sponsors, Sowers4Pastors will be able to send packets of information to Kelsea’s sister, and she will disseminate it. She will also help with people who wish to fill backpacks.

Narrator with great speaking voice: But, wait! Someone still need to find the ideal location for a new sponsorship site. (Enter Russell.)

Russell got busy finding a site that met all of the necessary requirements. They needed a place that was not too remote to visit regularly. Normally, they need a local church with a pastor who is up to the job of running a program. Sponsorship programs mean a lot of administrative work on the part of pastors. Sowers4Pastors operates the programs as a way of helping pastors reach their community. Operating a sponsorship center is not a paid position, so it must be something that is very important to the pastor.

In this case, however, the new program is slightly different. The chosen community doesn't have a local evangelical church - instead there is a pastor from another community, and a teacher from the local school, who are hoping to plant a church in this community - and they'll be starting that process by running a sponsorship center. This is an exciting new development in the sponsorship program!

It took a while for all of the pieces of the puzzle to fit together. Russell has been working on it for weeks.

Narrator with great speaking voice: Russell’s diligence has paid off!

Russell, Kelsea, and the crew members who work with the sponsorship programs are currently registering children for this new program, in the neighboring communities of Azacualpita and Cones.

Having all of the children sponsored by people from one geographic area will be incredibly beneficial. If a group of people from Seattle wishes to visit their sponsored children, they can come down as a team. Rather than driving to multiple locations, all team members will have sponsored children at the same center.

Narrator with great speaking voice: Will all of the children find sponsors? Will other areas want to follow Seattle’s lead? Will we ever learn the first name of Kelsea’s sister? Stay tuned!

 - posted by Christi
 - pictures are all from the new sponsorship center, in the communities of Azacualpita and Cones