Tag Teams

When I last spoke to Russell, he was counting down the final three days before… Well, before a bunch of back-to-back teams come. But we had a difficult time deciding what to call this phenomenon. We never really came up with the perfect turn of phrase, so I’m just going to say it’s time for the tag teams to arrive.

Basically, Sowers4Pastors will be hosting five and a half teams in 6 weeks. If, like me, you are wondering what a half team looks like, Russell explained that one of the teams will be there for a week and a half, rather than the normal one week stint. There will be one three-day window with no team on the ground.

The first team on the docket is from Lighthouse Church from Maryland. This will be the only construction team of the bunch. The group of five men and one woman will be doing electrical work and plumbing. They will be doing work at one of their sister church locations as well, and will also find time to go see the children they sponsor.

A team from The Well Church out of  Kansas will arrive on the same day the team from Lighthouse leaves. The Well is bringing an eighteen person team. They will be doing VBS programs and analyzing potential projects for their church to complete next year. They will also be visiting schools and taking their sponsored children to the swimming pool.

Next, comes the week and a half team. This team is made up of Manna 4 Lempira sponsors from all across the U.S. and one team member is flying in from Australia. This team of twelve will be a little bit different since the team members won’t necessarily know each other. They will be visiting their sponsored children. One of the team members and her mother sponsor about forty children, so there are a lot of kids to meet! Russell spoke of how grateful they are to the people who choose to sponsor so many kids.

There will then be a three-day respite before a team from The Branch Church, in Ohio, arrives. That team will be doing VBS at two or three schools. This church has a super in-depth discipleship program where young adults are discipled full-time for two years. Some of those young people will be on this team.

The final tag team group will be coming from Edgewater Alliance Church in Florida. They will be visiting their sister church and doing a VBS program.

In case you lost count, that will be four out of five teams doing VBS programs or working with children’s ministries in some capacity. Russell said that is a normal focus for visiting teams in the summer. The teams generally consist of more young people and students.

Let the Tag Teams commence!

 - posted by Christi