Even Missionaries Get Tired (And God Still Shows Up)

 Breaking news: missionaries get tired, too.

Brandy is sharing a bit more personally this week, pulling back the curtain on what life can really look like on the mission field. It’s easy to imagine something a little more…storybook. Maybe not full-on woodland creatures doing the dishes, but at least a steady soundtrack of joy and a nonstop stream of meaningful, mountaintop moments.

“It sounds nice,” Brandy said, “but sometimes we get tired.”

Over the past couple of weeks, Nathan, Michael, Levi, and Lottie have all been sick. Rachel has been sick. Brandy has been sick. That’s a full house of illness — with no magical helpers stepping in to cook meals or keep things running smoothly. And all of this has been happening right in the middle of team season, when energy, focus, and presence are needed the most.

“I remember thinking, I’m already tired, and now we’re starting a team week,” Brandy said.

He pushed through and went out with the team, but something felt off.

“I wasn’t feeling joy. All the circumstances in life were adding stress.”

Then came an unexpected gift.

“There was one of the older men on the team,” Brandy shared. “He was always happy — dancing around, full of joy. Every day I spent time with him, it felt like he was giving me some of his joy.”

By the end of the week, something had shifted.

“I felt like I had my joy back,” Brandy said. “I told him that, and I really believe God was speaking to me through him.”

The following week, when the Crosspoint team arrived, Brandy could no longer ignore the fact that he was sick, too. One day, instead of heading out with the team, he stayed in town and went to the doctor.

“I had a really sore throat. My sinuses weren’t handling the dust well. And I even had an issue with my eye from all the dust,” he said.

The diagnosis wasn’t surprising. The dry season — better described as the dusty season — had taken its toll.

Even so, Brandy continued going out with the team when he could. During one visit, he spoke with a local pastor serving in one of the poorest communities. The pastor has faithfully led his congregation for eight years, and now they are beginning construction on a sanctuary.

“The building is going to be huge,” Brandy said.

What the pastor shared next left an impression.

“We don’t have a budget to build,” he said, “but God is providing.”

He went on to explain that focusing too much on resources — or the lack of them — can derail what God is calling you to do.

“Focus on God and God’s vision,” the pastor told him. “If you focus on the money or the circumstances, you’ll stop. You’ll start trusting in your own strength instead of God’s.”

That perspective landed exactly where it needed to.

“When we are feeling tired, we need to remember to rest in God and trust in Him,” Brandy said. “He is always taking care of us — in every situation. When you’re sick, when you’re tired, when you’re trying to build something bigger than you… He’s there.”

That was the reminder Brandy wanted to share this week — not just about the hard moments, but about where to turn in the middle of them.

Thank you for continuing to pray for Sowers4Pastors. Those prayers matter more than you know. In a very real way, everyone who prays is part of the ministry — strengthening, encouraging, and helping carry the work forward.

Health Update

There is good news to report. Levi and Lottie have fully recovered, and Nathan and Michael are improving, though still a bit under the weather. Rachel has had the toughest stretch, making multiple trips to the doctor with a serious respiratory infection, but she is finally beginning to feel better.

As for Brandy, he isn’t quite back to 100%, but that hasn’t stopped him from heading out to deliver a second round of backpacks.

Please continue to keep the entire family in your prayers — for healing, for strength, and yes… even for a little extra joy along the way.

  - posted by Christi

Building Hope, One Church at a Time

What comes to mind when you picture a church building? Maybe you envision a traditional sanctuary with stained glass windows or a sleek, modern space with a children’s wing that feels like it belongs in Disneyland. You might even recall the old finger game, “Here’s the roof. Here’s the steeple. Open the doors and see all the people.” Whatever you imagine, it probably includes a roof and doors—basic features we often take for granted. But in Honduras, a roof, doors, windows, a solid floor, and even bathrooms aren’t always part of the package.

Today, Brandy shares the stories of three Honduran pastors whose churches Sowers4Pastors has partnered with, transforming simple structures into true sanctuaries.

Church #1: Saving a Church on the Brink

Perched on a small mountain in Guacutao, a church building faced a serious threat last year when heavy rains triggered mudslides that began to bury the building. Water also seeped under the church, eroding its foundation. The congregation started building a retaining wall, scraping together what funds they could through donations from the church members and local fundraisers. But with limited resources in a village where everyone's income is low, they only managed to complete about a third of the wall before they decided they needed to reach out to Sowers4Pastors for help.

When S4P saw the situation, they immediately offered funds for materials. Brandy and Rachel expected someone to pick up the money the next day, but within an hour, two church leaders arrived on a motorcycle, ready to save their church. The brothers explained that they had been praying for these funds because their church was at risk of sliding away if they didn’t act fast.

The very next day, Brandy drove by the church and saw the congregation already unloading materials to complete the retaining wall. They weren’t wasting any time!

Church #2: A Faithful Few in Lemanal

In Lemanal, a little church was built with concrete blocks, but it lacked flooring, electricity, and a bathroom. For two years, the congregation relied on a rotating cast of interim pastors, none staying long enough to establish roots. But one woman remained steadfast. Ludiz Gonzáles held the key to the church and was always there, even when no pastor showed up. On those days, she would open the doors and lead the congregation in prayer, urging them to keep faith alive.

The church in Lemanal

Lemanal is a community where many of the men have emigrated to the U.S., leaving few hands to help with building projects. The church has been trying to construct a bathroom for two years, collecting sand from a distant river and digging a hole for the septic tank, but they lacked the manpower and funds to complete the job.

Under Ludiz’s leadership, the children’s ministry has flourished, growing from 10-15 kids to 45. She even started teaching Bible lessons in the local school, and the church is growing in other ways, too. Brandy hadn’t realized the church was without a bathroom until the last VBS program. Moved by the situation, he contacted Lighthouse Church, who agreed to partner with them to finish the project. When Ludiz received the news, she cried tears of joy.

Worship at Lemanal
(Picture taken when the LH team was visiting)

Church #3: Half a Roof, Full of Faith

Near San Pedro Sula, another little church has been under construction for four long years. Pastor José Briones managed to get the walls up, and last year they added half a roof. Yes, you read that right—the congregation has been worshiping under half a roof! Imagine attending service while rain pours in and the wind whips around you.

Pastor José, being from an area four hours away from Gracias, had never heard of Sowers4Pastors, but a mutual contact introduced him to the ministry so he could ask for help. Last week, S4P approved Pastor José's request for assistance, and the congregation didn’t waste any time. The beams are already in place, and the roof is expected to be completed this week. Pastor José sent an emotional audio message to S4P, filled with gratitude. “Thank you” doesn’t seem to cover how much this means to them after all this time.

Help These Pastors Build More Than Walls!

These stories are just a glimpse of the impact S4P’s Church Construction program can have. Please consider donating — every bit helps, and the difference it makes is monumental. It only takes $1200 to complete the typical church roof in a Honduran village.

- posted by Christi

Please Pray for the 2024 Projects!

“You put the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLABle,” is listed as one of the most commonly quoted movie quotes. In fact, there’s a good chance you’ve heard it even if you’ve never seen the 2003 movie, View from the Top. Today, we’re talking about a word that can be either a noun or a verb depending on which sylLABle gets the emPHAsis. The word is “project.” (PROject for a noun. ProJECT for a verb.) Brandy shared about how Sowers4Pastors proJECTS how many PROjects they will tackle in 2024!

The backpack project is such a huge undertaking that it can be easy for supporters to forget about some of the other worthwhile projects S4P does each year. Backpack distribution will begin next week and things will be a blur until it’s finished. But for today, let’s put some emPHAsis on roofs for churches, motorcycles for pastors, and gift boxes for pastors and their families. 

Requests for church roof PROjects are proJECTed to be at an all-time high. There were so many requests for church roofs during 2023 that S4P was unable to tackle all of them. That means there are ten requests waiting from last year. That’s not even taking into consideration that some pastors knew that a cutoff had been reached last year and have held onto their requests with plans to submit them this year. Brandy has already received one call from a pastor this week to ask about help with a church roof. The pastor’s church is almost finished building the walls and will be ready for a roof soon. Brandy requested that the pastor do two things:  1) provide photos of the church, and 2) pray about the funding. That’s the thing with church roof projects; S4P takes on as many as the funds will allow. 

With the coffee harvesters finishing up the final pick, many churches have more money to tackle building the church walls right now. Plus, Honduras is entering the dry season, so it’s the prime time to work with adobe. S4P knows there will be an influx of requests for new roofs. While he didn’t have the exact number on hand, Brandy feels certain that the ministry completed at least twenty-five church roofs last year. 

Applications for motorcycles are accepted in February. In March, the ministry purchases the motorcycles. And they are presented in April. This is another project where the demand is high and the ministry must make decisions based on the available funds. 

The gift boxes for pastors and their families are given out after backpack season. There are already a lot of people asking for them. Like the church roofs and motorcycles, the pastor gifts are a tremendous blessing to the recipients. 

If you feel led to contribute to one of these projects, you can make a donation through the Sowers4Pastors website. Please keep all of the ministry projects in your prayers! 

- posted by Christi.

The World Beyond Trish's Desk . . .

(Insert throat clearing and the sound of a spoon clanking against a glass.) May I have your attention, please? Trish has almost completed updating all of the children in the sister church programs. It’s a huge task that has consumed most of Trish's time since mid-February, and she is more than a little bit giddy to be at the tail end of the project. Most of the sister churches have already received updated picture cards. Whew! Now, will someone please let Trish leave her computer to stretch her legs? Even though she’s still at her computer finishing up the last little bit, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Here are some of the things she might notice when she finally looks up:

Gifts for Pastors

It’s like Christmas in June as the gifts for pastors make their way to the intended recipients. Every few days or so, a denominational supervisor arrives on the property and leaves with a mammoth truckload of boxes to be delivered to the pastors under his supervision. 

 

The boxes contain items such as the best used clothing and household item donations that arrived on the containers. The pastors and their families also receive toiletry items. Every box contains a backpack full of school/office supplies, and pastors with school age children receive backpacks filled with school supplies. It is not always possible to provide a backpack for each child, but Sowers4Pastors is committed to easing at least some of the educational burden as the pastors make sure their children attend school. That means that each pastor with children will receive one or more backpacks to help toward the cause.

Teamwork

Next week, a team of thirteen people from Edgewater Alliance Church in Florida will arrive. The EAC sister church program encompasses five different schools, in multiple communities. The team will be putting on a VBS program at each location. Having a team next week means this week is a busy one as well, filled with prep work. Aside from the traditional VBS-y preparations that are being completed, the mechanically inclined people on staff are making sure the vehicles are all road-ready for the team to use.

RAIN!

Rainy season normally begins in earnest in mid-May. A few rains usually trickle in before that, then by May 15th… BLAM! This year, the rains were delayed by several weeks, much to the consternation of farmers throughout Honduras. Cornfields and beans that should have been planted weeks ago, are getting a late start.

Farmers aren’t the only ones planting things right now. There’s a whole lot of planting going on at S4P and this time it’s happening in the areas near the buildings instead of on the farm. When Brandy and Rachel began working with Sowers4Pastors, they were able to look at things with fresh eyes. They have been leading an effort to make the property look more attractive and to plant more fruit-bearing trees.

For months now, Kirstin has been keeping plants alive by hand-watering the new plants, in pots on her porch. Now that the rainy season has finally decided to show up, the plants are going in the ground. There are citrus, mango, and avocado trees. There’s even a starfruit tree that Ben planted from a seed years ago that is now big enough to move from a pot to its forever home. 

Requests out the Wazoo

There have been many church construction requests this year. That’s good news because it means a lot of churches are growing. The problem is that with so many requests it isn’t possible for S4P to take on every project. Please pray for the staff, as they sort through the requests and take on as many worthy projects as they can. Trish reminds us that, “God has always been faithful, and we will continue to do the best we can with what we have been given.”

S4P assisted with this church construction project
in Nov. 2022, in Cabañas Copan

If you are interested in donating toward a church construction project, you can earmark a donation to "church construction" through the Sowers4Pastors website.

 - posted by Christi

PS from Trish - Brandy, Rachel, and their boys are currently home sick with a nasty stomach bug! Please pray for their quick recovery! Thank you!

Matching Funds Update!

Calling all of you numbers/math people out there! This post is for you. And in case you’re not a numbers/math person, it’s also for you. But you’ll want to make some mental adjustments. If you don’t like numbers, please replace each number with something you do like. Like puppies. Or unicorns. It doesn’t really matter what you choose as a number replacement as long it doesn’t make you break out in a cold sweat. Ready? Okay, let’s talk about the matching funds update. 

Motorcycles:

Sowers4Pastors received a large number of applications for motorcycles. After sorting through those applications, they accepted 24. That means that the ministry’s expense will be $24,000. (That’s a lot of puppies or unicorns for you non-math people.) Fortunately, some generous donors have agreed to match any number up to $12,000. At the time of this writing, $5,000 has been donated. But remember that the $5,000 is already being matched. To make things very simple, Sowers4Pastors needs an additional $7,000 in donations. That $7,000 will be matched, bringing the total up to the needed $24,000 (or 24,000 puppies or unicorns).

Church Roofs:

More than thirty applications were received for new church roofs. Sowers4Pastors has accepted twenty of those. The total ministry expense will be $40,000. Since generous donors have also agreed to match funds donated to build this batch of church roofs, the ministry only needs to collect $20,000 through other donations earmarked for this cause. So far, Sowers4Pastors has received $7,000 in donations. With matching funds, that’s $14,000. The ministry needs an additional $13,000 for church roofs. With the amount of already committed matching funds, that will bring the total to $40,000. That’s very doable! 

So let’s talk about why these donations are important. Allen likes to remind people that a donation of 14 cents toward a motorcycle saves a pastor 14 miles of walking. Now, what about those church roofs? Well, when a church moves into a church building, there is a consistent increase in the number of attendees. People no longer have to crowd into houses or stand outside of doorways to hear a Bible lesson. The matching funds have already been committed and Sowers4Pastors doesn’t want to leave a dime sitting on the table. There has never been a better time to stretch your donation dollars!

One last thing - the team at Sowers4Pastors wants to say THANK YOU to everyone who has already donated toward these projects! 

 - posted by Christi

Matching Funds Alert!

This week, Allen took a break from replacing drywall in homes damaged by Hurricane Ian in Florida to excitedly talk with me about the fact that there are people willing to match donations given toward motorcycles and church roofs. You’re probably very familiar with both of those ministries, but let’s look at them in new ways.

Motorcycles for Pastors

Pastors of individual churches aren’t the only ones putting motorcycles to good use. Denominational supervisors have also been using motorcycles to travel around and encourage their pastors. Without a motorcycle, a supervisor might visit each pastor twice a year. But supervisors who receive motorcycles are able to visit each of their pastors monthly or more! They are able to offer encouragement and that encouragement is resulting in significant growth! The pastors are going out and planting more churches. 

For years, Allen has said that each motorcycle provided to a pastor leads to an average of one church plant. But the reality is that most of the motorcycles the ministry has helped to provide are still on the road. Most of the motorcycles remain operational for a decade. Since they are still being used, the actual benefit could be much higher than one church plant per motorcycle. 

With the current matching funds drive, your donation of $500 can help provide a pastor with a motorcycle. That comes to a penny a mile over the vehicle’s projected life expectancy. Or, as Allen so aptly put it, “You can save a pastor from walking 14 miles a day for just 14 cents. We as North Americans tend to forget what that means to someone.” You could actually plant more than one church in Honduras for a donation of $500!

Church Roofs

This year, there were well over 30 applicants requesting a new church roof. From that number, twenty were chosen. Five have been completed and there are 15 more to go. Even with the rising cost of building materials, each roof is still a bargain. With the matching funds, your donation of $1000 can complete an average sized church roof. The average church seats 250 people, which means that you can put a roof over each head for only $4!

A couple of very large churches were among those selected this year. These churches will be able to seat 500 people.

The video below explains more about how we handle church roofs.

The Bottom Line

Due to financial restraints, S4P is not able to take on each request for a motorcycle or a church roof. There are many worthy applicants, but the resources are limited. Allen said, “Out of the people who approach us for help, we probably turn down 80%. We tell the pastors not to be discouraged. They can apply again in the future.”

An additional $16K is needed to complete the current church roofs. The motorcycle ministry needs an additional $10K. If you are able to donate to one of these ministries and feel it is what God wants you to do with the resources He has provided to you, this is the time to do it. With each dollar being matched, there’s no better time to donate. If you can’t send money, please pray that Sowers4Pastors will receive the funds needed. Please know how much everyone at S4P appreciates your prayers!

- posted by Christi

Building Roofs Through Sweat Equity

 (This post is part of a series on S4P's mission statement. Here's a link to introduce you to the series.)

“Back in my day I…,” or, “When I was a kid I…” If you are over a certain age, odds are good that you have uttered at least one of those phrases a time or two. If you are over a certain age and have children, your kids can probably fill in after the ellipses. Perhaps your version ends with “...had to work for what I got,” or “...didn’t have everything handed to me on a silver platter.” That is what is known as “sweat equity,” and it is still alive and well in the Sower4Pastors ministry. 

One of the ways Sowers4Pastors empowers pastors is by helping with church construction projects. But new churches aren’t handed over on a platter, silver or otherwise. When a pastor shows up requesting help with a church building project, Allen and Russell keep the attention on the roof. Church building projects are primarily in rural areas and the churches are told they must provide the land, labor, and all of the materials except roofing materials. Allen describes the process as “labor intensive.” 

Sowers4Pastors loves when a congregation comes to them and says they’ve grown as a home church or that they started out in a much smaller building and no longer have enough room to meet. Sometimes a congregation wants to turn the smaller building into a designated Sunday school building and build a larger sanctuary. The idea behind the church construction ministry is to come alongside congregations that are ready to work. It simply isn’t as successful to build a church with no people there. 

There is an emphasis on ownership. It is the congregation’s church. They buy the land, build the walls, and everything else except for buying the roofing supplies. The roofs cost an average of $1000 each. Sowers4Pastors has seen some churches that don’t even put down a floor before they start meeting. Yet, when Allen and Russell pay a visit a year or so later, often the packed dirt has been replaced with ceramic tiles. 

Churches generally approach Sowers4Pastors when they have about 60 people attending regularly and want to have the space to grow to accommodate 250 people. By making sure that each congregation has sweat equity in their building, Sowers4Pastors’ ministry funds stretch that much farther, and also insures that the congregations will feel a sense of ownership, which usually leads to better care and concern for the church building.

In the past, whenever Sowers4Pastors has tried to do the construction projects differently, there have been issues. This way, they can easily spot the motivated churches, and, since each congregation owns its own church building, there are no calls to repair things that break. This is not to say that there’s never a time for building a church first when starting a church plant, but in this area, the risk of no one coming to fill up the empty seats is too great. It all goes back to stewardship, sweat equity, and a general lack of silver platters. 

- posted by Christi.

More Motorcycles for Pastors, plus Church Construction

After a two day “break” from the church construction project at Quelecasque, Allen, Russell, and some of the crew were back on the job site, when I spoke with Trish on Wednesday. Trish used the word “break” when describing the two- day gap in building, but the word definitely needs quotation marks around it. The reason for the brief halt on the building project was that they were falling behind on work on the coffee farm. 

Allen and Russell hired a few local guys with the necessary skills to come in and help out around the farm for a while. With the increased number of men on the coffee crew, the building crew was free to return to Quelecasque.

You may recall that the project involves adding a second floor to the existing church building. The 2nd floor was divided into six sections. The concrete flooring has been poured in four of those sections. [Note: Please read the next sentence in your best infomercial voice.] But wait, there’s more! (See? Aren’t you glad you did the infomercial voice?) They have already started putting up walls on the sections with flooring. Things are coming together.

It’s also time for the motorcycle ministry to help provide another batch of motorcycles to deserving pastors. The first stage in the process is identifying the pastors who will be recipients. Sowers4Pastors has a donor who partners with them to help fund this project. This donor requests information on the pastors being considered. There is a questionnaire for each pastor to complete. As with so many things, this process became a little more complicated due to current travel restrictions. 

Why can’t all of the information be easily gathered by phone? Well, if you’ve ever tried to have a phone conversation with Allen or Russell when they are out and about in Honduras, then you know that cell reception is spotty, at best. It’s slightly better than using two tin cans and a reeeally long piece of string. But only slightly. 

Sowers4Pastors put Melvin in charge of collecting the information they needed from prospective motorcycle recipients. Sometimes he couldn’t reach the pastors. In those cases, Melvin relayed the questions, by phone, to the pastors’ supervisors. The supervisors then communicated with the pastors and relayed the answers to Melvin, again by phone. The information was then translated into English and given to Trish, who entered the information into the application forms. Finally, the forms were sent along to the donor. 

Even though the process was convoluted, it was effective. Hopefully, 12-14 pastors will have motorcycles fairly soon. 

 - posted by Christi

Praises and Updates

Over the past couple of months, we’ve shared a lot of prayer requests. It’s exciting to share some praises.

Praise #1

The church construction project in Quelecasque is up and running again! You might recall that construction came to a screeching halt when they were unable to get a wood order delivered, due to coronavirus travel restrictions. The wood needed for construction will not be a part of the finished church building. Instead, they needed wood to use for construction-y type things like supporting the second level cement floor until it dries. (No, really. I’m pretty sure “construction-y” is a word.)

This was a good day to be getting information from Trish instead of Allen or Russell. Trish never assumes that anyone knows anything about construction. She explained it like this, “The problem with pouring cement in the air is that you must put something to support it underneath it dries.” It makes sense to me! She went on to compare the process to a child building with LEGOS and using spaghetti noodles for an upper-level floor. If the noodles are wet and cooked, you’re going to want some support. If the noodles are dry, they will work just fine!

This prayer request was answered in a most surprising way. Do you remember that the crew was working to get rid of a bunch of downed trees on the property, some time ago? Somewhere along the way, someone had the brilliant thought that downed trees could be cut up and used to support the wet cement. The Quelacasque pastor also scrounged up some wood locally. Allen and Russell came up with a plan where they will pour that deck of the second floor in smaller sections. That way, they won’t need as many supports at one time and they can reuse the supports. The building project is up and running and the men are still able to get out there.

What have we learned from this? God has a sense of humor. And Trish should write a "Construction for Dummies" book.

Praise #2

There were some concerns about the threat of fires and bad air quality. The rainy season came early this year, starting around May 1st instead of in the middle of the month.

The rainy season is now in full swing. As Trish said, their 10-day forecast is the same for each day. Thunderstorms! This is fabulous - the fire risk is almost non-existent because everything is sopping wet. The air quality has improved and everyone is breathing a sigh of relief.

Of course, life is rarely simple and Trish did chuckle when she said they are now under a weather alert for flooding and landslides! She doesn’t feel that their area is in significant danger. They live in such a steep area that they are used to flooding when it rains. Because of this, they don’t tend to build in danger zones.

The bottom line is: You can cross rain off the prayer list!

Looking Ahead

Honduras is about one month behind the U.S. in regard to coronavirus restrictions. The government is beginning to talk of reopening things--even the schools. While there is no definite timeline, it’s nice that things are far enough along to begin thinking about sending kids back to school. The news is filled with stories of teachers going out and giving assignments to their students in the preparation for returning to school.

Ditch with electrical lines, photo by Ben

Backpacks

Sowers4Pastors is getting some good responses from people regarding backpacks. Even with the current food situation, the ministry has decided to keep plugging away at this important program. Allen is sending out empty backpacks now, so be sure to contact Sowers4Pastors to get your supply. The need is great!

Silver Lining

You know that the menfolk have been using this time to accomplish things around the property. Recently, they were able to run a powerline underground to the new building. That’s a very good thing. They no longer have to make do with extension cords. The men dug a long trench by hand, put down tubing, and ran the electrical lines through the tubing. This project would not have been a high priority, but it’s wonderful to have all of the buildings set up with the new electrical system.

Made in the Shade

Improvements are also being made to the coffee farm. The farm’s elevation is not very high so it’s important to make sure there is enough shade for the coffee plants. Farms at higher elevations don’t have the same concern. In the past  Sowers4Pastors coffee farm used the existing trees on the property. Then they started putting in banana and plantain plants to create shade for the coffee.

Now, Melvin, who normally works in the office on administrative tasks, has helped facilitate a new solution. Melvin took it upon himself to plant and nurture 400 guama trees. Guama trees (guamo in Spanish) are fast-growing, provide a lot of shade, and put off nutrients into the soil. Coffee likes to be paired with guama.

Melvin gave the 400 trees to Sowers4Pastors as a gift. The current big project on the property is planting a lot of guama trees!

 - posted by Christi