Back from Ecuador | Acts 29 in the Amazon?
In my last post I discussed the primary objectives of Acts 29 International in Latin America. In this post I’ll explain the goals of our trip, introduce the Latin America leadership team, and recount some of the highlights of our brief, yet productive, trip that lasted a total of four days (with a day of travel on each end). It was a quick, hard-hitting, Spirit-led adventure.
Three Goals
Our trip had three main goals:
- Lead, host and teach the first ever Acts 29 Latin American “Church Planting Foundations” conference.
- Meet as a Latin American leadership team to pray, plan and implement a strategy for reaching the continent with the gospel through church-planting-churches.
- Establish our first round of Acts 29 candidates from the, primarily, Ecuadorian applicant pool.
Leadership Team
The Acts 29i Latin America leadership team currently consists of:
- Jay Bauman | Restore Brazil; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Steve Youngren | Compassion Connection; Quito, Ecuador
- Francisco Benfeldt | Casa de Libertad; Guatemala City, Guatemala
- Dave Bruskas | Mars Hill Albuquerque; Albuquerque, NM
- Mike Gunn | Harambee; Renton, Wa | Mike serves as a consultant and trainer.
I’ll be introducing several of these men in future blog posts.
Evidences of Grace
There were many evidences of God’s grace throughout our trip but I’ll share a few of the highlights.
#1) I’ll begin on a personal note. This was my first time back to Ecuador since I lived there nine years ago. On the way down I took time on the plane to recount the many evidences of God’s grace to me in the last nine years, including graduating from the UW, seven+ years of marriage, two beautiful children, a three-year stint in corporate america, four-years on staff of Mars Hill Church, and two years spent leading Mars Hill West Seattle. Nine years ago I would have never dreamed I would be flying back as a pastor to lead a conference for potential Latin American church planters. It has been a good run so far with God’s fingerprints all over it. He has been faithful and given grace far more abundantly than all I could ask or think. (Eph 3:20)
#2) Another highlight was watching a pastor from the Amazon jungle fill out an Acts 29 application. It required a double-take. It was a small foretaste of heaven where all tribes, tongues, and nations will bow and worship before the throne. (Rev 7:9-12) Imagine paddling down the Amazon river and seeing a church sign with an Acts 29 logo on it. That’s something only God can do.
#3) The last memory I’ll recount was also the most powerful. On the last day of our trip we worshipped with three other area churches and prayed over the men who were feeling led to plant churches. This four hour service was filled with clear preaching, exuberant song, fervent prayer and, for many, tears of joy and repentance. Simply put, it was powerful. The gospel transcends culture, language, and economics.
This is part two of six in the series “Back from Ecuador”.
In my next post I’ll answer “What does Latin America have to do with Mars Hill West Seattle?”
To read other posts in this series click HERE.
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