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In Matthew 28:19, Jesus tells His disciples to go make more disciples all over the earth. In Acts 1:8 He says to go be witnesses near and far (to the farthest point on the earth).
We were surprised that our first involvement in missions was to the country farthest from Tucson; Sri Lanka! When the Tsunami hit south Asia in 2004, we began to partner with three new Sri Lankan Vineyard churches that were doing relief work. For instance, with our financial help, they built a factory that made concrete blocks, the basic building material for many homes there. They gave those blocks away for free, then they gave the factory to the village it was in! We were so impressed that we continue to support our sister churches in Sri Lanka. We finally visited them for the first time in 2007 and then again recently.
On each trip, our team has sponsored, taught at, and paid for a conference for the churches’ leaders, spoken at one of the churches on Sunday and then visited members and neighbors. Usually those visits involve eating cake and drinking tea, Tang or Coke. Then we pray for whatever needs the people have, sometimes with and sometimes without an interpreter. The visits tend to be to families that live in the jungle and/or mountains. We love our friends in Sri Lanka!!! All of our churches are in their early years and we are all growing up together.
Next came Hurricane Katrina and a desire to help rebuild the New Orleans area. We provided a financial gift to the Vineyard in Slidell, Louisiana, which that church later told us made the difference in their survival as a church community! Then we sent the first of three teams (so far) to work through the Kenner Vineyard (New Orleans). This passion for helping with relief efforts has grown in our church and we are about to send a team to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help with rebuilding from the recent Mississippi River flooding. We also just had a team come back from helping build a house for a poor family in Tijuana.
Over the next year, Lord willing, we will also begin to do similar work in the Tucson area and, possibly, around Nogales.
Eventually, we hope to send out full time missionaries also. Currently we help support Todd Dallanegra, who is based near Geneva and trains church planters in Europe.
*Quick Links:
Mercy Response Website
