A couple of weeks ago I returned from spending nine days in the Dominican Republic. The main purpose of my trip was to be a part of a short-term missions team comprised of members of a few churches in southeast Alabama. The trip, organized by a former IMB missionary to the Dominican Republic, was a planned project involving three local Dominican churches doing what we call saturation evangelism.
Saturation evangelism is a method of establishing and nurturing relationships within a community for the sake of earning the right to share the Gospel. It is a common and proven practice among our field missionaries, except in our case, weeks, or even months of relationship-building had to be compressed into a few days.
We worked with these three churches in three distinct and diverse communities, and I am pleased to report that the Holy Spirit had preceded us in each one. Countless lives were touched and many souls born into the kingdom. The churches were encouraged to see God at work in the members as they shred their faith. Physical and medical needs were met and the love of Christ was shown in a real and tangible way.
I was particularly impressed with the passion and missionary zeal of our interpreters, every one evangelists in their own right, both eager and quite capable in spreading the Good News. I believe the Dominican church is in good hands and I look forward to many more exciting reports to come from all of my new Facebook friends.
A special highlight for me was to be able to fly down a couple of days before the team and spend a little time with our dear friends the Gillens. I had not seen them in the nearly two years since we all finished language school in Costa Rica, and it was a joy to see their miracle baby as well. Baby Addie is another story for another day.
Too much happens on an intense trip like this to recount, so I have included a little musical slideshow crafted by a fellow traveler to help tell the story. I hope the many smiling faces convey the joy of the Lord we found so prevalent among the people of the Dominican Republic.
