Northern Triad

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Make New Friends…

October 12, 2024 in Ministry, Prayer, Progress by Dave | No comments

…but keep the old,
One is silver and the other gold.

Do you remember that old song? It’s a chorus that describes our past month well as we begin the process of integrating the Northern Triad, the new area we lead, a union of Assemblies of God World Missionaries who labor in Mexico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, and continue our advocacy work here in the US.

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We took our first step in the integration process when we met with both the Dominican Republic and Cuba teams for the first time. These virtual sessions were a moment of transition for each team as they said farewell to their former area directors and welcomed us into our new leadership role. It was eye-opening to hear of the ongoing work in each country, from church planting, construction, and Bible distribution under extreme circumstances in Cuba to young adult ministries and ministries of compassion to refugees in the Dominican Republic. We left these meetings encouraged by their efforts and optimistic about what these new friendships can achieve.

At the same time we experienced multiple moments of affirmation on the itineration trail as old friends like veteran missionaries Rich and Jenni DeMartino advocated for us to speak at their home church in Ephrata, PA; our former youth pastor, Jim Grove, hosted us for a Wednesday night service in Erie, PA; and Kevin and Taurina Smith graciously named us as featured speakers during Northland Cathedral’s Missions Experience in Kansas City, MO. We are humbled by the open doors these friends and so many others have given us to share about the work in the Northern Triad and to influence their congregations.

Old friends and new, as we work together, we believe the best is yet to come. Thank you, faithful ones, for standing with us with your prayers and support and for welcoming these new members to the team!

Photo Captions:

  1. Dave shares about our expanded leadership role as Northern Triad Area Directors during the opening service of Northland Cathedral’s Missions Experience.

  2. Kelly shares her story with the ladies of Northland Cathedral.

  3. Our time with the DeMartinos in Ephrata, PA also included a ride in their convertible!

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Introducing the Northern Triad Area

September 14, 2024 in Mexico, Ministry, Missions, Progress by Dave | No comments

After the release of our June newsletter, titled “Unfinished Business in Mexico City,” several people asked if our role in missions was changing. At the time, we reassured them that we were only leaving the field to start itineration. Little did we know how accurate their suspicions were—our role is indeed changing, dramatically.

Dave joined LAC Regional Director, David Ellis (right), to discuss the Northern Triad Area with Mexican Superintendent, Enrique Gonzalez, during a special trip to Mexico last month.

On Friday, June 19th, our Regional Director, David Ellis, pulled us into the storage closet of the Latin America Caribbean (LAC) Satellite Office (for lack of a better meeting room) to ask us if we would be willing to serve as directors of a newly formed area that would join Mexico with Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Of course, the question caught us completely off guard. At the time, we were preparing to teach the Bible to the nearly 200 global workers (GWs) who had gathered in Springfield, MO for Pre-Field Training. We certainly hadn’t contemplated a regional restructure of this nature!

However, as the reasons for the change were explained, our reaction shifted from speechlessness to agreement. Throughout his tenure, David Ellis aimed to restructure the LAC to eliminate one-country areas like Mexico in the interest of fostering cross-country collaboration and fellowship among GWs. However, the right configuration eluded him until this summer when Caribbean Area Directors, David and Kristen Speer, proposed merging Cuba and the Dominican Republic with Mexico. This would enable them to focus on opportunities in the 29 non-Spanish-speaking nations of their area without neglecting the important work in those Spanish-speaking islands. With our yes, the Northern Triad Area was conceived.

We say conceived because we’re still in the birthing process. While we’ve spent 18 years in Mexico, we’re still students of the people and their culture. Now, extending our leadership to these additional countries, virtually unknown to us, we feel a tremendous responsibility to learn and grow for the sake of the GWs we’ll be leading and the national churches with whom we’ll be collaborating. There are still many meetings to attend, teams to integrate, and relationships to form. The new structure will be formalized on October 1st, but the work will have only just begun.

Although we feel the burden of this new role, we’re not overwhelmed because we sense God’s direction and the backing of colleagues and friends like you. We’re confident that as our responsibility increases your prayers and support will rise to meet our needs in this critical season.

Note: this post is just a portion of what we share in our quarterly newsletter. If you’d like more information from the Godzwas or would like to print this update, take a look at the full PDF version of our quarterly newsletter or, better still, sign up to receive our newsletters direct to your inbox!

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