WORLDGOSPEL. Spring New Field Director 8 New cafeteria for Rancho Ebenezer 15 Progress in Belize

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1 WORLDGOSPEL O U T R E A C H Spring New Field Director 8 New cafeteria for Rancho Ebenezer 15 Progress in Belize

2 Come join a WGO Serve Team Contents On the cover Serve Teams bring help and hope to communities in Tegucigalpa. see page 12 Spring 2017 There are still openings for Serve Teams for this year. Schedule your team and receive the blessings of service. 4 Meet the new Honduran Field Director 6 God s Tapestry: A story of two girls 7 A Quinceañera at the Ranch About the Ministry 8 A new cafeteria for Rancho Ebenezer 15 Belize: progress for the people 19 Impact on the Believer The World Gospel Outreach Magazine is published in March and November. To submit articles contact: karen.howarton@wgomission.org Visit the online edition of the WGO magazine at WHAT are we about? Our vision statement is: contact us at: serveteams@wgomission.org Impacting the faith of Christ followers through serving and evangelizing children and the poor WHy are we pursuing this vision? We are driven to pursue this vision by three fundamental Biblical mandates: To care for the poor, and especially the widows and orphans (James 1:27) To be fishers of men and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the lost (Matthew 4:19) To be accountable before God for how we meet the needs of others (Matthew 25:31-46) how are we accomplishing this vision? We are accomplishing this vision by engaging in three areas of ministry: Serve Teams - Meeting physical and spiritual needs Rancho Ebenezer Children s Ministry - Caring for at-risk children Impact on the North American believer - Life changing opportunities to serve In the news WGO Serve Teams continue a tradition of service into Spring 2017 World gospel Outreach Page 2

3 From the President Celebrating 33 Years of Ministry By Mike Ferguson In January WGO celebrated 33 years of ministry in Honduras and our first ministry year in Belize. Lyn and I have had the great privilege to have served with WGO for over half of that time. The number of people ministered to over this period of time is both staggering and a reminder of how incredibly faithful the Lord is to complete His work through people like you who have joined us through the years. Let s take a quick look at the magnitude of His work keeping in mind that although we are celebrating 33 years since we were founded, most of this happened in the last 20 years: 1,248,000 people ministered to at a WGO Serve Team site 14,268 team members coming on a one week Serve Team 87,769 first time decisions for Christ. What a joy it is to see the Lord do His work through you! We are grateful to those of you who were able to come and serve on one of these teams as well as those who supported in other ways. Many of you have returned to serve year after year spanning a total of two decades of involvement. We appreciate you and want you to keep on coming! Another thanks that is in order is for your generosity. Through your gracious and generous giving, we were able to finish 2016 in good position to start The additional giving that many of you did for the Belize campus allowed us to begin building the Mission Center that you have heard us talk about and for which we have prayed for the Lord s provision. Even though we still have more funds to raise, I am pleased to announce that we broke ground for the new Mission Center on January 16. This building will house the team dining and meeting areas as well as the pharmacy, optical and dental inventories, offices, and commercial The foundation is laid for the Mission Center in Belize. kitchen. It is the heart of the campus that allows us to care for and launch the members of each Serve Team as they arrive for a week of ministry to the people of Belize. It is a wonderful blessing to be a part of the WGO ministry as it continues to grow in Honduras and in Belize. The Lord s provision is so obvious as we see the first fullyear team calendar in Belize fill up. We currently have 15 teams scheduled to serve in Belize this year with as many as 200 Serve Team members coming to Belize to serve. What a great start to a new ministry outpost! Thanks again to each one of you who have partnered with us in all of this. Your involvement through prayer, serving on a team, and giving is what makes all of this Kingdom work possible. It is our privilege and honor to be co-workers in Christ with you. Mike Ferguson WGO President & CEO Spring 2017 World gospel Outreach Page 3

4 For I Know the Plans I Have For You by Otniel Zavala I came to WGO in the summer of Robert Butts, our COO, had reached out to me earlier that year wanting to meet. At the time, I did not know WGO was seeking to fill the position of Mission House Director. After meeting with him and also having the opportunity to meet with Mike Ferguson, President and CEO for WGO, and with a lot of prayer, I accepted coming on board with the ministry. Up to this time I had been praying for the last couple of years for the Lord to show me what His plans entailed for me. For over sixteen years I worked independently providing professional interpretation services for foreign and local government agencies, NGOs, and private companies. I had also been actively involved in teaching and managing a non-profit Christian bilingual school, which my family started in the year 2000, and I was part of the board of directors of a Christian foundation, Better Life Honduras. I was born into a Christian family here in Tegucigalpa. My parents grew up in the rural country, having an opportunity to receive an education from a Christian boarding school here in Honduras run by missionaries. By experiencing the difficulties of obtaining an education, and more so, a solid Christian education here in this country, they developed a desire to do something to provide the same opportunity for families in need. Growing up I saw their desire to help others and saw how hard they worked to provide this opportunity for us, which instilled in me a heart to serve. My siblings and I were able to attend a Christian bilingual school and my parents had us practice our English at home in hopes that in the future this skill would open up doors for us. Having developed this language skill helped me work as a professional for many years. Growing up in a Christian home formed my desire to follow the Lord and serve him where He leads. It is this desire to serve that drove me to want to be a part of what WGO does here in Honduras. Growing up I had always thought of becoming a doctor and using my practice to serve those who couldn t afford care. After graduating high school, I started a pre-med program but decided to switch my major to engineering just after three years, becoming an Industrial engineer. I enjoyed finding creative ways to approach challenges, which helped me later as I stepped into my role as Mission House Director. I had experience working alongside serve teams with other ministries in the past, which gave me an understanding of the dynamics of North American and Honduran cultures in ministry. Being part of God s calling to serve our fellow Hondurans Spring 2017 World gospel Outreach Page 4

5 alongside our North American teams, our missionaries,and our staff has been an honor and a joy. In my time with WGO, I have felt God molding and growing me in many areas in my life. I realize that God s plan is far greater than what I could have imagined. In such a little time since coming on board, He has opened doors for new opportunities within the ministry. As of October 2016, I was asked to transition into a new role as Field Director for Honduras, overseeing both Mission House and Rancho Ebenezer operations. The Lord has also answered a prayer that had been in my heart for a long time. He has brought me to my future wife, missionary Rachel Hahn, who has served with WGO for almost 8 years. Together, we both have seen God s promises in Psalms 37:4 and Jeremiah 29:11 come true in our lives. As we move forward in 2017, we are excited to see all the good things God will do in our future together and through this ministry and we are blessed to partner in this experience with teams, donors, and the people God has called to reach Honduras for Christ. Otniel and Rachel will get married in the spring. Join us in the challenge to get the Children of Rancho Ebenezer fully supported Spring 2017 World gospel Outreach Page 5

6 God s Tapestry by Eleanor (Elle) McClanathan A girl name Jessica Seventeen years and three months ago the Lord allowed me an opportunity to be his heart, his hands and his voice by serving on my first medical /evangelism brigade with World Gospel Outreach in Tegucigalpa Honduras. God had been growing my heart for missions over the years and I would be serving alongside my daughter Cathleen during that week. She had been greatly impacted while serving on a brigade ten months earlier and she had developed a budding relationship with two girls at Centro de Vida. The girls were Ingrid and Jessica. When Cathleen and I visited Centro de Vida together, we spent some extended time with both of these precious girls. Our afternoon also included a trip up to Rancho Ebenezer, which was in the first year of preparation for the next phase of WGO s investment in raising up and disciplining children to be salt and light, Christian leaders for their generation. There are times God will allow us an opportunity to view a thread he is weaving in his divine tapestry in the soul of one of his children. It is a rare privilege to be able to glimpse a larger segment of that tapestry. Recently, while serving on my fifth brigade (now known as Serve Teams), God gave me that honor and privilege. Robert Butts, chief operating officer for WGO Cathleen and Jessica at Centro de Vida joined our table for supper on Friday. While showing Robert a few of my photographs of my first meeting with Jessica and Ingrid, he was able to update me about their current life situations. He knew the girls well, as he was their teacher at Rancho Ebenezer when he first joined the staff of WGO. Ingrid was keeping in touch with the young ladies she had grown up with, and had a young child. Upon completing her education, Jessica has become the head of the English Department at her school. She is married and has a young child. Robert also shared that recently some of the WGO staff were looking at older photographs from earlier Serve Teams. A staff member noticed that in the line, waiting to be cared for, was young Jessica. Before she became an adopted child in the care of WGO, her life had first been touched by the ministry as a little girl being cared for by a Serve Team. l tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. Matthew 25:40 Spring 2017 World gospel Outreach Page 6

7 A Quinceañera by Rachel Hahn Turning 15 years old is a very special time in a girl s life here in Honduras. Traditionally, the family makes the 15th birthday a very special moment by charging a young girl to transition from girlhood to womanhood in maturity and responsibility. They believe that this is the age that girls begin to have more independence and are taught responsibility for their decisions, that the decisions they make today will affect their futures. This is when they begin high school and start to make career choice decisions as they determine whether or not to further their education and what direction they will go. Ultimately, this is when they learn that they have grown up, that they are no longer little girls, and that they will now have more responsibility as the young women they are. The difference for our young ladies growing up at Rancho Ebenezer is that they do not have their biological fathers and mothers taking them through this transition. However, the wonderful aspect of having a family structure on the Ranch is that we have mentor dads who provide the example of a loving, Christian father, exemplifying healthy father/daughter relationships. Our desire is that our young girls will choose to maintain purity until marriage and understand their value and identity in Christ. Unfortunately, the reality for many teen girls growing up in centers in Central America is that they end up leaving between the ages of 12-15, repeating the same cycles of their mothers having their first children between years of age. Thankfully, with our children living at Rancho Ebenezer from birth to 18 years of age, or completion of high school, this is not their story. In December, we celebrated two of our young girls with a unique 15th birthday celebration, called a quinceañera, in which we held a formal celebration and invited special guests to attend. Prior to the party, the mentor parents took the girls into the city to select a gown to wear for the big event. We had someone style their hair and do their makeup, and we prepared a special ceremony with music and treats, and of course a large cake, to honor these two young ladies and recognize the princesses they are in Christ. The ceremony was beautiful and meaningful to them. The ceremony consisted of special music and worship, a time of sharing by their mentor parents, a dedication of special gifts to both girls, and a few words spoken by the girls of their gratitude for everything that has been done in their lives. Our prayer for Katia and Kensi is that they will find their identity and value in Christ, and choose to commit their lives to Him, finding in Him the perfect Father who loves them more than anyone else possibly could. Spring 2017 World gospel Outreach Page 7

8 Rancho Ebenezer finishes transition of cafeteria The cafeteria project at Rancho Ebenezer has undergone several phases. The project has been completed with the help of several teams over the duration of the task, staff and children making the transition complete by moving the old kitchen to the brand new kitchen. The project began when it became obvious that the Ranch population had outgrown the Casa Grande where the families had their meals. Sharing the building with teams also wasn t the best use of space either. So a plan was made and the first stage was to remodel the chapel building. Tile was donated and laid, walls were painted. The large door was taken down and continued on page 10 by Karen Howarton Spring 2017 World gospel Outreach Page 8

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10 continued from page 9 a wall put in. The transition made the chapel more comfortable and easier to keep clean with its new beautiful white tile floor. The next phase was more difficult because a kitchen needed to be built. There was only one place for the kitchen and that was on the back of the existing building. Materials were discussed and the plan came from those talks to use a steel container as a frame for the new addition. Rancho Ebenezer sits high atop a mountain so bringing the container to the Ranch was a project in itself. Once the container was set in to the building, teams put in cabinets, worked on plumbing and painted. Ken Avila, Ranch Team host, used his talents with concrete in creating well-crafted countertops for the cabinets. When the addition was complete, all that was left to do was to move the existing kitchen to its new home. Members of the work program alongside staff a had the Ranch residents in their new facility in no time. Moving in! The Ranch community fits nicely with less noise and more room as they share a meal (right). Kitchen workers get everything ready for the move (top left). Diana Mendoza, new kitchen coordinator, shows the kitchen staff the new cabinetwork. (top middle). Work program teens helped move the furniture and supplies the short distance between the buildings. Spring 2017 World gospel Outreach Page 10

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12 Well done, good a When you walk into a Serve Team site for the first time, it may seem overwhelming. How does so much happen in such a small area? How will we fit all the equipment and all the people in this church that is tucked between two buildings? Where should optical be? Remember, we need light! Is the evangelism area private enough?are the dental chairs all going to fit along this wall? Spring 2017 World gospel Outreach Page 12

13 nd faithful servant! Then it happens, a well thought out plan that has been discussed, prayed over and discussed some more comes together as only God can orchestrate. Two cultures mix ideas and thoughts and soon people are being treated, hair is washed, games are played. Eyes that can t see to read are suddenly opened to see the world again and more importantly can read the Bible again. Souls that are troubled turn to the only answer that will give them peace. Physical and spiritual pain begins to subside and there is a peace about this small place with all the people and activity and noise. As the day comes to a close and the job is done, there is a feeling of an unspoken well done good and faithful servant. Spring 2017 World gospel Outreach Page 13

14 Ministry Position OPPORTUNITIES Controller World Gospel Outreach is seeking a Comptroller to manage the finance and accounting functions of this growing ministry. You need to have a Bachelor s degree in accounting or finance, minimum of 5 years of experience. Have the ability to communicate effectively across cultural boundaries, be a team player and have a passion for ministry work. Contact Mike Ferguson at mike.ferguson@wgomission.org for more information. TEACHERS WGO is looking for pre-school through 6th grade teachers for the school year. Rancho Ebenezer is in need of certified teachers for Ebenezer Academy, our on-site school that has a bilingual emphasis. PHARMACIST The Mission House of WGO is looking for a full time pharmacist. This position is located in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and reports to our current pharmacist. The WGO pharmacy is responsible for the weekly team s medicine needs, which can be up to 40 weeks of Serve Teams per year and more than 250,000 prescriptions filled. Mentor Parents WGO is seeking strong Christian, husband and wife couples to mentor our ministry children at Rancho Ebenezer located in the mountains outside of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. We strive to provide a haven where children can heal from the hurts of their past, know Jesus, receive an education and know the love of Jesus through caring Mentor Parents, counselors and staff. Mentor Parents oversee 8-12 children providing devotional times, homework help, activities, discipline and most importantly, love and nurturing. Mentor Parents work alongside our in-home counselors, social workers, therapists, and other children s services staff. IT MANAGER WGO is looking for an IT manager to work in its offices in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. This is a new position. This person will be responsible for all IT needs, including telephones at Rancho Ebenezer and the Mission House. Serve Team Staff - Belize In the ever expanding WGO Belize ministry operation, we are looking for someone to help in serving with and leading the Serve Teams that come and work with us for a week of ministry. This position would involve being with the team during the week, coordinating both the on-site ministry activities and helping at the WGO Belize campus. For further information, contact the Belize Field Director, Kelly Tucker, at kelly.tucker@wgomission.org. For further information please contact our Human Resources Dept. at: HR@wgomission.org Please pray for individuals to have a heart to serve with this ministry Spring 2017 World gospel Outreach Page 14

15 Belize Progress for the people spring 2017 World gospel Outreach Page 15

16 By Beverly Tucker God showered blessings on WGO Belize in 2016! Our teams seemed to have their own group personalities, which we describe for you below: Productive! Second Baptist Church in Conway, AR, led by Brian Fason, completed an amazing amount of work on our campus. In two days, these talented men constructed a cistern building which houses our state-of-the art water catchment and treatment system. They also built beautiful cabinets, counter tops, and trim for our first staff cabin which will bless missionaries for years to come. Fun! If you want to motivate your youth group, call Fellowship Bible Church s spring break group! Led by WGO board president, Dr. Steve Shexneyder, this team from Little Rock was a blast! Whether painting walls, ministering to children or providing medical care, they did it all with a funloving spirit that put everyone at ease. In between teams, two generous electricians from Geyer Springs First Baptist Church in Little Rock completed our electrical system, which is second to none! Prayerful. Kathy Ivec s team from Chicago were prayer warriors. A local church led by Pastor Carlos, asked us to assist Cecelia, whose husband was paralyzed in an accident. Our team helped raise the walls on the home Cecelia s husband had begun. Her oldest son committed his life to the Lord at our medical clinic, a testimony to the beauty of answered prayers. Hurricane Earl with 75 mph winds, demanded our attention for one long night. Remember those electricians from Little Rock? We never lost power with our wonderful generator system. Hundreds of trees were downed, but no structures or people were lost! Praise be to God who protects us in the storm. Spring 2017 World gospel Outreach Page 16

17 Servants. Geyer Springs First Baptist was our largest team to date. We were bursting at the seams in our temporary dining space, but these guys lightened our load by pitching in continuously. We were humbled to see God move in a powerful way as they shared the Gospel with members of Ontario Village. Resourceful. Remember Earl? Gloria dei Lutheran Church helped Pastor German bless a woman who lost her home in the hurricane. Using lumber salvaged from trees lost on our campus, the team and local church members helped her rebuild. Thanks be to God and to our generous supporters, local pastor friends and volunteers that made this a wonderful year. We are excited to see what God does next in Belize! Spring 2017 World gospel Outreach Page 17

18 To touch more lives, We need your help God is touching and changing lives through WGO. Please consider contributing funds toward the needs of the ministry. Your giving will help continue the kingdom work that is ongoing. WGO Serve Teams in Honduras and Belize are able to offer medical care to more than 100,000 people each year. The CarePay program was created to augment the funds needed for that care. Every $2 you donate covers the co-pay to care for one patient. $20 will provide for 10 patients. We hope you will consider a monthly gift to help in this ongoing ministry. Your donation to the WGO ALLKids Fund will go directly to the food, clothing and education of all of the Honduran children living at Rancho Ebenezer, who desperately need a loving Christian home. Or you can sponsor an individual child of your choosing for $30 per month by going to our website: org/wgokids. If you have questions about our kids sponsorship program please contact Fred at: fred.steinbach@wgomission.org or Ph Belize The Belize Campus is still in need of funding. Your donation to the Belize ministry will help us complete the Mission Center. There is an envelope in the magazine to make your donation by check. Or you can go to wgoreach.org/spring to make your donation by credit card. Spring 2017 World gospel Outreach Page 18

19 Impact on the Believer One of the needs at Rancho Ebenezer was filled this year with Intern Reagan Sorber. She is working with the preschool children. Her servant s attitude has made her a wonderful addition to the Ranch. Reagan answered the call to serve and has been humbly obedient. She follows Christ s model of humble service by loving these children through their most difficult moments. She is assisted by Jennifer who is one of the ministry children that has benefitted by the service of others to become a servant herself. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1 spring 2017 World gospel Outreach Page 19

20 Published by WORLDGOSPEL O U T R E A C H P.O. Box Humble, Texas WORLDGOSPEL O U T R E A C H Summer 2017 Join WGO for a digital journey. Watch for the summer edition of the WGO magazine online. Share with us the vision of this ministry through stories of hope, progress of the children at Rancho Ebenezer and videos of the work that is being done in the name of our savior, Jesus the Christ