God calls ministers to equip the Church for the work of the ministry. After many years of working in one local church, I experienced what I’ll call an ‘enlargement’ of my view of God’s calling. In preparing mission volunteers for work overseas, we equip the domestic church to do a better job of reaching its own community ed-italia.com. The mission volunteer teams then equip the foreign church to better reach its community for Christ. In both cases, the church is equipped. And, God is glorified through changed lives on the mission field, in volunteer mission teams, and in the domestic church!
The ‘centerpiece’ of my work through EquipUs is the Pastor Training Schools. This began in the city of Barahona, Dominican Republic. We teach 70-85 pastors and our approach is to “Entrust the Gospel to faithful men who will, in turn, entrust it to others.” God has blessed this work and the pastors have been faithful in implementing what they have been taught. Evidence of this is the increase in baptisms among these 50+ churches after one year of work with the pastors: an average of 44%! Currently, the churches are showing an average annual growth rate of 18.5% via baptisms. I believe our Prayer Teams are the first ones responsible for these results. God has answered through American pastors who volunteer to teach, and mission volunteer members who do construction work, medical clinics, sports camps, or any of several mission/evangelism outreach projects concurrent with our Pastor Training Schools. As Henry Blackaby said in Experiencing God, “See what God is doing and join Him in it.” YOU can make an eternal difference in someone’s life.
Recent Posts
Mission Ability or Availability?
We've all heard a sermon or two about God using our availability more than our abilities. It's not really a case of either/or. God uses both! That was true with the mission volunteer featured in this post. And what was true for her and the rest of the team can be true...
Truth Has Fallen – Will You Intercede?
Olympus Has Fallen Will prayer help? The citadel is falling before our eyes and I don't mean the White House. In the action packed movie, terrorists take over the White House and the code word goes out to all government agencies, Olympus has fallen! You may remember...
Seven Day Challenge
Do This In Remembrance of Me For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you... Throughout his letters in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul consistently encourages all followers of Christ to: Look up to God in total dependence and complete devotion...
Winning the War That Matters – Part 2
Equipping Mission Volunteers The last post in this series was about worship as a weapon of our warfare. Worship was God's chosen weapon to deliver Judah from destruction. There are three things we also need to know: Worship is one tool of fully equipped mission...
Winning the War That Matters
Life Lessons - Identify the Enemy Are you tired of hearing about wars? How many have you heard about lately? Maybe you have spent time and energy on these wars: Terror ISIS Poverty The media's supposed "war on women" We should be aware of terrorist activity. We should...
25 Patriotic Truths to Celebrate on July 4
Patriotic Thoughts of Great Americans Feeling patriotic this July 4 season? What will you celebrate? Why do you celebrate? What will you teach your children and/or grandchildren? The reason I ask the questions is very similar to interpreting Scripture. We cannot fully...
But the Servants Knew
John 2:11 makes it clear that Jesus transformed water into wine to reveal His glory. His power to perform miracles is not surprising. It is a little surprising that He did this without any fanfare. There was no, Hey, ya'll, watch this! Two things happened. He gave...
Evangelism: By All Means We Win Some
Evangelism Challenge Think evangelism is hard or intimidating? We teach mission volunteers the why's and how's of evangelism. People need to be reminded often that winning a soul is only the beginning of evangelism. Why? Evangelism, in terms set by Jesus in the Great...
Too Few Good Men – Part IV
Love The Lord So, good men are the few who have learned to lean, learned to lead, and they will also love the Lord. Now, we see that in I Corinthians 13:1-3 - Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a...
Too Few Good Men – Part III
Good Men Learn To Lead Another mark of those good men so needed by the world and Kingdom is that they have learned to lead. Is that an out front, take charge kind of thing? Well, it might be. But let me give you a few other thoughts. The Word says they've learned to...
Too Few Good Men – Part II
Lean On The Lord Before we address the need to lean on the Lord, I'd like to help you girls out. We're honoring fathers, but I need to help you ladies with a little insight. If you've been married for any length of time, you've probably figured all these things out....
Too Few Good Men – A Father’s Day Message
Good men lean, lead and love. In fact, the Word tells us to know the love of God which is unknowable. It has no height, no depth, no breadth, or other limit. But Ephesians 3 tells us to know that love. So our walk with the Father is an endless, eternal journey into...


