Adrian and Sharon Thomas
http://www.everydayministries.com
Today was a beautiful day in Nagua, no tropical storms, no hurricanes, only sunny and warm. We were to go out and look at our next church construction project in San Rafael. We started with getting some fuel and proceeded to have a mechanical breakdown. Vehicle troubles here happen often; but, here it is very common for someone to stop whatever they are doing and help you. Today a mechanic stopped and within a half-an-hour our vehicle was back on the road and headed to our destination. He did not want us to bless him with money, but rather it was his pleasure to help us. We met with the local pastor of San Rafael, who is in the beginning stages of her construction project and she told us all the details needed to complete her church. This pastor has such a gentle, God fearing spirit about her. We believe there has never been a missions organization that has worked in the area of San Rafael. The community is very ready to here the gospel of Jesus Christ. I do believe we have found our next team construction and outreach project. With God all things are possible.
Recently, we had the great honor of teaching a conference on biblical worship and musical worship leading in Santiago. It was a great joy to see around fifty men and women gathered together, soaking up every word of the teaching, longing to become true worshippers in “Sprit and in truth”. There was such a peace and stillness from the Lord as we treated different topics such as walking and ministering in unity. The conference lasted two days, and by the end of the second day, the brothers and sisters who attended were writing their own songs of praise and worship to their Lord. We are confident that these men and women will make a great difference in their church assemblies and communities. They will be the ones to carry the heartbeat of the Father to be expressions of His presence in their city.
We had the joy of visiting with a group of pastors in La Mata, which is a new area that is also desperate for help. After a great meal of rice, chicken, fish, guinea fowl, beans, and salad, we attended a meeting where we shared about EDM, and also encouraged the pastors. It was amazing to see that even though they lacked so much and had many pressing needs, these pastors were reaching out, with God’s help, to minister to the overwhelming needs of their churches and surrounding communities. Please pray for this new group of pastors from La Mata, as well as the pastors and the communities of Pimentel and Codui. All together there are over 50 pastors and churches in these areas ministering to over 150,000 people, many in desperate situations.
The goal of this ministry is to evangelize people who are unreached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to equip and empower those who are already faithfully serving their people but do not have the adequate support or resources to complete the task God has given them. (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 16:5)
This ministry exists to strengthen the churches of the developing nations by equipping church leaders, their families and communities.
We are actively involved in:
Pastoral Support: training through theological instruction and training, conferences, prayer meetings locally, regionally and nationally.
Pastoral Family Support: facilitating monthly financial support, housing needs, educational needs and medical needs of the family when necessary.
Equipping the Local Congregation: providing resources for basic church operating needs, improvements, Christian discipleship training and instruction in basic Bible doctrines.
Impacting the community: sponsoring evangelistic outreaches in conjunction with local churches, partnering in community improvements and ministering to people’s emotional, physical and spiritual needs.
Work projects: repairing, renovating and/or building churches and church run ministry facilities.
Please pray:
--for the 200 pastors, churches and communities that we have contact with
--health and safety for us and our children
--better understanding and speaking ability of the Spanish language
--daily wisdom, discernment and knowledge as we deal with the enormous amount of physical, social and spiritual needs we see everyday
The Dream
God has planted a vision, passion and desire in our hearts to see the pastors and churches of the Dominican Republic encouraged, empowered, and equipped. And then through them to see their communities reached for Christ. The name of our ministry (Everyday) comes from our passion to live for Christ every day, and to see Acts 16:5, which states “the churches were strengthened in their faith, and God added to their number everyday”, fulfilled here in the DR.
We have three children that are actively involved in the ministry here as well. Kent, Luke and Courtney often help our parents wherever we can with the ministry, whether it is construction, serving food or helping at conferences. We also are actively involved in sports outreach, skateboarding events, and we play in a band called “Free to Breathe” that plays at different outreach events. Courtney loves to bring biscuits and cookies to church events that she gladly shares with all the other children who often have only had one meal that day.
