the church

One of the most inspiring aspects of working in the Dominican Republic is the partnership we will have with the local church... the people on the ground who are living in the trenches, daily loving and serving 36 orphaned children.  The true heroes who have chosen to sacrifice so much to give what they can to children who are in desperate need.  What a true example of the church "leaving the building" and serving the least of these in their community.

Altagracia de los Santos is the pastor (and leader) of La Inglesia Restauracion Hermosa in Brisas del Este in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  Did you catch all that?  In more simple terms, Altagracia is the pastor of a church known as Restauracion in one of the poorest sections of the city of Santo Domingo.  She and her husband started the church eight years ago and since then have planted seven more churches in the area and have built two schools.  After building the schools, they felt called to do something more for the children in the community beyond education and started construction on the children's homes that are so near completion now.  Thirty six homeless children have been identified by Altagracia, and church members have opened their own homes while they wait on the completion of the orphan's homes.  They are putting James 1:27 into action by "looking after orphans in their distress."  Absolutely inspiring!

During their trip to the DR, Michael and Blake had the opportunity to spend a good amount of time with the pastors and asked a lot of questions over an authentic Dominican meal.  The most important question they asked was about their beliefs concerning the Bible and Jesus.  The one thing we decided No Longer would not and could not compromise on was that our partner church would be a Bible believing and teaching, Jesus-centered church. Altagracia answered their questions by saying, "We believe the Bible is God's Word.  It is 100% true.  We also believe Jesus is God's Son and He is the only way to heaven."

They also had a conversation about the seven churches they have planted.  Blake asked Altagracia how they decided where to plant churches.

"We go to the poorest areas of Santo Domingo because we believe that is where Jesus would be.  We look for areas that do not have a Christian church nearby.  Our hope is to plant a church and then in a few years plant a school.  As long as God keeps providing in miraculous ways like He has been doing, we will continue to plant churches so that people know about the love of Jesus."

Won't you join us in praying for these wonderful people and their community as they "seek justice, encourage the oppressed, and defend the cause of the fatherless" (Isaiah 1:17)?