Mission Statement

Fearlessly reaching the forgotten youth of El Salvador with Christ’s love, restoring hope to their lives, and discipling them to become mature and responsible adults, leaders of healthy families, and authentic followers of Christ.

Okay, so we realize that most people usually write their mission statement first, and then begin their ministries. We, however, have done it a little backward..but that is okay! We spent a lot of time looking at examples of mission statements for other organizations and churches, and thinking and praying and asking God what He wanted for this minsitry. Each word in the statement was carefully chosen, and we would like to take the opportunity to share with everyone why:

Fearlessly - with violent crime on the rise every year, El Salvador has become a dangerous place to live, especially for youth. Gangs seem to have the control and they control by instilling fear in everyone. Many people shy away from reaching out to at-risk youth because these are the youth who are killing, these are also the same "least of these" children that God wants us to love so very much. Fear is not from the Lord, so we vow to reach out to these youth without fear.

Forgotten youth - we don't feel called to reach out to all youth in general, but rather to those who have been forgotten. Those who have aged out of orphanages and have no where else to go. Those who have been forgotten by their families and now live in the streets. The youth that society would like to forget about.

With Christ's love - the amazing thing about Christ's love is that it is for everyone, there are no favorites and we are to model that.

Restore hope - poverty, abandonment, crime...all of these things have robbed the youth of hope and, through Christ, we desire to help restore that hope to their lives. "There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off." Proverbs 23:18

Discipling them - we believe that small group and one-on-one discipleship is powerful and Biblical. Jesus discipled a small group that impacted the world and the great commission calls us to go and make disciples.

Mature and responsible adults - enough said!

Leaders of healthy families - the breakdown of the family is epidemic in ES and familial roles have not been modeled in a healthy way in the lives of the youth that we work with. We believe that if the family is restored then the nation can be restored.

Authentic followers of Christ - authenticly, genuinely, unabashed, this is how we are to follow Christ. There is no such thing as a "Sundays only" Christian.


Writing the mission statement was actually lots of fun! We have recently begun the vision statement and core values and it was fun to allow our hearts to dream! After all, God is the giver of dreams and this is His ministry. We pray that we will be good stewards of it and live a life worthy of the calling we have received.

Do not worry

Matthew 6:25-34 tells us that we are not to worry about our daily needs because our Father in heaven knows those needs and will provide for us. Despite reading these words countless times many of us still continue to worry about these things...or at least I know that I do!

Over the past week El Salvador has experienced some of the worst rains and mudslides since Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Dozens of people have been killed and thousands are without homes. http://www.laprensagrafica.com/internacionales/centroamerica/224900-mas-de-90-muertos-y-700000-afectados-por-lluvias-en-centroamerica.html

The building across the street from our church has been set up as a temporary shelter for victims of the recent rains and mudslides. Yesterday we went to this shelter to sort through bags of donated clothes that were to be given out to the victims.During our time there, a very little, and very elderly lady came in and began going through the clothes. She was frail and wet and she said that she needed something to eat and something to wear. As we helped her go through the clothes to pick out some things to wear, the verses in Matthew came to mind....Do not worry about what you will eat or what you will wear.....Are you not more important than the lilies of the field or the birds of the air?...God reminded me then and there that He promises to take care of me, and that He always will. In my lack of faith, I often worry about what I would do if certain situations strike, for example if we had lost our home to the floods or landslides. But yesterday my heart was comforted in being reminded that I have a Father who has promised to take care of me, and He never breaks a promise!

The generosity of the Salvadoran community during this time has been overwhelming and it overwhelms our hearts to see people who have so little give to those who have even less. Last night members of the mayors office came around our community asking for donations for some of the victims who are staying in another local shelter. Immediately one of the youth in our home went to her room and quickly filled two bags up with clothes to be donated. Needless to say my heart was proud...and I'm pretty sure our Father had a smile on His face too :)