Benefits To The Campaigners
	Benefits To Our Spanish Ministry
	Benefits To The Campaigner's Family (a child's point of view)
	Benefits To The Mission Work
	Benefits To The Missionary

This year we feel all of these benefits were achieved. Also, all of the costs for this campaign were covered by different individuals in our Spanish ministry.

Benefits To The Campaigners

A campaign is good for my personal growth. It helps me see that God can use me even with my weaknesses. It's not "natural" for me to go door knocking and I feel like my Spanish language skills are lacking, but God is able to use me in spite of my limitations. It's also very encouraging to be with our brothers and sisters who were converted in Baton Rouge and have returned home to Venezuela. They remain active and are leaders of the church in Venezuela.
Leah Morris

On this trip we clearly saw how great it is to be part of South Baton Rouge Church of Christ's family. I do not think there are too many churches like ours. A church that takes priority in spreading the good news of God--a church that has people who are willing to work, that has a great supporting family.

In this trip we saw how exciting and humbling it is to be part of this great body of Christ where love and support travel everywhere and connect us all. We were able to feel God's presence among His family in Ciudad Guayana and in us. It is always wonderful to see how God uses his servants to find people open to His love.

At times we felt like pieces in an oversized chess game, in which God moved us around the field to do His work. Personally, we can tell you the many times we all had to remind ourselves of the reason why we were in Venezuela. We had to submit our wills to Him over and over again and to allow Him to lead the way.

On trips like this, a most valuable experience is permanently etched in our hearts; one that we can use again and again every day of our lives in Baton Rouge; one that we are eager to put into practice in mission work in Baton Rouge; one that can help us reaffirm our submission to the Lord in everything we do so that we can assist more Hispanics to find the light of Jesus.
Bayardo (co-deacon, Missions and Ministerio Hispano) and Anabel Jiron

Back to Top

Benefits To Our Spanish Ministry

The last two years the campaign has almost served as a spiritual "boot camp" for our own ministry leaders . Imagine the impact on your ministry if your members spent fourteen days intensely working on different aspects of evangelism together (door knocking, course delivery, individual Bible studies, group Bible studies). The training this provides us to enable us to do it at home is immeasurable. Also, imagine the "unity of spirit" when the members of the ministry share this experience together. Now you know why we consider campaign expenses to be an investment in our own ministry!
Chuck Morris, co-deacon
Missions and Ministerio Hispano

The purpose of the Ministerio Hispano is to reach out to the Hispanic community of Baton Rouge. It is through this ministry that the first steps were taken which eventually led to the church planting in Ciudad Guayana where the Greens and Phillips currently serve as missionaries.

All of the participants in this year's campaign are from the South Baton Rouge Spanish ministry. The benefit this provides to the campaign is that all of us have worked together before, we have the same goals, and we share the same spirit. The benefit to our ministry is that when we work together like this, it matures our common goals for our ministry. We not only worked together, lived together, ate together, and shared family time together, but we also created a very special love together among the members of our group. Seeing the way God works in each member for the good of the whole ministry is inspiring.

During the campaign we saw people who were converted here and now work for God in Venezuela. We saw the work they have done and the spiritual maturity that they have reached and it reinforces our conviction about the importance of our ministry.
Denis Ruiz

Back to Top

Benefits To The Campaigner's Family
--a child's point of view.

The funniest part was shooting spitballs with Miguel. Going on this campaign helps us learn about the Spanish culture. It helps us learn some of the Spanish language. And this might help us if either me or my sister become missionaries. And it gives us a good opportunity to see family and friends.
Micah Morris (age 11)

We get to teach people about God and we get to be with our cousins. It's a fun place to play and it is a beautiful country.
Leah Elizabeth Morris (age 8)

In this trip what was new and different was the new building. I like it a lot and the improvements they are making. It was fun visiting other churches and to make more friends that were not my age. They were older and younger. Also, I had more time to play with Micah (spit balls).
Miguel Jiron (age 12)

I think a big benefit to me personally was to see how different people, especially teenagers, live and have a different perspective on life. For example, I love shoes, but to them shoes are not so important. They thought I was dumb to buy such expensive, elaborate shoes. They couldn't understand. Instances like this one helped me to realize that they were right. It was fun to have a purpose or a mission in a trip. For me, it was working and playing with the kids.
Patricia Jiron (age 15)

Back to Top

Benefits To The Mission Work

The campaign to Puerto Ordaz has contributed to the mission work in the following three ways (from my perspective): It contributed by

1. bringing in new unbelievers.
2. helping the church remain outward focused.
3. helping the church to articulate what we believe.

First, the campaign contributed to the work by bringing in new unbelievers. I believe that each night of the campaign there were over twenty non-Christians who came to hear what God has to say about the family. These are new contacts that the church did not have before the campaign. Now that the campaign is over, the Lord has more people to convert through his church here in Ciudad Guayana. Amen!
Secondly, the campaign contributed to the work by helping the church remain outward focused. I believe that it will be very hard for us to become inwardly focused when there are so many Bible studies with non-Christians. I think God has foiled Satan's plan by giving us these unbelievers to study with so that we will not get distracted with an inward focus.

Finally, the campaign contributed to the work by helping everyone articulate what we believe about God. It is one thing to just believe in Jesus, but it is a totally different thing when you actually share with someone what you believe about Jesus. In the church here, we have many babies in Christ, but I tell you these babies are learning how to share what they do know about God with their non-Christian friends. Andrea and I can relate to this because we also, in one aspect, are like babies - sharing our faith in our new language with the people we have just met.

May God bless our work in Ciudad Guayana and your work in Baton Rouge. Amen!
Greg Phillips, missionary

Back to Top

Benefits To The Missionary

I spent 9 years of my childhood on the mission field in Vicenza, Italy. Also during the first 7 years of my marriage to Denis we lived in Caracas, Venezuela. As a child I remember the campaigns as a very uplifting moment for my mom and dad. I think it was confirming to them to see the sacrifices that other people made to be able to join them on the mission field. For me it was a highlight of my youth to be surrounded by many Christian young people for the summer.

In Venezuela I remember appreciating the English fellowship more. I struggled with my cultural adjustments and the campaigners helped me in that transition. It was important to be able to share my struggles with people from the states who shared my background. Although we had periodic visits from elders and other members, by far the majority of our contact with the United States and the churches in the United States was through campaigners.
Robbie Ruiz

Back to Top

Back to Venezuela Cover Page