JUNE 7, 2010
We
are back from Belize and would like to briefly share our trip with you. You might recall that back in March we took
down over 600 pounds of ministry supplies and materials to the two "pilot" churches and schools. These two
ministries are being actively monitored, evaluted and tweaked as we prepare to implement into other villages in September.
The ministry plan is still to add a group of villages each September and January until we have the entire country covered!
In all the times we've traveled to Belize, we had never experienced any real travel delays, so we were way
past due. The rainy season in Belize has come early and strong this year and we were about 5 hours late arriving.
Tired and weary is not a good way to start a week of ministry, but we headed out to the school in the Light of Valley community.
Upon arrival, the principal immediately came over to our car and tearfully informed us that one of our preschool kids, Tommy
Polanco, had drowned in the river that morning. Needless to say, the entire school and village was in shock. Teachers
and children were just wandering around the grounds. God gave us the words and strength to gather everyone into the
church and to minister to over 270 kids. We cried, prayed, hugged, and loved, and prayed some more.
God proved yet
again that He moves in ways that we cannot always understand. Amidst all the grieving and pain, God showed up and as a result
of Tommy's death, 53 children received the gift of salvation! Plans are being made to go down to the very spot
in the river that took away life and to baptize these children with the wonderful new eternal life they now have in Jesus!
How awesome is that! Please be in prayer for this village and especially the Polanco family, as they do not know
Christ. God clearly showed us that the Kidz Konnect 4 Jesus ministry is making a huge and immediate impact on an entire
generation throughout the country of Belize!
We will return to Belize on June 22 - July 3 with a team of 20 from Cornerstone
Baptist to continue to develop and strengthen relationships all over the country with our "BELIZE BLAST" outreach
ministry. We again thank YOU for ALL of your prayers and support! We simply could not have reached this point without
you and ask that you continue to lift us up in prayer. Please help us by sharing the vision of Kidz Konnect 4 Jesus
with your local pastor and/or youth/children's pastor. We need more US and Canadian partner churches to implement the
ministry into other Belizean villages! There is a version of the ministry brochure on the web that can be downloaded
and printed for easy distribution. We can also send out a "kit" with more detailed information if you will
send us the contact name. Please visit the websites to see more detailed and up to date information.
MARCH 2010 Greetings
friends and family!
Just imagine....two people checking in at the
airport with 10 bags and over 600 pounds of children's ministry materials, including two large projection screens! That
was the scene as we headed back to Belize this month. We were blessed with a check in agent who understood and appreciated
what we were doing and even more, once we arrived in Belize we were personally greeted with a duty exemption letter from the
Belize Minister of Finance, thus saving thousands in duty! Next came the awesome blessing of Pastor Henry's large
van to carry all of the materials. It all came together.
We
kicked off the week of Kidz Konnect 4 Jesus ministry training by leading a large group presentation for the entire school
at Light of the Valley....240 children! They were captivated by the projector and large screen lessons and absolutely
loved the new worship songs! The leader of the Belize Baptist Association was attending and was all smiles as he told
us this style of ministry was certainly a first in the country and is EXACTLY what was needed to reach children!
The training
of teachers continued each day at Light of the Valley and at night we held training sessions for leaders at Dangriga Baptist
Church. The week ended with another energetic large group at school and then an amazing Sunday where both
churches were full of children. Pastor Alvez had told us not to expect many, if any, children on Sunday
night, yet the church was full! These two initial ministry sites will be monitored, evaluted and modified over the next four
months as we prepare to implement the Kidz Konnect 4 Jesus ministry into other villages in September. Training
for these new locations will take place in August. The vision is to add a group of villages each September
and January until the entire country is covered!
We again thank you for all of your prayers and support! We would again like to ask that you please
share the vision of Kidz Konnect 4 Jesus with your local pastor and/or youth/children’s pastor, friends and neighbors.
We need local US church and individual partners to expand the ministry. There is a version of the ministry brochure
on the web that can be downloaded and printed for easy distribution. We can also send out a “kit”
with more detailed information if you will send us the contact name.Because Jesus Loves Kids!
OCTOBER, 2009
IT'S OFFICIAL!!! Coastal Christian Missions and Kid Zone Ministries - Belize
is an official member and partner of the Baptist Association of Belize. On Saturday, Oct.3rd, 32 member churches
with over 100 representatives at the annual meeting voted unanimously to include us as members to partner with the churches
and schools of Belize. Great excitement was experienced throughout the membership. Being a part of this organization
provides us the broad access needed to initiate the vision God has given us to help the children of Belize in a wide scale
fashion.
The pilot program will launch in early 2010 with the implementation of children's ministry
programs into a pre-school, a primary school and at least one church. The current plan is to follow this pilot program
with a formal training workshop in the summer and then phase one implementation in September for additional schools and churches.
Subsequent rollouts and program expansion is planned for each January and September with ongoing training workshops at least
twice a year. As you can see, this is a very long term process that will require extensive time, energy, resources and
of course, financial support.
For now, we will continue to travel back and forth with increased
frequency and longer trip durations as necessary. Karen continues to be Director of Children's Ministry at Cornerstone and
they will be providing her an added staff person to allow for time in Belize. David will continue with his consulting
work and will continue attending Liberty Theological Seminary.
We thank you all for your prayers
and support during the past five years and fifteen trips as we carefully sought out God's direction and timing! We simply
could not have gotten to this point without you. Now the real work begins! We will be
in touch with you individually in the very near future to provide more details and insight to this awesome ministry opportunity.
SEPTEMBER 4, 2009
We
are back from yet another amazing and successful mission trip to Belize. Thank you for your prayers and
continued support!
As we have all heard before, if Satan is not attacking us, then we just might not be doing enough
in our ministry. Well, if that is the case, then we must be a really BIG threat to Satan with our ministry efforts here in
Belize. As we slept Tuesday night in Seine Bight (a voo-doo village), thieves broke into our room and wiped
us out of our material “stuff“ (new laptop, cell phones, camera, watches, wedding rings and all our money….
and of course we had just gone to the bank!).
We are grateful for the protection that God provided for our safety as they were “literally”
over us while He kept us asleep. We are both very light sleepers and how we did not wake up is simply a miracle. Just as the
Lord placed Adam in a deep sleep, he did the same to protect us. At this time, four young men whose lives are being destroyed
by Satan have been arrested. Please pray for them. A gun was retrieved (which is illegal in Belize) but our belongings are
still unaccounted for and will likely never be seen. Our attitudes and outlook are very much positive as we know that God
is sovereign and will use this event to strengthen our faith and resolve to carry out His work.
On a very positive note, some of the villagers who remember us from this summer’s Belize Blast were
instrumental in the arrests because they knew us and what we are doing to help the children. This is a
really big deal for this desperate village and certainly is The Holy Spirit at work! We were able
to deliver all the medication to the children in the Banana Plantation and had a great time of fellowship despite the pouring
rain (the rainy season finally showed up in a big way!). Our meetings with Pastor's continue to confirm the vision the Lord
has laid on our hearts for children’s ministry and we will be going back to address the full body of the Baptist Association
on October 3. We continue to work on a way to get the dental equipment shipped down to open a clinic.
Thank
you again for your prayers and support. Awesome things are happening in Belize and you are as much a part
of it as we are! If you would please send us a quick reply with your address and phone number as all we have now is this email
list since our computer and phones (which back up each other) are gone!
Because Jesus Loves
Kids!
David
and Karen
JULY 7, 2009
The team of 23 from our home church, Cornerstone - Florence, SC is back
home safely after an amazing trip to Belize. The team performed six "Belize Blast" shows in villages
all over the southern and middle regions of Belize. More than 1,000 children attended this outreach event to receive
the gospel in a unique and fresh way. Curiosity and excitement also brought out countless adults, which rarely ever
happen on mission trips in this country. We received incredible feedback from local pastors, missionaries and teachers.
Nothing of this magnitude had ever been tried before and the overwhelming turnout from the villages was humbling confirmation
of success.
Even though we were in the middle of the rainy season, we were blessed with abundant sunshine each
and every day....it was HOT! The lack of rain allowed us to navigate via school bus over two temporary bridges that
would otherwise have been under water, forcing us to either go by boat or small plane to the south region. Traveling
over rocky terrain to reach rarely visited villages had us changing out 4 blown tires in a 24 hour period.
Once
again, thank you for all of your prayers and support. We will be traveling back again in August to continue formulating
plans for the long term vision and great commission!
In HIS service,
David and Karen Rhodes
JUNE 12, 2009
Dear family
and friends,
We have
safely returned from Belize and yet again are forever changed. Thank you so very much for your prayers,
emails and support. Words cannot convey what it means to be covered in prayer when facing the situation
and conditions we were in. The circumstances were far more critical than had been described. We spent long days
and nights in prayer, discussion, mediation, negotiation and then more time in prayer with all of the various parties to facilitate
an arrangement that would clearly be God honoring and of His will. God in His sovereignty gave us
the patience, discernment, wisdom and courage that made this trip as successful as it could be under these dire circumstances.
As you might imagine, this situation is very complex and would literally take a book to capture all of the history
leading up to present day. We’ll spare you the details and focus on the path forward. The children’s
home will remain open for now. Basic needs are not being met on a daily basis and living conditions have
deteriorated to the point of possibly being condemned by the government. The recent 7.1 magnitude earthquake
off the coast of Belize caused serious structural damage to the boy’s dorm. Immediate repairs are
needed to make this building safe. Western Christian Academy (high school) located in the village will close following their first graduation on June 20.
It is unfortunate an acceptable arrangement could not be reached to keep this school open. A new
high school will be formed and will open about 15 miles away. Scholarships and transportation fees are
desperately needed for students to continue their education. There are no public high schools in Belize. The recent events in Ontario Village were best described by Paul in 2 Timothy
3:2-5, “They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander
others and have no self-control; they will be cruel and have no interest in what is good. They will betray
their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They act as if
they are religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly.” All parties involved
need to seek repentance and begin/return to a healthy relationship with the Lord seeking His mercy and grace. PLEASE
continue to pray for healing in this community and provision for the children of the village. On a more positive note, God clearly
opened doors of opportunity that are of God sized proportion. We will keep you updated as things progress
in this area. The present plan is to travel back to Belize with a team of 24 from our church (Cornerstone) June 25 – July 2
for a series of ministry events referred to as “Belize Blast”. We will be spending additional
time in Ontario Village. Any assistance and support you are able to provide for the children’s home,
new school and community will be greatly appreciated. Because of your prayers, faithfulness
and generosity, we are able to continue to step forward in faith serving and praising the one and only Lord of all things!
God bless you.
Because Jesus Loves Kids,
David and Karen Rhodes
March 2009 Newsletter
We are back
home after a wonderful and prosperous (and tiring) seven days in Belize. We were blessed to have Dr. Bill Curtis - Sr. Pastor at Cornerstone Baptist and his
wife Lyla join us on this trip. This trip was to prepare for our June trip where a group of 25 to 30 from Cornerstone
Baptist Church - Florence, SC will be performing a series of youth outreach events all over the country. Once
again, “Mission accomplished”!!!…thank
you for your prayers and support! Here
are the brief highlights of the trip (of which are only possible because of you!!!):
Meeting with the Director(s) of the Belize
Baptist Association in Belize City.
Two days with children at the Ontario
Village Children’s Home.
Time and medical supplies to Los
Flores Refugee Village.
Missionary time/support
to Silk Grass Baptist (John & Darlene Glasgow).
Missionary time/support to Seine Bight Community
(Jim & Anna Mensie).
Visit to San Pedro to explore restart of inactive church.
Meetings with local pastors in Santa Elena and Belmopan.
Site visits and logistical preparation
for June trip.
We are humbled to have been called to serve our Lord in
this capacity. May God pour out his blessings on you and again, thank you for your support!
Faithfully,
David and Karen Rhodes
