Moory Christmas - by Mack Jennings

Merry Christmas to all (or, if you are in the dairy business like we are in Peru, perhaps it is “Mooory Christmas). It has been a wonderful year on the evangelical side of the Peru project and a year of some discovery, some disappointments and some successes in the business side of the project. We look forward to growth in the dairy in 2010 as well as some new businesses that will fuel the evangelical side sometime in the future.

The US side of the business team spends considerable time in Peru and stateside seeking out new business opportunities. As we have ideas we work with our man on the ground in Peru, Nestor Silva, who also contributes ideas of his own. Then, through numerous professional contacts and network sources, he investigates, develops, ensures our legal well being and attempts to put people together to create an entity that will eventually help support our effort in Trujillo/Viru and also enable us to move to a different community perhaps.

Some of the new projects that are being examined are the construction of a shipping facility in the port city of Salavarry, low cost housing , a plant nursery facility in Viru, a recycling business and concerts for school kids (what a grand opportunity for the evangelical side too!). Of course we have no specific training in building ports or housing projects but we will be in the role of putting knowledgeable businesses together and providing a top level oversight, thus being a value added component that will share in the profits of the ventures.

We are also thinking about restarting the cuy (a staple food in Peru) business in the facilities we have already constructed in Viru (the last effort was the victim of some disease that pretty much wiped out the cuy population). We would enter that business, as well as the nursery business, with the National University in Trujillo as participating partners. We bring facilities and some work force to the partnership, the university brings financial and other resources, as well as students in the various university disciplines who have knowledge of the specific business.

2010 will be a challenging year for the Kingdom Business side of the project. We hope that you will join in our prayers for wisdom, resources, good relationships with partners (who will also be hearing the Word at the same time) and success in the financial and spiritual realms.

Church Planting by Tim Coop

I wanted to take this month to bring you up to speed on what we are doing in the area of church planting. We are moving forward with the idea of building and equipping new leaders.

The church planting movement in Trujillo will focus on starting hundreds of house churches called “Puentes” in Spanish, or “Bridges.” Feeling the need to train and equip the leaders of these churches has led us to see the need for ongoing leadership training. One of my responsibilities in Trujillo will be to oversee Bridge Builder Training - a certificate training program that would meet five hours, once a month, on Saturday for ten months each year, beginning in March. A graduate from this program would receive a certificate and a small library of valuable resource books. The courses would be taught by PNHI board members John Hendee, Tim Coop, Don Lawrence, and Roger Storms.

Here is a list of the courses that will be offered:

• The Inner Formation of the Servant Leader
• How To Make Sense Out of the Bible
• Leadership Lessons From Jesus
• Experiencing The Holy Spirit, The Wind in Our Sails
• Lessons From the Vine: Growth and Discipline
• Understanding the End Times
• How To Defend Your Faith
• Developing a Healthy Marriage
• Building Relationships That Change the World
• Managing Your Five Stewardship Assets

The first Bridge Builder Training will be held March 6th at the PNHI office. We are anticipating dozens of leaders taking advantage of this equipping opportunity. I will be blogging along the way about how this approach is working.

The entire board and all those involved in Project New Hope International thank you for your support throughout 2009. Each of us celebrates with you the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Merry Christmas to all!

God Bless!

Tim Coop

Stories - by Mike Butka

I want to share with you a why our work in Trujillo is so important. I would like to share with you a true story about a family that is now part of our church in the city. Danell met with her through a friend that used to go to the same Christian Church. We want to give you a background of how some of the Christian churches are here in Trujillo and then you’ll understand why so many people don’t have a good concept on Christianity. This church is going to seem more like a cult to you. Here are some of the things that Nartiza shared with us and how it has affected her family, especially her two young children. This congregation is controlled by the Pastor; they weren’t allowed to do anything without his blessing. When our friend left that church, everyone was told that she had bad spirits and they weren’t allowed to talk to her. Certain types of music are the devil’s music and they were forbidden to listen to any of it. This really affected her six year old son when they were at birthday party, Nartiza told her son to dance with the other children because he was sitting in the corner. He told his mother “I can’t because it would be worshipping Satan”. When they got home, he told his dad that his mom tried to make him dance to Satan’s music. Some of the rituals in the church are to pass around a bag so people could throw up the demons inside of them. This is just one example of the cult like things these churches do. Because of the practice in this church, and it’s not the only one here in Trujillo, Nartiza and her family have been mentally affected by this. We are glad to report that Nartiza, her husband, Carlos and their two children are coming to service on a regular basis and they are also in our house church group. We were studying Acts 8:26, where it is talking about Philip sharing the gospel with an Ethiopian and actually baptizing him. She came alive when she found out that she can be an ambassador for Christ because she was always taught in her old church that she wasn’t ready to share her faith with others and of course she couldn’t baptize anyone. We will be doing the Peace Treaty when her husband comes home from working in Cajamarca. He works doing the week there and only comes home on the weekends. We ask that you continue to pray for Nartiza and her family. We also ask that you pray that God continues to bless the work Project New Hope is doing in Trujillo!

God Bless!
Mike and Danell

Our Board - by John Hendee

I have had the opportunity to share with you about the wonderful work going on in Trujillo, Peru. I have also had a chance to share what a great team we have assemble there. But I also have to tell you to tell you about our board. You can see a picture of them on on web site;

http://www.projectnewhopeinternational.com/whoarewe.asp

This is really the first time in my life I have worked with a board on a regular basis. As a board we try and meet every three months. There is phone interaction every week, including a regular Thursday Skype call between the U.S. and Peru involving about 6 people. Most of our board members are in Peru every year, some 3 or 4 times. They are an active board. They are responsible to take care of the costs of getting to the board meetings and Peru. Most of them come from Big Sister churches. Our Big Sister churches are the churches that are major contributors to the work in Peru.

The board takes their job of helping carry out our mission in Peru and representing all the churches seriously.

We have learned to trust each other. We are all different. And each person adds something special to the team. We have full time church workers as well as people with decades of experience in the business world. All have decades of working with missions around the world.

All see the uniqueness of what we are doing in Peru and believe in the importance of it. A few of our retired business people are basically working full time with us.

It is inspiring to see how hard this group is working.

NOW, we don't always see things eye to eye.

This is not a 'rubber stamp' group, or a group of yes men and women I've gathered. I wouldn't want that. We have learned to ask the HARD questions and not be offended.

We have learned to be challenged and be asked to explain why something is being done, or not being done.

This is a tough group, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

What makes it work is that we trust each other. No one is out for personal glory or control. We believe in what we are doing and that it is for God.

I have learned to really appreciate this group, knowing I can go to them individually and as a group and ask for support and direction, knowing I will get wise guidance. I have learned to sit back in some areas and let them make decision. I have learned to submit to them.

I thank God for this dedicated group. You can too! You can be resting assured that there is a group doing all they can to insure that the funds received for PNHI are being used properly and that all possible is being done to make this work for God.

God Bless!

John