Equipping for Deepened Connections
It truly takes a village, a community, a tribe to make a thing worthwhile. Last weekend’s events in Phoenix, AZ were no exception to that rule. Developing Workers is so grateful for the prayers, the volunteer hours, the financial gifts, and the partnering churches and organizations that contributed to 4 successful equipping events in the East Valley. Hear more about the enrichment that took place, and check below for another local opportunity for equipping. Through a substantial gift of friends of the ministry, Developing Workers was able to bring Curt Thompson, MD to teach and facilitate time with 4 different audiences, reaching more than 500 leaders and families in the greater Phoenix area and beyond. Curt came to Phoenix to cover the overarching theme of deepening connections, and he engaged each audience for their unique means of discipleship. Ministry leaders and Christian clinicians who want to grow in their leadership filled the sanctuary tables on Friday morning. Trauma-informed care providers and educators in need of refreshment and/or seeking to help renew their trauma-impacted communities joined us Saturday morning. Parents, foster parents, grandparents, hopeful future parents, and others who interact with the next generation joined us at either Friday night or Saturday night’s sessions. Though none of the attending families walked away with 5 formulaic steps to better their parenting, everyone in attendance was blessed to consider how God’s pursuit of our hearts and our connection with Him is just as important as the pursuit of connection with our children. We praise God for the work He began over this past weekend and the input He provided the city of Phoenix through these events. May the fruit of its impact be increasingly evident through transformed lives and relationships! Have you witnessed the impact of Developing Workers’ CSI program on the field? Are you eager to move beyond knowledge of the problem of trafficking and interested in receiving real training? This course will equip you to actually get involved. You will gain knowledge and skills to combat sex trafficking effectively in the areas of prevention, intervention, rescue, advocacy, or direct services to victims/survivors. This course is not run by Developing Workers, but we highly recommend it and believe in its efficacy for those ready to engage the problem further.WHEN: March 27 – April 1, 2023 WHERE: Grace Community Church, Tempe, AZ HOW: Register today for a fee of $650, and let us know if you sign up! This time and training offers you:
The Good News for Tanzania & Nigeria
Developing Workers exists to mobilize ministry for discipleship – both locally and globally. This month, we’ve sent teams to actively serve abroad with Mobilize Medical and Foundations Training. Hear more about the impact Mobilize had in Tanzania, and pray with us for the Foundations Training in Nigeria. Pray as Nigeria is Engaged for Discipleship Trainers Matt Swartz and Greg Jones are on the field in Nigeria, ready to train pastors in the Foundations discipleship workshops from January 23-27. During their time there, our team will have 2 days with the leaders who DW trained last year, working through the Story of God workshop with them, also coaching them in their faith and development as leaders. Additionally, our trainers will be working through the first 3 Foundations workshops with a new group of pastors. Pray with us for great fruit from this time – that ministry leaders would walk away encouraged and empowered for discipleship; that our team would be strengthened and effective for their days of ministry in training sessions and ministry with national leadership. Returning from Tanzania Thank you for praying for our team headed to Tanzania! God has done great things. As the team traveled overseas, we sought your prayers for a safe arrival to where the team needed to be in the midst of many potential flight delays and complications. Praise the Lord – the team all arrived with every piece of luggage they set out with! The results are astounding: of the 723 patients this short-term team saw and met with, 165 came to faith in Jesus as their Savior! Dozens were treated for pneumonia, and some were treated for malnutrition. Through the Community Safety Initiative, 17 Tanzanians who were identified as at-risk for abuse or trafficking are now able to connect with a trained local HERO that will walk closely with them. While the days of medical clinics are complete, our Mobilize team is still on-the-ground, continuing their connections with our ministry partners there and preparing to leave. Pray for their last couple days in nation and for a safe departure and arrival home. Thank you for joining us in prayer! Mobilize Medical is the medical outreach component of Developing Workers. We partner with churches around the world providing much needed medical care in impoverished areas. As we host medical clinics, we are drawing in the community so the church can connect with people in the area and share the gospel. Read more about opportunities with upcoming trips or donate to Mobilize Medical today!
Celebrating and Preparing
Happy New Year to you and yours! Developing Workers is off to a full-speed start this year with ready hearts and hands. Thanks to the continued faithful giving of our community of supporters, we will continue the work of discipleship locally and globally in 2023. Celebrate with us: through our matching gift and your generous donations, we raised over $100,000 at year-end! Off to Africa This week, our Mobilize team of staff and volunteers heads to Tanzania. They will offer 5 days of medical clinic to the underserved people in the area and connect them to their local church. Each day spent serving, our Mobilize Medical team will travel out to a community in the area, partnering with the local church leaders. The medical clinics they lead provide medical exams, nutritional assessments, de-worming, vitamins, dental hygiene instruction, medicine, and community safety (CSI) evaluations. Every patient is led through spiritual counseling and has the opportunity to be connected with the local church for follow up and discipleship. Through the tool of medicine, many will be blessed and impacted by sowing seeds of the Gospel! Pray with us! Thank you for joining us in prayer! Mobilize Medical is the medical outreach component of Developing Workers. We partner with churches around the world providing much needed medical care in impoverished areas. As we host medical clinics, we are drawing in the community so the church can connect with people in the area and share the gospel. Read more about opportunities with upcoming trips or donate to Mobilize Medical today!
Being Fully Seen: A Testimony
Pastors and other ministry leaders are continually pouring themselves out to others in their community, but few have someone regularly coaching and building them up as they strive to disciple others. To disciple well, leaders need the security and encouragement generated in supportive relationships saturated with grace. They are battling discipleship poverty, yet they succumb to it themselves. Developing Workers is here to walk with, minister to, and build up these leaders, intending to refresh them and empower them for their important work of ministry. Read a firsthand experience from an Arizona pastor after returning from a pastors’ retreat and reflection time with DW’s Michael Parker. Fully Seen by Ryan, from Scottsdale, AZ “Who knew just how life-giving a 24 hour retreat with a bunch of strangers could be? Being a pastor, I’m used to being on the receiving end of someone’s life-story and testimony. Showing empathy to others and speaking truth against the lies their souls had embraced about their identity is one of the privileges of being a pastor. However, to get away from my normal routine and actually be invited to share my own deep scars, hurts, and regrets was a new experience – Not only sharing everything that weighed my soul down, but to be fully seen and accepted for who I am by other brothers in Christ. To have other godly men speak truth against the lies that I myself had embraced was such a life-affirming and healing practice. Reading a book about “Confessional Communities” is helpful, but participating in this group was life-changing. Thank you (Developing Workers) for allowing me to be part of this retreat!” Developing Workers pours into pastors and leaders through life-on-life encouragement, coaching and development, and the empowerment to live out their specific mission, vision, and values. Are you a pastor in need of coaching or care? Do you know one who is? Contact us today! Or support the ongoing work to build up Kingdom workers.
Building the Church
The vast majority of Developing Workers’ ministry is focused on building up the Church – the people of God here and around the world that make up the Body of Christ so they might serve as a light in the nations they live. However, today, we have the privilege to share how a volunteer with DW caught a vision for building up the Church by helping Tanzanian brothers and sisters fashion an actual church building. Praise God with us! The Church: Meeting Many Needs While serving as a volunteer on Developing Workers Mobilize Medical trips, Dave Jackson met Pastor Peter Olosotu. Dave explains, “Pastor Peter is devoted to God and the people in Northern rural Tanzania. He preaches to several churches with almost nothing. They meet under trees or out in the open.” Dave shared with us that even though his background is not in the medical field, he has become a seasoned volunteer of half-a-dozen trips who loves serving alongside our team and ministry partners in underserved parts of the world. It was after a recent trip to Tanzania that Dave’s burden to take action outside of the short-term trips he knew well began to grow. Hear his thoughts: “During my trip to Tanzania, I had made a decision to help out in some way when I left. I just wasn’t sure how that would look… I did reach out to Peter, and he told me of the need in two villages that had no buildings for worship. So, we figured out what was needed in cost, and I asked for support. That support came from a number of people in my class at Grace Community Church (Tempe, Arizona). These ‘church buildings’ are not exactly a long term permanent structure. They are built in a manner that the local people (Maasai) understand very well – Out of sticks and mud. This kind of structure fills a number of needs: It is a place that is out of the weather and people can learn and worship God. It is something that can be used NOW, versus waiting for all of the parts and pieces for a masonry permanent structure. It is a very familiar type of building that a new Christian or a local person that wants to know more about God may not be intimidated with a foreign building type. It is very fast to build [and] can be done in weeks versus a permanent building which may take months or longer to complete. It is very cheap to build and very cheap to repair.” Isn’t it beautiful to see the faithfulness of God’s people bring about good fruit?! Dave answered the call to join a Developing Workers medical trip years ago, and the fruit of that obedient response has continued to multiply. Now the people in the villages of these rural Tanzanian villages will have the blessing of clear and sheltered place to meet for worship. Whether you go or send, you can transform the lives of people around the world. Developing Workers Mobilize teams go all over the globe, training church leaders and offering medical care to the places where help is needed most. Join us! Or support a volunteer financially today.
Transformation in Kenya
As a Mobilize Medical team heads out, they go knowing they can bring medicine to treat and relieve symptoms, to dress wounds, and to bring comfort. However, our team preparing now for Kenya was recently reminded by Kelly Ramsland, director of Mobilize, that there is much more entailed in their work. “We can go and give out medicine, dress wounds, and make them feel good, OR we can also pray for healing of every ailment, wound, pain, and disease – that every unwanted circumstance would be TRANSFORMED; that fear would be defeated in Jesus name; that a spirit of power and revival would sweep through these churches and villages. (We pray for) breakthrough from every stronghold, every social situation that needs to be resolved – (that) each violation would be made right; that each trauma would be addressed and laid before the throne, and that restoration and hope would fill their hearts. (We) pray that each malnourished child we encounter would be fed. (We) pray that we would have the faith to witness miracles all in the name of Jesus. But most of all, that they would see and know they are loved by a Savior who gave His life for them. (We) pray for TRANSFORMATION.” Our team leaves the States April 22, bound for 2 weeks abroad in Kenya. Pray with us for the remainder of the preparation, that each team member would be fully-funded and in good health and strength for this journey. We ask especially for prayers for our trip leader, Kelly, who recently underwent knee surgery and needs continued prayer for full healing. It’s Developing Workers’ desire to come alongside our hosting ministry partners to support and encourage what they are already doing. Pastor Wilson, our host in Kenya, also emphasized a great desire for transformation as a result of the time Developing Workers has with his community. He explains, “Physical transformation is part of well being after (the) sick are attended to by doctors and the medical team. Spiritual transformation is reaching them through evangelism when they come for treatment. The outcome will be expecting all people will be holistically transformed… they are struggling in culture, whereby we need them be transformed from their culture to godly culture.” Will you commit to pray for the transformational work that is done in Kenya from April 22 – May 3? The work like this done by and through our short-term Mobilize Medical trips is made possible through volunteers and charitable contributions. Interested to learn more? Get notified about upcoming trips or support Mobilize Medical today!
Refugee Response: The remnant in Poland bringing hope to Ukrainians
Our prayer team has been praying with us for our team members, Matt and Onalee Swartz, as they are in Poland looking for the best means to support the church leaders and ministry there. We invite you today to join the efforts of this work through prayer. They arrived last week and immediately saw the impact of the crisis of the war in Ukraine, as evidence of the upheaval and great needs of refugees color the landscape of each city they’ve traveled through. Phillipians 2:9-11 “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Pray for wisdom. The need in Poland – and surely in the many surrounding nations receiving refugees – is extensive. All over Europe, specifically in Poland, women and children are being housed in arenas and convention centers awaiting options to find a more permanent place to rebuild a life. Almost all men are not allowed to leave Ukraine, so the refugees are almost all women and children. In the photo above, Matt and Onalee are seen with a Ukrainian couple living in Poland who are risking their lives taking supplies in to Ukraine. Pray for this couple and those like them whose burden for the Ukrainian people puts them in the face of real danger regularly. Our team relays stories of the overwhelming gratitude of those they came to serve. The resources are very limited and services under-supplied, so every bit of help is received with humble hearts. Matt shares, “It felt like such a small pebble in the ocean, and yet the worker(s) (were) so grateful for what we brought.” Pray for a clear lead from the Holy Spirit to know where to plug in and respond. Poland is responding to the very real needs of Ukrainians. Working with our ministry partners in Poland, our team delivered supplies to an arena that hosts anywhere from 150 to 700 people a day. The Polish evangelical church is reaching out in love and sacrifice. And our team is there to support their work. This week, the church put on a concert for Ukraine. Remember: Poland is among the most unreached countries in Europe. Less than 0.02% profess to be followers of Christ. The concert packed in over 400 people, and a number were Ukrainian refugees who attended because the Polish people are housing many in their own homes. During the concert, the refugees were invited to stand and be prayed over. Watch the video on our Facebook page, and praise God with us for this moment as the song, “The Blessing”, was sung and prayed over them!
Mountain Movers
Our Mobilize Medical teams travel to underserved areas of the world, ready to serve and ready to see God move. While the teams work together to meet the physical needs of the hurting people in the communities they assist, they also walk many through spiritual counseling and seek to bring salvation to the lost. They commit themselves to prayer – sometimes even audacious prayers asking the Lord to do the seemingly impossible. Hear the results of a recent Mobilize Medical team’s mountain moving prayers and the community who was impacted by them. Last fall, our Mobilize team traveled to Tanzania to work alongside our partners there and provide a medical clinic. The team met a pastor there, a man known as a fervent and unstoppable prayer warrior. Three weeks before our team arrived on the trip, the pastor had a motorbike accident that left him with a crushed elbow. It was so severely injured and painful that he could hardly moved and cried out to the Lord in prayer, day and night. Worlds collided as he came to the clinic in hopes of receiving help. Together, our team prayed with him and cried out to our God, the Mover of Mountains, the great Healer and Provider. Developing Workers Mobilize Medical was able to provide funds for the surgery he so desperately needed. He was treated for an infection they found, and he underwent surgery. All this was, of course, in hopes of providing the relief and care our brother in Christ so desperately needed. What’s more, though, is that these procedures were necessary to restore the use of his arm and allow him to continue traveling from spot to spot in ministry. The results of this trip and the outpouring of care, financial support for this pastor, sowing seeds of truth and in prayer are already visibly evident. Our pastor friend is healed and actively involved in his ministry again, testifying to the goodness of the Living God who sent Mobilize Medical to this Tanzanian village. What’s more, the partners we work with there also attest to the mountains that were moved in prayer and service – more than 90% of the people in the community there attribute healing they’ve experienced to the work of this Mobilize Medical team and the God they serve. Praise Him with us! When God calls us to do His work, He goes before us and hems us in on all sides, He heals, He restores and He provides. If stories like these from the Mobilize Medical branch of Developing Workers move you with a desire to serve or send more volunteer workers, reach out today.
Counting Our Blessings
Did you know that the reach of Developing Workers in 2021 meant equipping close to 1,500 church leaders and community members worldwide – in person. Hundreds more were reached digitally. Now as these men and women implement and share what they’ve been given and taught, the impact continues! God is blessing His church through DW, and we are blessed to be a part. Our team is equipping global church leaders with: leader development leadership coaching and mentorship biblical training medical care to underserved areas spiritual counseling screening and follow-up for high-risk children and adults facing dangerous circumstances like trafficking and abuse Help us continue the multiplication. It’s the giving of faithful and generous friends like you that makes the ministry of Developing Workers possible. Looking ahead to plans for further ministry in 2022, we’re working hard toward the goal of $50,000 before years-end. Your gift – great or small – will enable our team to continue serving global church leaders free-of-charge and continue engaging every effort to end discipleship poverty.
