On January 30, 2006, Men of Vision Evangelize and churches from around the U.S. sent a crew of motivated volunteers to Nicaragua to build a church for the rapidly growing Open Bible congregation in San Marcos.

The church had outgrown their old structure and needed a much larger building. Their mission is to take their town and country for Jesus, and they are succeeding.

Church members love the Lord and make it known at all times. They proclaim His love to the people of the area –
not just in church, but every minute of every day. Our missionaries to Nicaragua, Nelson and Tirsa Gaitan, have been following a vision the Lord placed in their hearts years ago, to save the souls in their homeland.

Ray Rexius, the national M.O.V.E. director, Don Tietz, the assistant national director, and David Bethany, the construction director, met with the Gaitans nearly a year ago. We spent the next months praying, working with architects, and planning how we could build a structure large and flexible enough to serve the church’s needs.

Forty-one volunteers – carpenters, office workers, pastors, truck drivers – all types of white collar, blue collar, and retired people joined together to make this vision a reality. As we arrived in Nicaragua it was obvious the project would be not only our largest church building in many years, but also our most complicated and potentially dangerous.

Our building projects are generally the same size and style. Usually we construct a rectangular, one-story masonry building 30 feet by 65 feet. The San Marcos structure is over 5,000 square feet and consists of a 3,600 square foot, two-story sanctuary as well as a single-story section on the long side of the main section. It is mostly supported by concrete beams and columns that are too amazing to describe. Thankfully, God protected our men from serious injury while working on and below four tiers of scaffolding over 20 feet high. And this was just phase one of the project.

We fell behind schedule, though, as delays and problems complicated an already difficult project. Facing possible failure, our team committed this project and the team of workers to the Lord. We realized we weren’t able to do this job and we gave it to Him. Once we learned again to trust in God, and not in our own skills and strength, He moved the project forward.

Miracle after miracle happened – not only in the building, but in the men as strength and endurance increased. The presence of the Holy Spirit was obvious. Whether it was locating a crane, or praying for and watching God heal someone from a cut by a gas torch, we witnessed God provide time and time again, allowing us to complete His church in San Marcos on time.

Each project the Lord sends us on is not merely a building or a church to be built, but an experience, a lesson from Him on how we should live our lives. People who have been blessed to travel on these projects will tell you how God used the experience to make them better disciples, to serve Him more effectively. This trip was another lesson by the
Great Teacher.

Perhaps your spirit has been stirred when you’ve heard of or read about M.O.V.E. and its short-term missionary trips. Consider joining us on our next trip, put it to prayer, and watch for an announcement about our next mission.

 

Don Tietz (left) is the Assistant National Director for Men of Vision Evangelize.
David Bethany (right) is the Construction Director for Men of Vision Evangelize.