The Full Story of the INSTAR movement up through July 2016
In 2008, when I started this blog, I wrote a timeline of the launch of the project. In November 2011, I expanded that report greatly to bring the story of the HCPM work up to date. Now I am reproducing that blog here and have edited it to bring it forward to the present and also to edit it based on new information. Breakthrough is happening, but here is a story of the road to breakthrough and the path of multiplication since breakthrough. God is doing a wonderful work, and any progress is only to His glory and power. We have done a lot of trial and error in the last few years, but the Lord of the harvest has been working His plan all along, through, with and sometimes in spite of us!
Here is a timeline of what has been done in this project.
September 2006: David Parish and Randy Travis take intensive training in C.P.M. principles from David Watson in Dallas. The H.C.P.M. concept is born.
October 2006: Randy does research on C.P.M. principles.
November-December 2006: Randy Travis, Keith Travis and Richard Crowder make exploratory trip to Honduras to assess the need and geographical place for H.C.P.M. project.
January 2007: Randy develops initial strategic plan and presents it to David Parish. It is presented to the Board of Directors and the project is approved. Initial launch is projected for the middle of 2007.
March 2007: The decision is made to send Randy and his family to lay the foundation of the project while funding for project is developed.
April 2007: W.M.E. hosts C.P.M. training for missionaries. David Watson trains several missionaries and examines H.C.P.M. strategic plan and gives recommendations which are very helpful.
June 2007: Randy, Linda, Keith and Juanita Travis move to Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras. Residence is established and they begin developing training curriculum and preparing the base.
November-December 2007: Randy, Linda and Keith travel to the United States for the World Missions and Evangelism Conference. While in the U.S. a water well drill is obtained for access ministry. This, along with clothes and other supplies, are shipped to Honduras by missionary Darrel Dakin. The final strategic plan (budget and timeline) are decided.
January-April 2008: The Travis family travels back to Honduras. The base is prepared and the Church Planting team is chosen after extensive interviews and prayer.
Also during this time, God provides key funding for this project. The initial launch plan for mid 2007 had not happened because of the time needed to do base development and recruitment, but primarily because of a lack of funding. During this time a key partnership is formed. Pastor Larry Starnes and Oasis Christian Center in Paducah, KY make a major commitment to the project that allows the project to launch. Their partnership, along with all the partnering churches undergird the work of the team in the field.
April 29, 2008: Church Planting Team arrives at the base.
May-June 2008: Intensive training of church planters. They are taught to ride motorcycles for access into mountain villages. All C.P.M. principles are taught and the team prepares spiritually with much prayer. David Parish visits the team near the end of June and training is finished.
June 25-July 2008: Team does survey trips to plan outreach and then takes a week-long break to visit families. The teams reassemble and deploy the week of July 21.
July 23, 2008: Team enter villages searching for persons of peace. The project begins in the field.
August-November, 2008: The team works very hard. Wells are drilled. Potential persons of peace are identified. Discovery Bible Studies begin. October brings devastating floods to Honduras and the team works in very difficult conditions.
December, 2008: Approximately 25 Discovery Bible Studies have begun, but they are struggling. David Parish comes to Honduras as do David and Paul Watson, who travel to Honduras to meet and train the team. During the training, the team is taught a better way to see the Bible studies organized, and begins to understand some of the CPM tactics in a better way. After the training Parish and the Watson's return to the US, and at the end of the month, Randy and Linda Travis come back to the US. David P. and Randy meet for a few days to process what they have now learned from the Watsons and to make some tactical adjustments.
January-February, 2009: Randy and Linda Travis return to Honduras and begin to implement several tactical adjustments in the strategy. This leads to both a major rearrangement of the team, as well as experimenting with recordings to aid the DBS studies because of high illiteracy.
March-May, 2009: The tactical changes begin to prove successful. 1st and 2nd generation DBS studies begin. By the end of June, there are 73 studies in the 5 departments where the project is working.
June, 2009: A short term team from Cave Hill Independent Church of God, as well as Daniel Slayden, Ben Holloway, and David Parish, travel to Honduras and conduct a series of access ministries including well drilling, school supply distribution to children in a variety of places, and painting a poor school. The outreach is very successful and the members of the team are blessed. The group returns home excited about what God is doing. By month end, it is discovered that the number of studies are now 73, having tripled since beginning of the year.
June 28, 2009: The government of Honduras is overthrown. The nation lives on the brink of civil war for the next 5 months and full stability is not reestablished until the next president is installed in January 2010. Curfews, riots, conflicts, road blocks and violence become both a danger and a reality in different parts of the country. June 30, the Travis families are chased by a mob and escape only by a gracious deliverance of God. David Parish tells the Travises to leave now. July 1, Randy and Linda, and Keith and Juanita Travis cross the border into Guatemala. Keith and Juanita stay for the next several months in southern Mexico where they spread the cpm vision. Randy and Linda drive to the USA.
July-October, 2009: 2/3rds of the Honduran team are stuck on the eastern side of the country, because they were there on a short break when the overthrow occurred. Travel restrictions hinder a lot of the work during this time. Randy tells them to spread the concept of cpm where they are. Meanwhile, David Parish learns of a new kind of technology called the Megavoice machine that may be useful for the recorded studies. The decision is made to not waste the time, but to use the Travis' time in the USA to get the studies professionally recorded. A Mexican believer who has been involved in gospel recordings and who Randy had discipled years before, flys to the US. Tommy and Linda King in Mayfield, KY open their hearts to the project and the recordings are made at Tommy's studio. Almost the entire month of August is devoted to editing the studies which end up being the 24 Level 1 DBS studies and also the Level 2 studies. In September, Randy travels briefly back to Honduras by plane and Richard Crowder drives his truck from the US to Honduras carrying much recording equipment to mass produce the recordings for use in the DBS studies. These begin to be used widely. In a short few months hundreds of the recordings are distributed and many DBS studies begin. However, we would later learn, that because of the problems in travel and follow up, the team was not able to really mentor the new groups and most of the new studies did not endure.
November, 2009: A pivotal moment. Randy flys to Honduras again. This time he conducts a training in the eastern part of the country where the 2/3rds team had been working a great deal. At this training a key leader receives the teaching with eagerness. We call him, "Beto" and this man will prove to be one of the most effective implementers of cpm strategy we have ever met.
December, 2009: "Beto" begins his first DBS as a training DBS for leaders. 8 new leaders are trained who will be very effective workers.
January-February, 2010: The government situation in Honduras completely stablizes and Randy's and Keith's families return. When they get back they see the toll that the last few months have had on the project. The difficulty in travel and the lack of ability to mentor has reduced the project to less than 40 DBS groups in the west. Reports from the east with "Beto" are better, but the project seems to be in a difficult and uncertain position.
March-June, 2010: The team dusts off, regroups, learns about mentoring in more effective ways and pushes forward. David P. spends much of June in California with the Cityteam organization and learns key insights on mentoring which can be passed on to the team.
July, 2010: David leads a small team back to Honduras and they encourage the team and are encouraged to see the progress being made. Reports at this point show that there are nearly 90 DBS groups in the west (and possibly 70 DBS groups in the East). (Also due to Keith's work in southern Mexico and a January training trip there there are some DBS groups in Mexico....this work has continued on and off and we are not counting any of them in our current reports....this may change later).
August-December, 2010: The team tenaciously works the process of CPM strategy. Some areas experience religious persecution. By end of the year, 2 people connected with the overall work have been killed, for unknown reasons. 1 is a worker who was trained in Mexico....killed in Guatemala. Another (killed during this period or not long into 2011) is a participant in one of the DBS groups. The reasons are not, to our knowledge, the connection to the project, but rather just an example of the spiritual warfare involved.
January, 2011: David P. returns to Cityteam in California and receives some additional advice from David Watson. Then he travels to Honduras. He brings with him David Hunt's dissertation describing the Church Planting Movements happening in the Horn of Africa since 2005. Randy, Keith, and David spend extensive time studying this document to glean new principles or tactics and certain areas are addressed to insure that the project is not overlooking critical elements of CPM.
February-March, 2011: CHURCHES!!!!
It is at this time that we learn of emerging breakthrough. Some people are accepting Christ, willing to form into churches. The first baptisms in the project occur.
April, 2011: David and a small team travel to Honduras. A training for 2 groups occurs in the state of Olancho. A leadership seminar for the primary team follows in Santa Barbara, and then another training for 3 groups happens in Trujillo. The trainers are Randy, Keith and David, along with the Honduran team. Those who have been workers in the villages (and they continue in this role) are now becoming trainers of others.
The progress is assessed.
There are 62 churches and over 100 DBS groups ongoing in the entire nation as a result of the efforts. The area where churches are multiplying is very encouraging. It begins to appear that CPM level could be reached soon.
"CPM LEVEL: 100 CHURCHES, 3 GENERATIONS DEEP, WITHIN 2 YEARS"
May-October, 2011: Work continues and progresses. This year the primary team is decentralized into different parts of the country.
Randy, Keith, and David spend a good deal of June in California at the Cityteam consultation on CPM with leaders connected to 54 countries. Work begins on a 6-7 year strategic plan.
In late June, the 300 Prayer team is formed, and prayer begins to increase for the work!
In July, 3 more men are killed. 2 are pastors who were to be trained in CPM that very day by "Beto", gunned down in shootout between criminals and the police. Another was what appeared to be a key contact in a new department.
Persecution and religious pressure is directed toward many groups and people that are in the DBS groups.
During this 6 month period there is a combination of Planning, Prayer, Persecution, and Pressure. AND MULTIPLICATION OF CHURCHES!
November, 2011: Verbal reports seem to indicate that church planting movement level has been reached.
2012: This year a major training event is held in La Ceiba in February. Then in the fall, a training event is held in Tocoa. This training was significant in that it is totally led by our primary Honduran team....no American missionary is involved. From these events new doors are opened. Trainings are planned for December 2012 in Santa Barbara, January 2013 in both Tocoa and Palacios (on the edge of the major tribal area), and a major training event in April 2013 in Tegucigalpa, the capitol.
Reports begin to come in that several denominational or network groups are now trained and beginning DBS groups and seeing results. The Pech Indian tribe becomes the first tribal group to have DBS groups which become churches.
Beginning in the first part of this year, Randy and David decide that a better assessment model must be adopted. Up to now, all results have been based on verbal reports in interviews. Randy develops a more accurate assesment tool and May and June are the first assesment reports using this system.
The results are: 127 Churches, 101 DBS groups.
The decision is made to do a Hard Number assessment every 4 months. The work continues.
November 2012: The results of the Fall Assessment came in. As of November 2012, the current total reported impact of this project was:
Churches: 184
DBS Groups: 82
2013: A Year Of Open Doors
In 2013 the Honduran team launched forward in the greatest number of training events to equip new leaders to use the CPM strategy in the History of this Project. Beginning in December of 2012, the team trained about 80 people in San Nicolas, Honduras. In January, they conducted a training event in Palacios, Honduras on the border of the most remote region of Honduras. In March, a training event was conducted in San Salvador, El Salvador, training people from that nation for the first time. In April, a very large training event took place in the Tegucigalpa area. It was a combination CPM and Children's ministry training. In May, the team traveled to the western side of Guatemala, to conduct our first training event there. In June the team conducted a training event in Danli, Honduras, and in July another training in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. In all of these trainings it has been our goal to connect those who are receiving the equipping to one of our team members or key leaders to gain continued mentoring.
Doors opened in the Nicaragua area, Guatemala, El Salvador and Colombia. At the Tegucigalpa event in April, 3 leaders came from Colombia in South America to take the training and groups have already begun there. Also, special mention should be made of the partnership with Jim Martin of Honduras Ministries in Tegucigalpa, who hosted the April Event and is seeing fruit from the groups that have started. Jim and his team conducted 2 additional trainings since April, and one of the Colombian leaders trained in April has already done a small training in Bogata Colombia!
Here are the Stats from 2013:
October 2013: 427 Groups (280 at minimal church level)
2014: The Year of INSTAR (The Year of the Double)
This year WME has introduced the concept of INSTAR: Our strategy for Latin American CPM and DMM. INSTAR is a Spanish word meaning: to urge or to be urgent! The most urgent thing in the world is to complete the Great Commission. The Goal of the INSTAR project is to see every people group and community in Latin America discipled to follow Jesus and to become disciple makers....from the Top of Mexico to the Tip of South America.
INSTAR also stands for the elements of the WME strategy:
Intercession and Identification
Networking
Serving
Training
Assisting
Reporting
With this in mind, WME has launched forward with trainings in Honduras and Mexico and Guatemala. We have trained people that will be deploying to Ecuador and a Leader that has influence in Argentina. We are in the process of networking with ministries in Guatemala as well as Panama, with possibilities for future trainings in those places.
And meanwhile the work continues to multiply! We can verify that there are groups that are in the 6th generation.....a group planted a group that planted a group that planted a group that planted a group that planted a group! People have been following Christ by the thousands....1300 people were baptized in the first 6 months of 2014.
And it has been the Year of the Double as well! The number of groups and churches have surged forward this year. In October of 2013 the total of groups and churches was 427. The October 2014 report showed that the total had More Than Doubled to 860 Groups....381 Discovery Studies and 479 at minimal church level or equivalent.
2015: The Year of the New Level
At the end of 2014, I felt that the Lord was telling me that He wanted to take us to a new Level. And 2015 has been that and more!
In 2015, Major Training events were held in Honduras and in Argentina, and doors opened in Puerto Rico and Mexico. Nicaragua began to show fruit! The multiplication was amazing: During 2015 the groups multiplied to 10 Generations!!!
The INSTAR project is moving forward under the blessing of the Lord. When I updated this report in November 2014, I reported 860 total groups. As the 4th quarter reports came in in December 2015 it appears that there are now approximately 2,816 groups and churches. This kind of multiplication makes the INSTAR movement one of the faster multiplying movements in the world at this time!
In the 12 months between October 2014 and September 2015 (the most recent period that we have been able to process the stats as of this writing) there have been 6,040 professions of faith and over 4,800 water baptisms! That amounts to 16 commitments EACH DAY and 13 water baptisms EACH DAY!!!
2016: The Year of the Vision
In the first 6 months of 2016, the work has continued to multiply. Over 1,000 new groups were birthed in the first 6 months of the year! By the end of June there were well over 3,800 total Groups and Churches! There are well over 10,000 baptisms and 12,000 professions of faith. There are well over 20,000 people in the groups! The movement is now 13 generations deep. This year new doors continue to open and there have been trainings in Mexico, Honduras, Puerto Rico, and growth in Ecuador!
Praise To the Lord of the Harvest!
Here is a timeline of what has been done in this project.
September 2006: David Parish and Randy Travis take intensive training in C.P.M. principles from David Watson in Dallas. The H.C.P.M. concept is born.
October 2006: Randy does research on C.P.M. principles.
November-December 2006: Randy Travis, Keith Travis and Richard Crowder make exploratory trip to Honduras to assess the need and geographical place for H.C.P.M. project.
January 2007: Randy develops initial strategic plan and presents it to David Parish. It is presented to the Board of Directors and the project is approved. Initial launch is projected for the middle of 2007.
March 2007: The decision is made to send Randy and his family to lay the foundation of the project while funding for project is developed.
April 2007: W.M.E. hosts C.P.M. training for missionaries. David Watson trains several missionaries and examines H.C.P.M. strategic plan and gives recommendations which are very helpful.
June 2007: Randy, Linda, Keith and Juanita Travis move to Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras. Residence is established and they begin developing training curriculum and preparing the base.
November-December 2007: Randy, Linda and Keith travel to the United States for the World Missions and Evangelism Conference. While in the U.S. a water well drill is obtained for access ministry. This, along with clothes and other supplies, are shipped to Honduras by missionary Darrel Dakin. The final strategic plan (budget and timeline) are decided.
January-April 2008: The Travis family travels back to Honduras. The base is prepared and the Church Planting team is chosen after extensive interviews and prayer.
Also during this time, God provides key funding for this project. The initial launch plan for mid 2007 had not happened because of the time needed to do base development and recruitment, but primarily because of a lack of funding. During this time a key partnership is formed. Pastor Larry Starnes and Oasis Christian Center in Paducah, KY make a major commitment to the project that allows the project to launch. Their partnership, along with all the partnering churches undergird the work of the team in the field.
April 29, 2008: Church Planting Team arrives at the base.
May-June 2008: Intensive training of church planters. They are taught to ride motorcycles for access into mountain villages. All C.P.M. principles are taught and the team prepares spiritually with much prayer. David Parish visits the team near the end of June and training is finished.
June 25-July 2008: Team does survey trips to plan outreach and then takes a week-long break to visit families. The teams reassemble and deploy the week of July 21.
July 23, 2008: Team enter villages searching for persons of peace. The project begins in the field.
August-November, 2008: The team works very hard. Wells are drilled. Potential persons of peace are identified. Discovery Bible Studies begin. October brings devastating floods to Honduras and the team works in very difficult conditions.
December, 2008: Approximately 25 Discovery Bible Studies have begun, but they are struggling. David Parish comes to Honduras as do David and Paul Watson, who travel to Honduras to meet and train the team. During the training, the team is taught a better way to see the Bible studies organized, and begins to understand some of the CPM tactics in a better way. After the training Parish and the Watson's return to the US, and at the end of the month, Randy and Linda Travis come back to the US. David P. and Randy meet for a few days to process what they have now learned from the Watsons and to make some tactical adjustments.
January-February, 2009: Randy and Linda Travis return to Honduras and begin to implement several tactical adjustments in the strategy. This leads to both a major rearrangement of the team, as well as experimenting with recordings to aid the DBS studies because of high illiteracy.
March-May, 2009: The tactical changes begin to prove successful. 1st and 2nd generation DBS studies begin. By the end of June, there are 73 studies in the 5 departments where the project is working.
June, 2009: A short term team from Cave Hill Independent Church of God, as well as Daniel Slayden, Ben Holloway, and David Parish, travel to Honduras and conduct a series of access ministries including well drilling, school supply distribution to children in a variety of places, and painting a poor school. The outreach is very successful and the members of the team are blessed. The group returns home excited about what God is doing. By month end, it is discovered that the number of studies are now 73, having tripled since beginning of the year.
June 28, 2009: The government of Honduras is overthrown. The nation lives on the brink of civil war for the next 5 months and full stability is not reestablished until the next president is installed in January 2010. Curfews, riots, conflicts, road blocks and violence become both a danger and a reality in different parts of the country. June 30, the Travis families are chased by a mob and escape only by a gracious deliverance of God. David Parish tells the Travises to leave now. July 1, Randy and Linda, and Keith and Juanita Travis cross the border into Guatemala. Keith and Juanita stay for the next several months in southern Mexico where they spread the cpm vision. Randy and Linda drive to the USA.
July-October, 2009: 2/3rds of the Honduran team are stuck on the eastern side of the country, because they were there on a short break when the overthrow occurred. Travel restrictions hinder a lot of the work during this time. Randy tells them to spread the concept of cpm where they are. Meanwhile, David Parish learns of a new kind of technology called the Megavoice machine that may be useful for the recorded studies. The decision is made to not waste the time, but to use the Travis' time in the USA to get the studies professionally recorded. A Mexican believer who has been involved in gospel recordings and who Randy had discipled years before, flys to the US. Tommy and Linda King in Mayfield, KY open their hearts to the project and the recordings are made at Tommy's studio. Almost the entire month of August is devoted to editing the studies which end up being the 24 Level 1 DBS studies and also the Level 2 studies. In September, Randy travels briefly back to Honduras by plane and Richard Crowder drives his truck from the US to Honduras carrying much recording equipment to mass produce the recordings for use in the DBS studies. These begin to be used widely. In a short few months hundreds of the recordings are distributed and many DBS studies begin. However, we would later learn, that because of the problems in travel and follow up, the team was not able to really mentor the new groups and most of the new studies did not endure.
November, 2009: A pivotal moment. Randy flys to Honduras again. This time he conducts a training in the eastern part of the country where the 2/3rds team had been working a great deal. At this training a key leader receives the teaching with eagerness. We call him, "Beto" and this man will prove to be one of the most effective implementers of cpm strategy we have ever met.
December, 2009: "Beto" begins his first DBS as a training DBS for leaders. 8 new leaders are trained who will be very effective workers.
January-February, 2010: The government situation in Honduras completely stablizes and Randy's and Keith's families return. When they get back they see the toll that the last few months have had on the project. The difficulty in travel and the lack of ability to mentor has reduced the project to less than 40 DBS groups in the west. Reports from the east with "Beto" are better, but the project seems to be in a difficult and uncertain position.
March-June, 2010: The team dusts off, regroups, learns about mentoring in more effective ways and pushes forward. David P. spends much of June in California with the Cityteam organization and learns key insights on mentoring which can be passed on to the team.
July, 2010: David leads a small team back to Honduras and they encourage the team and are encouraged to see the progress being made. Reports at this point show that there are nearly 90 DBS groups in the west (and possibly 70 DBS groups in the East). (Also due to Keith's work in southern Mexico and a January training trip there there are some DBS groups in Mexico....this work has continued on and off and we are not counting any of them in our current reports....this may change later).
August-December, 2010: The team tenaciously works the process of CPM strategy. Some areas experience religious persecution. By end of the year, 2 people connected with the overall work have been killed, for unknown reasons. 1 is a worker who was trained in Mexico....killed in Guatemala. Another (killed during this period or not long into 2011) is a participant in one of the DBS groups. The reasons are not, to our knowledge, the connection to the project, but rather just an example of the spiritual warfare involved.
January, 2011: David P. returns to Cityteam in California and receives some additional advice from David Watson. Then he travels to Honduras. He brings with him David Hunt's dissertation describing the Church Planting Movements happening in the Horn of Africa since 2005. Randy, Keith, and David spend extensive time studying this document to glean new principles or tactics and certain areas are addressed to insure that the project is not overlooking critical elements of CPM.
February-March, 2011: CHURCHES!!!!
It is at this time that we learn of emerging breakthrough. Some people are accepting Christ, willing to form into churches. The first baptisms in the project occur.
April, 2011: David and a small team travel to Honduras. A training for 2 groups occurs in the state of Olancho. A leadership seminar for the primary team follows in Santa Barbara, and then another training for 3 groups happens in Trujillo. The trainers are Randy, Keith and David, along with the Honduran team. Those who have been workers in the villages (and they continue in this role) are now becoming trainers of others.
The progress is assessed.
There are 62 churches and over 100 DBS groups ongoing in the entire nation as a result of the efforts. The area where churches are multiplying is very encouraging. It begins to appear that CPM level could be reached soon.
"CPM LEVEL: 100 CHURCHES, 3 GENERATIONS DEEP, WITHIN 2 YEARS"
May-October, 2011: Work continues and progresses. This year the primary team is decentralized into different parts of the country.
Randy, Keith, and David spend a good deal of June in California at the Cityteam consultation on CPM with leaders connected to 54 countries. Work begins on a 6-7 year strategic plan.
In late June, the 300 Prayer team is formed, and prayer begins to increase for the work!
In July, 3 more men are killed. 2 are pastors who were to be trained in CPM that very day by "Beto", gunned down in shootout between criminals and the police. Another was what appeared to be a key contact in a new department.
Persecution and religious pressure is directed toward many groups and people that are in the DBS groups.
During this 6 month period there is a combination of Planning, Prayer, Persecution, and Pressure. AND MULTIPLICATION OF CHURCHES!
November, 2011: Verbal reports seem to indicate that church planting movement level has been reached.
2012: This year a major training event is held in La Ceiba in February. Then in the fall, a training event is held in Tocoa. This training was significant in that it is totally led by our primary Honduran team....no American missionary is involved. From these events new doors are opened. Trainings are planned for December 2012 in Santa Barbara, January 2013 in both Tocoa and Palacios (on the edge of the major tribal area), and a major training event in April 2013 in Tegucigalpa, the capitol.
Reports begin to come in that several denominational or network groups are now trained and beginning DBS groups and seeing results. The Pech Indian tribe becomes the first tribal group to have DBS groups which become churches.
Beginning in the first part of this year, Randy and David decide that a better assessment model must be adopted. Up to now, all results have been based on verbal reports in interviews. Randy develops a more accurate assesment tool and May and June are the first assesment reports using this system.
The results are: 127 Churches, 101 DBS groups.
The decision is made to do a Hard Number assessment every 4 months. The work continues.
November 2012: The results of the Fall Assessment came in. As of November 2012, the current total reported impact of this project was:
Churches: 184
DBS Groups: 82
2013: A Year Of Open Doors
In 2013 the Honduran team launched forward in the greatest number of training events to equip new leaders to use the CPM strategy in the History of this Project. Beginning in December of 2012, the team trained about 80 people in San Nicolas, Honduras. In January, they conducted a training event in Palacios, Honduras on the border of the most remote region of Honduras. In March, a training event was conducted in San Salvador, El Salvador, training people from that nation for the first time. In April, a very large training event took place in the Tegucigalpa area. It was a combination CPM and Children's ministry training. In May, the team traveled to the western side of Guatemala, to conduct our first training event there. In June the team conducted a training event in Danli, Honduras, and in July another training in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. In all of these trainings it has been our goal to connect those who are receiving the equipping to one of our team members or key leaders to gain continued mentoring.
Doors opened in the Nicaragua area, Guatemala, El Salvador and Colombia. At the Tegucigalpa event in April, 3 leaders came from Colombia in South America to take the training and groups have already begun there. Also, special mention should be made of the partnership with Jim Martin of Honduras Ministries in Tegucigalpa, who hosted the April Event and is seeing fruit from the groups that have started. Jim and his team conducted 2 additional trainings since April, and one of the Colombian leaders trained in April has already done a small training in Bogata Colombia!
Here are the Stats from 2013:
April 2013: 283 Groups (228 at minimal church level)
July 2013: 391 Groups (276 at minimal church level)
And our last official report for this year:
2014: The Year of INSTAR (The Year of the Double)
This year WME has introduced the concept of INSTAR: Our strategy for Latin American CPM and DMM. INSTAR is a Spanish word meaning: to urge or to be urgent! The most urgent thing in the world is to complete the Great Commission. The Goal of the INSTAR project is to see every people group and community in Latin America discipled to follow Jesus and to become disciple makers....from the Top of Mexico to the Tip of South America.
INSTAR also stands for the elements of the WME strategy:
Intercession and Identification
Networking
Serving
Training
Assisting
Reporting
With this in mind, WME has launched forward with trainings in Honduras and Mexico and Guatemala. We have trained people that will be deploying to Ecuador and a Leader that has influence in Argentina. We are in the process of networking with ministries in Guatemala as well as Panama, with possibilities for future trainings in those places.
And meanwhile the work continues to multiply! We can verify that there are groups that are in the 6th generation.....a group planted a group that planted a group that planted a group that planted a group that planted a group! People have been following Christ by the thousands....1300 people were baptized in the first 6 months of 2014.
And it has been the Year of the Double as well! The number of groups and churches have surged forward this year. In October of 2013 the total of groups and churches was 427. The October 2014 report showed that the total had More Than Doubled to 860 Groups....381 Discovery Studies and 479 at minimal church level or equivalent.
2015: The Year of the New Level
At the end of 2014, I felt that the Lord was telling me that He wanted to take us to a new Level. And 2015 has been that and more!
In 2015, Major Training events were held in Honduras and in Argentina, and doors opened in Puerto Rico and Mexico. Nicaragua began to show fruit! The multiplication was amazing: During 2015 the groups multiplied to 10 Generations!!!
The INSTAR project is moving forward under the blessing of the Lord. When I updated this report in November 2014, I reported 860 total groups. As the 4th quarter reports came in in December 2015 it appears that there are now approximately 2,816 groups and churches. This kind of multiplication makes the INSTAR movement one of the faster multiplying movements in the world at this time!
In the 12 months between October 2014 and September 2015 (the most recent period that we have been able to process the stats as of this writing) there have been 6,040 professions of faith and over 4,800 water baptisms! That amounts to 16 commitments EACH DAY and 13 water baptisms EACH DAY!!!
2016: The Year of the Vision
In the first 6 months of 2016, the work has continued to multiply. Over 1,000 new groups were birthed in the first 6 months of the year! By the end of June there were well over 3,800 total Groups and Churches! There are well over 10,000 baptisms and 12,000 professions of faith. There are well over 20,000 people in the groups! The movement is now 13 generations deep. This year new doors continue to open and there have been trainings in Mexico, Honduras, Puerto Rico, and growth in Ecuador!
Praise To the Lord of the Harvest!
Comments