Our Mission
Plant Churches
Scripture clearly teaches that God is working in this age through the local church. Our main goal is to plant strong, Independent Baptist churches in the Dominican Republic. The beginning of our work is based out of the Province of Puerto Plata (Northern most province). Our focus is to grow doctrinally sound churches which can spread the light of the Gospel through the nation.
Train leaders
The Dominican Republic has had many missionary works in the past, but one thing it has lacked is a strong Baptist Bible College to train nationals. Starting a Baptist Bible College to train young men and women is a long-term goal for our team. We want to train them doctrinally and give them a biblical methodology; then send them out to begin more Baptist churches.
Time spent in DR and Current work
fa In the summer 2013 we took a two week trip with Grace Baptist Bible College to the south of the country. It was there that we began to see the spiritual needs of the people in the Dominican Republic. At the end of 2013, after talking with our pastors, we joined Baptist Home Missions as appointees to the Dominican Republic.
Our teammates the Bells moved to the DR in 2014 and to help support them we went to encourage them for their first holiday away from home. That trip in 2014 turned into a 3 month trip! It started as a trip to spend Thanksgiving with them, but right before we left we found out our teammates right hand man had to leave for a month. So, we stayed to help in his place. We jumped into the ministry right along side the Bells helping in whatever ways we could. A month and a half into the trip the Bells realized they had some visa issues and needed to return to the States for a month. So after consulting our Pastors they thought it would be best for us to stay until the Bells returned to continue the ministry. That trip lasted from Nov 2014-Feb 2015. Jake was already fluent in Spanish so he was able to preach and teach during our 3 month trip.
After the Bells first year in Bani (southern DR) they desired to go to a province, which did not have a strong Independent Baptist church presence. Through the council of our mission board administrator and our sending church pastor they moved to the North of the Island to the province of Puerto Plata.
In 2015 Our teammates the Pittmans moved to Puerto Plata to begin working alongside the Bells. The two families have been starting a ground work of a church plant in Puerto Plata.
August 30, 2016 we began a 6 month trip to the DR. The Bells needed a six month furlough after being in the DR for 2 years and we were able to jump into the ministry and work alongside the Pittmans during that time. During the six months we saw God do many great things! We were involved with weekly Saturday Kids club where we both taught in Spanish and led games and crafts. Through that ministry we saw 6 children make professions of faith during our time there. We were involved with discipleship of these young believers; Jake and Adam teaching the young boys on Tuesdays, and Joy and Jodi teaching the young girls on Thursdays. Since our team has been in Puerto Plata they have been setting up the ground work for a church plant and trying to begin it with a Friday evening Adult Bible study. We had several believers attending and growing. During the last two weeks of our trip God brought along some major changes in church planting ministry. Some Baptist missionaries in the same area came to our teammates and explained that they saw God leading them to another province to help out some other missionaries and that they would like to see our team take the leadership roles of Ocean View Baptist Church, which they had planted in the last year. We came to have a great relationship with these missionaries and were very sad to see them leave.
June 4, 2018 to 2022 (First term)
We officially moved to the DR! We joined all 4 of our teammates on the field and immediately began helping in the church! Since we are such a large team each family has chosen to take a major focus within the church to help spread responsibilities. Our main focus is working with the adolescent age children. Jake faithfully teaches the group of kids ranging from ages 9-14 and a size from 10-20 kids normally. Joy does several individual Bible studies with the adolescent girls and loves to have them in our home to celebrate birthdays, or just hang out. Jake also heads up the churches children's outreach program called CESP. This program is based after AWANA and has been a huge tool in reaching children here. There are a handful of faithful adults in our small church now, and we are doing a weekly Bible study with one couple also. It is always an encouragement to see growth in the believers! For more updated info on what is going on with us check out our prayer letters. There is a separate page that we do our best to keep the current prayer letter accessible on. Feel free to contact us with any questions and/or feedback!
Our teammates the Bells moved to the DR in 2014 and to help support them we went to encourage them for their first holiday away from home. That trip in 2014 turned into a 3 month trip! It started as a trip to spend Thanksgiving with them, but right before we left we found out our teammates right hand man had to leave for a month. So, we stayed to help in his place. We jumped into the ministry right along side the Bells helping in whatever ways we could. A month and a half into the trip the Bells realized they had some visa issues and needed to return to the States for a month. So after consulting our Pastors they thought it would be best for us to stay until the Bells returned to continue the ministry. That trip lasted from Nov 2014-Feb 2015. Jake was already fluent in Spanish so he was able to preach and teach during our 3 month trip.
After the Bells first year in Bani (southern DR) they desired to go to a province, which did not have a strong Independent Baptist church presence. Through the council of our mission board administrator and our sending church pastor they moved to the North of the Island to the province of Puerto Plata.
In 2015 Our teammates the Pittmans moved to Puerto Plata to begin working alongside the Bells. The two families have been starting a ground work of a church plant in Puerto Plata.
August 30, 2016 we began a 6 month trip to the DR. The Bells needed a six month furlough after being in the DR for 2 years and we were able to jump into the ministry and work alongside the Pittmans during that time. During the six months we saw God do many great things! We were involved with weekly Saturday Kids club where we both taught in Spanish and led games and crafts. Through that ministry we saw 6 children make professions of faith during our time there. We were involved with discipleship of these young believers; Jake and Adam teaching the young boys on Tuesdays, and Joy and Jodi teaching the young girls on Thursdays. Since our team has been in Puerto Plata they have been setting up the ground work for a church plant and trying to begin it with a Friday evening Adult Bible study. We had several believers attending and growing. During the last two weeks of our trip God brought along some major changes in church planting ministry. Some Baptist missionaries in the same area came to our teammates and explained that they saw God leading them to another province to help out some other missionaries and that they would like to see our team take the leadership roles of Ocean View Baptist Church, which they had planted in the last year. We came to have a great relationship with these missionaries and were very sad to see them leave.
June 4, 2018 to 2022 (First term)
We officially moved to the DR! We joined all 4 of our teammates on the field and immediately began helping in the church! Since we are such a large team each family has chosen to take a major focus within the church to help spread responsibilities. Our main focus is working with the adolescent age children. Jake faithfully teaches the group of kids ranging from ages 9-14 and a size from 10-20 kids normally. Joy does several individual Bible studies with the adolescent girls and loves to have them in our home to celebrate birthdays, or just hang out. Jake also heads up the churches children's outreach program called CESP. This program is based after AWANA and has been a huge tool in reaching children here. There are a handful of faithful adults in our small church now, and we are doing a weekly Bible study with one couple also. It is always an encouragement to see growth in the believers! For more updated info on what is going on with us check out our prayer letters. There is a separate page that we do our best to keep the current prayer letter accessible on. Feel free to contact us with any questions and/or feedback!