Rockpoint + Panama

One of the things about Rockpoint that captured our hearts eight years ago was that this was a church committed to being a part of God’s Kingdom work all over the world. The student ministry had the rhythm of going to our denomination’s student conference every other summer, and then do an international missions trip on the other summer.

When I became the high school student pastor in 2016, we needed to choose a location for our next missions trip for the summer of 2017. The previous locations they had gone to weren't an option, so we were starting from scratch. 

I believe God works through the relational connections amongst His people that He puts in motion in order to accomplish His Kingdom purposes all over the world. 

Five years earlier I was grabbing lunch at a Chipotle with my good friend Jon Fowler. We had been youth pastors in the same community for several years, meeting regularly in a network and collaboratively working on local missions trips and combined retreats. He was sharing with me that he and his wife were becoming missionaries to Panama with ReachGlobal, and that he wanted me to bring a short term team down to serve with him one day. 

I told him that sounds amazing, but I knew I was about to head to Texas for a short season in the work force doing something different, and I had no idea the next time I could bring a student missions team. But we both agreed… someday.

SUMMER 2017

That day… became the summer of 2017. Being our first opportunity with this church I wanted to bring as many as I possibly could. So we brought twenty-seven students and seven leaders.

It was an incredible trip experiencing Panama for the first time! Joining Jon and his relational connections to do a variety of ministry experiences. From physical work projects for a GlobalFingerprints family, to english classes in the local schools, to a baseball clinic through a local pastor, to visiting the Embera Indians in the jungle on dugout canoes. Overwhelmingly the response was we have to come back!

SUMMER 2019

Returning in 2019, it was a little different because Jon had just become the new director for Word of Life Panama. We had stayed at the camp in 2017, and even had worked with several missionaries from WoL who were connected to Jon, but this time we were primarily working through this team of missionaries under Jon’s new leadership.

Our students also had to deal with their own expectations. This time our students were learning puppet shows, dances, and how to share the gospel to students in local schools. It was very stretching, but also very powerful! Over five hundred local school students heard the gospel message shared, and many responded and said yes to Jesus! Our students were blown away, tasting a bigger picture of the Kingdom of Jesus, and wanting more.

SUMMER 2021

After a global pandemic, we were faced with the challenges of not only traveling, but traveling internationally. By this point we were unquestionably committed to continue bringing student teams down to Panama. 

Even wearing masks, we were able to tangibly be the hands and feet of Jesus bringing groceries to local communities and doing open-air music concerts. But all the more we saw our students step up, not only learning how to share the gospel message, but doing so through Spanish! We even had one of our students give their entire testimony in Spanish. Jon said our students have been the only group in the last ten years to do this.

SUMMER 2023 

We not only returned again in Summer 2023, but we also partnered with another church’s youth group, to help them create their own ongoing partnerships with Word of Life Panama. This multiplied not only future church partnerships, but it also multiplied the Word of Life team. They were able to divide into two teams and do twice the ministry in one week. Combine that with the greater Kingdom friendships created that week, God continues “to do above and beyond all we could ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20).

SUMMARY

The short term missions experience in Panama is one of the best balanced missions experiences I’ve ever seen. What we are able to uniquely do as a state-side team knowing we are only there for one week and how we take that experience back to where we are called to live differently for the Kingdom of Jesus.

But by going to Panama, we bring excitement, resources, and the opportunities for the Panama team to do what God has called them to do there at the camp and in the surrounding areas. The partnerships in the communities and schools make a relational bridge back to the missionary team of Word of Life for ongoing ministry—evangelism and discipleship in those communities year round. 

Panama is open to the Gospel! The world has gathered in a very small place. The number of ex-pats from all over the world keep relocating to Panama. Favor and opportunity abound! Recently a Word of Life missionary told me that Latin America isn’t just a mission field, it is a mission force! Not only the younger generation saying yes to Jesus, they are also saying, “Here am I, send me!”

I told our church’s missions team eight years ago that I would love to build a long term partnership in Panama. They said they would love to see that, and hoped I would be around to help lead that reality. We have now sent nine teams, and counting. 

And now we get to join Word of Life Panama, to continue seeing Jesus’ Kingdom come and Jesus’ will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven!