A Brand New Church Birthed During Quarantine

Amazonian Wednesdays 🌴

A testimony from April 2020:

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“There is so much drug trafficking in that area. Men are violent there. It’s not safe. Are we sure this is a place we want to build a church?”

We were discussing a new strategic target for a church plant, a village named Vinocuro. This little forgotten place is smack dab in the middle of a red zone. Literally 80% of all economic activity in that area revolves around the production of cocaine. Bullets fly quickly and easily there. And the villagers are starving for the gospel.

God said, “Do it.” There was nothing left to discuss. Just over a month ago, Pastor Israel embarked on the journey to arrive on site. This remote jungle location takes six days of boat travel to access from Iquitos. His team of four other brothers arrived shortly before him. Immediately, they got to work. It was time to build.

A week later, Pastor Israel left Vinocuro for further travel. As he was in transit, the Peruvian government initiated a country-wide lockdown in response to the COVID crisis. We had almost no warning. All over the nation, travel was immediately frozen. Pastor Israel was stuck. At this writing, he has still not been able to make it home. He has spent the last month alone in a tiny room.

Meanwhile, in the depths of the jungle, the lockdown was irrelevant. The team continued their arduous labors. They now have the new church building 70% finished.

The villagers are so thirsty for Jesus, they have begun coming to services every single night… not bothering to wait for the building to be finished. Sitting on wooden boards, they devour everything our team is feeding them from the Word. Here’s the amazing thing. The entire village of forty families has prayed to receive Jesus as Savior!

Vinocuro is one of thirty villages along a 60 mile strip of the Tamaya River. Until now, none of them had a church. They had longed for one. Now, God has provided the very first one. Hope has come to that very dark area. A light has dawned.

Our team hasn’t been able to come home, due to the travel freeze. But we see God’s hand in this! It’s turned into the perfect opportunity to disciple eager new believers. Every night, our guys continue to feed voraciously hungry souls.

The Father has turned a very difficult circumstance – the COVID crisis – into something amazingly good for the region of Vinocuro. We are so excited to see these precious people’s dream come true!