Mission

Equipping Colombian pastors and church leaders who are called of God into mentoring relationships for the purpose of establishing and multiplying healthy churches, which are purposed to be transformational in their communities.  Our ultimate prayer, and purpose, is help fuel a church establishing movement that God will ignite to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ across the country of Colombia and beyond. While running short term mission trips for North Americans is a core dimension of our approach and model, these trips are not an end in themselves. The trips are deployed with strategic intention to catalyze the Colombian churches for Great Commission mobilization.  The ultimate purpose is to influence churches with an outreach orientation for establishing multiplying local churches.

Strategy

MENTOR NETWORK  

The Mentor Network is the main delivery model for equipping and mentoring.

The Network consists of 12 monthly modules, which address the basic dimensions of a healthy church with the purpose of multiplying churches.  Health for the individual disciple and church becomes sustainable by embracing obedience to Biblical Stability (Great Commandment) and Biblical Mobility (Great Commission). Supplemental training modules dig deeper into Healthy Groups, Healthy Word, Healthy Marriage and Healthy Community Transformation.

Over this past year we have interviewed many Colombian pastors and leaders concerning their opinion of the benefits from participating in the Mentor Network.  Their responses have been consistent and encouraging. Words and phrases like: ‘Efficient; Practical; Provides specific support; We don’t feel alone; Mentoring; Guidance; Useful tools’ and more. One pastor said, “I soak it up like a sponge.”

The E3 Colombia Mentor Network is currently in the best position it has ever enjoyed for multiplying growth. Our ultimate prayer and purpose is to be part of a church establishing movement that God will ignite across the country of Colombia and beyond! Over the past several years we have witnessed God building the network dimensions and bringing the right people to lead it.  We are humbled, and thank God for the challenge and opportunity in our generation.

CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES IN THE CHURCH

Many Colombian churches are caught in a traditional model of local church ministry, which centers the church firmly ‘inside the walls’.  The church is ‘in’ their community, but not intentionally ‘engaging’ the community. There is little to no vision for reaching out to evangelize, disciple and start more churches.  The Mentor Network specifically addresses such fundamental struggles and lifts spiritual leaders and their churches to embrace in a fresh way the Great Commandments (Love God & Love Your Neighbor) and the Great Commission (Make Disciples).

Bi-vocational leaders, who have no formal training, often lead churches in Colombia.  E3 Colombia’s Mentor Network meets this dramatic need to equip such Colombian church leaders to understand Biblically healthy church.  Network churches grow as light and salt in their communities pursuing spiritual impact with the gospel of Jesus Christ and social impact to meet relevant community needs.  The vision and practical path to multiply disciples and churches becomes intentional as never before.  Another stark reality is the lack of training on how to correctly handle the Word of God in interpretation and communication of sound doctrine. The Mentor Network provides equipping in Healthy Word, which teaches basic hermeneutical principles for correctly handling the Word of Truth.

OPPORTUNITY

Over the last few years, the ministry of e3 Colombia has accelerated with the birth of the Mentor Network.  Intentionality, ownership and urgency have taken hold!  In His providential timing, God has been sending the right people to lead the Network and to develop the content, which has lifted it to a scalable posture.  The opportunity to establish new Networks across the country and maintain the current Networks is ripe.  There are hundreds of churches across Colombia in small cities and towns who are hungry for Biblical, simple, useful tools and models which can establish them which both stability and mobility as the body of Christ.

Mentor Network

Healthy Church Modules

12 monthly modules address the basic dimensions of healthy church.

The goal is to develop sustainable churches that possess a balance in stability and mobility.

Sustainability = Stability + Mobility / Yielding Multiplying Churches

12 Monthly Module Topics:

1. Expansion 2020 Introduction / Mentor Network Covenant / 4-Fields
2. Evangelism / 4-Fields
3. I am Second discipleship groups / 4-Fields
4. Community Transformation – Introduction
5. Discipleship / 4-Fields
6. Understanding & Communicating the Bible
7. Leadership / 4-Fields
8. Vital Functions of the Church-part 1: Proclamation/Teaching/Service/Fellowship/Worship
9. Vital Elements of the Church-part 2:

Vision /Ministry/Leadership/Resources/Real Application

10. Marital Prayer / Just Say The Word
11. Spiritual Disciplines
12. Church Administration

HEALTHY WORD – Understanding and Communicating the Bible

It is foundational for pastors and leaders to handle accurately the Word of Truth in shepherding the flock of God.  Healthy Word is focused training leaders in basic Biblical interpretative principles to help them learn how to better understand and communicate the Bible with clarity and accuracy.

Tool: Understanding and Communicating the Bible – training principle mentors in Jonah (O.T.) and 2 Timothy (N.T.) with 8 key interpretive principles.  These seminars are being currently developed and initially integrated to the Network with the leadership of North Hills Community Church and Leadership Resources.

HEALTHY MARRIAGE – Just Say the Word (ie. Solo Ora Con La Palabra)

A healthy marriage is the core of the family; and healthy families are central to the church. Solo Ora Con La Palabra is a message and model calling Christian husbands to pray more intentionally and more regularly with their wives using the Bible as a guide for their prayers.

Tool: Solo Ora Con La Palabra is the Spanish translation of Sam Ingrassia’s book ‘Just Say The Word’. We are intentionally providing this tool to the Mentor Network pastors and leaders. We are also bringing this tool to Colombian national awareness through the official endorsement of CEDECOL (Confederation of Evangelicals in Colombia).

HEALTHY DISCIPLESHIP GROUPS – Yo Soy Segundo (I am Second)  

Calling Christians to live radical lives under the priority and primacy of God’s command to love Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. I am Second is a small groups model to train for intentional evangelism, basic discipleship, conserving the harvest, and new church establishing.

Tool:  E3 Partners 4-Fields Training manual (Disciples Making Disciples) and Yo Soy Segundo Training materials are used to equip believers in an intentional and personal path for participating in disciple making ministry.

4-Fields Disciple Making & Church Planting Approach:

Field 1: Empty Field – Start with Friends and Family / House of Peace / Go & Pray

Field 2: Seeded Field – Sow the Reproducing Gospel

Field 3. Growing Field – Multiply Disciples in Small Groups

Field 4: Harvest Field – Become a Church

HEALTHY COMMUNITY – Community Transformation

Built upon Jesus’ command to ‘love your neighbor’ local churches are awakened to engage their local communities with relevant projects to enhance the dignity and development of the community and its people.  The church is called to functionally serve its community as salt and light from God. The church is not an organization designed to escape the community, but an organism designed to mobilize for engaging and impacting its community.
Tool: The Nehemiah Seminar provides guidance for local church leaders to identify, plan and mobilize for serving their communities with the love of God through relevant and meaningful projects using local assets.

Testimonies

“I am thankful for the special blessing of personally seeing God’s grace and power through my association with e3 Colombia over the past 2-3 years.  It’s amazing to think back a few years ago and see what God has done in our church, in e3 Partners, in Colombia and in me.  I am very humbled when I think of how God connected us all and continues to connect others for His work all over the world and for His glory.  It’s an amazing thing to be used by God for His good purposes.”

-Pastor Joel Taylor, North Hills Community Church

“I am very pleased with our partnership with E3 Colombia.  I could hardly imagine being more satisfied with the way this is going.  I am doing everything in my power to get the word out about what a fruitful ministry this is — through videos, print, personal connections, etc.  I am really praying God will give us at least 30 trip participants next year.

It has been such a blessing and I thank God again for His providence in bringing us together His kingdom purposes.  I look forward to a great year!”

-Pastor Allan Sherer,North Hills Community Church

“As for me coming home was a very interesting experience. Being with my family and sharing the experiences I had was awesome. Going back to work was a little different. I kept thinking about Ecclesiastes and how everything under the sun is meaningless compared to God.  I have been telling everyone about our experience. Coworkers. The youth pastor I serve under at church and friends from other churches. I even tell people to dare me to go talk to a perfect stranger about Jesus, because I will and want to. They think I’m joking; I’m not! There are plenty of people there who know some of pieces of the puzzle of the gospel, but are never the less lost.”

-Andrew Cardoni

“I am still pondering what God accomplished in many Colombian’s and our own lives this past week and trying to look for opportunities to share here at home! Pray for me if you can! My testimony summed up would be that I had shared the gospel some before going on the Cali trip, but never to the extent and with the depth that I shared there. I made an effort to see people through God’s eyes as lost and hurting souls before the trip, but God is really changing my life because now I am more comfortable with sharing the gospel and I enjoy doing it now and leading lost souls to the Lord! God showed me in Cali that He is doing a wondrous work of drawing souls to Him and, as His followers, we have the privilege to witness that. Press on for the gospel!”

-Seth Franseen

“I thoroughly enjoyed this recent trip to Colombia with E3 Partners.  It changes you and I hope to go on many more and soon. Just as scripture is written to change us and not for us to use as a stick to try and change others, so this trip was for me and may of the others. God uses it to change us probably more so than changing others.  Life is backwards and so is scripture. Jesus said, “For I did not come to be served but to serve”, “the first shall be last and the last shall be first” and the list goes on and on. So it is when you go on a mission trip!  You go to help and be obedient, and you end up being helped. Life is actually real when you are there and coming home to all the “stuff” and “religion” is difficult.”

-Tim Key

“It really is a blessing to be able to come on these expeditions and to be used by God, and to see what the Lord is doing in Colombia.  Just wanted to say your teaching in the mornings stay with me even after the campaigns are over.  They are so filled with God’s truth and I often think of the things you taught on and I learn a lot from it.   It was a great week – Praise the Lord!  I hope I can come again in the future if that’s what the Lord wants me to do.”

-Ryan Kaplysh

“This expedition to Colombia changed my life. I learned more about how God is so good and faithful, worthy of trust, and that my matured faith in Him will allow me to trust Him more because of this trip.”

-Morgan Burklow

“I was very blessed spending a week with the people from Bogota, and seeing such an open response to the Gospel message had a great impact on my life.  Shortly after we returned from Bogota Colombia I was able to speak to our congregation about the trip and tell them how God changed my heart prior to going.

I had put together a list of my top ten reasons why I WAS NOT going to Bogota:

1.  It costs too much;
2. I don’t speak Spanish;
3. It’s too hot;
4. I’m too busy doing God’s work here;
5. I’m too old;
6. I’ll get killed by a drug dealer;
7. They don’t like Americans;
8. They won’t listen to me;
9. I’ll probably die eating the food and/or drinking the water;
10. That funky little EvangeCube will never work.

Great reasons not to go, right?  

So then I proceeded to tell our congregation that I shared the gospel with over 100 people and that at least 87 (I have each of their names) of them made a profession of faith in Jessu Christ.  The Holy Spirit preceded me and He prepared the hearts of those that I talked to. The rest is history.  All of my reasons for not going were invalid, and I was blessed beyond measure.  That Sunday after our church service, several people came up to me with tears in their eyes, saying sign me up for next year.  HALLELUJAH!!!

For the next couple of months I met over 25 people to personally invite them to go back to Bogota with me . . . 22 agreed.  PRAISE THE LORD!

Sorry to ramble on, but I am still excited.  When I reflect back on the faces of some of the people that I met, it brings tears of joy to my eyes.”

-Director of Church Ministries Fred Walker, Perry Hall Baptist Church