Actively Supporting a New Mission Start-up in Ecuador

During late April and early May, 2024, 15 CCBCHU students traveled to Ecuador for their annual Practicum. They made up a team that was led by Danny and Julia Posada and Sean Lange, staff members at Horizon Christian Fellowship and soon-to-be missionaries in Ecuador.

In Cuenca, the city in which the mission leaders will reside, the team spent a full week serving the local Calvary Chapel’s (CC’s) children’s ministry, the youth group and the congregation as a whole. The bible college students performed a skit, played games, did face painting and prayed with many. Testimonies were shared and many children and teenagers accepted Christ.

At another church in Ambato, the team painted the outside of the church and installed an interior ceiling in one of the buildings. They were also invited to lead worship, teach and share testimonies at a few services for the congregation. Some of their favorite fellowship memories of the trip include dancing and playing soccer with the youth group at Ambato CC. 

Pelileo CC was one other stop; here the team was part of the weekly worship services and engaged as leaders in their Awana program. They played games, sang songs, shared testimonies and provided meals for the kids. For some of the children, this was the one meal during the week of more than just rice. 

The trip was not without challenges including a few medical scares among team members. Yet, second- year CCBCHU student Lance Pierce reflected that “this trip ministered us more than we ministered to anyone in Ecuador. We were pushed to our limits in many different ways…. (but) God pulled it all together for His glory. We were able to come together as a team and as instruments of His righteousness.“ 

Students were also blessed by the love and gratitude of the Ecuadoran believers who had little but gave much. Lance offered Colossians 3:14 as fitting the trip experience well: “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”