The door opened and there was the guy I knew from over
twenty years ago, Patrick Hubbard. I
remember him a little younger and yet, I recognized him. It’s interesting to me how he looked the same
but not really the same. The difference
was the maturity he carried and the wisdom you could see behind his eyes. We walked into the living room and I saw his
wife, Barbara, in the kitchen. She
looked the exact same as I remembered her from high school except with shorter
hair. How amazing is the Lord to
reconnect us after not having seen each other, except through social media,
since 1992? This family has decided to change the way we all understand
missions by founding a ministry called Living Bread Ministries. Its mission is to plant missional churches
among the global poor and equip them to care for their communities. Little did I know, my perspective on missions
will forever be changed by the vision and passion this couple has to bring
Christ into the poorest of communities around the world.
We sat down at the kitchen table and it was time to ask some
questions:
What in the world
happened to you, to make you want to start a ministry planting churches among
the poor?
Both he and Barbara laughed out loud at that question. Patrick began, “ Well, we got married right
out of high school. Barbara, as you
know, is from Brazil and we had visited several times throughout our
marriage. Every time we went to Brazil,
I could feel this tug towards the poor.
We didn’t know the Lord so I couldn’t have said the Lord was already
pulling us to ministry to the poor. We
just had a heart for the poor. We had a
friend from high school who consistently witnessed to us for years. It was actually 7 years and finally, one day
everything he said to us clicked. It was
when Barbara and I went to my grandmother’s funeral. One of the pastors was speaking and I chose
to turn my life to Jesus. When
we got home Barbara and I talked about the day.
I ended up sharing with her how I had given my life to Jesus at the
funeral. She looked at me and said she
had too. That was the beginning of following the call of God our lives.”
Is that when you
started the ministry?
In 2003 we began praying with our pastor for an entire year
asking the Lord for direction. It wasn’t
until March of 2004 we officially started, in April we had a baby and that May
we went to Brazil. Missions were our goal but God had shown us
missions trips alone weren’t enough. The
vision he gave us was to expand an interdependent church planting movement
among the global poor. Our view is if
you plant churches among the poor and equip the locals to lead those churches
then the entire culture of the community will change because the locals become
the hands and the feet of Jesus. We
don’t take the equipping part of our role lightly. We don’t want to pop in and out with
workshops and a western ministry perspective.
We want to demonstrate through the Holy Spirit the love of Christ. Point the local leaders to Jesus and then
have those local leaders get the vision God wants them to have for their
communities.
We not only want to see salvations but we want to see the
reign of Christ manifested within the community. The Lord has shown us, Biblically, how to do
this. The local churches feeding the
hungry, clothing the naked, taking care of the orphans… it’s a whole culture
shift in these countries. We want the
local church to transform the lives of the people.
Why does this work?
Patrick: The Bible shows us the church is a body. No one church should lord over another. For example, I have my ideas of what an
American church should look like but I know that not every part of an American
church will work in Brazil. Our goal is
to equip the saints in these countries to do the work of the ministry
themselves. They in turn can run their
churches with our support. It becomes an
interdependent body.
Barbara: We heard a testimony of a Brazilian woman who had a stroke. In Brazil, the medical system sends you home
from the hospital once you are stable.
Her stroke caused one side of her body to be paralyzed; she couldn’t
walk, talk or set up her feeding tube.
The local church in that community went to her house daily to feed her,
spend time with her, clean her bed sores and make sure she was taken care
of. We have heard several testimonies
like this. In one family, the father died from AIDS and the
mom and the kids have HIV. Should anything happen to the mother the local church has already planned
who the children will stay with. You can
see how the culture is changing. The
needs of the poor and orphans are starting to be met because of the local
church.
How many churches
have you planted to date?
Patrick: We have planted eight churches in Brazil and, if
everything goes as we have planned, will be planting two churches in Thailand
in January.
When you start building up a poor community, seeing the
church be the church within that community, it becomes much more difficult for
people to prey upon the poor.
What is www.sharechristmas.org and how can we get involved?
Share Christmas provides school supplies and hygiene kits
which are bought within the community.
It costs $15 per child and will be distributed the week of Christmas
during a celebration where the Gospel will be preached. The school year begins in February which is why
we provide these supplies in December.
If people want to donate to they need to go to www.sharechristmas.org and click the DONATE button.
“I believe the local body can handle the poverty within their
community.” – Patrick Hubbard
Many thanks to Patrick and Barbara Hubbard, founders of Living Bread
Ministries. Please visit their website
at http://www.livingbread.org and prayerfully consider supporting their
mission to reach the global poor.
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