Extreme Peru deploying ambitious four-year project

It seemed a hopeless place. Red light bulbs burned up and down the block like bloodshot eyes, each staring out from a brothel.

While children as young as two played unattended in the filthy gutters, men began to fill the streets. As the sun set and darkness cloaked the small town, men sought out willing women. In pairs, they melted into the shadowy doorways of brothels and bars.

"What do you want to do here?" Brian Tibbs asked Pastor Freddy Zapata as they took in the scene.

The two men agreed that if they were going to succeed in helping the desperate women of Puerto Maldonado, they'd have to find out why the women were there, what had driven them to the profession, and what they needed to get out--to reach for a better life. Entering a smoky bar, they found a young woman willing to share about her life over soft drinks if they paid for her time.

What the two Nazarene missionaries intended as simple ministry research led to the liberation of a young woman from the prison of prostitution. (Listen to Brian Tibbs share of their encounter with Vivian.)

A dream for the south
Puerto Maldonado is just one of many Peruvian communities with extreme spiritual, emotional, and economic needs. And extreme needs call for extreme measures.

Enter Extreme Nazarene Ministries, which is in the midst of its ambitious four-year ministry project across seven cities, involving over 1,000 short- and long-term volunteers from around the world for evangelism, church planting, as well as compassionate ministry, short-term volunteer projects, and youth projects.

Tibbs, director of Extreme Nazarene Ministries, met with church leaders across South America to select the site for the next Extreme project as the Extreme '08 project wrapped up in Argentina.

When Tibbs sat down with Segundo Rimarachin, field strategy coordinator for Peru, and heard Rimarachin's vision for Peru, he knew Extreme had found its project.

"My biggest dream is that in every city in Peru there is one Church of the Nazarene," Rimarachin said. "Peru is going through a period of acceptance and very receptive to the Gospel, so we want to take advantage of that to advance the kingdom of God."

In a nation with a long Nazarene history, the church has prospered in the northern part of Peru where over 50,000 Nazarenes have more than 800 churches to worship in. Yet in the southernmost district, about 300 Nazarenes are scattered among a handful of churches.

Nazarene churches are concentrated in the north
of Peru. Mission leaders hope to plant more
churches in the southern region.

"When we were going around visiting the cities, we found a lack of other denominations. It's not just that there's no Nazarene churches," Tibbs said.

Rimarachin's urgency to plant churches in the south stirred Tibbs.

Before Extreme Nazarene Ministries came along, Rimarachin had already deployed Peruvian missionaries in the south, and they'd succeeded in planting several churches.

A partnership with Extreme Nazarene Ministries presented the opportunity to recruit many more volunteers through Extreme's multi-national strategy and greater fundraising capacity, he said.

Two by two
Working with Tibbs, Rimarachin laid out a bold strategy called the "40/40" -- partnering 40 Peruvian Nazarenes with 40 non-Peruvian Nazarenes. In pairs, they would spend two years training and planting three churches each, resulting in a total of 120 new churches.

Combining a Peruvian and a non-Peruvian into two-person evangelism teams is likely to spark curiosity among the people whose doors the teams will knock on, Rimarachin explained.

"Peruvians open the door to other Peruvians, but if this Peruvian comes with an American missionary, then there is a bigger acceptance. That is a key point," he said.

Each member of the 40/40 volunteer teams is raising his or her own financial support. Once all the pledges are in, the 40 non-Peruvian partners embark on three months of Spanish language training before joining their Peruvian partners for six months of intensive theological and ministry training in Iquitos.

Afterward, each pair will relocate to one of seven cities, living in cluster housing that will be built by short-term volunteer teams, for 18 months of evangelism and church planting.

From these simple dwellings, the 40/40 partners will go into the communities, knocking on doors and asking to share their testimonies, building relationships, inviting people to accept Christ and discipling new believers through Bible studies hosted at the cluster houses. Eventually, the Bible studies will grow into church plants.

Children in a Nazarene Sunday School class in Puerto Maldonado are learning
about the hope that Christ brings.

The 40/40s will be sent out in three waves, called "cohorts." The first cohort -- four pairs -- started ministry training at the end of May. Positions with the second and third cohorts are still being filled, with non-Peruvian 40/40s in the second cohort heading to Spanish language training in Peru in August.

In the first cohort, Olivia Meyer, a 23-year-old graduate from Northwest Nazarene University, Idaho, USA, knew she had to be a 40/40 after she'd participated in Extreme '08 in Argentina.

"It's amazing to me how God has orchestrated this whole thing and has gotten people together from all over the U.S. and all over Peru," said Meyer, who will meet her Peruvian partner, Ana Maria Delgado Rafael, for the first time at ministry training. "I've never done a church plant before. This will definitely be a new experience."

Andrew Kendall, a 22-year-old graduate from Boise State University, Idaho, USA, applied to be a 40/40 with Extreme Peru shortly after he returned from a Campus Crusade for Christ trip to Vietnam where God called him to mission work. He knew Extreme Peru was the open door for which God was preparing him. He is eager to get to work.

"I really hope the idea of 40/40 catches on," he said. "I think it's something that, as far as I know, in the Nazarene world hasn't really been done before. I think it has the potential to be very successful in the U.S. and overseas, in any country."

(Read the full interviews with Meyer, Kendall, Rafael, and Rev. Rimarachin.)

800 short-term volunteers
While Extreme Peru strategy hinges on the 40/40s, more than 800 short-term volunteers, up to 120 financial sponsors, and 11 short-term ministry projects will be required to complete the expansive vision. Some of the short-term volunteer projects include:

• Construction of the Larry and Addie Garman Missionary Training Center in Arequipa
• Construction of 40/40 cluster base camps
• Outreach events including JESUS Film, medical clinics, compassionate ministry projects
• Youth outreach event called Rumble in the Jungle
• Familyzone 2010: a holistic construction and ministry project geared toward volunteer participation of families with children
• Love Extreme I & II: international church planting events, convention, construction and celebration in June 2010

In spite of turbulent economic times, Extreme Peru is on track to raise the $900,000 required to plant the churches, Tibbs said, in part through a promotional tour of the United States with the Extrememobile.

To make fundraising less insurmountable, project leaders divided the total between all 120 communities targeted for church planting, and is touring the U.S. challenging local churches, businesses, families and individuals to sponsor communities for $7,500 each. Sponsorships cover costs for evangelism tools like soccer balls, EvangeCubes, JESUS Film equipment, as well as discipleship materials, transportation and other necessary expenses.

Extreme Peru climaxes June 19, 2010, with Love Extreme, a Luis Palau-style event designed to attract more than 10,000 local residents to Arequipa's event center. Involving 400 of the short-term volunteers, the event will feature a motocross show, an appearance by world-famous skate boarder Dennis Martinez, and former drug cartel member Felix Vargas (now a Nazarene evangelism director), music from artists including Tammy Trent, evangelistic speakers, and a giant cuy feed.

"We're trying to set the world record for the largest cuy feed ever," Tibbs said. "Cuy is a guinea pig and the guinea pig is a delicacy -- it's a dinner -- for Peruvians. It's something that is very much a part of the cultural fabric for people of Arequipa and people from Peru.

Tibbs has contracted with local farmers to raise and prepare 10,000 guinea pigs and the mayor has endorsed the event.

"At the end of the day, we're hoping to have literally thousands upon thousands of people who have made decisions for Christ."

For more information, or to contact Extreme Nazarene Ministries, visit www.extremenazarene.org.