Pastor Daniel Blackwell
This is the Great Commission that Jesus gave His followers as recorded in Scripture. He also said in Acts 1:8 NKJV “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” I believe that we are all called to go and to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And as we go, the Holy Spirit is the One who empowers us to proclaim this good news. I (Daniel) went on my first mission trip outside of the United States when I was 10 years old. I went with my church’s children’s ministry to Venezuela for a week over spring break in 1996. And ever since then I have had a heart for the nations, specifically Central & South America.
So far I have had the amazing opportunity to travel to 8 different countries in Central & South America on over 20 different trips to share the love of Christ with people. My wife, Michelle, also has a love for traveling and sharing the love of God with others. She has been on several oversees missions trips, and we have had the opportunity to travel together a few times thus far to Nicaragua, Brazil, Mexico and the Netherlands, in addition to many states all across the US. We believe that God has called us not only to reach those in Southeast Colorado where we live, but also the uttermost parts of the world.
In November 2022 we were attending our church network conference in Shawnee, OK at Family of Faith church. During the very first session of the conference during worship, I felt impressed by the Lord that now was the time to go to the nations. You see, although we had both been on many missions trips before moving to Colorado, we hadn't been on a foreign mission trip together since before we got married. We had led a few trips to others states with our church in Tulsa after we got married, and I went to Peru by myself with our friends from Tulsa in 2019, but we hadn't been on a foreign mission trip together in 15 years. The church here had never done a group mission trip out of the country. And I knew that the Lord was saying to go. The very first speaker that morning, Steve Wilson, preached a message on the Great Commission. He said Jesus' commandment to go and preach the gospel was the, "single most important declaration in our lives". I knew that this message was confirmation of what God was speaking to me already that morning. When we got back to Colorado, I shared with our Elders what the Lord had spoken to me and we began looking for opportunities to go to the nations.
In June of 2023, Michelle and I traveled to Amsterdam to be a part of the Empowered21 EveryOne Conference. This was a worldwide gathering of Evangelists, Missionaries, and Pastors with over 7,000 in attendance from over 100 countries. The goal of Empowered21 is to see “that every person on Earth would have an authentic encounter with Jesus Christ through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit by Pentecost 2033.” As we gathered with other like-minded believers from around the world in order to collaborate around the goal of reaching everyone on earth with the gospel, we were inspired even more to go to the nations!
We were able to meet individuals from India, Africa, Europe and the United States who had a passion to preach the gospel to the lost. We were able to reconnect with some friends and acquaintances who are evangelists and missionaries. We came back with a fire to go and to bring others with us!
Mexico Medical Trip 2023
We had the opportunity to bring a small group from our church to the Huasteca region of San Luis Potosi state in Mexico at the end of October 2023. This was the first mission trip that our local church has done since it was founded over 20 years ago. Although we faithfully support missions and missionaries around the world, we had never taken others to the nations. It was an incredible trip with Victorious Christian Harvesters out of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. We had 7 of us from La Junta, CO go and I believe it impacted every one of us. We were able to be a part of setting up medical clinics that served over 1,270 people in four days. In total, the teams we worked with ministered to over 3,924 people and 1,953 people prayed to commit their lives to the Lord Jesus.
Our team was able to go door to door witnessing during the afternoons and were able to share the gospel with several who responded and said they wanted to be saved.
We were able to pray for children and individuals who needed healing and agree together with them for miracles. And though we didn't see the answer to our prayers while we were there, we were so encouraged by their faith and trust in the Lord. Seeing the lost come to Jesus and seeing people from different regions, ethnicities, backgrounds and languages worshipping the Lord and seeking Him is absolutely incredible, especially when we can do it together! Seeing our boys who are 10 and 12 years old pray for someone else and seeing another teenager who came with us that was just 17 and boldly shared her faith and prayed for others as well is life changing. I know my life was forever impacted on a foreign mission trip when I was 10, so I can't wait to see the lifelong impact that this experience will have on those who went.
Why We Go
Michelle Blackwell
We joked on the trip about suffering for Christ. As we slept on a flat hard mattress, went to the bathroom in outhouses, didn’t have the best of meals, and crazy van rides. When I think of suffering it takes me to the cross. I think about what Christ suffered on the cross and the price he paid for me. He was mocked, beaten and bruised. He took my sins before I ever even did them and while I was separated from God. He loved me and died for me knowing all the sins I would commit and how many times I would fail.
Matthew 16:24-25 NKJV
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
Matthew 25:35-40 NKJV
“for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”
I have a ridiculous fear of heights. When I was a child my nightmares would be falling off a cliff or from something high in the air. We went to a remote village way up in the mountains. Half the drive we were on a road on the side of a mountain looking over the edge. I kept praying that God would help us not to go over the edge. I was frustrated that I was putting my life on the line. For what? Then as the people came and I saw their faces God reminded me, “For them!” He said, “If you don’t GO who will tell them about me?”
The area that we were ministering in is full of witchcraft and darkness. A child was asked if she knew how to get to heaven. She said, “The spirits of our ancestors help lead us there.” This is what they believe. If we don’t tell them the truth, who will? So we told them about Jesus!!! We told them about the cross and how much our Savior did for them. Many were saved, healed, and set free.
Here are some of the faces.
The last night after the crusade a couple that Daniel and I had talked to at the clinic came up to us. She had been weeping at the altar. She said with tears still in her eyes, through a translator to me, someday you must come back and come to my humble home. I will show you how to make tortillas and we will talk. They shook our hands and said good byes numerous times.
We met an older man, his name was Alonso, who invited us into his butcher shop to sit and talk. We shared about the Bible with him. He told us, if God has brought you here, I don’t want to miss this opportunity. So he took us up to his house where his family was. He had us all sit with them then pray over his family.
We met a family who loved Jesus and hosted a small house church in the lower level of their home. They shared about themselves and their faith with us. The mother shared how her parents had gotten saved after they were the only ones who survived a car accident. We were able to pray with and encourage them. Then they shared with us that one of their little girls who was 4 needed prayer. Her name was Maru. Her ear didn’t have an opening, just the lobe. She had been scheduled for a surgery to open it up, but this 4 year old girl didn’t want the surgery. She said she had the faith to believe that God would heal her. In that moment we were all blown away. The faith of a child! So we prayed and agreed in faith with her for her healing. We didn’t see it physically happen right then, but we believe that someday we will go back to the village and a girl will run up to us and share when her miracle happened. That beautiful family came to the crusade that night and we were able to get pics with them. They hugged us and thanked us for being there for them.
In those moments I’m reminded why Jesus suffered ...for you… for me and all the precious faces. I am living an abundant life and honored to serve him.
Romans 8:18 NKJV
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
Thank you for praying and supporting us as we go!