What exactly is this C.A.F.R. ministry about?
By working side-by-side in children's ministry with Central American national missionaries for a year and a half God has shown us first-hand that much of YWAM's children's ministry here in Guatemala is more effectively done by Central American national missionaries. There are cultural, logistical, & relational advantages that Central American national missionaries have in children's ministry in Central America that simply cannot be substituted.

Our family has a call to serve Guatemala, particularly the children, and we intend to always be walking out that call. However, we have found that the front lines of this ministry may not necessarily be where we can best serve. Our desire is to help grow a Central American national missionary workforce that is teaching, helping, and discipling children. There is no shortage of Central American Nationals that honestly desire, and are trained, to work as missionaries. The YWAM bases in Central America have been active for years in training and equipping local missionaries. However, the real problem has always been funding these individuals for them to do effective full-time ministry. Since they have to do their fundraising in 3rd world countries, where funds are tight anyway, they are financially frustrated, under-funded, or not able to join ministry. This is truly a shame because on average a Central American can minister on less than half the support usually needed for a foreign missionary.

That is where Shelly and I come in. We will be helping Central American national missionaries who are currently serving to partner with supporters so they can continue serving in Central America. I am not going to go into great detail on how the mechanics of this ministry work, but I would like to share with you the basic strategy of this ministry Central American Financial Recruiting program (C.A.F.R.)

1) The applying YWAM Central American national missionary submits their application and personal references to us with detailed information about their budget, financial need, and current ministry.
 

2) We create presentation table cards with the information we have collected. (The table cards are similar to the child sponsor cards for World Vision or Compassion International, except these are for YWAM missionaries)
 

3) We do presentations in the US at churches, missions boards, or fellowships on the missions work being done in Central America.
 

4) After the presentations we have an info table in which we present the table cards of the missionaries.
 

5) If an individual, family, or church express interest in sponsoring one of the missionaries presented on the table they fill out a brief application so we have on file their commitment to sponsor and their contact info.
 

6) We send the new sponsors contact information to the missionary in Central America so they can begin sending newsletters, gift envelopes, and have direct correspondence with their new sponsor.

Essentially, that is how the CAFR program works. In order for our family to be most effective in this ministry we have prayerfully come to the decision to be self-supported part-time missionaries with YWAM Guatemala. What this means is we will be doing this program while living in the US, and Jason will be working full-time in order to support our family. It breaks our hearts to be moving away from the children we have ministered to and our fellow workers we have come to love. However, we know we can serve more effectively through this program and in the process equip others to join the ministry in Guatemala and better serve the children here. Both our home church (Faith Community Church) and our YWAM leadership are very supportive of us in this new undertaking.

Along with running the CAFR program, we will be leading occasional outreach teams from the US to work with the base in Guatemala. It is part of our responsibilities to the YWAM Guatemala base to visit the base in person at least once a year. If you or your church group is interested in visiting YWAM Guatemala to do short term missions work please email us or visit the base website for more information.

If you have any questions for us please feel free to email us at Jason@jasonandshelly.com. If you think your church or fellowship may be interested in us doing a presentation on Central American missions or may be interested in sending a short-term team to Guatemala to minister please let us know we would love to assist.