Saturday, March 1, 2008

What is Extreme Nazarene Ministries?



Many of you have asked Chad and me “what is Extreme is all about?” Because it is a relatively new ministry that began with a group of mission minded folks from Idaho, most of us from the Central and Eastern part of the United States are just now learning about it.
Extreme is a relatively new ministry working hand in hand with the General Church to complete large mission projects that are more difficult for work and witness teams because they take long periods of time, require specific developed skills and are financially beyond the General Church budget. The purpose of Extreme is to seek and deploy people into an extreme global expansion of the Kingdom of God by prayerfully and thoughtfully engaging the specific talents, skills, experience and resources God has given them and to further develop them into full-time constructors of the Kingdom. Everyone in Extreme is a volunteer, all the way up to Brian Tibbs, the Global Director.
This all began with a need in the Ukraine in 2005 for Economic and Infrastructural stability. A Nazarene Layman went to the General Church and told them that the people there needed combines to work their land to make money to support their Alcohol Rehabilitation and Economic Development Site. The Church said, more power to you, but we don’t have the structure to provide that, but we will support you if you decide to pursue it. So he started raising his own funds and within a year, 3 used combines were donated and shipped from the US and Germany to the Ukraine. Several mechanics went along to reassemble the machines and teach the people there how to use them.
The 2nd project, “Extreme Makeover Ukraine Edition” was completed in 2006. Seven new buildings were built on the Alcohol Rehabilitation and Economic Development site. This project was also a primary tool used to plant a church in Turbov.
The next year the General Church came to Extreme and said, we have a convention center that is going to take about 1.5 million dollars to finish and is going to be about 60,000 square feet. At that point Extreme took on its 3rd project. The dedication was in January 2008. Over 3,000 people were in attendance, over 1,000 people accepted Christ as their personal savior over the year Extreme was there and 10 new churches were planted!
As Extreme continues to take on new and exciting missions, we pray that you will jump on board with your prayers and support. And be open, God may be calling you to be the newest Extremee!