Mike and Vicki Pasterik Church Multiplication Facilitators with One Mission Society
Mike and Vicki have been taking short term mission trips to the Peruvian Amazon since 2012 as part of Bible and School Supply Distribution Teams. As they visited villages, they quickly recognized that there is a hunger for the Word of God and people eagerly accepted and asked for Bibles. A Bible is a luxury few can afford in the rainforest. Many of the villages they visited had neither a church nor pastor to provide discipleship. They began to pray about church building in the Amazon. On a trip in April 2015, as they were in Panama awaiting their flight to Iquitos, Mike felt clearly directed that church planting is not about building a building, but rather building the body of Christ. They spent that trip meeting with pastors and discussing ministry needs and how to meet them in the villages in the Amazon Jungle. As they continued to pray about how God would use them in ministry in Peru, God started putting pieces together until the ministry picture began to become clear. They knew then that they were being called to train pastors in the jungle villages, but they had absolutely no idea how to accomplish what they were being called to do! Their daughter, Tori, was serving on a mission internship in Japan with One Mission Society, and was trained in a church planting method called Train and Multiply. After attending the very first training session, she recognized that Train and Multiply would be a perfect method for training pastors in the Amazon. As soon as the session was over, she sent her parents a message saying, "This is exactly what you need in Peru!" She encouraged them to contact One Mission Society to inquire as to how they could gain access to Train and Multiply for use in Peru. In August, they traveled to OMS Headquarters in Greenwood, Indiana and took Train & Multiply Training along with a group eager to spread the Gospel around the world. They are now both Licensed Organizers with T&M. Within a week, God had opened doors to begin training a Ministry Team in Iquitos via Skype and equipping them to train pastors in jungle villages. Following their training at One Mission Society, they began the application process to become Church Multiplication Facilitators with OMS. Vicki was accepted in March 2016 and Peru was added as their newest field. Mike was accepted in August. As CMF's, they travel to Peru 3-4 times a year for 2-3 weeks at a time, to do trainings and workshops. In between trips, they maintain contact with Manuel and the mission teams via Skype and messaging, coordinate follow up in villages where they have taught and assess needs of pastors in the villages where they have taught. They also speak in churches and conferences at home, sharing what God is doing in the Amazon and raising financial support for the ministry and for the purchase of Bibles. They are also available to teach personal evangelism classes. In October 2015, Vicki and their daughter, Libby, traveled to Peru to conduct the first set of trainings. They taught in four locations with 35 attendees representing 19 churches. In April 2016, they returned and did training with 30 churches, with the emphasis on the importance of pastors teaching their church members to evangelize in their own communities. They were excited to hear positive reports from those who attended the first trainings of how God is using Train & Multiply to reach the lost in Peru! In the first year, they estimate that over 3,000 new believers were added to the Kingdom of God! This Summer (2017) they trained over 500 pastors and church leaders in personal evangelism and provided materials for pastor training to many of them. God has now opened doors outside of the Amazon Rainforest and they have trained in Lima, Pucallpa, Trujillo, and many other areas. They are planning a trip to Cusco to begin training in early 2018. The Pasteriks currently live in Northwest Pennsylvania on a farm, with eight of their nine children (four of which have been to Peru with them) and are honored to partner with the the ministry teams God has put in place in Iquitos. Mike is a Senior Software Engineer and has served as a Trustee and Audio/Visual Specialist in local churches. Vicki is a Graphic Designer, Bible teacher and homeschool teacher to their children.
Looking for a translator or guide for your next mission trip to the Amazon?
Manuel Lopez National Coordinator/OMS National Director/Alcanzando al Peru
Manuel serves as the National Director of Alcanzando al Peru (translated "Reach Peru"), a ministry whose mission is to reach Peru with the Gospel of Christ. One Mission Society partners with Alcanzando al Peru to help fulfill this mission. In October 2014, Manuel was in the airport in Panama City on his way to a mission trip in Panama. Vicki and her daughter, Libby, were also in the airport in Panama City with a group traveling to Iquitos on a mission trip. In a Divine appointment, Manuel sat down in the midst of the Peru Crew Mission Team and they began talking about their ministries. While that meeting was the beginning of a ministry partnership where his first role was to coordinate ministry trips, purchase Bibles for distribution, visit and assess villages for ministry and training opportunities and coordinate training with the Mission Teams in Iquitos, he is now traveling across Peru training trainers and regional facilitators to do what he and the Pasteriks are doing - using Train and Multiply to make Disciples. Manuel lives in Iquitos, Peru with his wife and two daughters.
Regional Facilitators
In every region we have trained in across Peru, God has raised up a man or woman who has a burden to reach the lost, and a vision to train pastors, church leaders and all believers to share the Gospel. As each has come forward and expressed an interest in working with us to reach those in their regions, we have trained them to train other trainers. In August 2017, we had our first Regional Facilitators Conference in Iquitos, and began building the foundation of Alcanzando al Peru, as a ministry. We are so blessed by those whom God has called to work with us.
The Santa Rita Team
Pastor Fernando and the church at Santa Rita
Four people from the church at Santa Rita attended a training in Zungaro Cocha in April. As they went back to their church and started sharing the things they had learned, God called them as a church to go to Sucre, a village 9 hours away by boat to train the church there how to evangelize and disciple others in their village. Manuel organized Train and Multiply workshops at the church to train the whole group to be trainers. Before long, 8 churches were committed to attending the training, and in August 2016, 45 people from Santa Rita traveled by boat to Sucre and spent a week training the 8 churches! We are looking forward to seeing where God will call them next!
Ministry Assistants
Libby Pasterik - Photographer/Artist and Children's Ministry
Our daughter Libby works with the ministry as a photographer, documenting what God is doing in Peru. She also drew the artwork used in the Making Disciples in the Amazon logo, and the Pastor Partner logo.
Libby took her first trip to Peru when she was 14 and has now been there 14 times. She loves to minister to the children while the adults are in Evangelism Training. She feels called to Mission work in Peru and is waiting to see how God wants to use her there.
