The 2015 BAM team in the middle of their hike into the jungle mountains as part of the indigenous Cabecar people familiarization stay. Team from left to right: Adelia (Cabecar teammate), Emily Franks, Audrey Franks, Bryan Hernandez & Matt Hyde.

Costa Rica BAM 2015

Trip Nearly Up in Smoke An unexpected eruption of Turrialba Volcano nearly cancelled the trip

March 2015 Engaging Business as Mission

This was a multi-faceted trip: the team taught basic small business skills, provided BAM instruction, delivered business consulting and

ministered. The intent was to deliver transformational economic,

social & spiritual impact for the glory of God.

Purpose:

Ash blowing toward San Jose , Costa Rica

On Thursday night the 12th of March, the Costa Rica

Spring Break Business as Mission (BAM) Team

received word that the Turrialba Volcano was erupting.

Ash from the volcano closed down Juan Santamaria

International Airport until 1130am on Friday. There

was some tension around whether or not the team

should go, but in the end with good advice from Josiah

Hubbard (our contact on the ground in Costa Rica), it

was decided to head to LAX as planned. As it turned

out, the travel to and from Costa Rica was without

incident. This report is intended to provide a summary

of the team’s activities, growth and future plans. God is

good, all the time!

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Activities Day-by-Day

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Sunday – the team had the privilege of ministering in

the Turrialba Foursquare Church. Bryan led a portion

of worship by singing three songs in Spanish. This was

followed by a short sermon from Matt Hyde that

clarified the meaning and application of the Great

Commission in everyone’s life, in and out of the

Church. Raúl provided interpretation and some of his

own perspectives. Interestingly enough, when the team

returned to Turrialba on Monday night for the Business

Skills seminar, one of the church attenders approached

Matt to tell him through an interpreter, that Matt’s

sermon changed his life. How cool is that? Thank you

Jesus! In the afternoon, Raúl and Bryan conducted a

seminar on church administration for the church

leadership.

Monday – was a very full day of business consulting

and seminars. The first part of the day was spent in

Jicotea working with Josiah and Cynthia Hubbard’s

ministry team. Mick conducted presentations and an

assessment to help the team become more creative and

innovative, as well as understand their problem solving

profile. They are moving into more intentional

The Team The ministry team was a unique blend of business and ministry skill sets.

Audrey Franks who came with nearly 60 credit hours of business classes and business start-up experience, brought a significant BAM-oriented perspective. Emily Franks is a freshman at Life Pacific with a heart for missions and business. She acted as the team’s spiritual compass. Bryan Hernandez brought worship leading & church administration experience to the team. Raúl Irigoyen, was indispensable with over 30 years of Central American business & ministry experience to leverage in a number of capacities. Matt Hyde, Life Pacific senior, offered his pastoral persona and biblical understanding. Dr. Mick Bates served as team leader and primary consultant.

Engaging BAM One aspect of engaging Business as Mission is helping people understand God is glorified through their work. Students saw and delivered business skills training that illustrated how business reflects the image of God, and is a way that God provides for His people. Imagine the world without the good and services provided through business. In fact, the first step toward minimizing worldwide poverty is establishing a viable business community. It is through God’s provision through business that relationships are developed, the Gospel presented and disciples made. The team was an instrument to bring this reality to Costa Rica.

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The Future One of the most exciting aspects of the trip is the

potential for long-term opportunities between Life

Pacific College and the myriad of BAM and

traditional ministry efforts. Life students will be

afforded cross-cultural internship and short-term

mission connections and Josiah, Cynthia and others

secure resources and programs to help advance their

businesses and ministry among the Cabecars and

others.

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implementation of BAM as the primary tool

for ministry. Josiah took us on a tour of a

lumber mill with significant acreage that can

be used in a number of capacities to support

transformational economic, social and spiritual

change. In the afternoon we moved back to

Turrialba for the Business Skills Seminar that

targeted local Turrialba business. Nearly 25 men

and women attended the seminar where they

learned about innovation/creativity, strategy and

social media. Audrey delivered some timely

information on how these businesses, ranging from

sewing and baking to policing and computer

programming, can leverage social media to grow.

Tuesday - the morning and early afternoon were

devoted to working with the National Missions Office

(NMO) of Foursquare in Costa Rica. Initially, the

NMO was instructed on creativity techniques and led

through the Basadur Creative Problem Solving

Assessment. This yielded greater understanding on

how NMO team members tend to solve problems,

and more importantly, how they can leverage each

other’s problem solving styles for greater team

creativity and innovation. The second half of the

session focused on discussing current Mission House

sustainability opportunities as well as exploring new

ideas. Raúl’s business, ministry, and cultural

perspective were indispensable in helping the entire

group look beyond our current paradigms. The NMO

and Life Pacific College will continue working

together in assessing the feasibility of some of these

ideas. Audrey closed out the day with a highly

interactive session on leveraging social media.

Wednesday and Thursday – since the Hubbards’

primarily minister to the indigenous Cabecars, we

thought it important to understand more about the

cont.

This site is perfect for the weeklong

short-term missions trip over Spring

Break. Students are challenged to

minister through business gifts.

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Experience, skills and resources are needed to advance these projects and more. Do not

hesitate to ask how you can help.

The facilities and internship

opportunities are well suited for

Study Abroad. LPC is targeting

Spring 2016 for the first cohort.

The Hubbards are working many

BAM projects to build relationships

in the community and with the

Cabecars for God’s glory.

Team Thoughts & Takeaways Audrey: “Through this trip, God gave me the opportunity to walk in the calling He has placed on my life. I know that God is calling me to bridge the gap between business and mission. This is exactly what we were able to do on

the trip to Costa Rica.”

Emily: “My favorite part of any cross-cultural trip is learning how their culture influences the way they see God and business. Costa Rica has a culture of contentedness. While this can mean happiness, it poses an interesting threat to business. Are they willing to change for the betterment of their lives? As business-minded missionary, I must always ask myself this question, and that's one thing Costa Rica taught me.”

Raúl: “It was exciting to watch leaders’ eyes widen as they started to consider the role of business people in ministry life and projects beyond their financial contributions as an integral part of the initiatives the church needs to put into place to reach the community.”

Bryan: “Seeing how people are willing work together to bring a kingdom mindset to their business and allowing foreigners to help them was amazing. They made it easy and fun to work with them.”

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Cabecar living conditions and cultural

perspectives. Consequently, the team hiked over

four hours up and down steep mountainous terrain into

the reservation to conduct a familiarization stay. We

slept on the floor of a cabin-type medical clinic, took

meals in a Cabecar home, and then hiked out the next

day along the Pacuare River. While the intent of the

overnight trip was to learn about the Cabecar people,

God blessed the team with a ministry opportunity. As a

result of the team taking meals in the Cabecar home,

Josiah was prompted to play an audio version of the recently

translated Cabecar Bible for our host. Although Josiah has been in her home many times, this is the first time

the Holy Spirit prompted him to start the audio. She sat down and listened intently. While it was playing she

indicated to the team that she had carpal tunnel-like pain in her left wrist. Bryan and Emily immediately

asked if they could pray for her. While we did not see physical healing it was obvious the audio New

Testament and the prayer touched her. The team’s presence along with Josiah’s sensitivity to the Holy Spirit

opened a door for ministry. It was a beautiful moment. On Thursday we hiked down through jungle and

banana groves to get to the Pacuare River and after some lovely moments along the river, started back up hill

along a narrow trail traveled by the Cabecars as they take their produce to and from Costa Rican markets.

This trip gave the team tremendous respect for the physical toughness of the Cabecar.

Friday – after the arduous hike in and out of the Cabecar land a little R&R was in order. The team took some

time to visit Natura Aventura to rappel down waterfalls and have some fun on zip lines. We also were able to

bless a local coffee roaster by buying out his entire inventory of coffee he roasted that morning!

The Future – The Kingdom support given by Life Pacific through Global Life, donors and others were well

invested in multiple ways to further the Gospel in Costa Rica. This trip was the gateway for a sustainable

relationship that will yield ongoing fruit in the Hubbards’ BAM activities in Costa Rica. Praise God!

cont.