Damascus Road Community Church Sends 61 Members on Mission Trip to Honduras

Frederick, MD—July 13, 2005-Damascus, MD

Damascus Road Community Church located in Damascus, Maryland, will be sending 61 of its 400 members on two mission trips this summer to the rural towns of Santa Barbara and Copan in the Republic of Honduras in Central America. The second group of 31 members will be leaving on July 22 and will return on July 31. This second group will include college-age to adult members of the church who have been using their valuable vacation time for the mission trip since it began in 1998. The first group visited Honduras from June 17-26 and was from the church’s youth ministry or “NextGen Ministry,” comprised mainly of high-school age students.

“Mission Honduras,” as it is called by Damascus Road Community Church, sent the first group of 10 missionaries to Honduras in 1998. It began as a mission outreach from the youth ministry, and over the years, excitement grew and involvement expanded to college-age missionaries and is now open to any age over 14. This year the church will raise and direct approximately $140,000 for the mission, all of which has been contributed by church members and visitors. This is in addition to the church’s annual operating budget which exceeds one million dollars.

The church partners with a local church in Honduras to help fund, coordinate and manage such projects as: home construction, mobile medical clinics, well digging, church building, starting micro-businesses, buying clothes and shoes for orphans, delivering boxes of clothes and home supplies to needy families, purchasing and distributing food to school children, distributing Spanish bibles and preaching in a prison and an orphanage. The supplying of food to school children is actually an ongoing, year-round program which provides at least one wholesome meal per week for hundreds of school children--often the only meal they receive.

“My own faith is strengthened and renewed every time I go to Honduras,” says Theresa Catron, 22, who will be going on her 3rd trip to Honduras. “These people aren’t just physically hungry for food but also for the gospel. By meeting their physical needs, we hope to show them the kindness and love that Jesus has for all of us.”

“It would be incorrect to think that the Hondurans are the only ones impacted by these mission trips,” says Roger Record, Pastor of Missions at Damascus Road Community Church. “Our missionaries are forever changed by these experiences. We return fired up to make a spiritual impact in our own community. We know we can't solve all the economic, health, and spiritual problems in Honduras. But we can make a difference in the lives of some, and we are determined to seize the opportunity to do just that as long as God gives us an open door.”

One inspiration resulting from an earlier trip has been the recording of “Holy Rain,” a CD of all-original music by the Damascus Road musical praise teams. All revenue from the sale of the CDs goes toward the church’s missions and over a thousand CD’s have been sold.

“We were just walking down this big mountain in Copan after building a house for a homeless family, and the Holy Spirit just put this tune in my head,” says Record. “We stopped right on the road; I got out my guitar and an hour later we had “We Came Down the Mountain,” which ended up being the first song on the CD!” Evidence of the Honduras mission inspiration is found in other song titles on the CD, such as “Holy Rain,” “Blessed are the Poor,” and the “Creation Song.”

The Damascus Road Praise Team will be performing a special free concert of some of the Holy Rain songs on the soccer field in the Spring Ridge community on August 28th at 6:30 PM.

Since the church began the Honduras mission in 1998, 5,000 medical patients have been seen and treated, 40 homes have been built, eight micro businesses started, 47 orphans supplied with clothes and shoes, six wells dug, and hundreds of school children have been fed one meal a week year round.

Pastor Roger Record adds, “The most important thing is we’ve brought the Gospel of Jesus Christ to hundreds of men, women, and children in Honduras to give them hope and everlasting life, and that’s what our church is all about.”

About Damascus Road Community Church
DRCC is a community church centered in God’s transforming power in Jesus Christ, teaching that full devotion is normative for followers of Jesus Christ and that all people have infinite value to God. Its worship services are contemporary, Bible-focused, using upbeat music and creative arts. The church’s mission statement is: To help religiously discouraged or unchurched people (the burned, the bored, the bypassed) become fully devoted followers of Christ. DRCC has active missions in Honduras, South Africa, and India that extend and proclaim God’s love through medical teams, building and sustaining orphanages, establishing micro-businesses, and providing resources to families to escape poverty.

For more information, please contact Debbie Lawrence, at damascus@damascus.com or 301-253-5276, or Bryan Chaney at bryan@chaneygang.com, 301-591-1643. Websites: www.damascus.com or http://www.drccmissions.com/

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