Donning full COVID-19 protective gear and going through red tape, Rusty Ford, an International Mission Board church planter in Seville, Spain, was granted access to an underserved nursing home in crisis during the height of the 2020 global pandemic.
Ford spent the better part of the next two months serving wherever there was a need, from helping feed people to helping clean them. “I was getting chances to pray with people,” he said. “Everybody I encountered had basically never heard the Gospel. I was also getting a chance to share the Gospel with some of the coworkers.”
“Typically in our strategy [as church planters], we wouldn’t focus on nursing home residents,” he explained. “It’s totally outside of the box of our normal ministry.” But he was glad to intentionally share Christ’s love and hope where he wouldn’t have been under normal circumstances.
The Cooperative Program takes the Gospel to the nations and the neighborhoods. Your financial support through the Cooperative Program gives missionaries access to areas where they can not only provide needed help, but they can also provide needed hope in Christ.
Pray for Ford as he continues to plant churches and meet needs in Seville, Spain.
For more about this story, visit: https://www.imb.org/2021/10/11/church-planters-ministry-pivots-height-pandemic