"...but teach 'em how to fish and they'll eat for a lifetime."

We've all heard that metaphor, but sometimes the person you're trying to teach to fish is already a master fisherman but lacks a fishing pole. So what do you do in that case?

Well, loan him the money to buy a pole and help get to the store :-)

This is what happened with J.C. (Juan Carlos). He's an extremely gifted youth pastor who has a passion for missions and evangelism. His youth group has over 200 kids who regularly attend and over 27 small group bible studies. His popular column on how to use the arts in youth ministry appears on our web site and reaches thousands of leaders ever month.

J.C. has felt God calling him to go to Eastern Europe and train other in creative evangelism and youth ministry for 10 years. After selling his clothes and saving money for a year, he was finally able to go to the Ukraine for three month. He'd been invited by 3 or 4 Ukrainian churches to help train their congregation in how to effectively and creatively communicate the truths of the gospel. Since he returned 2 years ago, he has not been able to fulfill this dream to return as a full time missionary.

And here is where the fishing metaphor comes in...

with the help of fund$ from our friends, family and churches, J.C. and his fiancée, Lizzet, were able to attend one of the best missions conferences in the world - Urbana missions conference foreign leadership week. While there he was even elected Latin American representative from out of the 90+ Latinos that attended. And during his time in the US - where the conference was held - he was invited to visit 4 churches some of whom will be supporting him in his ministry in the Ukraine! He and Lizzet leave for Europe in May 2001.

All he lacked was a bit of "seed money" to buy that fishing pole.