Giving (Tuesday) to Underfunded Local Leaders in Nicaragua
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The Mendez family, World Renewal partners in Nicaragua, have faithfully served God for 15 years, trusting Him for all that they need. With dedicated fundraising, they have been able to raise 30% of their basic budget, which allows them to partially cover essential family needs like food, schooling and health concerns. Unfortunately, it creates instability for their family, as well as their outreach, specifically to rural areas of the country, limiting what they are able to accomplish.
Melvin and Paola Mendez and their three children plant churches and train leaders throughout Nicaragua, mentoring them for more effective mobilization through the International Leadership Institute (ILI). Melvin is the national coordinator, where they build strategic alliances with leaders and ministries focused on the preparation of leaders and the spread of the gospel, especially in hard-to-reach areas. Our goal for this Giving Tuesday is to raise their monthly funding. What an amazing help it would be if we can get them to 50% of their needed budget! Would you consider partnering with them on a regular basis or give a one-time gift, as we work to raise $500 more a month for this faithful family? |
Pastor Melvin is the National Coordinator for ILI, and they train 500+ leaders a year. They partnered with World Renewal in 2024, as they engage in cross-cultural missions’ mobilization, evangelism, discipleship training, and church planting. His wife Paola also teaches, and leads a large local ladies’ group. They have three children: Melvin Jr is in medical school, Joseph is in high school, and Melany is in grade school. The Mendez family lives in the city of Matagalpa, located in the North of Nicaragua, about 80 miles from the capital. Melvin was a professional draftsman of project plans for a construction and architecture company, but felt called to become a pastor and a church planter. In 2010, he felt the need to help with the preparation and training of leaders, and began working with ILI (International Leadership Institute). They learned about World Renewal through Ramiro Martinez, and partnered with us in 2024. In 2024 they held 48 training events, and 955 leaders graduated.
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A letter from one of those trained through ILI in Nicaragua: “I am Jason Pineda, pastor and youth leader. I had the opportunity to participate in the History Maker Journey in November 2024, and I was able to see how ILI training can provoke an awakening and activation in youth leaders. I was able to refresh the vision that God had already given to my life and also start new projects, obtaining more training in an intentional and effective way from our ILI brother Melvin. Because discipleship is not just lessons that are taught, but rather it is a family that provides counseling, mentoring, and friendship to all who wish to learn and teach, as well as being a blessing to all those who need a church ready for this time that the Lord gives us to expand his kingdom.”
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In the first three months of 2025, more than 160 leaders of leaders have been trained with ILI (International Leadership Institute) through the Mendez family in Nicaragua. These leaders serve in their churches and communities with outreaches to rural areas. The Mendez’s and the Martinez’s (based in Mexico, and partners with World Renewal since 2001) attended the Central American Leaders summit in Honduras earlier this year. As pastor Melvin said, “This is a strategic alliance between ILI and Mentor Link to continue training us in best practices that help us be better and more effective mentors.” Recently, they had Church Planting training for 50 pastors from eight regions of the country, a partnership with Assemblies of God-Harvesters Ministries and ILI. Through Samaritan's Purse, 90 children from the community where the church is located received a gift box and a discipleship book. Many of these children belong to non-Christian family homes and will be in a discipleship program for the next three months. It is beautiful to see how partnerships can connect so many different people toward the one goal of sharing Jesus!
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Melvin shares: “In Summer 2025 we held a retreat attended by 42 young people and Vacation Bible School with 60 children and preteens in attendance. We were happy to have our own kids on break from school and helping out. We feel a great burden to continue advancing in evangelistic outreach to young people and adolescents. Please pray for more outreach opportunities and for hearts receptive to the message of salvation and open doors to continue training leaders of more interdenominational church networks. We set the goal of training 600 leaders in Nicaragua this year with International Leadership Institute (ILI), and have 524 trained to date! We are excited about surpassing our goals, with more training is underway, and many more in the planning process. Much of our work is done in very remote places in Nicaragua. The training cost per person is $25 (which includes the manual, food, and transportation for the facilitation team). In some areas, due to distance (remote areas), churches do not have access or availability to copy or printing centers to reproduce the manuals. Scholarships for those who cannot pay would be a wonderful blessing.”
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