Next Steps
This Step Brings Us to 1995
In the last letter, we looked back to the early story of Casa de Dios in Cabrera.
We remembered how the work began in 1954, not with a large building, a big budget, or a polished plan, but with faithful Dominican believers, a community hungry for Jesus, and a desire to see the gospel take root in their own region.
From those small beginnings, God began to grow something much larger than one congregation. Churches were planted. Pastors were raised up. Leaders were trained. The work began to spread from community to community.
1995.
These were still the early days of chapel building for TIME Missions in the Dominican Republic. There was no TIME Center yet. That would come later. Teams were sleeping in bunk beds stacked three high, cooking outside, working long days, and serving in harsh conditions with no air conditioning and very few comforts.
Dorretta Brown, one of the founders of TIME Missions, was serving as the Director of Hospitality, though in those days that mostly meant she was the cook. At nearly 70 years old, she was still serving teams, feeding workers, caring for missionaries, and helping make the mission possible in the most practical ways. Who could have known then that Dorretta would continue serving the Lord through TIME Missions into her late 90s?
But that was TIME in those days. Simple conditions. Long days. Faithful servants. Local churches. Mission teams. And God quietly fashioning partnerships that would last.
One of those partnerships was beginning to form in Cabrera.
By that time, TIME Missions had already been helping local churches across the Dominican Republic by building chapels. These chapels were never meant to be monuments. They were meant to be tools for the local church. They gave pastors and congregations a place to worship, teach, disciple, evangelize, and serve their communities in the name of Jesus.
Pastor Samuel Martínez heard about TIME Missions and the chapel ministry taking place from Santo Domingo. He saw the need in Cabrera. He knew the churches. He knew the pastors. He knew the communities. And he believed this partnership could help strengthen what God was already doing.
So, a young Pastor Samuel, much like his daughter Sarai years later, went to Santo Domingo. He did not just wait and hope something might happen. Early in 1995, he traveled to visit TIME Missions. He came with a simple but important invitation: come and see what God is doing in Cabrera.
Later that year, a TIME Missions delegation made the trip north. That group included Zeral and Dorretta Brown, the founders of TIME Missions; Pastor Jacinto de la Cruz, known to many as Rudy; Noé Figueroa; and Altagracia Sepúlveda.
Through Pastor Rudy’s help, the Casa de Dios council requested its first chapel from TIME Missions. That chapel was built in the community of San Rafael. Looking back now, we can see that the chapel in San Rafael was not just one project. It was the beginning of a relationship. For nearly 30 years, God has used the partnership between Casa de Dios and TIME Missions to strengthen and expand gospel work throughout Cabrera.
Over those years, Casa de Dios established 32 chapels. Today, 28 remain part of the Casa de Dios fellowship, while 4 have been donated to other churches, allowing the blessing to reach beyond their own network. That part of the story is beautiful to me.
As several congregations grew, five of the original chapels were replaced with permanent concrete church buildings. But the chapels were not wasted. They were moved to other communities where new congregations were beginning.
So, one chapel did not just serve one moment. It served the next community.
The next pastor-The next congregation-The next generation.
That is the kind of story TIME Missions loves.
That is deep work. That is patient work. That is local church work and that is Cabrera.
Know God.
Advance Missions.
Serve the local church.
Help people see God’s hand at work.
God is connecting His story. And the next step is Cabrera.
With gratitude,
Rick Lee
Executive Director
TIME Missions
