AGWM, AGUSM, and Honduras AG Partner to Serve

(Zach Rix is an AG World Missions missionary to Honduras.)

I have known AG US Missions (AGUSM) missionary Pastor Dave Houck since I was 14 years old. I grew up in Central Florida and would often see him at different youth events and mission trips. Seeing his ministry and heart for people was key in my call to missions, and especially to compassion ministry with the poor.

You see, Pastor Dave and his wife, Tammy, serve in a deeply underprivileged Florida community called the Forest. Deep in the swamps of Ocala National Forest, residents of the Forest are plagued by drug abuse, witchcraft, poverty, domestic violence, and sexual abuse.

In 1993, Pastor Dave and Tammy founded the Help Agency, which includes a camp, a food bank, a restaurant and culinary school, and a church called Salt Life Church. Pastor Dave not only leads the church in incredible outreach to their own people in the Forest, but also prioritizes supporting missions around the world. This congregation gives sacrificially to AGWM projects worldwide, including to endeavors here in the Central American nation of Honduras.

My wife, Dania, and I began our AG World Missions (AGWM) missionary service in Honduras in 2016. Back in 2019, I mentioned to Pastor Dave that I was praying to be able to buy a motorcycle for Bryam and Denia Cruz, a young missionary couple from the Honduras Assemblies of God. Pastor Dave immediately volunteered to donate the motorcycle for Bryam and Denia, who are working among the Garifuna people group on the northern coast of Honduras.

Descended from Island Caribs and enslaved Africans, the Garifuna have been in Honduras for more than 220 years. There are roughly 50 Garifuna communities in Central America, and they have their own language, culture, customs, and spiritual practices. Bryam and Denia work specifically with youth and children in these communities.

However, without transportation it was very difficult for them to reach certain areas. Now, because of the motorcycle from Salt Life Church in Florida, Bryam and Denia are able to more easily access other Garifuna communities and have plans to plant a church in Guadalupe, a community several miles from where they live in the Garifuna town of Santa Fe Colon.

Missions is all about this kind of partnership! There is a partnership between the missionary, the supporting churches in the USA, the national church in the host country, and many others that could be mentioned. In this case, myself (an AGWM missionary) and Pastor Dave (an AGUSM missionary), were able to partner with Bryam and Denia (Honduras Assemblies of God missionaries).

So much more can be accomplished when strong partnerships are made. Together before God we are truly better!

Zach Rix