Dear Friends,
As many of you know, Brooklynn and I have been praying and seeking the Lord’s direction about our future in ministry and missionary work.
We are excited to tell you that we now feel called to take an enormous step of faith, and are looking for people who would like to partner with us!
Over the last ten years, God has placed a burden for Ireland on our hearts; a burden for the people, culture, and churches. After spending two months in Ireland last summer, we saw how badly Ireland needs Jesus! Christianity has all but faded, and most young people have not heard the Gospel!
While in Ireland, we partnered with eight pastors and served their churches in many different ways: children’s ministry, youth ministry, media, graphics, tech support, web design, and coming alongside them with lots of encouragement! I also had the opportunity to preach at some of the gatherings, which was a huge blessing.
Many of the pastors asked if we’d consider coming on board their team and serve at their churches and ministries. Brooklynn and I started praying and fasting over all these needs, trying to figure out exactly what God wanted us to do.
In January, we felt like we heard from God about the next step in our journey.
We feel God is calling us into…
God said something to us we did not expect. He told us that before we were ready to go overseas as missionaries, He has something He wants to work in us.
We felt very clearly that God was telling us to move to Oklahoma, where Brooklynn’s family lives, and focus for a season on three areas:
1. Growing as a couple and connecting with family
2. Re-learning what it’s like to do ministry as volunteers
3. Spending more time outside of the church walls and reaching people for Jesus out in the world
It’ll be a huge step out of my comfort zone (the Southern California, Calvary Chapel, youth-ministry bubble I’ve lived in since I was 15) but I think that’s good and we are excited to see what God does in this time.
Now some of you may be asking…
I’m glad you asked. While the Lord is doing a new work IN us, He has also shown us that He will continue to work THROUGH us, but in a new way!
During this time of praying, God made two things clear to us. He wanted us to move to Oklahoma. But he also wanted us to begin missions work for the churches of Ireland right NOW. Which at first was very confusing. But we began to pray about this, and seek counsel from missionaries, pastors, and friends. The Lord began to unfold a vision!
We realized that even though God is not calling us to move to Ireland at this time, He IS calling us to do ministry in Ireland from Oklahoma and has given us clear direction that will enable us to do so.
While in Ireland, we saw a major need that the churches had, one that we were uniquely equipped to handle: the need for web-design, graphics, social media, sermon audio editing, podcasts and more. All of these elements are important in today’s culture and help churches connect and expand in reaching the lost. We built three church websites (for free) while in Ireland and they were so blessed.
There is a lot of excitement with the Calvary pastors in Ireland about the potential of what we could do to help and bless them! One pastor who wants our help told us that the main reason new people attend churches in Ireland is because of websites. He said that if we helped them, it would greatly further their ability to do ministry, especially to the younger generations! Another Pastor is launching his Church plant in Ireland by Easter, and we are already working with him in setting up a new website for his ministry!
Because of all of this, I have decided to come alongside the Calvary Ireland Network of churches as a volunteer Media Minister, building websites, designing graphics, managing social media, and more, all for free as a blessing to these churches.
I am amazed and humbled that God wants to use my background of design work, as well as Brooklynn’s, who over the last few years has become a great designer through working with the youth ministry and assisting me. Together as a husband wife team, our desire is to not only serve the Calvary Ireland Network, but also various church plants and ministries that the Lord opens the door for.
God has called us to carry out this vision of providing free aide to the churches in Ireland and elsewhere by starting a non-profit called “Hesed Creative”.
Brooklynn and I will donate our time, skills, and gifts to churches in need, and Lord willing, people who catch the vision of what we are doing will help support us through prayer and financial donations. Our vision is to invite others to join us in becoming “Missionary creatives, building God’s Kingdom through art and generosity.”
Our current plan for 2018 is to provide free media assistance to:
1. six Irish churches, including a new church plant in Limerick
2. the Bible College in Ireland
3. the Calvary Ireland Network
4. two U.S. church plants, one in Colorado and one with our friend, Lafe Issacson, in Pennsylvania.
We are excited to be a part of what God is doing in Ireland and beyond, and that we live in a time where we can participate in ministry, even from the states.
Our goal is that through this work, our hearts will continue to be linked with the dear friends we have made there, and that we can help support them as they reach the lost in Ireland.
It’s a big risk to go from steady income to the uncertainty of working with no guarantee you will be paid, but we keep being reminded of God’s call to be obedient, even when it doesn’t make sense on paper. We know He will provide, and we already have some part-time jobs that pay lined up to help us get this thing off the ground.
If successful, this non-profit ministry would enable us to serve from anywhere God calls us in the future.
It would also be a “tent-making” ministry that would give us the ability to earn a wage doing something we are passionate about, while still giving us time to volunteer in the local church, disciple others, and would free me to continue to travel as a guest speaker and bible teacher at churches and at youth conferences.
Most of you know I am passionate about preaching God’s word, and that both my wife and I love mentoring and discipling young people. That is why I am also very excited about some of the…
While we work on the non-profit, God has placed a few ideas on our hearts about ways to serve in Oklahoma.
There is a Calvary Chapel, near where we will live, that is in need of a volunteer college pastor to lead home group Bible studies or a Bible study on a secular college campus.
I would be thrilled to preach to these students, and I know Brooklynn is excited about connecting with college girls in discipleship, something that is huge on her heart. Another possibility is starting a home group study with friends and family! We want to plug in and serve, as we still have a huge heart for ministering to youth. Please pray for guidance and direction.
We are also praying about…
We were asked to consider coming on board with the staff at the Bible College in York England for 2019. If we did that, it would open up tremendous doors to take students on Missions trips to Ireland from England.
We are also still praying about eventually moving to Ireland and serving hands-on in the country. God has given us a burden to see local Irish young people trained and raised up to become youth ministers and serve in all forms of ministry.
We don’t know what the future holds, but we are excited at the possibilities!
And we are excited that God has made a way for us to serve the churches of Ireland right from where He’s called us to be in this season. We are taking it one day at a time, but we know no matter where we are or what we do, we are called to serve Jesus and further the Gospel!
Thank you for taking the time to read our letter! We need a lot of help during this season, and we are asking you to consider joining us as ministry partners. Here’s how you can help.
1. Prayer: please pray for us!
We’d love to know you are praying for us on a regular basis. The enemy has already been doing a ton to discourage us, so we know we will need some major prayer warriors involved! You can email us at our CCV Email, aaronsalvato@calvaryvista.com, and we will put you on our mailing list! We will be sending out monthly updates through a newsletter on exactly how God is using us, and what we need prayer for. We also plan to blog about our journey on our website and social media. We know we can’t do this alone. We need the church to come alongside us in prayer!
2. Financial support
If you would like to partner with us financially, you can give tax deductible donations at www.hesedcreative.com All proceeds will go towards furthering the spread of the Gospel and serving the Church.
Our hope is to expand Hesed Creative and help even more churches in the future.
Thank you so much for reading this letter, and for considering partnering with us. We know that together we can accomplish great things for God’s Kingdom!