Dear friends of Tierra Nueva,
We write to you in the midst of the pandemic and the uprising over racial injustice in our systems and in our own hearts. There is a shaking going on in the world and our country. We are trying to manage, engage with, and discern in the middle of so much unprecedented change—it is doubly challenging to stop and reflect on 2019. In 2019 we found the Holy Spirit focusing our Tierra Nueva vision. While we continued our work among those affected by immigration, incarceration, and addiction, we found our faith community more and more at the center of our work. More and more of those who gather for worship are coming from the contexts where we minister throughout the week. We are seeing the fulfillment of our vision and it is focusing our mission:

Tierra Nueva is about making disciples of Jesus and raising up shepherds, empowered by the Holy Spirit, who seek after lost sheep until they are found, bringing them back to secure home settings where their return is celebrated among friends and neighbors, and where they pursue their healing, holistic liberation, and transformation.

Our faith community—both our Sunday gathering and the homes of our people—have become the places where lost sheep are gathered, and their returns are celebrated. They are calling Tierra Nueva home. This is a fulfilling of prophetic vision for us. There was something about our summer baptisms that seemed more potent than ever, like a shift was happening, as people were “buried with Jesus” in baptism and then raised up with him. Jesus is still raising them up. In December, we began our work toward renewing our training of disciples from the margins in what became our Foundations of Kingdom Ministry course (2020) and have seen a great move happening. You will see much more of the fruit the Holy Spirit has been producing this year inside this report. Your support in all of it has been a Kingdom partnership on all levels and we are grateful to Jesus for you and your work with us.
God bless you!
Mike Neelley, Executive Director

—Staff—

Administration 
Communications
Elise Krawczyk 
Alvin Shim

Senior Leaders
The People’s Seminary
Bob Ekblad
Gracie Ekblad

Executive Director
Mike Neelley

Pastoral Advocates
Danielle Riley
Kevin Riley

Andrew Lewis*
Emily Wilkes**

Family Support Center
Migrant Ministry
Gospels and Psalms
Salvio Hernandez 
Victoria Morales
Julio 

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* Andrew joined our team in February 2019 after graduating from seminary
** Emily returned to South Africa in February 2019 after faithfully serving our community since September 2018

 

—Worshipping Community—

Tierra Nueva is about making disciples of Jesus and raising up shepherds, empowered by the Holy Spirit, who seek after lost sheep until they are found, bringing them back to secure home settings where their return is celebrated among friends and neighbors, and where they pursue their healing, holistic liberation, and transformation.

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Our Sunday afternoon worshipping community reflects this mission more and more. The “lost sheep” we encounter become fishers of people and bring more people who are longing for the good news—that they are deeply loved, completely forgiven, and radically accepted in Jesus. This year we’ve seen our community bursting at the seams as more beloved daughters and sons experience the joy and freedom of life in Jesus.

Impact

After eight baptisms and life transformations this summer, we started looking more closely at what making disciples might look like in our context. We began to give shape to a series of training called Foundations in Kingdom Ministry.

We published more than 50 sermons from our worship services. They are available on our website and podcast, Tierra Nueva

We gathered (in-person together—shaking hands, hugging, laughing) 51 times through the year, missing a couples weeks due to snow in December.

2018 Attendance / Adults: 1,991 / Children: 212 / Total: 2,203
2019 Attendance / Adults: 2,234 / Children: 281 / Total: 2,515
difference / Adults: +243 / Children: +69 / Total: +312

Our Hope

  • Experience a personal connection with the living Jesus, deepening experience of the Father’s love, growing empowerment in the Holy Spirit.

  • Grow as disciples of Jesus through hearing His voice and following, and understanding life in Jesus through teaching, preaching, mentoring, and prayer.

  • Go deeper in personal healing and holistic transformation through prayer ministry, engaged teaching and preaching, The People’s Seminary, and New Earth Recovery.

  • Experience God’s presence and love mediated through worship, prayer, TN staff and community members, Scripture, and the Sacraments (Communion, Baptism).

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2019 Income: $2,181 / Expenses: $2,564 / Balance: -$383

—Jail Ministry—

Most inmates view God as a judge or prosecutor ready to condemn. Through open discussion of Scripture and healing prayer, many inmates are discovering a God who is for them and not against them. 

Over the past two years, Bob Ekblad has been releasing his book series, Guerrilla Gospel and Guerrilla Bible Studies—tested bible studies from and for the jail. (Volume One was published in 2019, “Surprising Encounters with God”.) This has been a long-time goal, to get quality Bible Studies in the hands of the incarcerated and those who love them. This is the fruit of our 2018 goal of developing 52 Bible Studies to walk inmates through meeting Jesus, building a relationship, and following His mission in the world.

One of our core values is Reading the Bible with Jesus as our Rabbi. This reflects our understanding that we need the risen Jesus to help us understand the Bible as the disciples did on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24); as the Father focused the disciples’ attention on Jesus—“This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him!”—over Moses (the Law) and Elijah (the Prophets) in Mark 9, so we seek to listen to Jesus, the one who reveals the goodness of the Father.

2018 Attendance / Women: 564 / Men: 897 / Total: 1,461
2019 Attendance / Women: 345 / Men: 872 / Total: 1,217
difference / Women: -219 / Men: -25 / Total: -244

Why the decrease in numbers?

While we had established more trusting relationships heading into 2019, the Skagit County Community Justice Center made some facility renovations that kept faith communities from regular visits for months at a time. 

2019 Income: $0 / Expenses: $691 / Balance: -$691


—Christmas Gift Drive—

As we share God’s unending love through Bible Study and pastoral care with our incarcerated community and their families, we take the opportunity to bless their children with our annual Christmas Gift Drive. In 2019, we partnered with area congregations, businesses, and individuals in our ever-growing effort to share the love of Christ. 

Bethany Covenant Church of Mount Vernon added our organization to their giving tree program, blessing our efforts as well as Children of the Valley’s. 

University Congregational United Church of Christ of Seattle is one of first donor partners for the gift drive—we are one of dozens of organizations they supply in their Christmas efforts.

Riverside Health Club displayed gift tags in their Mount Vernon lobby and invited members to shop for this gift drive. 

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More than 340 gifts went to 171 children of 64 local families.
The community helped supply, organize, gift-wrap, and pray over the gift drive as our staff drove all around the county in the days leading up to Christmas morning.


—Gospels & Psalms Group—

Each morning at 8:30 we open in prayer, read Jesus Calling for the day, divide the Gospel passage amongst attendees, and close with prayer.

Each evening at 9:00 we open with prayer and each person picks a Psalm to read. As they read, Pastor Julio anoints and prays for each person and closes the time by reading Psalm 91.

Psalm 91:1-6 (ESV)

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
    and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his pinions,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
You will not fear the terror of the night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
    nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

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2019 Attendance / Gospels: 1,184 / Psalms: 1,716 / Total: 2,900


—Family Support Center & Migrant Chaplaincy—

We open our doors, gather basic supplies, organize area resources, and offer pastoral care twice weekly at our building. For decades, our staff have been building relationships with this community—migrant workers, the recently incarcerated, those experiencing job and housing transition, and everywhere in between. 

 
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Why the decrease in visitors? Many of our regular migrant community were not able to return to our area this year. And many local families assign one member to visit us on their behalf, while they tend to children, run errands, and work.

Bargains Galore Thrift Store sends us dozens of bags of clothing, linens, accessories, and household goods throughout the year. 

2019 Income: $6,718 / Expenses: $9,615 / Balance: -$2,897

—The People’s Seminary—

This is the global arm of Tierra Nueva, primarily hosting training sessions for ministry workers around the world who minister to marginalized populations. 

Certificate in Transformational Ministry at the Margins (CTMM) is a three-module training that Bob and Gracie Ekblad tailor to each respective venue—seminary students, refugee camp workers, lay-pastors, and otherwise. 

Other trainings include lectures, extended Bible Study, 24/7 Prayer gatherings, retreats, sessions with The Seattle School, and conferences. 

10 CTMM modules with over 400 global participants

11 events in Europe

Leeds, UK / Paris, France / Neuchatel, Switzerland / Glasgow, Scotland / Bristol, England / Stockholm, Sweden / Belfast, Northern Ireland

8 events in North America

Burlington, Washington / Vancouver, British Columbia / Grand Lakes, Oklahoma / Newberg, Oregon / Seattle, Washington / Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

6 events elsewhere

Rabat, Morocco / Wellington, New Zealand / Auckland, New Zealand / Beirut, Lebanon

2019 Income: $18,176 / Expenses: $5,181 / Balance: $12,995

—Honduras—

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Tierra Nueva Honduras is committed to building thriving households of faith and churches in rural Honduras. Our focus is reaching the unreached, those excluded from the church. Currently there are over 40 people meeting in the village of Mal Paso, a small town that has been traumatized by murders that reflect the general lawlessness in Honduras at this time. Minas de Oro is the base of operations for Tierra Nueva and gathering place for some 70+ people for worship and teaching. 

Pastor David, Director of TN Honduras, focuses most of his attention on pastoring people in extreme poverty. He visits and ministers in the midst of violence, governing instability, and generational oppression. 

Tierra Nueva’s coffee farm provides work for 30 people during harvest period. Coffee pickers can earn between $8-12 daily, depending on how much they harvest. The farm provides regular employment for three full-time workers and 6-8 others who maintain the farm throughout the year.

2019 Income: $9,725 / Expenses: $22,879 / Balance: -$13,154

—Emerging Leaders—

Emerging Leaders are our staff who have come out of the contexts in which we serve: immigration, incarceration, and addiction. These pastors and pastoral advocates are the front line of our work. 
They bring unique gifts and experience that helps them disciple and pastor people through the issues of incarceration and re-entry, walking with people in recovery, helping with getting connected to employment and housing, displaced families, and multiple language and cultural barriers for Mixtec and Triqui peoples.
All the funds designated for Emerging Leaders go directly to fund the salaries of these on-the-ground pastoral workers. 

2019 Income: $53,871

—Support Raising—

Most of our staff raise their own salaries as missionaries. We are supported largely by individuals, but also by churches and grants that have strengthened us in this ministry of Jesus. We are so encouraged and grateful to God for each person and organization that have partnered with us in this way!

2019 Income: $560,408

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—Mount Baker Presbyterian—

I am a staff member at Tierra Nueva and I also serve as Pastor of Mount Baker Presbyterian Church in Concrete, WA. MBPC is a direct mission partner with Tierra Nueva. Mount Baker Pres. as I call it sits in the deep woods of eastern Skagit County, firmly rooted in a community surrounded by poverty and addiction. The school district has a 73% poverty rate and I meet a number of the people from the area in the local jail in my chaplaincy work with Tierra Nueva. The congregation at MBPC is a bit of an aging congregation, all at retirement age or older, and the majority are life-long Presbyterians. All understand that there is a suffering community at their doorstep. They want to reach into the suffering and help create a map to health and healing through Jesus. 

This is where I come in. I come from the demographic they want to reach. 

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How does this work as a mission partnership?

For the past couple of years, Bob Ekblad had a vision of gathering God’s lost sheep into sheep pens at Tierra Nueva; it’s one thing to go out and find the lost sheep, but what can we do with them once we find them? Is there a safe place to receive them? The need to create partnerships with other ministries, such as the one at Mount Baker, furthers the vision that both organizations share. MBPC congregants experienced a revitalization recently­—to earnestly seek after God’s lost sheep with me as their pastor in direct partnership with Tierra Nueva. Together, our reach is extended.

Kevin Riley
Pastor Mount Baker Presbyterian / Tierra Nueva

—General Fund—

The General Fund equips and supplements all Tierra Nueva departments and efforts. Many areas are partially funded—Worshipping Community is blessed with weekly offering, and The People’s Seminary courses often have a registration fee—and further supplemented by the General Fund as needed. Many areas are primarily funded by the General Fund, allowing our staff to focus on the frontline work of ministry at the margins. 

All areas share one same mission: making disciples of Jesus and raising up shepherds, empowered by the Holy Spirit, who seek after lost sheep until they are found, bringing them back to secure home settings where their return is celebrated among friends and neighbors, and where they pursue their healing, holistic liberation, and transformation. These areas include administrative staff, building and ministry overhead, office expenses, taxes and insurances, etc.

2019 Income: $108,992 / Expenses: $117,218 / Balance: -$8,226

Whew.

We share our annual report with you, our faithful supporters, so you can see what God is doing through your partnership. These numbers and summaries give only the briefest glimpse of the fruit and challenges we experience in this ministry of Jesus on the margins. The rest is being told all throughout the year.

These days, we’re publishing video morning devotions during the week and sharing Sunday service on our online platforms: website, podcast, Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram

Celebrate the good news and engage with us on these outlets as well as directly with our staff on Tierra-Nueva.org/staff. 

—Financials—

 
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2019
Total Income: $760,071 / Total Expenses: $776,820
Overall Balance: Deficit $16,750


Dear TN Donors,

These past 4 months have been some of the most challenging times some of us have ever lived through. On behalf of the Tierra Nueva Board of Directors, I want to thank you for your faithfulness to God and your generous giving even in the midst of a pandemic! We are overwhelmed with your generosity and how you’ve continued to trust in God’s provision even as our economy is affected by Covid-19. Because of your gifts, we have been able to continue to minister to those on the margins; those who often have the least amount of information and are the most vulnerable to this public health crisis. You are making a difference by supporting our online TN community, distanced Bible studies, and numerous trainings all over the world (on Zoom) which are raising up leaders to care for others and bring Jesus’ hope to our hurting world.

Thank you so much,
Andrea Chaumont
Board of Directors Chair
July 2020