Guest Post: From the Field • Agros

Guest Post - Partner trip with Bethany Community Church

Agros and Bethany Community Church are connected in a ministry partnership. We share a common passion to see the body of Christ in action by supporting rural families to flourish in Central America through holistic, transformational development. That support promotes the movement of families from poverty to prosperity, and includes economic empowerment, land ownership, and transformational relationships. At the core of ministry are relationships. Our shared hope is to foster relationships, and BCC annually commissions a ministry team to travel to Nicaragua with the intention of developing relationships with Agros, and those the ministry serves, through prayer, dialogue, and connection.

Meet one of this year’s BCC ministry team who visited Nicaragua just this past summer, Geni Venable. Geni, who was visiting an Agros village for the first time, captured her experience and wanted to share just how meaningful building relationships with Agros families has been.

Author: Geni Venable

“Family and Friends,

There’s truly too much to share, too many places to start, so I am focusing on a theme that stood out to me throughout my visit: True gratitude means giving thanks to God for the role he has as the giver of all good gifts and the only one who can bring our lives to bear fruit.

While writing this message to share with all of you, I have reflected on Ephesians 2:8 “For you are saved by grace through faith, it is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift.”

The members of the communities we visited radiate this posture of faith and gratitude.

Seeing the Fruit

We visited a community named La Bendicion and spent the entire day with two Agros villagers Sandys and Eric – farmers who had joined Agros, successfully paid for their land, and own title to their farms. Becoming landowners is the hallmark of success for Agros program participants. It means that these families have achieved a certain level of farming expertise, self-sufficiency, and stability.

Both Sandys and Eric shared that the work they had done before as “jornaleros,” or day laborers, was backbreaking work that left them and their families in desperate poverty. It was clear that hard work was not the only ingredient needed for success. But now, as Agros community members, their labor involves advanced agricultural practices taught by Agros staff, market-driven selection of crops that yield a meaningful return on their hard work, access to commercial buyers for their crops, and deep community support systems that provide resources for their families such as in-community schools and clinics. They gave glory to God, and shared with pride and gratitude, they still work tremendously hard, but it is with the knowledge that their families will have brighter, healthier futures because of it. This work was blessed by God and was bearing remarkable fruit.

As part of our trip, we were able to break bread with Sandys. During our conversation over a nourishing meal, we inquired what the rhythms of a normal day look like. He smiled at our odd questions, but shared, “Well first I wake up early. I give thanks to God for all that I have. I drink some coffee. I go to work my land. And then I come home to eat and be with my family.” He said this with a luminous, joyful smile. And I thought, “God’s face is right here.”

In gratitude,

Geni “

Agros is grateful for the commitment of our community, the hard work of the families we serve, and the generosity of friends and family. Thank you for making possible the transformations of families like Sandys’, and many more just like them. Somos Agros Somos Familia.

You can watch more of Sandys’ story here: