Holistic church planting and health ministries in Nicaragua are the two highlights for an American Baptist International Ministries (IM) group visiting this Central American country this week.  Led by Dr. José Norat-Rodríguez, IM area director for Iberoamerica and the Caribbean, the travelers include the Rev. Dr. Reid Trulson, IM executive director and the Rev. Dr. Leslie David Braxton, senior pastor of New Beginnings Christian Fellowship in Renton, WA, and his wife, Sheila.

The IM group will visit the holistic church planting work of the Nicaraguan Baptist Convention led by IM missionaries Vital and Ketly Pierre and their local ministry team in Bluefields, Kukra Hill and Rama, Nicaragua (http://www.missionbluefields.org), and the holistic health work of AMOS Health & Hope, led by IM medical missionaries, Drs. David and Laura Parajón (http://www.amoshealthandhope.org/Health_for_all/Home.html).

 Dr. Braxton will be a featured speaker at IM’s World Mission Conference, Hear the Call, May 18 – 25, 2012, at the Green Lake Conference Center in Green Lake, WI.  For more information go to http://www.internationalministries.org/read/38513-may-2012-hear-the-call.  To register, contact the Green Lake Conference Center at (920) 294-3323.

 For more information about IM missionaries Vital and Ketly Pierre and Drs. Dave and Laura Parajón, go to www.internationalministries.org and search PEOPLE.

Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America. American Baptists have been involved in mission in Nicaragua since 1917.