This August marked 15 years the Lord has allowed me to give my full time ministry attention to the ministry of POM. God continues to bless and provide for this important ministry. My health has kept me from traveling into Cuba, so my role this year is what I call being the ministry “bus driver’. I keep in constant contact with Cuban leaders and Yurima, our Cuban POM point person, who keeps her finger on the pulse of youth ministry needs. I also do all the logistical planning to make our POM projects “turn-key” for the POM board members who lead planned projects. In 2024, we were only able to send in 2 POM teams to conduct E-camps in strategic churches and leaders as identified by the Western Baptist Convention (WBC) youth leadership. This year God laid on my heart to reach out to some WBC leaders & churches we have worked with in the past to establish E-Camps. POM offered to support a youth project at their church if they had interest. All 6 of the leaders we reached out to were excited to take us up on our offer. Two additional churches we have established E-camps at in the past reached out to us to be included. As a result, 8 churches conducted a youth evangelism/discipleship/leadership project this summer. I’m excited about this as it shows me these churches & trained leaders still have a heart to do youth events at their church, they just lack the resources to do them. POM also went the extra mile and gave them funds to conduct their follow-up. In addition we were able to get recreational and administrative supplies needed for their project. This was a total God thing.
Your prayers along with your faithful and sacrificial donations allowed us to do this. Your ministry partnership with POM allows you to share in all God did! Take a look at these 8 projects on the following page.
Rick J. Collins
President of Press On Missions
# of Evangelistic Teen Camps (E-Camps): 18
This past summer marks 20 years since the first E-Camp was established in Cuba by 3 current POM board members. Thank you again for your help in making these many years of ministry there (as well as Costa Rica, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay & 4 U.S E-camps) possible. Check out what God has allowed us to be a part of over the past 20 years:
Because of your gifts to Press On Missions we were able to be gracious and reach out to leaders and churches we have worked with in past years and offered them support for these projects that probably would not have happened without it.
As a result 716 teens and youth attended a project hosted by a local church…
…and 71 gave their life to the Lord!
(To POM Board and Ministry Partners) Thank you for walking alongside us in the middle of the crisis our country is having. You have been a blessing to our youth. Cuba is suffering from a migration process that has no precedents, and this has affected our churches in every area. More than half of our churches don’t have a resident pastor today, and this pastoral absence has driven many youth leaders to take the role of lead pastor. We rejoice in the fact that many of these youth leaders have been trained in events linked to the work of POM like mentoring and leader’s retreats… The work has not been in vain… Many that serve the youth today will soon take on the role of lead pastors. POM thank you, that even when prices in Cuba spiked, you continued to support the Christian youth ministry work in the WBC financially. You need to know this: “Press On Missions” is the only ministry that economically supports the youth ministry work in the Western Baptist Convention. Thank You! Thank you for every offering given. We confess we value every dollar. We ask the POM leadership and the POM donors to keep praying for us as the challenges are many. Many of our churches don’t have a youth leader (due to migration), and many of the ones that are carrying out that position don’t have much training. Therefore, training is something vital and we want to reinforce it next year. We count on you for this!
Jorge Duquesne Guzman
110 Teen Leaders / 64 Churches involved
7 Provinces Represented: Santi Spiritu / Camaguey / Las Tunas / Holguin / Guantanamo / Granma / Santiago
(Evaluation / Planning / Refreshment)
41 Adult YM Leaders
40 Teens / 32 Non-Believers / 7 Recorded Salvations
50 Teens / 26 Non-Believers / 19 Recorded Salvations
29 Teens / 11 Non-Believers / 5 Recorded Salvations
78 Teens / 60 Non-Believers / 49 Recorded Salvations
65 Teens / 55 Non-Believers / 12 Recorded Salvations
40 Teens / 36 Non-Believers / 36 Recorded Salvations
61 Teens / 41 Non-Believers / 17 Recorded Salvations
15 Teens / 12 Non-Believers / 6 Recorded Salvations
16 Churches / 75 Teens
21 Churches / 161 Teens
6 Churches / 50 Teens
13 Churches / 114 Teens
12 Churches / 84 Teens
15 Churches / 150 Teens
9 Churches / 62 Teens
of Holguin @ Nibujon Camp
(Yurima’s Church)
20 Teens
15 Churches / 160 Teens
16 Churches / 163 Teens
12 Churches / 88 Teens
6 Churches / 45 Teens
16 Churches / 104 Teens
16 Churches / 116 Teens
10 Churches / 36 Teens
Used POM’s “Accountability” study for Girls & Boys retreat.
20 Girls / 19 Boys
Linda & I want to thank you again this year for your concern and prayers for us. 2024 has been a difficult year for our health. In January I had to have part of my jawbone removed because the Multiple Myeloma that has invaded my body caused part of my jaw to die. In June, I had to have back surgery to stabilize the L3 area of my spine due to damage caused by MM. In July, Linda had her right hip replaced. In August we were down at the MD Anderson Cancer Center for about 6 weeks for me to undergo a Car-T Cell procedure. The good news: I am back in remission. As of today I’m no longer having weekly chemo treatments. I ask that you continue to keep me in your prayers as I am still working to gain my strength and stamina back and gain my weight back. As last year, all this has kept me from traveling back into Cuba in 2024 and possibly 2025. Although this frustrates me, POM board members led projects this year and are scheduled to lead several again in 2025. I am blown away by all God is doing in and through POM in Cuba in spite of limited POM teams going in and my health limitations.. God is truly using POM to impact the next generation in Cuba. Thank you again for your connection and spiritual investment in this important ministry!
Rick J. Collins
President of Press On Missions
