In the global missions landscape, a phrase that comes up often is “from everywhere, to everywhere.” God is calling His global Church in literal new directions, as He raises up cross-cultural workers to be sent from places that were once on the receiving end of missions work. We call this movement “polycentric sending.” TEAM workers Dawn and Keith Moore have seen first-hand this transition taking place. Their story involves the unlikely but beautiful intersection of Charlotte, North Carolina; Tegucigalpa, Honduras; and Memphis, Tennessee…and beyond.
The Path to Honduras
Keith and Dawn joined TEAM in 1991 and served as church planters for nine years in Bogota, Colombia. After safety concerns precipitated their return to the States in 1999, they knew they wanted to continue serving in Latin America. The Moores felt called to Honduras but wanted to connect with a strong missional church to help send them. The Lord orchestrated a collaboration with Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee.
“Some people asked, ‘Why Honduras? Missionaries have been there for 100 years. It’s already reached,’” Keith says. “But there’s a whole section of Latin America that had not been reached – the upper crust.” Keith goes on to explain that he and Dawn felt called to reach college-educated professionals in Honduras – a ministry vision that resonated with the missional goals of Bellevue Baptist.
Impact and Growth
With the support of this new church partnership as well as another sending church in Birmingham, Alabama, the Moores embarked on their next adventure. Keith and Dawn started Impacto Honduras Church from scratch, and in less than 20 years, the church grew into four locations with 1600 total members. The Moores and other TEAM workers also created a “Bible school” type training program to help professionals who feel a call to ministry to make that transition.
Throughout this period of explosive growth, church partnerships played an integral role. “It’s such a different vision when you have a church that says, ‘OK, this is our deal, we want to make this happen,’” Keith explains. “They helped us with everything. They took away every single obstacle to growth. Every time we needed something, they were there.”
In 2017, the Moores once again found themselves on the verge of another decision. Was it time to leave Honduras? “I had no desire to leave,” Keith recalls. “People were coming to Christ every week! It was just so amazing.”
However, back in the U.S., Keith and Dawn’s parents were in their 80s and would soon be in need of more care. “We realized that either we would leave in a crisis, or we would leave strategically,” says Keith. The couple began to implement a careful succession plan. By the time they left, the four churches were established with strong, Honduran leadership ready to carry on the work of the Gospel.
Impacto Charlotte
Keith and Dawn settled in Charlotte, North Carolina, a location halfway between their parents’ homes and with a large Hispanic population. In a beautiful example of polycentric sending, Impacto Honduras became their sending church to establish the new church plant in Charlotte!
Named accordingly, Impacto Charlotte was formed in November 2017. Starting as a house church, the fledgling congregation was just Keith and Dawn, as well as a couple they’d met at Impacto Honduras, and another believer who was a former student in their youth group in Bogota!
Within a few months, they had 25 people attending and realized they’d need a larger space to meet. The Moores connected with Carmel Baptist Church in Charlotte – a missions-minded church that already hosted Chinese, Japanese, and Russian congregations, and was looking to serve Hispanic populations as well. Looking back, Keith marvels at the goodness of God in providing a “home” for their church body in such a short time.
The next challenge was to get the word out to the Hispanic community about Impacto. Keith and Dawn went door-to-door, inviting people to come to church. They also made connections with people by volunteering at The Help Pregnancy Center, a community’s ministry to families facing unplanned pregnancy. Word-of-mouth began to grow and now six years later, the church has grown to about 100 people, representing 12 different countries.
Impacto Charlotte also implemented five small groups to foster intentional discipleship, which can be a challenge for Latin American believers making their way in a new country. “When they come into the United States, they’re following the American dream, and so they work like crazy,” Keith explains. “It’s hard to get time with people.”
All in the Family
In a sweet turn of events, Keith and Dawn have a special staff member at the church to help coordinate and lead small group discipleship efforts. Their youngest son, Chad, a recent seminary graduate, was an intern at Bellevue Baptist in Memphis – the same church that sent the Moores to Honduras. Keith asked Chad and his wife Rachel to fill in for him at a missions conference.
“I said, ‘Just cover my table for me, greet people, tell them what’s going on [in Charlotte],’” Keith says. He gets choked up as he remembers what happened next. “Chad was standing by the table, telling everybody about [the ministry], and he looks at Rachel and says, ‘Why don’t we go there and help them?’”
A few months later, Chad and Rachel joined his parents in ministry at Impacto Charlotte, with Bellevue Baptist in Memphis and Impacto Honduras in Tegucigalpa as their two sending churches! The three churches are now also working together to help send a Honduran believer to serve cross-culturally in North Africa. What an amazing picture of the global Church working together!
Celebrating Gospel Impact
Each year on the anniversary of the founding of Impacto Charlotte, the Impacto family celebrates the Lord’s goodness. At the most recent anniversary event, twenty-two folks from Impacto Honduras joined the party. The celebration included wonderful times of worship, fellowship, and the sharing of a lot of food!
Perhaps the highlight of the celebration is a tradition that the Moores began way back in Colombia. A cake is made in the shape of a cross, and everyone who has trusted Christ as their Savior that year puts a candle on the cake. “We had 20 candles on our cake this year,” Keith shares. “It’s a tangible way for us to see: Are we just collecting people? Or are we really reaching people for Jesus?”
When asked what keeps him motivated in ministry after so many years, Keith has a ready answer. “Two things,” he says. “I love to see people come to Jesus. It’s just a miracle seeing somebody pray to receive Christ. And then to see people trained and ready to serve the Lord, that’s awesome. I love it when we’re moving forward.”
