Joy, Love, Passion
JOY LOVE
PASSION
These are three words that come to mind when I think of my friend Benjamin Mora and the others of The Omega Task (TOT) with whom he serves the Lord.
His face lights up with JOY that springs from a thankful heart full of LOVE for Jesus and for those whom Jesus loves. His PASSION comes from the Spirit within him.
He is passionate about knowing the Lord and encouraging others to know Him. He is passionate about serving vulnerable people. He knows how poverty holds people back from reaching their potential. He dreams of making it possible for individuals, families and communities to break free from the chains of poverty, and he works hard to make those dreams come true.
The dreams and goals God has given him are local.
Ben asks, "Does my neighbor experience Jesus?" The Omega Task began right where he grew up.
The dreams and goals God has given him are also global.
Ben says, "Latin America can be a force for the Gospel." He is passionate about fulfilling the Great Commission.
A goal of The Omega Task is to promote unity and cooperation. Lack of unity is offensive. Duplicating what others are doing is undesirable. But learning from each other and giving each other a "boost" is very beneficial. Knowing this TOT has participated in annual CIMA conferences for several years.
Last month Ben and his family attended the conference in Panama in which they trained others, received training, and led outreach to the people of Panama. The next week they led outreach in Costa Rica, and then went to Nicaragua where 50 to 70 people were involved in more training and outreach with several organizations.
As Ben talks about what it will take to fulfill the Great Commission he says, "We must avoid our own egos and agendas. We need to be led by the Lord; we need to be humble; we need unity. We need to be intentional about training, equipping and sending." TOT seeks opportunities to partner with other missionary organizations to extend the Lord's Kingdom, and encourages others to be involved through praying, giving and going.
Ben's desire is to challenge the church of Jesus Christ to make His priorities our priorities.
The day in 2011 when I first met Ben his face lit up with a joyful smile as he saw me walking up to where he was standing. He and his wife, Taja Clancy, had brought some teens from the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) base in Heredia, Costa Rica to this park in another town.
As I talked with Ben I learned the group had been sent by a church in Edmonton, in the province of Alberta, Canada on a short term mission trip. This interested me since my wife and I had come to Costa Rica from Red Deer, Alberta for six months to assist some missionaries we had met on a previous trip. Our daughter was visiting us for a few weeks and that day our driver/friend was showing us some tourist attractions.
Ben invited us to visit the Heredia YWAM base and we spent a day there. The next year we were in Costa Rica for two months and we spent a week at the base. We arrived just in time to go along on an outreach to a drug addict rehabilitation facility. Ben showed us their agricultural projects and we worked in the garden. We sat in on some classes with the YWAM students, we distributed Bibles from house to house, and he encouraged us to spend some time in prayer. As we visited in their home our friendship began to grow.
One evening several of us went into town. We walked the streets carrying a large thermos of coffee and some bread. Ben was looking for some homeless people. It was hard to keep up with him. He was so passionate to find anyone with whom he could share the love of Jesus. Not finding the people with whom he had talked previously we passed an arcade where teens were playing and hanging out. After passing it Ben stopped and said he thought we should go back. We agreed. We prayed silently in English as Ben spoke with some guys in Spanish. They listened intently as he shared the Good News with them. Most of them prayed with him.
Eventually on a trip to North America Ben and Taja and their daughter, Estela, visited us in Canada. They were praying about whether to start a new ministry where Ben had grown up near Grecia in the province of Alejuela, Costa Rica. It's now known as The Omega Task (TOT).
Between 2014 and 2016 we made several trips to Grecia and they came to see us in San Jose. Their joy was contagious, as was their passion to show Jesus' love to those who don't yet know Him.
Are you also friends of TOT? If so, would you like to tell us about your friendship? Please do. If the answer is "Not yet" why not drop us a note and see where it leads? You can contact us through this website.
