Pico Escondido - Year in Review

Pico Escondido - 2016 in Review

Note: I am posting a summary of our ministry here, but in a separate blog entry I am posting a bunch of our favorite pictures from this year at Pico Escondido and a project update.


By most measures, Young Life in the Dominican Republic had a fantastic year. The need for youth ministry in the Dominican Republic is huge, and even though we reach more and more young people every year, we are still only a drop in the bucket. There are countless kids who are not getting the chance to hear about Jesus. We need to do more.  

Pico Escondido had the biggest year in its history. We had 1153 campers and leaders attend summer outreach in 2016. That meant that an average of 240 people were sleeping at camp every night – a camp set up to house 185! This extended to the rest of our year as well, with more groups, more people, and more guest days than ever before. For this reason, and the knowledge that ministry will continue to grow, we are making some big changes. First, we will increase from six to eight summer outreach camps in 2017. Second, we are actively planning the next phase of development of Pico Escondido. We will add 128 more beds and a larger dining hall. We are excited about these coming changes and looking forward to seeing their impact on the number of kids who will begin following Jesus. 

Young Life’s vision is to introduce adolescents to Jesus and help them grow in their faith. I mention the big numbers of kids coming to camps – and it is fun for all of us to see – but the real meat is in the discipleship. One of the first people to try to get Young Life going in the DR was a man named Fran Huerta. He and his wife spent a few years here before deciding to return to the US. They did not get to see the fruit of their labor while still in the DR. Yet Fran had poured into a college student named Rafa. Fran had taught Rafa the essentials of YL ministry, and had showed him how to copy Jesus’ practices of teaching crowds, but investing deeply in just a handful. Now, more than 25 years later, Rafa is the YL national director and leaders are still discipling handfuls of kids each. But there are now over two hundred leaders doing the discipling, so over a thousand kids are growing with them this year, many of whom will do that for others. 

Last night Rebeca and I were discussing an Advent devotional on the Magnificat – Mary’s song/prayer to God upon learning that she would be the mother of Jesus. This young adolescent is awed that God would take her “of humble estate” and transform her into the mother of the Messiah. On a daily basis God is also taking hundreds of young Dominican adolescents and elevating them from humble estate to taking part in the miracle of salvation. Thank you, Lord Jesus!