Ana Estevez grew up in El Salvador. When she was 19 years old, she began her first ministry—to poor children living in rural villages that wanted to be Boy Scouts, but could not. They had no money for uniforms. Ana collected hand-me-down Cub Scout uniforms and raised money for new ones. A troop of 25 Scouts was born and continued for four years.

Ana emigrated from El Salvador to Miami, Florida as a university student, married her husband, Marco, also from El Salvador, and remained in Florida. Together the couple has raised four children.

Though residing in the United States, Ana’s heart never left the rural poor. She runs aCross Missions, the parent corporation of several missions.

Beautiful Are the Feet provides worldwide missions trips to those who want to go abroad sharing the Gospel. Many of those who go with Ana on these trips return and some dedicate their lives to full-time missionary work.

Ana’s second mission, Altagracias or High Grace, is in the Dominican Republic. Within a community a church has been planted and school supplies are provided to children. Without these mandatory school supplies, the children will not receive an education. A seven-year-old mission, Ana has seen some of the children graduate and go on to university. The economy of the community has also improved.

The third mission, El Buen Samaritano or Good Samaritan, is a feeding program in Apopa, El Salvador. Each day 200 children are fed. It has operated for ten years. A former child from the program grew up in the streets and knows what it is to be hungry. Today, she is the one who receives the food and prepares it. 100 children arrive before school to eat and another 100 arrive after school. The children sit at tables in a little home. Through Good Samaritan, the children also receive shoes and clothing sent as donations. Each year the mission brings a medical clinic to Apopa. American doctors and nurses participate as well as those native to El Salvador. Without the clinics, there would be no medical care for these children in Apopa. Ana has partnered with Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston, Texas to help support Good Samaritan.

A fourth mission is in Miami. Ana and her husband, Marco, have opened up their former family home in Pinecrest to missionaries with No Place Left. Ana and Marco are as Lydia was to Apostle Paul; she opened the door of Europe to the Gospel by providing a place for Paul to stay. Last December, No Place Left leader Steve Carswell led a mission team sharing the Gospel in the city; they used the home as their base of operations.

Miami is a global city known for its leadership in finance, commerce, culture and trade. Each year it hosts more than 13 million visitors. It is quite diverse—80 various cultures thrive in the Miami-Dade area. Approximately 51% of its residents are foreign born, more than any other city in the USA.

Miami-Dade itself is huge, the fourth largest urban area in the United States, with a population around 6.2 million (2015 census). To cross the city takes time and planning, because it is actually 19 cities, six towns, and nine villages.

It is also the third biggest immigration port in the country after New York City and Los Angeles. Miami is a key city, affecting not just Florida, but the world. What is happening there is carried to other parts of the state, country and globe.

There is also spiritual poverty: The lack of hope; the lack of Jesus.

Darkness. American missionary Steve Carswell has stated that, “Miami is a region in darkness.”

Barna Group calls Miami a Post-Christian City, ranking high at number 36 out of the top 100 Post-Christian Cities.

The Biblical city of Ephesus was “an urban hub of travel, trade and culture. A whole region could be influenced by changes in a major city.”

Apostle Paul spoke of Ephesus “a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Cor 16:8-9). This is modern-day Miami.

I asked Ana about the charity of her own home in Miami. She stated, “Nobody is coming to Miami, yet it is one of the most unreached places in the United States. People need to come here and walk the streets. As Miami grows, there is more lostness. A new generation has grown and they are totally lost; they don’t even know who Jesus is. The most important thing is to bring the Gospel to Miami.”

Ana and Marco have recently begun preparing a fifth ministry called The Lampstand in El Salvador where they own another home. Nearby is an orphanage with many children who have been abandoned or abused. They have received a quality education and therapy, but are now aging out at 18-years-old. Without a residence they will end up on the streets and more than likely in the sex-trafficking trade. The Estevez home already has a Christian couple residing on the property; a plan has been made to renovate the upper floors for ten teens. Ana is currently raising $11,000 for the renovations.

Ana has also worked in West Bengal, India, helping young women get off drugs and out of the sex trafficking trade. The same program was brought to Miami where Ana helped streetwalkers get off drugs and out of darkness.

A translator, Ana translated the 4 Fields method of evangelism and other tools, effectively used by No Place Left, into Spanish for use in Miami where Steve Carswell’s team is training church members to go out across the city with the Gospel.

I asked Ana what her dream is. She answered, “It’s already here. I want to continue supporting the ministries and continue leading teams. I’ve never been someone who wants to hold on to things—I want to give it away.”

Ana believes her best ability is the training of people. Through her life’s work, leading by example, she has been able to go where others cannot or will not go. With God, she has effectively changed the lives of thousands of children around the globe for the better. She is a mother of missions.

Ana Estevez has taken what she has and used it for God. Most of these charities are supported by Ana’s grant writing work and Marco’s salary. Ana has also served as the Global Director of Missions, a volunteer position, at Christ Fellowship Church of Miami for five years.

Would you like to do what Ana has done?

Ana says this, “Take a chance with God and see where He leads you. He will show you what to do; He gives you all that you’ll need.”

To contact Ana Estevez: info@acrossmissions.org Phone: 305-796-6605

Contact Kelly Jadon: kfjadon@gmail.com

What will the United States be like 10 years from now?

In the last 50 years our country has welcomed technological change: color television, cable TV, car phones, beepers, cell phones, and the internet—connecting us with each other. Though these new things have improved our lives technologically, they have also isolated more and more of us: neighbors from each other. This way of living has become to be seen as “normal,” the “new normal.”

Do we know our neighbors? What they do? Where they come from? Who are they really?

In the past, neighbors knew the children up and down the street, hosting them for storybook hour, babysitting, and generally kept an eye out for them.

Neighbors welcomed each other—for late night Christmas Eve cheer, just before Santa arrived; they hosted barbecues and birthday parties.

Neighbors cared about each other. When a family member died, neighbors knew. They brought dishes of food for the family.

As a child in the 1960s, I remember an elderly neighbor who couldn’t drive. My grandmother took her to the store once a week. And when my grandmother fell ill, to cancer—her neighbors prayed for her.

Neighbors are a resource, for more than a stick of butter, a cup of flour, or a borrowed shop-vac; they are help in a time of need.

Steve Carswell is a light of hope to many Treasure Coast neighborhoods. He has lived in Jensen Beach, Florida for more than 20 years. His wife Kyla is a native-born Floridian. She grew up on the Treasure Coast.

Steve can be found walking the neighborhood streets of South Florida, greeting people, and meeting their needs through prayer. He belongs to a national Christian organization known as E3. Their goal is to make positive change in every community they walk through by positively affecting individuals who themselves can change their own communities.

Steve has seen cancer patients healed, gang members turn to Christ, alcoholics quit drinking, homosexuals freed from bondage and their families also come to believe in the power of God.

Carswell’s E3 team consists of 5 families, working full-time as missionaries in Florida. The men often walk neighborhoods with their families, teaching their own children how to help others by sharing the Gospel and the love of Jesus. E3 teams are disciples of Jesus, making disciples. Authentic believers, they follow where God leads.

One afternoon, Steve and another E3 team leader walked a local Stuart neighborhood. An older man was sitting out on his porch. He called out and asked what they were doing, walking the street though it was drizzling. This neighbor was recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Steve offered to pray for the man.

Two weeks later, Steve received a phone call. The older man had returned to the doctor, to find that his cancer was gone. Steve is a humble man; he takes no credit, but gives the glory to God.

Steve Carswell can relate many such positive light-filled stories.

The E3 team believes that what happens in Florida affects the nation. The large state is culturally diverse and there is much movement in and out of state lines. Ideas and concepts that are successful in Florida can be taken to other states—helping to change the nation positively.

The east coast of Florida, from Fort Pierce to Miami is approximately 90% unchurched. (Barna Research) Neighborhoods need to be reached with the knowledge of Jesus on foot—in their own communities, just as believers shared the Gospel in the book of Acts.

With a God-sized vision, the E3 team will be reaching every major city in Florida during 2017. They regularly receive requests for national and international training by Christian churches and organizations who wish to change their communities for the better too. This alone speaks much of Steve Carswell’s E3 team.

Steve Carswell states, “Our mission is to faithfully obey Jesus by making disciples who make disciples, starting churches that start churches to the 4th generation and beyond until there is no place left that hasn't heard the Gospel of Jesus.

Our broken heart is for those far from God, and in Florida we know the population is about 20 million. According to Barna Research, 18 Million are not open to the traditional church; the North American Mission Board states that this is approximately 53% of Florida residents.”

By 2020, just a few years out, E3’s God-sized vision is to be used by God to establish a healthy reproducing church in every Florida zip code (1,473).

Carswell asserts, “Our strategy is: zero budget disciple-making, church planting and missionary mobilization.”

As E3 members impact neighborhood individuals, they teach new believers how to simply share the Gospel. These key people begin home Bible studies, which grow into churches.

Carswell’s team includes a Spanish speaking believer to reach Hispanic neighborhoods. The E3 team also reaches out to the Muslim community with the truth of Jesus.

The United States will not be changed by government, nor by social policies. The only way communities can be made better is through Lord Jesus. The only way to save our country is through Lord Jesus.

What will the United States be like 10 years from now?

It’s up to all believers to do the will of God—living life as the light of the world.

I personally have known Steve Carswell for many years. When my son was a middle-grader, Steve Carswell pastored a local youth group. He helped guide my son out of the negative, dangerous influences coming through the cell phone. Steve Carswell is an authentic Christian. I have chosen to partner with Steve Carswell’s E3 team, because I believe and I know that they are changing my community and my country for the better.

If you would like to partner with or contact Steve Carswell about E3, please email him at: steve.carswell@e3partners.org

Hometown Heroes