The Church Ambassador Network was inspired to host a Mississippi River Church-State Partnership Tour after a visit to Dubuque earlier this summer. Following a meeting with pastors on how to engage with the CAN, Pastor Kyle Rains of New Life Church in Dubuque took Greg Baker on a tour of the community and spent some time in a neighborhood known as The Flats. This was just one week after a similar visit to the Dream Center in Sioux City. The team was stuck by what seemed to be a pattern, which led to an investigation of Iowa’s major river communities.
Over the summer, the team visited Clinton, Burlington, Davenport, and Fort Madison, and the pattern was confirmed. Each of our river communities shared common pain points: concentrated poverty, high addictions, a growing homeless population (many from Chicago), rapid population decline during the farm crisis, and some of our lowest-performing public schools. This pattern reminded us so much of the work that our friend Daron Babcock saw God do to transform a river community in Dallas, which was following the same pattern with underperforming schools and significant bondage in families and the community as a whole. After seeing the common thread, the team invited Daron to share about the work God did in Dallas and what they learned along the way so that we can learn from and be encouraged by their story. Daron graciously agreed to come back to Iowa, now for a 4th time!
Daron joined us for Church-State Partnership Tour stops in Scott County (Davenport), Clinton County (Clinton), and Lee County (Fort Madison) on September 15th and 16th. At each of these stops, we gathered with pastors, ministry leaders, and government leaders to lay the groundwork for partnering together to break bondage in these communities. Daron shared the biblical teaching of shalom and what it takes for a community to flourish, which he is now sharing in communities across the nation. We saw a hunger in the church to be the answer to the problems facing their communities. Pastors and ministry leaders hungrily took notes and stayed long after the stop, conversing with one another over how they can do this together.
Even beyond Iowa, in communities across our nation, God is uniting His Church to come together to serve the needs of our communities, and He is stirring the hearts of modern-day kings to seek out the Church for partnership. This proved true in all 3 Mississippi River communities. CAN already wants to bring Daron back to visit more river communities, including those on our Missouri River, which are showing very similar patterns.
Another key partner who joined us in Davenport and Clinton is Nathan Mayo with True Charity. This ministry piece is key—helping to bring practical application to the inspiration and framework Daron provides. True Charity has developed resources for churches that teach best practices for benevolence and other ministries, helping churches reshape existing ministries or start new ones that provide the tools, compassion, and accountability to truly and biblically help people break free from bondage.
Iowa Health and Human Services Director Larry Johnson shared at the Davenport stop about Thrive Iowa coming to Scott County. Thrive Iowa is the community wrap-around program that the CAN partnered with Governor Reynolds to bring to Iowa. Together For Good also joined us in Davenport, working to expand their preventative foster-care ministry into the Quad Cities region. LifeWise Academy, a ministry that sets up biblical instruction during school hours, joined in Fort Madison to bring LifeWise to the many underperforming public schools in the region. LifeWise is statistically proven to increase school test scores and reduce truancy rates across schools that implement a LifeWise program. Finally, Developing Great Relationships, a marriage and family ministry based in Pella, joined us in Fort Madison to help us highlight the truth that the greatest prevention of bondage is marriage: God’s first institution.
In conclusion, God is doing something in Iowa. He is uniting His Church to serve and rebuild our communities. He is giving His people favor with our modern-day kings, all for the glory of His name. What began in Iowa is now taking the nation by storm as national and other state leaders come to Iowa to learn how to replicate this across the nation in red, blue, and purple states.
