As part of the big "Be A Hero Food Drive" I got the chance to be interviewed a couple of times. The last two minutes of the story below feature an interview with me and Grainger - a company that has very generously agreed to help fund our Backpack program with a $20,000 donation.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Friday, May 23, 2008
Chynoweth Family Update
Bogotá, Colombia
A Look Back...

Dear Family and Friends,
I am writing today to let you know that our time here in Colombia is drawing to a close and that on June 11th, 2008 we will be returning to the United States. We are going back to Florida to spend some time with our families, supporting Jim's mom as she continues her cancer treatment, and be with Jessie's family as they celebrate the marriage of Joy, Jessie's younger sister.
As we look back, it has clearly been an incredible year and a half here in Colombia serving with CDA, learning, growing and helping. We have experienced all sorts of joys and challenges and we are so grateful for your faithful support and all your prayers during the last 18 months. Jesus said that "whatever you do for even the least of this you do for me," and we want to let you know that your faithful support enabled us to come and serve here, making a tangible difference in the lives of people from some of the neediest and poorest communities of Colombia. Thank you for making this opportunity possible for us, thank you for all your prayers and thank you for partnering with us in this adventure!
As our time here rapidly draws to a close, I'd like to take this opportunity to look back at the journey and recognize God's faithfulness and remind you of all the things you have helped make possible.
On November 15, 2006, Jessie who was eight months pregnant, and I moved to Colombia with only half the support raised that we needed, trusting God that he would provide for us if we followed him. Within weeks, He demonstrated his faithfulness and we reached our monthly support goal. Thank you!
On December 20th, 2006 Isabella Marie Chynoweth was safely born at the Fundacion Santa Fe Hospital.
In January 2007 I began translating (slowly at first) for the short term missions teams that were coming down to Colombia, as well as for visiting donors and VIPs. As my spanish improved I also began translating documents, reports and plans since all of CDA's communications had to be translated prior to being sent overseas. When people ask how I learned Spanish I always share how many people I had back home praying for our rapid language acquisition.
In April 2007, Jessie, Bella and I moved into our little house at the Children's Home in Tenjo where Jessie began using some of her nursing skills in addition to befriending some of the girls and sharing her heart and life with them.
In June I had the opportunity to translate for and participate in CDA's international partners conference that brought together key people from CDA's primary donor organization in Holland along with representatives from a variety of organizations across Central and Southern America.
In August ‘07 I went to Pisco, Peru with CDA's emergency relief medical team where we worked in coordination with Operation Blessing, local churches and volunteers from the United States as we brought much needed supplies and medical care to 1,500 people who had lost everything in the earthquake.
In September I had the chance to visit some of the most “exciting” parts of Colombia with a pair of Dutch Journalists. Upon returning to Holland, their pictures and articles were published in a Christian newspaper and helped raise $455,000 for CDA.
After a wonderful trip back to the US over Christmas, we returned to Colombia where I accepted the offer to leave my job as the International Communications Officer and become the new Director of Spiritual Wellbeing.
In this new position I have worked to begin a shift in organizational leadership and return the mantel of spiritual authority to the leaders of the organization instead of the chaplains. Additionally, I retooled our School of Practical Ministries into a Christian leadership development course to be implemented in five of our sites to build relationships with local churches and train christian leaders who can then work with us in a volunteer capacity to multiply our efforts. Additionally, I have launched a community relations plan, transformed how the organization leads devotionals and worked with the President and CEO of the organization to implement some changes in the leadership style to more closely model and reflect CDA's Christian values and heritage.
In April I helped plan and coordinate the logistics to distribute de-worming medication to 500,000 men, women and children from Cartagena in cooperation with the Mayor's Office, the Ministries of Health and Education and Office of the President. A key part of the success of the event was working with the local Pastor's Association, AMEB, to train volunteers to take part in the de-worming campaign, distribute evangelistic literature, and do a long term spiritual followup.
In May I took part in CDA's five-year strategic planning meetings in which we developed strategies and action plans to help guide the leadership in their decision making as CDA continues to grow and discover everything that God has waiting for them.
Once again, thank you so much for walking with us on this adventure. May God continue to bless you as he has blessed us through you.
Sincerely,
Jim, Jessie and Isabella Chynoweth
A Look Back...

Dear Family and Friends,
I am writing today to let you know that our time here in Colombia is drawing to a close and that on June 11th, 2008 we will be returning to the United States. We are going back to Florida to spend some time with our families, supporting Jim's mom as she continues her cancer treatment, and be with Jessie's family as they celebrate the marriage of Joy, Jessie's younger sister.
As we look back, it has clearly been an incredible year and a half here in Colombia serving with CDA, learning, growing and helping. We have experienced all sorts of joys and challenges and we are so grateful for your faithful support and all your prayers during the last 18 months. Jesus said that "whatever you do for even the least of this you do for me," and we want to let you know that your faithful support enabled us to come and serve here, making a tangible difference in the lives of people from some of the neediest and poorest communities of Colombia. Thank you for making this opportunity possible for us, thank you for all your prayers and thank you for partnering with us in this adventure!As our time here rapidly draws to a close, I'd like to take this opportunity to look back at the journey and recognize God's faithfulness and remind you of all the things you have helped make possible.
On November 15, 2006, Jessie who was eight months pregnant, and I moved to Colombia with only half the support raised that we needed, trusting God that he would provide for us if we followed him. Within weeks, He demonstrated his faithfulness and we reached our monthly support goal. Thank you!
On December 20th, 2006 Isabella Marie Chynoweth was safely born at the Fundacion Santa Fe Hospital.In January 2007 I began translating (slowly at first) for the short term missions teams that were coming down to Colombia, as well as for visiting donors and VIPs. As my spanish improved I also began translating documents, reports and plans since all of CDA's communications had to be translated prior to being sent overseas. When people ask how I learned Spanish I always share how many people I had back home praying for our rapid language acquisition.
In April 2007, Jessie, Bella and I moved into our little house at the Children's Home in Tenjo where Jessie began using some of her nursing skills in addition to befriending some of the girls and sharing her heart and life with them.In June I had the opportunity to translate for and participate in CDA's international partners conference that brought together key people from CDA's primary donor organization in Holland along with representatives from a variety of organizations across Central and Southern America.
In August ‘07 I went to Pisco, Peru with CDA's emergency relief medical team where we worked in coordination with Operation Blessing, local churches and volunteers from the United States as we brought much needed supplies and medical care to 1,500 people who had lost everything in the earthquake.
In September I had the chance to visit some of the most “exciting” parts of Colombia with a pair of Dutch Journalists. Upon returning to Holland, their pictures and articles were published in a Christian newspaper and helped raise $455,000 for CDA.
After a wonderful trip back to the US over Christmas, we returned to Colombia where I accepted the offer to leave my job as the International Communications Officer and become the new Director of Spiritual Wellbeing.
In this new position I have worked to begin a shift in organizational leadership and return the mantel of spiritual authority to the leaders of the organization instead of the chaplains. Additionally, I retooled our School of Practical Ministries into a Christian leadership development course to be implemented in five of our sites to build relationships with local churches and train christian leaders who can then work with us in a volunteer capacity to multiply our efforts. Additionally, I have launched a community relations plan, transformed how the organization leads devotionals and worked with the President and CEO of the organization to implement some changes in the leadership style to more closely model and reflect CDA's Christian values and heritage.
In April I helped plan and coordinate the logistics to distribute de-worming medication to 500,000 men, women and children from Cartagena in cooperation with the Mayor's Office, the Ministries of Health and Education and Office of the President. A key part of the success of the event was working with the local Pastor's Association, AMEB, to train volunteers to take part in the de-worming campaign, distribute evangelistic literature, and do a long term spiritual followup.In May I took part in CDA's five-year strategic planning meetings in which we developed strategies and action plans to help guide the leadership in their decision making as CDA continues to grow and discover everything that God has waiting for them.
Once again, thank you so much for walking with us on this adventure. May God continue to bless you as he has blessed us through you.
Sincerely,
Jim, Jessie and Isabella Chynoweth
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Finally Back Home
It was a long two weeks but I'm back home safe and sound (and parasite free) from my trip to Cartagena. Thank you all for your prayers; you joined thousands of Christians from around the world praying for the success of the event, and God was faithful to answer. The event was a success, hundreds of thousands of people were trained in healthy living, received their free deworming medicine, and medical and evangelistic literature. I will post the exact numbers as soon as the reports are finished.
Pictured above is a bottle of the Albendazole pills and a sample of the educational literature that were distributed on Saturday across Cartagena. The whole experience was a great learning opportunity for me and it definitely stretched my Spanish skills as I not only had to train thousands of people, but I also had to participate in being interviewed about 12 times including several live radio interviews.
One of the highlights of the whole experience was that our CDA School was the site designated for the official opening of the event, attended by the Mayor, and the key leaders from the various public offices as well as a variety of local and national media news organizations (press, radio, and tv). Please click on the link to right "Chynoweth Family Pictures Online" for a lot more pictures from this event.
 |
| From Deworming Cam... |
Pictured above is a bottle of the Albendazole pills and a sample of the educational literature that were distributed on Saturday across Cartagena. The whole experience was a great learning opportunity for me and it definitely stretched my Spanish skills as I not only had to train thousands of people, but I also had to participate in being interviewed about 12 times including several live radio interviews.
One of the highlights of the whole experience was that our CDA School was the site designated for the official opening of the event, attended by the Mayor, and the key leaders from the various public offices as well as a variety of local and national media news organizations (press, radio, and tv). Please click on the link to right "Chynoweth Family Pictures Online" for a lot more pictures from this event.
RCN (national tv station) coverage of the Deworming Campaign
Well, the video is in Spanish, but I thought it was still kind of cool to see our project on national TV.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Crazy in Cartagena
I am married to an amazing woman! Last week on Monday I flew to Cartagena for two days of meetings with key leaders from the local government and training with volunteers from the local pastors association in preparation for the deworming campaign scheduled for Saturday the 26th. On Tuesday morning I had to call and tell Jessie that I would be staying in Cartagena for the next two weeks and, "could she please send a bag down with more clean clothes?"
In what can only be described as a miracle, Jessie took the news very well and has really supported me as I have been stuck here on the coast since last week. (I was also pleased to see that the suitcase she sent me only had some of my clothes in it and not everything I own ; ) Thankfully, her good friend Meagan Cassel is visiting her in Bogota to keep her company.
The deworming campaign is the first of its kind in Colombia and the first time that CDA has ever undertaken a project of this size. It has been my privilege together with my friend and coworker Willie Varela to plan and coordinate the event with the support of key national and local governmental agencies, our CDA staff team and local and national Christian leaders. During the hectic last week and a half, I have had numerous meetings with key people from the Mayor's Office of Cartagena, the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Health who are working closely with CDA on the massive deworming campaign that will take place this Saturday. On Friday I gave a presentation training approximately 3,000 community leaders who will be volunteers teaching the community health education class to all those who take part in the main event this Saturday, which since I had to do it in Spanish was kind of stressful. Additionally I have been meeting with the local pastors association and in a series of meetings have trained over 1,000 volunteers from local churches who will be filling out registration forms and distributing Christian literature to each family on the day of the event.
It is incredible to see how God is working: a week ago, we had about 360 volunteers listed. Today we have more than 4,000 almost all of whom have been trained and will manning the 80 public schools at which the event will take place. This morning we began the massive task of distributing all the pills, educational material, registration material, etc. to the schools and are continuing to coordinate the efforts of all the actors in play.
It is pretty exciting to think that we get to play a critical role in a massive health campaign as well as serving as the catalyst to unite the churches of Cartagena and launch a two-part evangelistic campaign at the same time. The first step of the evangelism is having church volunteers in each one of the 80 schools who as part of their official duties will be distributing 150,000 pieces of Christian literature (one per family) donated to CDA by the Colombian Bible Society. The second step is that we orchestrated the process to ensure that at the end of the event the local churches (not CDA and not the government) will end up with all the registration sheets that have the names, addresses and phone numbers of the 500,000 people (almost half the population of the city) who will pass through the 80 sites on the day of the event. This information will then be used to do personal follow-up by the local churches who are geographically closest to where each person lives.
In the midst of the whirlwind of activity and the stress and the excitement we remain acutely aware of how much we need your prayers. It has been very clear that we are under spiritual attack - Cartagena for centuries has been a gateway for all sorts of evil and suffering into Colombia, and the enemy is not going to leave without a fight. Please specifically pray for the following:
1) that all the volunteers needed show up at their designated school on Saturday
2) that all the materials and pills are distributed correctly and without problems
3) that on Saturday all the volunteers: the doctors, nurses, educators, church volunteers, school personnel etc. will work well together and particularly that there will be no friction between the Christians and the non-Christian volunteers and that each site allows the distribution of the evangelistic literature.
3) for the health and safety of our team as we run all over the city and work bizarre hours.
Thank you so much for your ongoing prayers and support - we need you and appreciate you!
Blessings,
Jim
PS: The blog posting below is a copy of the official press release of the event and a picture from some of the literature we are distributing and that is being used in the TV, and radio mass media advertising campaign.
In what can only be described as a miracle, Jessie took the news very well and has really supported me as I have been stuck here on the coast since last week. (I was also pleased to see that the suitcase she sent me only had some of my clothes in it and not everything I own ; ) Thankfully, her good friend Meagan Cassel is visiting her in Bogota to keep her company.
The deworming campaign is the first of its kind in Colombia and the first time that CDA has ever undertaken a project of this size. It has been my privilege together with my friend and coworker Willie Varela to plan and coordinate the event with the support of key national and local governmental agencies, our CDA staff team and local and national Christian leaders. During the hectic last week and a half, I have had numerous meetings with key people from the Mayor's Office of Cartagena, the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Health who are working closely with CDA on the massive deworming campaign that will take place this Saturday. On Friday I gave a presentation training approximately 3,000 community leaders who will be volunteers teaching the community health education class to all those who take part in the main event this Saturday, which since I had to do it in Spanish was kind of stressful. Additionally I have been meeting with the local pastors association and in a series of meetings have trained over 1,000 volunteers from local churches who will be filling out registration forms and distributing Christian literature to each family on the day of the event.
It is incredible to see how God is working: a week ago, we had about 360 volunteers listed. Today we have more than 4,000 almost all of whom have been trained and will manning the 80 public schools at which the event will take place. This morning we began the massive task of distributing all the pills, educational material, registration material, etc. to the schools and are continuing to coordinate the efforts of all the actors in play.
It is pretty exciting to think that we get to play a critical role in a massive health campaign as well as serving as the catalyst to unite the churches of Cartagena and launch a two-part evangelistic campaign at the same time. The first step of the evangelism is having church volunteers in each one of the 80 schools who as part of their official duties will be distributing 150,000 pieces of Christian literature (one per family) donated to CDA by the Colombian Bible Society. The second step is that we orchestrated the process to ensure that at the end of the event the local churches (not CDA and not the government) will end up with all the registration sheets that have the names, addresses and phone numbers of the 500,000 people (almost half the population of the city) who will pass through the 80 sites on the day of the event. This information will then be used to do personal follow-up by the local churches who are geographically closest to where each person lives.
In the midst of the whirlwind of activity and the stress and the excitement we remain acutely aware of how much we need your prayers. It has been very clear that we are under spiritual attack - Cartagena for centuries has been a gateway for all sorts of evil and suffering into Colombia, and the enemy is not going to leave without a fight. Please specifically pray for the following:
1) that all the volunteers needed show up at their designated school on Saturday
2) that all the materials and pills are distributed correctly and without problems
3) that on Saturday all the volunteers: the doctors, nurses, educators, church volunteers, school personnel etc. will work well together and particularly that there will be no friction between the Christians and the non-Christian volunteers and that each site allows the distribution of the evangelistic literature.
3) for the health and safety of our team as we run all over the city and work bizarre hours.
Thank you so much for your ongoing prayers and support - we need you and appreciate you!
Blessings,
Jim
PS: The blog posting below is a copy of the official press release of the event and a picture from some of the literature we are distributing and that is being used in the TV, and radio mass media advertising campaign.
Press Release
Cartagena Prepares for Massive Deworming Campaign
For the first time in the history of the city of Cartagena, 500,000 people from low income communities will have the opportunity to receive, completely free, a dose of Albendazole, a deworming drug as part of a long term plan to improve the level of health of the of the inhabitants of the capital of the department of Bolivar.
The program on the 26th will be conducted through 80 district educational facilities that are responsible for more than 150,000 children. These children, together with their nuclear families, will receive the free doses of the medication in addition to a basic community health training course developed by the World Health Organization.
For the first time in the history of the city of Cartagena, 500,000 people from low income communities will have the opportunity to receive, completely free, a dose of Albendazole, a deworming drug as part of a long term plan to improve the level of health of the of the inhabitants of the capital of the department of Bolivar.
Saturday April 26, will be the first campaign of six that will be held during the next three years for the benefit of 500,000 residents of Cartagena. With the achievement of this goal, the plan is to expand this deworming campaign to other cities in Colombia. The program is being conducted with the participation of the Consorcio Dios es Amor (CDA Colombia), Operation Blessing International (OBI), the Mayors Office of Cartagena de Indias, DADIS, the District Secretary of Education, Accion Social of the Presidency of Colombia, Familias en Accion Program, the Pedro Romero Emergency Social Plan, Office of International Cooperation and the Evangelical Ministers Association of Bolivar (AMEB).
The program on the 26th will be conducted through 80 district educational facilities that are responsible for more than 150,000 children. These children, together with their nuclear families, will receive the free doses of the medication in addition to a basic community health training course developed by the World Health Organization.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Latest and Greatest
Well, since I blogged last night, Jessie has gotten violently ill with some nasty stomach bug. Isabella has been sick for the last few days with vomiting and diarrhea and now Jessie has it bad as well. She only slept about an hour or two last night and this morning I walked down the street to a neighborhood drug store to buy IV fluid and tubing and hooked her up to re-hydrate her. She's in the middle of her second bag now and feeling better but still pretty awful.
We are obviously feeling under pressure in light of all the other circumstances and tonight I have to fly to Cartagena for some meetings that I can't miss. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon but pray for supernatural healing between now and 5 pm.
thanks,
Jim
Monday, March 31, 2008
Overdue Update
Hello Everyone,
After a painfully long silence, here is a brief family/ministry update:
1) Following a stroke about two weeks ago, My grandfather, Clyde Chynoweth passed away on Sunday morning. He was over 90 years old and thankfully knew the Lord. I will be flying to Midland TX for the weekend to attend the funeral and be there for my dad.
2) My mom, Lynn, was diagnosed with breast cancer the same week that my grandpa had his stroke two weeks ago. She started her chemotherapy today and we are praying for her healing and for strength and grace for her and my dad during these tough weeks and months.
3) My job as the Director of Spiritual Wellbeing continues to be a complex one. I am juggling establishing corporate policies regarding spiritual topics, overseeing the development of the School of Practical Ministries (a christian leadership course for lay leaders), planning and coordinating the first CDA student mission trip for later in May, launching a new community outreach plan, transitioning three CDA congregations to the care and leadership of other churches, organizing corporate devotionals and a myriad of other activities. The most challenging part of this role continues to be working with other leaders within the organization.
4) Together with the CDA head of marketing and public relations I am planning and coordinating a de-worming campaign for the city of Cartagena. On April 26th 500,000 people will receive an albendazole pill, a short class on promotion of healthy living and prevention of disease, and some literature including a clear presentation of the gospel. We are coordinating the logistics for the whole event and will be training 1,500 volunteers from the local pastors organization, 1,000 volunteers from the department of health and working together with the Office of the President, Mayor's Office, the Departmental Ministers of Education and Health, the Bible Society and the National Evangelical Colombian Pastors Association. Needless to say this is keeping me very busy. I was in Cartagena for a week a little while ago, I travel there tomorrow for several meetings and I will be traveling back and forth quite a bit more in the coming weeks leading up to the event at the end of April.
5) Last weekend, we moved from our house in Tenjo to an apartment that CDA owns here in Bogota. While we will miss the beautiful views, the convenience of living in the city will be worth it especially since my work responsibilities are keeping me in the office much more than in the past. It will also make it much easier and more convenient for Jessie to get out and about (though a lot more complicated for the dog)
Thank you so much for your prayers - please continue fervently. We really need them as we pass through these challenging family times and in the midst of growing responsibilities and a hectic work schedule.
Blessings,
Jim
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