Click on the Picture above for a video about our Missionary Farm Project!

We are now in a new phase of this ministry that involves training a potential missionary for the work of fulfilling the Great Commission.  If you would like to watch a video presentation (approx 30 minutes), click on the picture above.  Otherwise, please continue below.

Up until this point, Watersource Ministries has been largely self-funded by the founders, with occasional donations by supporters.  These funds went to purchase tracts, establish the website, and fund outreaches in various forms.  We are now in a phase that will build a missionary training center in northern Colorado and will require outside funding. 

The missionary training center will be operating on a large, working farm.  During the day, the interns will work the farm, learning sustainable agricultural techniques (seed harvesting, soil mediation, natural farming, animal traction plowing, etc.) that will equip them to be a part of a third-world community in the U.S. (ex: Indian Reservations), and/or internationally.  They will also sell the produce grown at training center to the community through a Community Sustained Agriculture (CSA) program. 

In the evenings and on weekends, the interns will be given Biblical teaching and mission-related training from our project managers who served as missionaries in Africa for 20+ years as well as the preachers and pastors that are affiliated with WSM.  This training will cover aspects of missionary work like: raising a family in the mission environment, going into a new culture for the first time, and first aid.  They will also be thoroughly trained in methods of Biblical evangelism and outreach.  This will help the missionary to be able to teach an indigenous person to share the Gospel with the members of the community they are ministering to, as well as teaching those community members to share the Gospel, Biblically, with their own people.  This will involve training and practice in street witnessing, open air preaching, counter-cult training, as well as verse by verse/in depth study of the Word.  This missionary training and support center will be located in Colorado at a place that would incorporate all portions of the above described training.  We will call this place "The Watersource Missionary Farm." 
  
 

The Farm

“The Farm” is the nick-name we use for the missionary training ground we would like to establish in Colorado.  This will be a working farm that utilizes natural and renewable farming techniques as well as alternative building styles (adobe, straw bale, cord-wood masonry, corncob masonry, earthen-bag, etc.) as buildings are needed. 

The Farm will be operated in a fashion that will likely be encountered in a third world country.  Such things as horse and plow (animal traction) being used to till the growing fields, as well as the raising of goats, chickens and rabbits (these are the most common animals found in third world countries with a climate like Colorado, as well as many others) and bee-keeping.  These endeavors will also be used to teach the intern the wonders of God's creation (Psalm 19) in a way that can be used when witnessing to the lost. 
 
The Farm will be composed of a farm manager and assistant managers who are experienced in working with renewable farming techniques, as well as having a history of doing missions work.  These personnel will live and work on the Farm.  It will also be composed of missionary interns and live-in volunteers.  They will also live on site in a dormitory for the duration of their internship.  All of those who live on and are boarded on the Farm will take part in the workload and daily agriculture study, as well as evening devotionals and Biblical training.  Interns will be required to spend time doing street witnessing, open-air preaching and community outreach on evenings and some weekends, so as to become well versed in presenting the Gospel message. 

Further, the Farm will also train interns and the public in land and animal stewardship.  It is important that this program not be seen as a “Mother Earth,” “save the planet,” idolatry promoting program.  Instead, it will be a program that teaches natural approaches to farming and animal husbandry that are usable in third world countries where tractors and other technologies are not readily available.  We sincerely believe that God designed this planet in a way that can make natural farming and land stewardship not only possible, but preferred.

Missions

It is also important that this program be an opportunity for the intern to become immersed in the Word of God and be trained to share the Gospel at every opportunity – whether seated on a plane, in a foreign land, or with the neighbor. 
 
The Biblical training that will take place on the Farm will be composed of daily devotionals (first thing in the morning), evangelical training, apologetics, counter-cult, verse by verse exposition and hermeneutical Bible study.  All of these trainings will reflect our beliefs as listed on our the 'Beliefs' page of our website.

As a missionary preparation program, our goal is to train and equip a missionary to be able to go into a community, help that community through sustainable agriculture training that yields a marketable level of food production (for community feeding, or sale), and preach the Gospel.  They will further be equipped to be a pastor , minister, ad baptist in the community that they serve in.  To facilitate this capability, The Farm will be able to host weddings, baptisms and other functions for local, Bible-believing churches.  When these functions are held, the interns will serve in any capacity that is needed (preparing and serving food, decorating, setting up tables, cleaning up, playing music, etc.) by the wedding or baptism party.  They will be able to observe all aspects of wedding services, baptisms, etc, preparing them for the possibility of performing these services in their chosen mission field.

Agriculture

The agricultural design and development of The Farm will begin with locating and purchasing a large enough property for farmland and buildings (to be built if not pre-existing).  A small body of water on site will serve as a water source for animals and crops, and for performing baptisms as well.    We hope to combine a number of features to create an organic farm that will incorporate sustainable agriculture technique, family and community gardening models and Bible-based missionary and evangelism training. 

A strong focus on self sufficiency will be expressed not only in equipment maintenance, recycling, composting, animal health, and in building design but also in general farmstead layout.  Further, interns will be required to maintain a small plot of land (no greater than 10 square meters) that will supply a portion of their food needs during their internship. 

This focus on resource self-sufficiency will lead to a goat, chicken and rabbit  soil maintenance  program that aims to minimize off-farm inputs of fuel, fertilizer, feed, and machinery. Features of The Farm will include seasonal grass-based dairying, intensive grazing management, animal breeding for hardy, 100% grass diet efficiency, the use of animal traction power where appropriate (likely horses), “chicken tractors” (a fertilization process using mobile chicken coops), as well a shift in perspective to see the primary function of animals as soil builders. From milking and meat production, as well as maximizing manure production per acre, for efficient aerobic composting, we intend for grazing animals to represent the driving engine of our soil mitigation and maintenance program. 

Another emphasis from the outset will be to maximize independence from a wholesale agricultural marketplace that is generally predatory toward family farmers and destructive of local foodsheds that are essential to community food giving. Our intent is to have a Community Sustained Agriculture (CSA) program that community residents will be able to pay a subscription to so that they can have access to weekly harvest distribution.  Key to the success of this effort will be:

1 - Our choice of goats as the dairy animal with the most product diversity potential (also a very common animal for families in 3rd World countries),  a large produce growing portion of farmland

2 - Our on-farm dairy which will include cheese-making aiming for artisan quality dairy products,

3 - Rabbits and chickens for primary meat and egg production

4 - A full commitment of bee hives for crop pollination and honey production, and our involvement in community outreach while selling all our products (dairy, meat, honey) direct to consumers in retail and/or CSA form.

We will also take in any over abundance from our crops, as well as donors who have had bumper crops that they are willing to donate, and through comprehensive food canning and food drying programs, create a food bank, on-site, that can be a blessing to families in need and also contribute to local homeless shelters.

Financial Support

Due to land prices in Colorado, the initial startup cost for this program will be in the range of $3.5-4 million dollars.  This will include operating costs along with the actual property cost.  This seems to be a lot of money, but we serve a big God who is able to provide.  

God will provide through:

- Prayer

- Individual blessings to ministry

- Partnerships with ministries and churches

- Earnings from CSA Enterprises

When it comes to our fiscal policy, we will give until it “hurts” for the glory of God’s Kingdom.  Of course, we have a very strong accountability group in our board of directors, so we shall be very wise in how we invest the talents entrusted to us.  Essentially, we are not in this to make money or a profit. We are in this to “seek and save” that which is lost, for the Kingdom of God.