By Sharon Mager
DAVIDSONVILLE, Md.—Riva Trace Baptist Church member Joe Dine continually turned down opportunities to travel on international mission trips. He’d gladly help support them, but actually go? No way.
Then in 2012, God prompted Dine to move forward and be part of a team to Cuba.
Fast forward and now, Dine is the founder and president of Bridging the Nations Ministry International (BNMI), facilitating twice-a-month mission trips and partnerships for churches to Cuba, with plans to eventually expand to other nations.
“I’ve been at this church for 20 years. My pastor (Dennis Gray) would say, ‘Joe, get ready to go to China!’ I’d say,
‘No, but let me help you go to China,’ Dine said, pretending to pull out and open his wallet.
“[Gray] would say ‘Joe, we’re going to Mexico. Go to Mexico with me!’” Again, Dine pretended to pull out a wallet.
“I’d say, ‘Here, let me help you go to Mexico.’”
Then Gray asked Dine about Cuba. “I thought I could write a check again and get out of it easy, but the Lord had other plans.” Dine took the plunge and went to Cuba and when he surfaced, he was never the same. He fell in love with the Cuban people, and with a Cuban woman, Olgua, who became his wife. Now he is so overwhelmed by emotion that he, at times, has trouble telling his story.
Dine, retired from retail management, doesn’t consider himself a “touchy/feely” man, but when Cuban Christians warmly embraced him and welcomed him into their homes, it touched his heart. Friendships blossomed. He became very attuned to their needs. Their poverty still breaks his heart.
“A family of four, if they have a child under six, gets one box of powdered milk, one quarter of a chicken, rice, eggs, beans and cooking oil for the month,” he explains with sadness.
Dine said an average salary for a Cuban family is $20 per month. Doctors make $30.
Being able to make such a difference with a small investment is part of the appeal of ministering in Cuba. “You can make a huge impact,” said Bill Bloomquist, Riva Trace’s worship pastor and BNMI’s director of development. A small investment by an individual, or a Sunday school class, or small group means a mother can supplement that small ration of food to feed her family, he said.
Cuban pastors have to work especially hard with few resources to reach the lost. Many use bicycles for transportation and must travel long distances. And their study materials were few, if any.
“We’d walk into a pastor’s house and their Bible is laying out—and the pages are falling out. He’s preaching from half a Bible!” Dine said. “And there were no commentaries, nothing to supplement.”
Riva Trace leaders saw that need and worked to remedy the situation. His church provided 300 Bible study libraries, with at least a dozen books in each, to pastors and missionaries across the island.
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Bridging the Nations Ministry
Bridging the Nations Ministry International was birthed at Riva Trace Baptist Church (RTBC) and three RTBC members, Joe Dine, William Bloomquist and John Tatterson, serve on the board, but the non-profit is a separate 501c3 entity.
The vision is simple yet profound: To assist American Christians in partnering with churches in Cuba, and beyond. While the organization intends to spread to more countries, the focus is currently on Cuba.
Seven-day trips are available with either a basic experience, giving individuals or mission teams the opportunity to spend time with Cuban Christians and missionaries in a local church, and doing some small hands-on mission projects. Another option is a more intense preaching, teaching centered mission experience.
The trip is based on individual mission/individual talents and passions and is all-inclusive, including airfare, religious Visa, lodging and meals. Also included is a visit to Havana, Old Havana, a tobacco farm and other points of interest.
For more information, visit the website, www.bridgingthenations.org or call Joe Dine, (888) 609.2304.
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To date, the church has been ministering in Cuba for 12 years, long before the recent relaxing of Cuban trade.
“We’ve formed partnerships with local churches and with missionaries,” said Bloomquist. That network includes church contacts, interpreters, and hotel, transportation and lodging staff. It has made a huge difference in navigating the process. Though U.S./Cuban relations have been normalized, Riva Trace members dealt with a number of obstacles through the years, even seeing their planes leave while awaiting Visa approvals. But, with their many years of service, and those contacts, travel is a bit smoother.
The networks they’ve developed saved the day in many instances, both men acknowledge. Though it’s now much easier to make travel arrangements to Cuba, what happens when a traveler disembarks the plane is the tricky part.
Dine said it’s not uncommon for a traveler to book a car or hotel online only to get off the plane and find that, according to the rental companies, there is no car. The hotel doesn’t have a reservation. In fact, they say there are no rooms.
The church mission teams have had such experiences. Bloomquist said the church once had booked a 12-passenger van only to be told there was no such reservation, but they did have a compact car. They can laugh now.
Dine, who had began overseeing the church’s mission trips to and from Cuba shortly after his first trip, felt God wanted him to be a missionary in the country, and was meeting with various Cuban pastors. But after praying, and with the counsel of others, Dine discerned God had another plan.
“One of Cuban pastors we work with came to visit, and we went to lunch. We were having pizza at Ledo’s, and I was sharing the vision about being a missionary to Cuba. He looked at me and said, ‘Joe, God doesn’t want you in Cuba.’
I said, ‘What are you talking about? I’m telling you, I feel it!’ He said, ‘What you are, in the United States and in Cuba, is a bridge that takes and brings people from the states to Cuba. If you go to Cuba, what happens to the bridge?’”
It felt right, Joe said, adding, “Thus, ‘Bridging the Nations Ministry International’ was born.” It was birthed at Riva Trace.
One of the most unique attributes of BNMI is that Dine and the others can match skills and passion with need.
Because through the church they now have so many church contacts, if a U.S. church wants to preach, do evangelism, host a Vacation Bible School, prayer-walk, or do construction, Dine can match them up with a Cuban church that needs that service.
Above all, Dine said he wants people to come to Cuba to see—to just spend time with Christian Cubans. By that simple act, American Christians will know for themselves what needs there are, and they’ll understand better how to meet those needs. Dine is confident that as more American Christians experience Cuba, eyes will open to the incredible opportunities to love our neighbors.
The vision is simple yet profound: To assist American Christians in partnering with churches in Cuba, and beyond. While the organization intends to spread to more countries, the focus is currently on Cuba
Seven-day trips are available with either a basic experience, giving individuals or mission teams the opportunity to spend time with Cuban Christians and missionaries in a local church, and doing some small hands-on mission projects. Another option is a more intense preaching, teaching centered mission experience.
The trip is based on individual mission/individual talents and passions and is all-inclusive, including airfare, religious Visa, lodging and meals. Also included is a visit to Havana, Old Havana, a tobacco farm and other points of interest.
For more information, visit the website, www.bridgingthenations.org or call Joe Dine, (888) 609.2304.