Project M:25 – Children in Ecuador

Project M:25 offers benevolent care and ministry to at-risk children within Ecuador. From the Agua Viva ministry center, Project M:25 provides nutrition, education and enrichment programs to the children and families who live in Quito. Project M:25 also trains and equips people who work with at-risk children throughout Latin America .

Project M:25 is based on the passage of Matthew 25 which includes Christ’s mandate for all Christians to care “for the least of these.” Project M:25 provides holistic child development services to children who are impoverished and often living in abusive or child labor situations. Our programs are based upon Scriptural principles and provide nurturing environments for healthy spiritual, physical, psychological and emotional development. We aid in providing meals to approximately 200 children daily who work in produce markets and/or sell products on the streets of Quito.

Project M:25 offer an after-school tutoring program to more than 100 children in Ecuador. Most of them are suffering the realities of poverty that force them to attend inadequate schools. Project M:25 ministries to at risk children providing children a safe and loving environment to receive nutrition, learn and play. We also provide a variety of supplemental services such as medical care, clothing, food and bill assistance and case management.

In the summer, we have overnight camps where at-risk children can learn about God, play and enjoy the innocent things that childhood is supposed to offer. Every Christmas we host Agape Christmas where hundreds of children receive toys, food, clothes, candy and hear the Christmas message.

Project M:25 is directed by Bobby & Tamitha Lynch who live and minister in Quito, Ecuador along with their children, Jonathan, Jordan & James. Bobby & Tamitha are Career Missionaries with Church of God World Missions. Bobby has a background in Mechanical Engineering, a Master’s of Divinity in Missions and is pursuing a PhD in Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary. Tamitha has a professional background in business administration and marketing along with over 25 years of experience in children’s ministry.

About The Lynch Family

Prior to 2002, we were living the “American dream.” Bobby, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Auburn University, worked as a design engineer in his family’s machine shop. Tamitha worked from home as a freelance graphics designer providing layout services for several local print shops as well as online web design and marketing. We lived in a cute home with two blonde toddler twins and a feisty golden retriever in the back yard.

We were raised in strong, church families, so we both share a deep concern for the poor and downtrodden. In 2001 we participated in a Bible study that caused us to question if we were really depending on God.

We began to ask whether we were really doing what God wanted us to do with our lives. In 2002, we took a leap of faith to follow God’s call to the mission field. We sold our home, quit our jobs and left the comforts of Anniston, Alabama and answered the call to minister to the least, last and lost in a radical way.

First years of missions

For 5 years, we served with City of Refuge as inner city missionaries to desperate neighborhoods in Atlanta. Living in the ghettos and offering our home as sanctuary to the local children was just one of many great highlights of this time. We made friends with those who live under bridges, gave food and clothing to those in need, and walked the road of life with those who were lost and alone.

After 5 years of working in inner-city missions, we felt a strong pull to work in a developing country. When we heard about the needs of the seminary in Quito, Ecuador for a professor of missions as well as the many opportunities for children’s ministry, we knew right away that this was the next step for our family.

Our move to Ecuador

We began the process of selling our home and belongings (yet again) in preparation to move. We moved to Ecuador in 2008, with only a vague memory of high school Spanish and little knowledge about what our actual roles or daily life would entail. It was another leap of faith that we took while relying on God.

Currently, Bobby is the director of the Master’s Degree programs at SEMISUD (South American Seminary for the Church of God). Together, we direct a ministry that helps at-risk children called Project M:25.

Project M:25 provides a place for our seminary students to put their learning into practice. We join our passions for academics and hands-on ministry, as we work to transform a generation in our community as well as equipping ministers and sending them around the world to continue spreading the Gospel.

About everyday Life in Ecuador

People often think that we must live in a mud shack with dirt floors since we live in a developing nation. Let us dispel that myth. We live near the Agua Viva ministry center on a cobblestone street in a beautiful old Spanish style home with rustic wood beams.

One of the best things about Ecuador is the mild climate and incredible natural beauty. From our home, we have a view of 8 different volcanoes – most of which are still considered active. There is an abundance of hummingbirds and beautiful flowers. We have no heater nor air conditioning because the climate is so mild. Although we are right on the equator (which would normally be hot), we are at an altitude of 9,000 feet which offers cooler air.

Since we live in the capital city, we have access to many modern conveniences and a variety of imported goods. However, we never forget that we are in a developing nation when it comes to finding some of the common products to which we are accustomed. Tamitha has been known to whine a great deal on Facebook when there is a shortage of peanut butter due to import restrictions or to lament about missing Chick-fil-A.

We love when people come to visit us because that means we can ask them to bring us special goodies. Visitors often laugh about the odd things we ask them to fill their suitcases with – everything from candy bars or pudding mix to construction paper and sticky notes.