Ten years in Puebla!

Globalscope in Mexico celebrates success, thanks to great staff, faithful donors

Why does Globalscope Director Phil Tatum find it “kind of exhausting” to walk around the university campus adjacent to the El Pozo ministry with campus ministers Kami Burns and Courtney Wilson?

“You can barely walk 20 feet without them stopping to talk with someone they know,” he said. 

Phil’s not complaining though. The young women’s campus connections are one of the reasons Globalscope-Puebla is celebrating 10 successful years of ministry to university students this spring.

“They are both incredibly connected servant leaders who have helped make El Pozo what it is today,” said Phil.

Staff longevity

Team leader Kami Burns has been along for much of the ministry’s incredible journey.

“I’ve been on staff at El Pozo since January 2010,” she said. “I was an exchange student here in 2007. We’ve definitely grown as a community, both in numbers and depth. We started with 40 students at our first Tuesday night En Vivo, and we are averaging 100 this semester. Along the way we’ve built a building where we do all our big events and we’ve helped with a church planted alongside El Pozo.”

Phil Tatum can list several other reasons why El Pozo has been so successful.

“They’ve got the best campus house (la casa verde) and location, hands down, and they’ve had an incredible staff over the past 10 years, starting with the McDades and Strykers, and continuing with Kami and Courtney,” he said. “Longevity is certainly a big part of our success.”

Faithful donors, answered prayers

The ministry has also been blessed with financial support from many sources.

“So many churches have supported El Pozo and have sent mission teams to work with them,” Phil said. “Also, almost every former teammate still supports El Pozo financially! This is a huge blessing.”

Kami Burns agrees, but measures the ministry’s success not just by the numbers but by the lives of students who have gone on to do great things for the Kingdom.

“We have alumni who have gone on to work for us or other Globalscope ministries, studied in seminary, gone on staff with churches and helped start non-profits,” she said. “But I think each alumnus who is now a mom or dad raising children to love Jesus, or really loving their neighbors in Mexico City or Monterrey, is bringing the Kingdom to earth, and El Pozo has played a part in helping write those kinds of stories.”

Kami also believes that in the final analysis, El Pozo’s success can only be attributed to answered prayers.

“I think El Pozo has been successful because God has made it successful,” she said. “Our mission is to love students, to know Jesus, and to change the world, and when we’ve stayed focused on that, God has multiplied our efforts and done huge things here.”

Sharing His love

Eye surgeon and staff perform 101 surgeries in Ivory Coast

An Ohio eye surgeon and his staff of six delivered the gift of vision to 101 people when they performed a record number of cataract surgeries at a week-long clinic in Abengourou, Ivory Coast, last September.

This was the second trip to Ivory Coast for Dr. Brian Stahl, a LASIK and cataract surgeon with a large practice in Dayton, Ohio, but his 17th mission trip. He has made trips to seven countries and has permanent clinics in Nicaragua and Jamaica, where he regularly travels to perform eye surgeries.

“This second trip was crazy beyond belief,” said Dr. Stahl. “We just had to take the worst of the worst, the truly blind people. We did 101 surgeries in a week, which is a single doctor record. On the last day we did 28 surgeries, also a record. We even did a 10-year-old boy, Nada, and he was so brave, and now he can see.”

“The trip was nothing less than awesome,” he added. “I give people their vision back! Most haven’t seen their grandkids before! You take that patch off the next morning and it doesn’t matter how hot and tired you are, you’re laughing and crying and hugging and praying.”

“Not only is Dr. Stahl incredibly generous and an exceptionally good surgeon,” said CMF Director of Church Catalyst Ministries David Giles, “but he thanked me profusely for persistently asking him to go, when he was the one 

who gave of his time and resources to go and take his staff. He made a lasting impact on so many in Ivory Coast, including young children who now can see, thanks to his expertise.”

“I go because the Lord tells us to go the ends of the earth to share His love,” said Dr. Stahl. “These people are truly the ‘least of these,’ and I’m so very blessed to be able to go and help them.”