Our History

Amistad was conceived in the fall of 2004 and the Amistad Foundation was formally approved by the IRS as a 501 (C) 3 corporation in June, 2005. From the beginning, the focus of this ministry has been in Latin America. There were initially two purposes for the ministry:

• 1. To provide an opportunity for business people to participate in mission trips that would utilize their gifts and talents while serving others and building relationships.
• 2. To develop businesses managed by Christians that would donate a portion of their profits to fund church planters in the local country, which was identified as an immediate need due to the decrease in church planting support throughout Latin America.

During the first half of 2005, a group of Christian business people in Mexico presented numerous business opportunities. Some of these opportunities were explored with no success. During this time, the idea of conducting business seminars for the purpose of teaching servant leadership evolved. This was an opportunity to involve business people in the USA in mission work and provide a venue to teach Biblical ethics and servant leadership in Latin America. The first business seminar was conducted in Puebla, Mexico in December 2005. Seven businesspersons and their sons from the USA spoke on servant leadership at a seminar attended by 75 local business people. This seminar, though poorly attended, led to some important contacts with local businesspersons.

During early 2006, a decision was made to financially support a church planter in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In support of this effort, the second business seminar was conducted in Argentina in the summer of 2006. The seminar was led by a dozen businesspersons from the USA and was attended by 1,000 local business people. Two weeks later, Amistad led a medical mission as an outreach to a ghetto in Buenos Aires called "Fort Apache". The outcome was that a church was planted in this ghetto during 2007 and continues to grow.

Additional business seminars were conducted in:

• 1. Guatemala City, Guatemala in February 2007, with an attendance of 2,000 local business people
• 2. Bogota, Columbia in August 2007 with an attendance of 1,500. Both of these seminars exposed business leaders from the USA to the needs of others in Latin America. During the seminar in Guatemala, areas with local needs were identified and people of influence were also identified that could fulfill some of these needs. It was also during this February 2007 conference that God identified Guatemala as a primary focus for the Amistad ministry.

During 2007 and 2008, the focus of Amistad has been on serving the people of Guatemala and exposing many people in the USA to the need and opportunity in this country. The goal of the ministry is to continue to expand the circle of people involved in Guatemala and other Latin American countries as God leads. The first partnership has been developed between Fellowship Bible Church of Northwest Arkansas and the ghetto of La Limonada in Guatemala City. Additional business seminars are scheduled in Guatemala and Columbia during 2008/2009 as we continue to connect people of influence with people of need in the local community.