Pastor Anthony, Pastor Cory, and a small team from Northwest traveled to the Dominican Republic to help put on a pastors conference with Jonathan Autrey. Thank you for praying. As Pastor Cory told the church the Sunday they got home, “Your prayers were felt, and I believe that they were answered.”
It started with a nudge
The last time Pastor Anthony was with Jonathan, he felt God nudging him toward a pastors conference. Jonathan oversees 63 churches across the country that he and his dad have helped plant and build up. Anthony figured maybe 20 of those pastors would make it. Then the two of them started asking what it would take to get all 63 there.
On Friday, October 30 and Saturday, October 31, 2026, 91 pastors came, from 14 different cities. Some of their wives came too, even though the conference wasn’t set up for them yet, and it was a joy to have them there.
A room full of brothers
For most of these men, it was the first time they’d been in a room with other pastors doing the same work. “There’s no network,” Pastor Cory said. If five pastors came from one area, those five might be the only pastors they know.
Most of them are bivocational. They preach every week while working another job, and they rarely get poured into themselves. For two days, our team got to teach them, pray with them, and make sure they were well fed and well rested. Then God did what only He can do. Pastors who came in ready to give up left ready to press on.
This is the around the world part
“When we stand up here every week and we tell you, ‘Hey, your generosity, your tithes, your offerings are making a difference here in this very building and around the world,’ this is the around the world part,” Pastor Cory said. “They’re in that room because of how you give.”
These pastors would not have been in that room without Northwest’s help. Thank you for your faithfulness and your generosity.
Going back in 2027
Pastor Anthony and Jonathan are already planning to do it again in the fall of 2027, and this time the pastors’ wives will be invited. That doubles everything, including the cost. “We serve a big God,” Pastor Anthony said.
There will be two ways to be part of it: sponsor a pastor and his wife, or come along on the trip. You don’t need a special skill to go. “If we can go to the vehicle and we can carry their bags. If we can pray with them, pray over them,” Pastor Anthony said, “that’s a way that we can be the hands and the feet of Jesus.”
We’ll share more as plans come together.
