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Our minibus rumbled up the mountainside and pulled into our destination, a missionary compound just outside of Cabarete, Dominican Republic. The missionaries, Jon and Shannon Haslett, greeted us warmly as we climbed out. For the next few hours, they hosted me and a group of HOPE’s friends on their property. And I believe the Hasletts embody the future of how Christian missionaries and ministries will serve our neighbors.

Jon and Shannon Haslett (photo: Simon Tam)


A decade ago, the missionary stories I experienced, heard, and retold exposed a serious problem. Documented by excellent books like When Helping Hurts, Created to Flourish, and Dead Aid, these stories showed how our charitable efforts often created more problems they solved. This is HOPE International’s origin story. For a long time, we’ve gotten charity all wrong. And, even if we organize our charitable efforts in dignifying ways, we have another major problem. Christian nonprofit leaders often forget their identity first is in Jesus Christ.
But, I believe things have changed over the past decade. I believe these big ideas have begun to sink in. It’s now more common than not leaders I meet have read these books, are familiar with these ideas, and have made positive changes because of it.
Jon and Shannon embodied the makings of one of the telltale cautionary tales. Hailing from Southern California, they followed the way of Jesus, responding to God’s invitation to love and care for the vulnerable. 25 years ago, they sold it all and moved first to Caracas, Venezuela and then to Cabarete, Dominican Republic to minister to street kids. But in what I’ve observed with increasing regularity, the Hasletts serve their neighbors in all the right ways. They aren’t perfect and they are the first to admit the mistakes they have made along the way. But theirs is a story of when helping helps, of missionary service marked by dignity and faithfulness. Their ministry, Niños de la Luz, serves dozens of street kids each year in Venezuela and the DR.
As Jon and Shannon walked us around the campus, they introduced us to kids and staff members as we toured the property. We peppered them with questions. How did you get this property? How many boys live on campus? How do you share Jesus with them? What is the legal environment like? What happens when the kids graduate the program?
It’s impossible to summarize 25 years of faithful ministry in a few hundred words, but a few things jumped out to me.
First, the work is done together.
The Niños de la Luz campus is beautiful. The mountaintop location is breathtaking (and a miracle story in itself), but the facilities too are beautiful. The classrooms, skate park, boys’ homes, outdoor pizza oven, swimming pool, kitchen, and meeting rooms featured excellent craftsmanship. The reason for this, Jon said, was because of who did the work.
“The boys have built almost everything here,” Jon shared.
Central to the Hasletts’ work is their belief God designed all people to work, even boys abandoned to the streets by their parents. And when boys move into Niños de la Luz, work goes beyond household chores. These boys dream up and plan new building projects. They pour concrete floors, paint walls, construct roofs, and even make furniture. Their work is so good they’ve caught the attention of nearby hotels and restaurants who hire them to make furniture for their businesses.
The boys living here are not passive recipients of the charitable efforts of mission trippers. The Hasletts do employ the help of short-term trippers, but only when the work is done collaboratively with the boys. They build together, with the boys serving as the construction experts. And, if visiting trippers or donors bring clothes or candy to give to the kids, it isn’t just given away. Instead, the American swag stocks the community store, available for the boys to purchase with currency they earn when they embody the ministry’s core values.
Second, they plan for the future.
I was struck by the Hasletts long-term vision for the boys living on campus. Early in their ministry, they saw their graduates struggling to make it outside the comfortable confines of the ministry. Today, they look beyond graduation as a success point, helping prepare these boys for a life beyond. That’s why they launched a vocational school to help the boys learn welding, carpentry, and job skills. It’s a hands-on education, helping them develop their God-given gifts. And the training extends beyond the workshop. Last year Ninos de la Luz launched Vagamundo, a waffle and coffee shop situated right in the heart of the tourist district of Cabarete. There, boys in the program don’t just learn about job skills, but they work and earn good wages making waffles, pouring lattes, and serving customers. The business has exploded beyond Jon and Shannon’s expectations. And, as a regular during the two months I lived there, I have no trouble understanding why.

Finally, I was encouraged by their heart.
The Hasletts understand their strength and success flows from their complete reliance upon God. They pray continuously. Their staff and programs integrate the Gospel in holistic and powerful ways. The person of Jesus is not just motivational, nor tangential to their ministry, but central.
“Our work is all a testimony to God’s goodness to us,” Jon said.
As I walked the property, I was taken up with the beauty of God’s goodness and Jon and Shannon’s faithfulness. In one small community, operating largely outside of conferences and headlines, one couple now joined by many Dominican and Venezuelan staff, serves their neighbors with dignity and forbearance. One story does not a trend make. But they are not alone. Each week I’m meeting leaders like them and believe things are changing. The Hasletts provide a reason for hope and encouragement for those of us who have named the many ways the Good Samaritan movement has gone off track. We have ample work to do, but men and women like the Hasletts give me incredible hope for what lies ahead.