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Latest News
Tomas Haughton
www.haughton@cwpananma.net
(posted February 1, 2007)
Report on Panamanian Mission Work
On February 1, 2007, elder John Kelley and mission coordinator Dennis Winnett joined four men from the Jefferson Ave Church of Christ in Cookeville, TN for a visit to the San Blas Islands of Panama, a region of Panama inhabited by native American people called Kuna. This visit corresponded with the ceremony for the second graduating class of preachers from the Kuna Yala School of Preaching in the San Blas Islands.
The Jefferson Ave congregation has supported and overseen the work in the San Blas Islands for 30 years and has fully supported the School of Preaching since its inception four years ago. During the years of work prior to the establishment of the school, the Jefferson Ave missionaries became associated with Tomas Haughton as the director of the Panamanian Bible School when they supported Kuna men attending the school there. These men relied heavily on Tomas for guidance in establishing the new school and its curriculum. This school was established to train preachers in their home environment and in their native Kuna language.
The Jefferson Ave church members make two trips each year to visit and support the Kuna mission efforts and Tomas is a part of each of those trips. He also makes at least two other trips per year to visit the school and meet with its director and three other instructors, who were all at one time students of his in Panama.
While we were in Panama, we were able to stay one night at the home of Tomas and his wife, Nikki. This, being John Kelley's first trip to Panama, allowed him to get better acquainted with Tomas and his work. While we were there, we met with the church at Torrijos-Carter, a suburb of Panama City, where Tomas and his family live and work. The congregation there has 45 members and, the Sunday we were in the islands, had an attendance of 47. They meet on Tuesday and Thursday nights for singing, prayers and Bible study. The night we were there, 15 members were present. This is typical during the week because of members' work schedules and difficulty with transportation.
The congregation at Torrijos-Carter seems to be doing very well and growing in strength. For over three years, the church has met in a rented building since outgrowing the room at Tomas' home where they previously met. They are slowing saving money to be able to purchase a building of their own. A building comparable to where they meet now at today's prices would cost between $20,000 and $30,000.
Pictures of the Latest Mission Trip
History of how we became involved:
In 1983, the Hillsboro church began the full-time support of Tomas Haughton, a Panamanian native devoted to preaching the gospel, under the oversight of the Hillsboro elders. This work grew out of the involvement of the Hillsboro congregation in supporting Panamanian mission work, along with other congregations in Coffee County, under the oversight of the Forrest Park church in Valdosta, Georgia.
Tomas was already a well-respected preacher and instructor at the Bible School in Panama City, training others to preach throughout the regions of Central America. After later serving as the President of the school, Tomas resigned to devote himself to the full-time work of preaching throughout the country, continuing to spread the gospel where it has not been preached and strengthening the existing congregations with an emphasis on training qualified men to serve as elders.
Tomas and his wife, Nicky, have lived for over 20 years in the Torrijos-Carter suburb of Panama City, the capital and largest city of Panama. They have three daughters, Kay, the oldest. Works for Adidas as a sales trainer and travels for the company throughout Central and South America. Being fluent in English, she assists her dad with his work on a regular basis. Jackie, the second daughter, is married to a Costa Rican native who had come to Panama City for work, and they have a young son. Cindy. The youngest is still as home and in middle school.
Tomas and his family established the church in the Torrijos-Carter neighborhood which met in their home until 2002. The congregation of over 40 members now rents a building in the area and is working toward being able to purchase a meeting place of their own.
Throughout the years, Tomas and his family have visited the Hillsboro congregation on several occasions to establish and continue a personal relationship with the church and the elders that oversee his work. And in the same spirit, many from the Hillsboro church have traveled to Panama to assist and encourage the work there.
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