A Gift From God

God has been good to us! The gift of a 30' sailboat has been followed by gifts of several thousand dollars towards refurbishing the boat and making it ready.

The generosity of God's people has been magnificent. Many in Guyana, and in the islands and nations along the way, will find Jesus as a direct result. Thank you all so very much.

We still need hands on help. Even if your skills have never been used on a boat, we can use your hands.

Come and be a part of a great work!

Church on the Pomeroon River

Good News!

GOOD NEWS: HARVEST MINISTRIES CHURCH OF GOD in Lehigh Acres, Florida, has chosen David and Kathy Rice of Guyana River Ministries as their annual mission project! They will be assisting us financially and sponsoring our June Mission Trip.

Pastor Robert Murphy and several church members will be joining us on the trip, June 2nd thru 10th. We will be visiting and ministering on the Pomeroon River in Guyana, South America.

If you are interested in joining us on the trip or assisting us in any way, you may E-mail me at davidrice9806@earthlink.com or contact the church office at (239) 369-1094.

Please pray for us as we start this new phase of our life and ministry.

You should scroll down this page and learn more of the ministry and our goals and vision. If you feel moved to help you may make donations through the secure link on this page. Thank You and God Bless.

Dave and Kathy Rice

Our Vision

Our Vision For Guyana
David And Kathy Rice

The Vision for Guyana is to establish a Christian Education Center on the Pomeroon River in Guyana. The Center will not be a Bible College, as such but rather a place to hold one or two week seminars for the benefit of Pastors and Christians in Guyana. The idea is to bring in the best teachers from the U.S. and the world to teach short seminars and to bring in the best of God’s servants in Guyana as students.

My desire is to be there as much as possible, but I will not live there. A resident family will serve as caretakers and a Guyanese Pastor or layman will coordinate the recruiting of students. My function will be to recruit the teachers and arrange for their travel to and within Guyana.

The first step towards that goal is the Mission Trip, June 2nd to 10th of this year. This trip is the first (although Kathy was born there and David and the kids have visited the family there) and is above all a learning trip. We will seek to make contacts and identify needs. This will assist us in planning future trips. While we are there we will seek to address several needs already known:
1. Evangelism. People need Jesus.
2. AIDS. Guyana is among the Worlds hotspots for HIV / AIDS. We have been asked to address the problem and intend to do so by teaching facts, abstinence, purity and the Gospel as the power to live such a life.
3. The needs of local Pastors, Spiritual, financial and material. Things that will assist them in accomplishing the vision God has given them.

The second step is moving into full time ministry; a step that will provide the time necessary to accomplish the work. Before stepping out into fulltime ministry I will need at least three months salary in the ministry account. Fulltime work will involve:
1. Fundraising.
2. Planning.
3. Preaching and teaching as God opens doors.

The third step is a mission trip in the fall where we meet needs identified in the first trip. There will be new ministry opportunities and the chance to serve God’s servants we meet on the first trip. This will be the beginning of regular trips. We will seek to take Pastors, teachers and laymen with specific gifts that meet specific needs.

The fourth step is to purchase a boat capable of traveling on and between the many rivers of Guyana. The word “Guyana” is an Indian word meaning “many waters”. It is an apt description of the land. In a country with few roads, the rivers are the main highways into the interior.

The boat we need must be capable of housing at least five or six persons for several weeks at a time. It needs to be capable of making the rough ocean passages between the mouths of the rivers and fast enough to make headway against the rapid currents of the larger rivers.

The plan is to make many trips up the rivers. We will carry teams of Christians who will minister to the people. We will carry movies, projectors and screens bringing light and the hope of the Gospel to a remote and impoverished people; a people starved for God.

Through repeated mission trips, fund raising efforts and a preaching ministry we will build the financial base needed to construct a permanent center in Guyana; a center that will meet the needs of teachers and students.

The center in my vision has a central Auditorium / Cafeteria capable of seating a hundred people for a program or fifty at a time to eat. On either side, a wing with a bathroom, shower and a dorm for sleeping up to fifty people, men on one side and women on the other. In the back is a wing with the kitchen, classrooms and office space. There would be a separate caretaker house in the front, cottages for families on the side and a dock for the boat on the river.

We will bring the best of the best of the Pastors from around the world to teach seminars. We will bring the best and the brightest of Guyana’s Pastors, teachers and laymen to a safe and comfortable place where they can learn what it takes to bring their nation to Christ.

The situation in Guyana is so desperate today that the United Nations predicts that their population of 763,000 will dwindle to fewer than 500,000 in the next decade. Only Jesus can address such an awful situation. This is our calling and our vision.

Mission Trip

The dates for our mission trip are June 2nd – 10th 2006.

You can join us as we reach out to the Guyanese people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you have any level of expertise on HIV / AIDS, we would encourage you to go with us. Guyana is on the list of the 15 worst hotspots for AIDS in the world. We are going with the message that a relationship with Jesus Christ is the only way to receive the power you need to live a life celibate outside of and faithful within marriage. Abstinence is the only way to truly avoid AIDS and Jesus is the only power strong enough to make abstinence a viable choice.

Join us on a great trip to a great people! Call David at 239-887-1024 or Kathy at 239-887-0023.

Kathy's Mom and Dad, Siriki, Guyana, SA

Our Immediate Need

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

With Christmas behind us and the New Year on top of us, it is time to initiate our plans and move ahead at full steam! Let me set forth our plan and needs. With God’s help we will be fully operational by the end of 2006.

The first step is to visit with all of our friends, make new friends and present our vision and calling to everyone God places in our path. If we are to do that, we need a good brochure, business cards, and a short video to leave with our new friends.

It is our immediate Goal to raise $1,000.00 to pay for materials and printing. As you read through the rest of the Web Page, please take a moment and click on the Link marked “DONATE”, and make a generous donation. We feel strongly called to this ministry and God has chosen to use you to bring our vision to pass!

If you would like a short video of our work in Venezuela and Guyana, please bypass the “Donate” Link and mail a contribution of at least $20.00 to:
Guyana River Ministries
709 Cortez Ave.
Lehigh Acres, Fl. 33936



Guyana River Ministries is a National Heritage Foundation. On line donations are through the Foundation’s National Headquarters and are secure and very safe. Donations over $200.00 are receipted. Under $200.00 you may use your Canceled Check as proof for IRS purposes. Guyana River Ministries is a 501 (c) 3 Corporation. All donations are tax deductible.
We covet your prayers as we enter this new stage of our continuing ministry to the lost and dying. May God richly bless you in the New Year!

Dave and Kathy Rice

Guyana Flag

The Golden Arrowhead, Guyana's National Flag has FIVE symbolic colors -- GREEN represents the agricultural and forested nature of Guyana, WHITE symbolizes the rivers and water potential of the country, a GOLDEN arrow represents Guyana's mineral wealth, BLACK portrays the endurance that will sustain the forward thrust of the Guyanese people and RED represents the zeal and dynamic nature of nation-building which lies before the young and independent Guyana.

More on Guyana River Ministries

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

I want to lay out here my dreams and visions for Guyana River Ministries. It might help to go back to the beginning.

My story is a great story. Not a story of a great man; a story of the Grace of God that saved a wretched sinner. The great part of my story centers around a Great and Merciful God.

In 1985 I was released from a six month stint in prison. The part leading up to that will be left to your imagination. I was a ruined man. I had lost family, career and my reputation. God is merciful and the prison Chaplin took me under his wing and spoke into my life in a powerful way. Six months after my release, I found myself deep in the jungles of Peru as a guest of Wycliffe Bible Translators and Bill Townsend, the founder's son. From prison to the mission field in six months! Only God could do that.

God began to prepare me. I spent two years teaching ESOL at a school in Mexico where I learned to speak Spanish. Returning to the States, I attended Manna Christian Institute in Bonita Springs, Florida, where I earned an Associates Degree in Missions.

The call was out for a Missionary to assist a small, English speaking church in Venezuela. As a single student with few ties, it was easy for me to go. I felt the call and went to San Felix, Venezuela; arriving in February of 1990.

The church was small, about thirty members but they were hungry for God. In the next seven years, God would grow that church to more than five hundred members, start a Bible School and seven daughter churches. Beyond that, he gave me a wife, Kathy, and two lovely children, Christopher and Amanda.

From the day I arrived at the Rivers of Living Water Church in San Felix, I knew my calling was to the Guyanese. I loved them and they loved me. God worked many miracles during that time. I have missed that fellowship greatly. Kathy and I have returned to Venezuela and made extended trips to Guyana. Somehow, my heart is in that place and with those people. Today, armed with a Bachelor's degree in Biblical studies and an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree, God has strongly burdened my heart to reach out again and touch Guyana with His Gospel.

I have explained in other places what a mess Guyana is in. The Government does not function, Police protection and legal recourse are openly offered to the highest bidder and the poor suffer greatly. HIV / AIDS is a part of every family's life, even Kathy's extended family has been touched. When she was there in 2003, Kathy was asked to bring resources and teaching on AIDS. Information is scarce in the back parts of Guyana. Often, wives tales carry more weight than fact.

The Christian Church is strong where it is found. Their outreach is limited by poverty. There is a shortage of trained Pastors. In the River areas, a man cannot pastor an area larger than he can cover in a canoe with a paddle.

Our outreach will be to take Mission trips to the river areas of Guyana. We will support local Pastors in anyway we can. We will teach, preach and do things like show the Jesus Movie. In areas with no TV or Theaters, this draws large crowds. We will also prepare and present a very basic seminar on AIDS. This will include basic facts on the disease and a strong plea for abstinence outside of marriage and faithfulness within. Those who keep their sexual encounters within Biblical boundaries have little or no chance of contracting HIV.

In the future, I would like to purchase a small sailboat, capable of making the trip to Guyana with five or six persons aboard. We would be able to motor up the rivers, teaching and preaching as we go. We could generate power for lights, microphones and projectors and we would have a comfortable base in which to eat and sleep. It is not a far fetched dream, it is a tool that would help us achieve our goals and our vision. It would also open up the entire Caribbean for ministry on the trips back and forth.

Fundraising is the first issue of business. We need to plan and hold a fundraising Banquet. I need a person to take charge of those arrangements. We need a place and time, food, drink, decorations and a lot more. If you can help, please talk to Kathy. (239-887-0023) I will present the ministry at the Banquet and we will take up an offering and ask for pledges.

I also have a small Kayak. I am planning a trip along the lines of a walk-a-thon, asking for by the mile pledges. It would be fun if we could get a group together. If that excites you, call me at 887-1024.

Any other fundraising ideas you may have are welcome. Money for the sake of money is boorish. Money for the Gospel is great. It blesses the giver and fundraising can be fun!

We need members for our Board of Regents. Vance and Barb Wonderly, along with Don and Cindy Goodwin have agreed to serve on the Board. If you would be interested in serving alongside these wonderful people, let me know.

Our current goal is $7,500.00. This represents three months salary and will allow me to go into the ministry full time. Besides arraigning and making Mission Trips, there is a fulltime job in fundraising. Also, I would like to be able to offer my time and skills, teaching English in non-English speaking congregations in the area. This is meeting a real need in the community and is a great outreach program for those churches.

Kathy and I are planning a trip to Guyana in the Spring. This would be to make arraignments for a group trip to follow. We could take a couple of people with us; people who don't care where they sleep or what they eat! If that's you, let us know.

Please join us as we reach out to Guyana and the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In Christ,

Dave Rice