Some of our friends have shared their experiences and thoughts on Del Camino Connection below:

For the past two years we have taken ministry teams to connect with the leadership team of Iglesia Comunitaria Cristiana of the Del Camino Network in the Dominican Republic. Tom and Dee Yaccino of Del Camino Connection have walked with us and facilitated our relational journey. This partnership spans our involvement as pastors in two churches and is now in its third year. The lay people who accompanied us found their world expanded and their hearts enlarged. Tom and Dee are all about loving people, partnering with people and developing connections between people from various cultures and contexts so that a shared a new commitment is engendered to those in need on both sides of the partnership. Our trips to the Dominican Republic made it easy to fall in love with these brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ. And when you fall in love, you begin to live differently once you are home. We are so grateful for how Dee and Tom continue to mentor us in missional living and kingdom values.

DOUG & ADELE CALHOUN, Co-Pastors, Redeemer Community Church, Wellesley, MA.

For too long the church has engaged in its international relationships within the power structures of empire. For too long we've been content to parade through Latin America as mini-saviors, with tracts and free popcorn for anyone who will sit through the Jesus Film. It's easier to paint parsonages than build relationships, easier to lead a VBS than ask ourselves the questions that naturally arise in honest cross-cultural friendships, easier to quantify prayers prayed than to measure transformation.

Del Camino Connection is a breath of fresh air. Tom and Dee's vision to connect communities across cultures is important and dangerous. They've worked for two decades as cross-cultural facilitators, giving them an incomparable body of experience to draw from. Their new models challenge what we're collectively doing as the church. I hope you'll accept their challenge, and I give my unreserved recommendation that you let them be your guides in this new, Kingdom adventure.

DAVID SHOOK, Director, Community for, Community of Faith Church

Across Africa we are amid a post-colonial milieu, moving out from old colonial ideologies and cultural restraints and recognizing a new generation of transformational leaders working in local communities to activate God’s restoration. These African innovators demonstrate an intuitive knowledge of their context, culture and how to connect the Gospel of Jesus with the needs of their continent. They are not looking for Western experts or masters, but rather friends to share in the journey toward deeper restoration in the spirit of Jesus. Thomas & Dee Yaccino connected with us at the inaugural Amahoro Africa Gathering and have been with us ever since, operating in a spirit of friendship, kindness and gentleness among our African leaders. They opened the door to a friendship between Amahoro Africa and La Red del Camino (thru Del Camino Connection), allowing these two networks to create a nexus for tandem learning, reciprocal encouragement and shared resources. African and Latin American practitioners now have access to one another, offering best practices from a non-western paradigm, community to community.

Thomas & Dee have been good friends to us, as fellow conveners and connectors we are able to walk together in friendship, humility and awe of what God is doing among our collections of friends across the global south. We have seen first-hand that they are leaders who are always learning and ever eager to collaborate for the sake of God’s Kingdom in the world. To connect with Thomas & Dee is to enter into a friendship that will reap good fruit for you and your community.

CLAUDE & KELLEY NIKONDEHA, Amahoro Africa www.amahoro-africa.org

In the early-90s, the leadership of Willow Creek Community Church felt compelled by God to respond to the needs of people living in poverty in the developing world. While our intentions were good—we sincerely wanted to address spiritual, physical and social needs—it didn’t take us long to realize we had no clue how to engage in meaningful cross-cultural ministry. We had connections scattered across several continents, but our efforts did not seem to be leading to authentic transformation—either in the Willow congregation or in the churches, organizations and communities we hoped to serve. Clearly, we needed to slow down, humble ourselves, and enter a process of learning.

That process began in 1995, when Tom and Dee Yaccino joined the Willow staff, serving as our ministry directors in Latin America. Drawing from the wealth of their education, field experience in Bolivia, and passion for God’s Kingdom, they provided the relational bridge between the Willow congregation in South Barrington, Illinois, and our church partners in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. They also mentored Willow’s leadership, teaching us principles of Kingdom partnership and modeling a way of ministry that continues to shape our involvement in Latin America, as well as in Africa. After twelve years, Tom and Dee left the Willow staff in order to give more time to encouraging the Red Del Camino Network in Latin America and helping other North American churches engage globally, the way they helped Willow. But they are still our dear friends…and they are still our mentors.

LYNNE & BILL HYBELS, Willow Creek Community Church

Many of us believe we are in the early stages of a new era in what we have traditionally called "missions." This new approach is often called integral because it integrates care for the spiritual life of individuals with concern for their physical and social life as well. It seeks to avoid colonialism and paternalism by emphasizing partnership and mutuality. It's not just about achievement and numbers, but instead emphasizes relationship and respect. It is cautious about using dehumanizing language like "targets" and instead talks more about making friends and serving as expressions of God's love. And rather than measuring success in numbers of converts, it seeks to spiritually form whole-life disciples who live their faith in vibrant communities that in turn bring blessing to their neighbors.

Tomas and Dee Yaccino, through the Del Camino Network, are pioneers in this new day in Christian mission. I've seen them in action, and I've visited the leaders in their growing network across Latin America, and I have seen how their labors are making a beautiful difference, not only for our friends in Latin America, but also for us in the North. In partnership with them, you'll learn and give and grow, and you'll see God's work and God's world in a fresh, new, dynamic way.

BRIAN McLAREN, author/speaker/networker, brianmclaren.net

I have been following Jesus now for over 25 years, 21 of which involved in formal Christian ministry through the local Church, both in the US as well as in Latin America. In many of those years my relationship with the North American Church was sort of a “sweet and sour” experience, a combination of good heart felt intentions with deep prejudices and overpowering imperial attitudes. Like many Latino leaders (and many Christian ministries) from the South a deep suspicion was always present whenever approached by an Anglo leader wanting to connect in some way with what we do. Tom and Dee Yaccino were (and still are) God’s instrument for many of us Latino “doubters” to believe that a healthy kingdom centered relationship can grow out of North and South ministerial relationships. I consider the Yaccinos the foremost authorities in facilitating partnerships that break with the traditional relationships built on typical paternalistic /dependency attitudes and practices. They know “both worlds” very well and each one of the sides feels properly represented in their reconciliatory efforts. In a prophetic and pastoral way they challenge and accompany both South and North in the road towards healthy kingdom partnerships. I so trust these, my friends and brethren, that I require that they be in the middle of any ministerial relationship that ICC (the Church where I serve as a pastor) has with the North. These guys are genuinely committed kingdom builders.

ROBERT GUERRERO, Founding Pastor, Iglesia Cristiana Comunitaria de la Zona Colonial - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

One highlight of my work at Gateway Church has been working with Tom and Dee and connecting with church leaders from the Red del Camino network. It is inspiring to see these network churches in true collaboration with each other as well as to know that these churches are not just talking about serving their communities but are living out that value every day. Tom and Dee serve as consultants to Gateway and are helping us to better understand the meaning and value of Kingdom partnerships. They are also helping us think through what we are doing globally and coaching us on how to be a good global partner. They are providing training and education tools to equip and empower our church body to serve, which have proven to be invaluable resources for our church. Tom and Dee are wise cultural interpreters that help North American churches like Gateway understand how to come along side the network churches to meet physical and spiritual needs. Gateway is blessed by our relationship with Tom and Dee and by the incredible network churches of RDC movement.

Tomas and Dee Yaccino are radical citizens of God's kingdom. They see ways in which the church can overcome its dependency on traditional structures that many times are reliant on power and resources, and then catalyze her to awaken from an often dormant status to assume her God appointed role as an agent of transformation. Through their relational and loving work they truly serve the church in the manner of Christ. Tomas is a provocateur, a clear and great communicator of what the church should be as a real agent of change in the local communities. Through Del Camino Connection they both provide a bridge to the Red del Camino network which is fount of ideas based on practice, wisdom and inspiration for their commitment to authentic community, and a common mission to transform their communities and the local churches. It is an honor for me to have the opportunity to collaborate with Tomas and Dee and the sisters and brothers of la Red del Camino network.

"I have known Thomas and Dee Yaccino for some years. Their commitment to facilitate Kingdom connections, communicate the stories of hope lived out in the southern realm of the kingdom and serve the Body of Christ in Latin America have transcended the mere economical support. They walk alongside and support churches in the network movement that are breaking free from old wine skins and creatively participating in God's redemptive plans. They have served fully, as a family, as friends, as real examples inspired by characters in the Bible: being humble like John the Baptist by preparing the way and opening doors for others; like Barnabas as Helpers bringing consolation, companionship and patience to the process; like Joshua by being faithful and supportive as they have been key factors for the success of both pastors and churches that have been challenged by the Lord to be relevant, creative and effective in their contexts. It's an honor and a privilege to walk alongside of and work with such a couple"