When an unidentified, young blonde gal stepped off the bus full of missionaries in the summer of 2010, Dalton Hines nudged his father and said, “That’s the girl I’m going to marry.”
Jenn Subic had other ideas. She viewed the popular Dalton as “a player” and wasn’t interested. Still, by the end of the week, they were secretly holding hands at the mall—a violation of the same PDA rule they are now charged with enforcing.
I met them a year later, on my first mission trip to Honduras. They were clearly in love and wired differently than your typical missionaries. The goal wasn’t to meet the needs of some Honduran people over the course of a week. Their goal was to change the world.
Dalton and Jenn got married a year later. Eight years ago, they moved to Honduras to be full-time missionaries. To perpetuate their family’s long-term focus on mission work, they began producing cute, young, blond males—at last count, they’re up to four “mini-Daltons.” The future of the family business is in good hands.
Not long after their arrival in Honduras, Dalton noticed the difficulty in hiring reliable handymen to do the myriad projects needing done around their campus home. When Covid hit, he also observed that about 80% of the missionaries he was familiar with had to return to the States due to a lack of support. It seems the virus had infected church missions budgets—a situation that would take years to recover.
Never one to just sit around and hope for the best, Dalton instead had a big idea. He doesn’t call it his idea but rather God’s plan placed in Dalton’s head… and heart. He knew that he had considerable handyman skills—some learned from his father Tim (also a missionary), some learned from watching YouTube videos, and still others developed from trial and error. Tim describes young Dalton as a curious tinkerer—the kind of kid who would take things apart just to see how they worked. Early on, his dad taught him to work problems until they are solved—to figure things out. He has as fierce a determination to overcome obstacles as anyone I’ve ever met—an Apostle Paul (the tent-making missionary) with some MacGyver, Steve Jobs, and Elon Musk thrown in for good measure.
Dalton’s initial big idea: rather than struggle to hire competent local handymen, create them. Find young, willing Honduran men and teach them skills. While teaching them skills, teach them about God and faith as well. This approach would provide the Hines family with competent, skilled hands around campus, while giving the young men marketable skills to make a living for their families. The mentoring and spiritual development that would occur was consistent with their larger ministry and primary purpose for being in Honduras.
Dalton had no idea the “monster” he was creating—I mean that in the best sense of the word. As he taught the first five young Honduran men skills, the word spread in the community. If you needed something done, call Dalton. He’ll fix it or send someone who can.
The next step was to make this new ministry—an effort he called R1T1—Reach One, Teach One—self-supporting. While he appreciates outside donations for his mission work, he didn’t want to have to rely on them. He didn’t want his family to have to leave the country and the work they love due to fluctuations in stateside church missions budgets.
The first R1T1 initiative was a plant nursery. Dalton taught himself and his students about horticulture as they went along. (Those original rows of planted seeds now resemble a plush mini-Garden of Eden.) This was also a good baseline for teaching his students about the Bible, given all the Scriptures on the vine, branches, fruit, etc.
In Year 2, they grew to seven students and built a pond to grow and sell tilapia. Even more significantly, Tim came across a block making machine while on a trip to India. He had the machine delivered to Honduras, with the dream of possibly transitioning from building with wood to building with cheaper, more secure, longer-lasting cinder blocks. Over the past three decades, TORCH Missions teams have built around 4200 mostly wood houses, schools, and churches. With lumber prices going through the roof, maybe it was time for a change.
By year 3, the ministry restructured to accommodate their 25 students. Dalton brought in three instructors, including a Spiritual Director—a graduate from the nearby Baxter Institute (a Church of Christ-affiliated preaching school). Five of their 25 students were already baptized and 18 of the remaining 20 would be baptized that year, with the other two having to drop out for personal reasons. They added welding and barbering to their mix of course offerings. (One of their student barbers gave me a superb, well-executed fade this past week!)
It took Tim and Dalton three months of trial and error and eight generations of blocks to develop one that could withstand their rigorous building standards. They also purchased a different, better machine with a different mold—more aesthetically pleasing blocks with more functional sizes.
In Year 4, they added technology to the mix and built a new building to house it all. They also put the tilapia business on hold—it turns out that in order to grow them, you have to separate the males from the females. Who knew? They also added a restaurant. (I recommend the delicious pork chops and fries.)
With a new and improved block-making machine and a fine-tuned block formula/mix, R1T1 started mass producing high quality blocks. How good are they? Recently, the local government tested a sampling of the blocks for PSI—or compressive strength. They determine PSI by placing blocks under a dedicated hydraulic press until they crack or shatter. The tester called Tim to say he didn’t have a reading for him because their press was unable to break the R1T1 blocks!
God has continued to grow and bless the R1T1 mission, aided in large part by the refined block formula and block making machine. Today, they have 50 students and 51 full-time employees—four teachers, 24 block makers, 17 block builders as contractors, and six plant nursery and restaurant personnel. The students are learning valuable skills in horticulture, welding, carpentry, technology, barbering, and restaurant management—several of them helped us build six houses this past week. (More accurately, we helped them.)
The full-time employees are earning wages to provide for their families. That’s huge. A father who is able to provide for his family is far less likely to abandon them—a problem of epidemic proportions in Honduras. Even more importantly, R1T1 continues to emphasize God and faith—just four months into the school year, 18 of their 50 students have been baptized.
TORCH Missions has now largely transitioned from wood to R1T1’s cinder blocks in the construction of houses, churches, and classrooms. But R1T1’s impact is much larger than that. They are now building custom homes and other structures for the community. In fact, they have enough orders to keep them busy for the next two years.
Not surprisingly, the Honduran government has seen the R1T1 work and wants in on the model. Specifically, they want to create a partnership with INFOP (the Instituto Nacional de Formación Profesional—the Honduran government’s premier vocational training institution) to certify R1T1 students and pay for teachers and material. The government wouldn’t control anything; they simply recognize the tremendous benefit R1T1 is having on the community and want to help. The local government is also in the process allocating a large parcel of land for R1T1 to build houses on for the community. The site would include a classroom, a playground, and… a church building!
On my last night in Honduras this past week, I was sitting in the multi-purpose room at 9:30 p.m., sipping coffee and reflecting on the events of the week. Dalton came in and asked me if I wanted to go for a ride. My answer to that question will always be “yes” because I’m a sucker for adventure. With Dalton, an evening ride could result in a night hike to a waterfall, a mochaccino at a new neighborhood pulperia, or replacing a carburetor along a busy highway.
Instead, he drove me a few miles to the R1T1 headquarters for the last 30 minutes of the second shift. Using the impressive block-making machine, ten muscular Honduran men were pumping out a block every 7 seconds. During their 8-hour shift, they rotate to “the machine” for an hour at a time to pull a giant lever that presses the custom mix into the mold. Others remove and stack the blocks to the tune of 3000 per day.
“You want to give it a try?” Dalton asked.
I couldn’t say “No.” This was the beginning of World Cup week. I had just consumed two cups of caffeinated coffee. I was representing my country and Gen X. I couldn’t let a group of Honduran men out-perform a 6’ 2”, 60-year-old American missionary. How hard could pulling a lever be?
Dalton and I took our places behind the giant contraption and he explained the procedure. Over the next 60 seconds, we pulled down, then pushed down, and then released the giant lever three times, producing three blocks. That was enough. I was exhausted. My left pectoral still aches. I raised my hands in surrender, looked back at the smiling Hondurans, and declared, “¡No mas! ¿Dónde puedo conseguir un mochaccino?”
Honduras – 1, USA – 0.
Seriously, I think I would be better suited catching Dalton’s tilapia, holding them up to the sunlight to determine their gender, and then placing each one in a gender-specific pond. Sadly, he hasn’t offered me that job.
After returning to campus, we talked in his truck for a spell. I like listening to visionaries because they inspire me to dream big dreams and then pursue them. Dalton wants to add electrical, plumbing, mechanics, and leather to the mix, bringing the number of skills taught to 10. He also feels called to scale R1T1 to have an even greater impact.
“We’ve figured out how to do it,” he said. “We’ve perfected the formula. That was the hard part. Now it’s just a matter of replicating the R1T1 model at locations around the country and perhaps other countries. I want to put a Spiritual Director like Eduardo at each location—Baxter grads that he would oversee and mentor. I’ve got more block makers on the way, including a hydraulic one to save your back! Listen, R1T1 is not mine—it’s God’s… and God has used a lot of people to get us where we are today. I won’t be in Honduras forever, so I want to build something that is sustainable for the long haul.”
Why share this amazing R1T1 story with you? Because I hope it may inspire you to help with this awesome mission. Here’s how…
1. Pray for R1T1. Dalton specifically seeks God’s guidance on how to scale the business in a responsible manner, while never losing sight of their primary mission—reaching and teaching souls about God. Like other young fathers, he’s trying to balance the demands of being a Christian father and husband with being an effective missionary while growing a construction business. He’s overseeing and expanding R1T1, managing TORCH groups, building TORCH houses, managing the Agua Viva campus, managing interns, and coordinating with the government on government-funded, privately managed projects. That’s a lot! Pray for him and his family, as well as Tim and Marcia, who now live full-time on the campus and are neck-deep in the mission.
2. Dalton’s looking for people who share his vision, have the skill sets to grow it, and are wanting to partner with R1T1. Maybe that’s you? He also needs an additional 22 Honduran workers added in the next few months to keep up with the growing demand—pray that they will be found.
3. Go on a TORCH Missions trip to Honduras. Build a house. Distribute food and clothes to those in need. Serve in a medical clinic. Visit hospitals and orphanages. Help conduct a VBS or gospel meeting. Get involved. Be part of the solution. Make your life about something larger than yourself. We don’t need 100 more Daltons. We need one of you!
4. Donate to the cause. Sponsor a house, a classroom, a clinic, or a food distribution. Talk to the missions person at your church about getting your congregation involved. While all donations are appreciated, Dalton specifically needs some investors with big hearts and deep pockets to allow him to complete some of the high-dollar projects—a new, larger building, additional equipment and vehicles, etc. If you know someone who may be interested, have them contact Dalton for more information.
Don’t underestimate what God, through the Hines families, is capable of accomplishing. I’ve never seen a ministry grow as fast, or a vision turn into reality as impressively, as what has transpired with R1T1–Reach One Teach One.
Only God knows what the future holds for this ministry. But this I know: Tim and Dalton and their families are dreaming big dreams and making big plans. They’ve embarked on a relentless pursuit to change the world—one block at a time.
