Matt & Teri Perrotto: Serving God and Neighbor During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“It’s been all glory to God. He’s given us the wisdom we’ve asked for, and he’s provided the means to help.” 
– Matt Perrotto, site coordinator, Envision Miami; member, Christ Community Church

Like almost all other aspects of life, the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically impacted Matt and Teri Perrotto’s mission work in Miami. Their prime focus, right now, is food—collecting it and passing it out to neighbors in need. The Perrottos and their team held their first food distribution event on April 18.

“That day, when we showed up, there was a line of cars already. It was eye-opening for us to see the need,” Matt says. “After that, we decided we’re going to hold as many food distribution events as we can. We started calling around, asking food distributors, food suppliers, grocery stores—anyone we could think of—for donations.”

And things started to happen. One supplier donated 900 dozen (10,800) eggs, another donated three pallets of canned fruits and vegetables. Christ Community Church’s Carlos Ramirez (resident who graduated in 2020) connected Matt and Teri with his father, a food broker, who introduced the Perrottos to a professional peer in their area. That resulted in an astounding donation of 8,000 pounds—four tons—of fresh produce each week. The Perrottos and their team have begun distributing food to local partner schools and a partner church. They’ve held three more community food distribution events in May alone.

“We usually have over 1,000 people come through in about 200 cars,” Matt says. “God has provided in some really cool ways. Not only has that enabled us to give food away, but it’s increased our faith. It helps us to realize that asking God for big things—things that will impact his kingdom—is something we should be doing on a regular basis.”

“We need to be bold in our prayers,” Teri says.

As the pandemic was beginning to unfold and the Perrottos were unsure how to proceed, that’s exactly where they started, with prayer.

“Every day, our whole team sets a timer on our phones at 1:28, and we pray according to James 1:2–8, which talks about counting it all joy when you encounter various trials. The second part involves asking for wisdom. That’s made all the difference,” Matt says. 

Matt and Teri believe their pandemic outreach will have a lasting impact as they continue working to “transform lives and increase the Kingdom of Heaven through the power of the gospel.”

“Just the fact that we’re still here, that we’re still trying to do whatever we can to help, I think that’s going to go a long way,” Matt says. “As we continue to reach out to the community, we’re going to have some relationships and some credibility that we didn’t have before.”

Matt & Teri Perrotto: Answering God’s Call to Combat Spiritual Darkness and Spread the Light of Christ

“This is where we need to be no matter how hard it is.”

– Matt Perrotto

Christ Community Church’s Matt and Teri Perrotto know what it’s like. They’ve experienced uncertainty and reluctance like Jonah,

But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish (Jonah 1:3, New International Version [NIV]).

the fear of failure like Moses, 

What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, “The LORD did not appear to you?” (Exodus 4:1, NIV).

and Gideon’s feelings of inadequacy: 

“Pardon me, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (Judges 6:15, NIV).

And like Gideon, Jonah, and Moses, Matt and Teri came to answer God’s call anyway. 

“God can use anyone, and it’s not based on our qualifications,” Matt says. “The power that is within us is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and that’s endless. If you trust God, he can do anything through you.”

For the last four years, the Perrottos have served as site coordinators for Envision Miami, a ministry of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA). Envision Miami exists to collaborate with Miami-area churches, schools, homeless shelters, and other organizations to “transform lives and increase the Kingdom of Heaven through the power of the gospel.” 

“We started an ESL (English as a Second Language) program to reach more of the people near us,” Matt says. “Our goal this year is to do prayer walks for 1,000 hours. We believe prayer is our first work that we should be doing.”

The Perrottos say Miami might seem an odd mission field—it’s not Haiti, Kenya, or Tanzania—but the need for Christian outreach and spiritual transformation is stark.

“Miami is a different place, a challenging place,” Matt says. “There is a spiritual darkness that we see, and we’ve experienced a lot of spiritual battle. I feel like every step forward we take in our ministry center is met with resistance.”

That includes efforts to rehab the ministry center building, a structure in dire need of upkeep and renovation. The Perrottos have run into steady opposition from the county.

“We have been trying, since we’ve been here, to get basic permits passed, and they stop every single one of them. Our contractors said they have never seen anything like this. They can’t believe how hard this has been,” Teri says. “Honestly, it’s felt like more of a spiritual battle.”

Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people?” (Exodus 5:22, NIV).

Matt says the work is going to get done eventually, but he tries to not put a timeline on it. 

“Even with the state the building is in—we have doors falling off their hinges—God has been moving and working in people’s lives. We see people coming alive in their faith. It shows us it’s not about the building. It’s in his presence where life change happens,” Matt says.

The Perrottos have also had to build bridges with a diverse group of neighbors, including a primarily Haitian congregation that shares their campus. 

“When we first started there, you could feel tension. We felt like we were not wanted at this campus and it was very uncomfortable.  We knew we had to earn their trust,” Teri says. “Now, it’s changed so drastically. That relationship has grown. The pastor will call now and check in, ‘How are you guys doing? I haven’t seen you for a little bit.’”

Personal struggles have added to the complexity of their ministry as well. The kids (ages 9–19) had a tough time adjusting, though, Matt says, Miami feels like home now. Members of their extended family still question why they do what they do. And they’ve had to wrestle with loss. Teri’s mother died in February, and her father’s health is failing. 

“It’s been kind of a spiral since December, but we have still seen God’s hand through it all,” Teri says.  

Balancing out the challenges—all of the victories so far.

“We’ve had a lot of encounters with our neighbors where we’ve been able to share the gospel,” Matt says. “They’re excited about the outreach we’re doing in that neighborhood. We’ve had people get saved. The mission teams that come down and stay here—we’ve seen so many people be transformed, just being in the presence of God and being on a mission with God.”

Matt and Teri’s own experience with mission work began with short-term service trips during college. After joining Christ Community Church (CCC) in 2010, they became involved with youth and children’s ministry and community outreach. In 2012, Teri served on a pivotal mission trip to China. While interacting with Chinese college students, she was profoundly struck by the way they worshipped.

“It was a true relationship with God,” Teri says. “When I came back, it hit me really hard because I wanted our kids to have that relationship and not just a ‘Sunday God.’ That’s when Matt and I started talking seriously like, ‘I think God is calling us to more.’”

At the time, Matt had an “excellent job,” working as an electronics engineer. Teri was raising the kids full-time after transitioning out of her social work career. While they pressed on with life, God continued to press on their hearts the idea of long-term mission work. The Perrottos started praying about it and asked members of their Journey Group to pray for them as well.

“It just didn’t seem like we were qualified. It didn’t seem like it made sense for us to move from Omaha where we both grew up,” Matt says. “When we did pray, we asked God to make it really clear because it was still this crazy idea.”

Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me” (Judges 6:17, NIV).

“After praying, we had to decide, are we going to continue following what we thought God was directing us to do or just drop it?” Matt says. “We decided, let’s take a step and see what God does.”

That step, in early 2013, involved talking to Craig Walter, CCC’s director of missions. 

“We wanted him to close the door because we weren’t sure we could actually do it,” Matt says.

He didn’t. 

“He was 110 percent all for it,” Matt says. “That was one of the first signs that we thought, ‘Okay, maybe this is what God wants.’”

In 2014, the Perrottos left everything and moved to the Dominican Republic to serve with Envision. Toward the end of that two-year assignment, they received a phone call from the director of Envision asking if they would be interested in starting a site in Miami.

“We started praying about it. We really were not sure,” Teri says. “During a site visit, when we met the pastors and we heard their hearts, our hearts broke and we knew God wanted us here.” 

Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh (Jonah 3:3, NIV).

Teri recalls a time when one of their five children—daughter Madelyn—asked flat-out, “Why are we in Miami?” 

“As we walked around the neighborhood, I asked her, ‘How many of these people do you think are going to heaven? How many do you think believe in God?’ It was like a lightbulb went on and she said, ‘We have to get all these people to believe.’”

Matt adds, “When people come down, their lives are impacted and they sense the presence of God. This is where we need to be no matter how hard it is. If you’re committed to obeying God, the only reason you stop is if God tells you to—and if he doesn’t tell you to, you keep going.” 

The Perrottos are asking members of CCC to pray for them, their family, and their work, and if they are so inclined, to support them financially. (Right now, they are about 85 percent funded.) They also encourage others to discern how they can join God in the Great Commission. 

“We can all get involved in our own way, and that doesn’t necessarily mean going to the mission field,” Matt says.

His and Teri’s work is inspiring their children in that direction. Their oldest, Alec, is already leading mission teams. Son Marcus and oldest daughter Ellah are talking about moving to the Dominican Republic and Tennessee, respectively, to do ministry. Even nine-year-old Isaac has started sharing the gospel with peers.

“When we first started, Matt and I weren’t sure why we were doing this, but we both felt that we had to obey,” Teri says. “To see our kids following that path is so amazing.” 

Matt adds, “Seeing people come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through different activities and ministries that we do, that’s a game changer for all eternity. It’s a privilege to be a part of it.”

Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today” (Exodus 14:13, NIV).

Dan McCann is a freelance writer whose work appears in the Omaha World Herald.