NEW CHURCH IN MONTERREY

Last Saturday 120 members of First Baptist Huejutla boarded two busses and along with sound equipment, sack lunches, bibles, coats and enough Dramamine to sail to China. They were the delegation being sent to Monterrey as the delegates to organize our mission here into a church. This is an endeavor that had began many years ago in in 1988 when Northside Baptist Church sent Pastor Sixto Herrera and his new bride to Monterrey to begin a work. In 1998 because of changes in Mexican law Northside asked First Baptist Huejutla to “adopt” the Monterrey mission project.

Finally, a delegation of members, including our choir, was traveling ten hours by bus, to Monterrey, prepared to hold the organization services. The service was great! God blessed each of our hearts as we were privileged to participate in a new Church being organized. It is wonderful to be a witness to God’s sovereign will working through different churches, in time, to execute His promise, the perpetuation of His church. What a privilege to be a part of God’s plan!

BROTHERHOOD FELLOWSHIP

Once a year our National Mexican Brotherhood gathers to spend time in worship and Bible study. This usually implies a considerable effort by our laymen as they seek for the lord to lead us collectively as a National Association. This year it was in Chiapas, just a few miles from the Mexico Guatemala boarder. That is a very long way for most of us to travel. I was honored once again to be one of the speakers. I was asked to speak about community penetration, the influence that men can have on their communities through social organizations, their own occupations and volunteer service. I spoke of the importance of going to where the people live and take our Christian influence with them. The ability we have to take the witness of our church to our community.

 

It is always a blessing to spend time with our brethren better preparing for our Savior’s work. We trust every effort will translate into souls saved and churches planted.

THINGS WE TAKE FOR GRANTED

There are many things that we take for granted. Some of them are as simple as running water or constant electrical service. In Mexico, especially in the mountains, easy is rare and almost nothing comes easy.

 As our mission work grows the need for places of worship grows as well. Most of the buildings that we have built over the last few years are not completed. We are constantly putting up roofs or installing windows or doors in churches that are in use but not finished. I raise monies for the materials and our brethren provide the labor. Our people are content with what they have, always aware that nothing comes easy.

This day we worked on pouring a floor in the mountain mission of Cochis. The building has been used for worship for some time now even though the floor was only dirt. Being true to form pouring the floor was a difficult task. The church is halfway down a mountain and all the gravel and cement had to be carried down. As I mentioned, inconvenience is expected and accepted. Our brethren know. Years ago the only property the village would let them have for a church was the side of a mountain. So they cut the mountain by hand to have a level place to worship. Carrying 90 lb sacks of concrete and buckets of gravel is simple par for the course.

 The result of our partnered effort both from the BMAA in partnering with offerings and our Aztec brethren with labor is a worthy place to worship. May God be glorified through his people’s faithfulness in his church. His Grace is granted!

Our brethren are elated to worship in a church with no doors, no windows, but a brand new floor!

NATIONAL PASTORS CONFERENCE

Last month we had the privilege of organizing and hosting our first National Pastors Conference in the coastal village of Paso Doña Juana, Veracruz. Pastors from all over our association were invited to the Youth Campground of the state of Veracruz to hear Bro. Buddy Johnson the Director of Hispanic Ministries of the BMAA and Bro. Phil Knott the Operational Director for Latin America.

On the appointed day 29 pastors arrived to study the Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI)module taught by Bro Buddy and Bro. Phil during this three day retreat. As the Lord blessed and touched hearts we were all refreshed and encouraged by the teachings that God’s plan is unchanged. We are to evangelize the world by churches planting churches. The DCPI teachings will help us continue to do so in a more efficient and organized way. Our Mexican Pastors are grateful to Bro Buddy and Bro Phil for investing their time in our work here in Mexico. May great things come from this time spent together.

QUITE AN ADVENTURE

We have been preparing for the last couple of weeks to travel to a mission point in the village of Embocadero. This village is in the state of Veracruz. To get there we would have to travel to where the road ends and then hike for about an hour down the mountain the back way into Veracruz. There are two families that have accepted Christ in this village and we wanted to encourage them and show an evangelistic film to the village. On the day of the visit we drove to the village of Tecacalax where we left the vehicles. The road was in pretty poor condition and we had to cross several creeks to get there.

 Thunder was rumbling in the distance as we began the hike down the mountain toward Embocadero. We were excited about the prospect of pioneer mission work and reaching people who had never heard the gospel before. The trail we were walking wasn’t really a trail at all but a deep gully that had been cut in the mountain from flooding water. The scenery was beautiful. It is amazing to see the work of our father’s creation.

As we arrived in Embocadero about dark it began to rain. Bummer. The mountain people don’t move around when it is raining. We rested for a few minutes and presented the message anyway in the town center. About 20 people came out and a couple accepted Christ as Savior. After the service we began a 50 minute forced march back up the mountain. We had to get back through the “flash flood gully” before the water began to flow. Our guide set a killer pace to the top. For the next 50 minutes all I could see was the back of his head. After about 20 minutes there was I was only aware of two things, the falling rain and the horrible burning in my legs. The guide simply would not let up on the pace. It did help my ego to see our guide gagging from the exertion when we finally did reach the top.

On the way back there was one other incident that really scared me. We drove across a portion of road that I am sure has slid down the mountain by now. It is true that God protects his children especially the dumb ones.

Pray with us for the village of Embocadero that many will be saved and we will soon plant a church in that village.

MEDICAL CARAVAN A GREAT SUCCESS!

We just completed a great medical caravan. After negotiating with the government at three different levels we began operating. Hundreds of people showed up for consult and 80 of them received cataract surgery.

We were working in the operating room of a government hospital and were concerned about being able to freely evangelize. Our local pastors took turns preaching and our brethren worked with personal evangelism. More than 25 people received Christ including several nurses! What a blessing!.

There were other obstacles as well. On the second night the hospital flooded and we had to stop working for half a day but overall the caravan was a success. Everyone worked very hard. Denise in the kitchen, Amanda translating, Eric evangelizing and Alan, Alison and I worked the operating room logistics. Dr. Robinson and his entire team went the “extra mile” to serve the Aztec People. I thank God for such a hard working family and great friends that love the Lord! Friends and family that show God's love through the work of their hands and their support! We built strong relationships with the hospital and state officials, people received Christ and God was glorified in His Church!

MEETING AT LONG TABLE

Mesa Larga, This means long table in Spanish and justly represents the name of the village. It sits on top of a mesa high in the mountains. Years ago we had begun a work there that was suspended because of conflict between two indigenous groups. It was a bitter land conflict between the sponsoring church’s village and the missions’ village. Although Christians were not involved it was unsafe to visit the mission. As things changed and the conflict was resolved we began to visit again. Last Monday we drove up the mountain to have church at Mesa Larga. During the invitation a man stands up and in a loud voice said “I want you to pray with me, I need forgiveness” . This is rare because the Aztec people are usually shy and quiet in public situations. I asked him his name and said if he would repent and accept the gift of eternal life. The weeping man replied yes! We have high expectations of what God is doing and will continue to do among the Aztec people as faithful men continue to carry the saving message of Jesus to those who most desperately need it.

50 saved in Evangelism Explosion Clinic

Eric, Josué (pastor of FBC Huejutla), Jose Manuel (missionary in Huautla new mission) and I just returned from a week long Evangelism Explosion Clinic in Coayuca, Puebla. Eric and I went as teacher traineres and our pastors were trainees. The clinic was hosted by two churches The Church in Coayuca and the Church in Axochiapan. When we arrived to teach the first class we were surprised to see almost 50 people present. The good news is that all but 16 were not there for certification training but wanted to learn to evangelize the EE way. The bad news was there were only four trainers Ricky Williams, Jorge Mesa, Eric and I. We were going to be really busy all week long. The clinic is part of the ongoing education program that Bro. Ricky manages in conjunction with the Jacksonville Theological Seminary. As a part of the training we go out and look for the lost all over. We find them at hospitals, bus stations, business and their homes. The churches in both towns had arrainged visits in the homes of church contacts in about. So, we had one class a day and “ground pounded” visiting people and sharing the Gospel with them. The idea is that the trainees can observe the Gospel presentation for a week and be able to participate by the end of the week. God blessed in a great way with 50 solid professions of faith. The remarkable thing is that we only presented the gospel about 36 times. In many homes we led both the husband and wife to the Lord. We are tired but glad to be home. In the end we had trained 16 people for certification and about 20 more in an informal manner. Help us pray for these two churches, the 50 converts and the new soul winners that are continuing to work in these towns.

MISSION RECON

Our association has elected a new missionary to start a mission in the city of Aguascalientes. Thursday Denise and I left Huejutla and traveled 9 and1/2 hours to the city of Leon, Guanajuato where we met with pastors from the Missions Board to plan our trip to Aguascalientes. The next morning, equiped with bibles and maps, we rose early and traveled the last hour and a half to reach Aguascalientes. Excited and apprehensive we contacted Miguel (BMAA member that lives in the city) so he could tell us the location of other Baptist works in the city. To our surprise we found almost the entire southern half of the city of over 450,000 people didn’t have a Baptist church. We scouted the south eastern quadrant and 8 neighborhoods of middle class people with no significant Christian work much less Baptist. We chose the center of this quadrant as our starting point and after praying for the souls of Aguas calientes we departed for home. I am excited about the prospect of this new work. There are thousands of un-churched with vacant urban properties nearby and virtually no Christian influence. We couldn’t ask for a better location. May God bless our efforts in this new place that soon there may be a BMAA Baptist Church. A permanent witness fo salvation in Jesus to the people of Aguascalientes.

LIFE BEHIND THE MASK

We returned to class at the Martha Johnson School today. The was a sense of happiness among the children as they began to see their classmates and fiends. Classes have been suspended since April 26 because of the swine flu pandemic. The children were also apprehensive as they saw a line of determined teachers with thermometers, facemask and triage questionnaires waiting for them behind a line of tables. These teachers are the first tier of our screening process to make sure that children are asymptomatic and afebrile before they can enter the school population. We also provide all with facemask to wear during class. Any child with the sniffles gets to wait for mom or dad to come take them to the doctor so they can be cleared for class activity. Life behind a facemask is a little weird and will take some getting used to but we trust the Lord that we may do all we can to keep our students well in a world with a new bug, a bug we are just going to learn to live with.

BACK TO CHURCH

After two weeks without having corporate worship at FBC Huejutla we were able to return to services. To do this we have gone to three services because the health department will not let us put that many people in the same room. Also we have had to establish a screening process to make sure that none of our Church members are symptomatic when they arrive to church. We also sanitize everyone’s hands and sanitize the building between services. Facemask for everyone as well.

This is a blessing because we have needed to go to two services for a long time but church leadership didn’t think two services were logistically possible. Now we have had to have swo services and have seen that it works! There is room for everyone to sit and plenty of room for growth.

Thank The Lord for forcing us into a situation that will continue to grow His church, even if he used a pandemic to do it!!! GLORY!!

JUST WHEN WE THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO GO OUT

After working all day to establish a protocol to screen our students returning to school next Monday we have developed a process where we have six lines of kids coming into the school. Every student will be checked for fever and triaged for symptoms, we then will disinfect their hands by spraying alcohol on them and usher them to class where they will make their own mask for the day. (Pharmacies are out of facemask and hand sanitizer). We ordered banners to post outside the school so parents can become familiar with the process. We also drafted a letter stating that we believed the return to school is premature and hold health officials responsible for any outbreaks that originate in our school. WE ARE READY!!

Tonight the governor announces on the official web page that our state of Hidalgo 122 cases of flu, 99 of the cases are A-H1N1 with an increase of 45 new confirmed cases of Type A in the last 24 hours. New cases are alarmingly in the 6- 24 year old age group. State wide there are 23 people in the hospital of which 3 are critical. Two people have died from Type A flu and two others died today of viral pneumonia but not confirmed to be the bad bug yet. We will return to school no sooner than May 18th. Whew!! All that work and no payday. This disease is killing us because if we can’t have classes we can’t get paid. Things are begining to look a little dismal here. PLEASE help us pray for the different aspects of this health crisis.

We will continue to have church services over the radio and being light in a time of insecurity among our unchuched friends.

A DOG'S LIFE

As we live through swine flu, global warming, failing economies, narco-wars, kidnappings and earthquakes I looked at my dogs and desired to have a DOG’S LIFE. See, dogs have no worries, no payroll to meet, no bills to pay or accounts to review. Dogs don’t have to work, don’t have a boss, and could care less if the other dogs in the yard like them or not. They have no deadlines to meet, they prefer to let the day, or their nose, take them where they may. This carefree life makes them generous and friendly always ready to treat themselves to a quick lick, and us too, for that matter. The sun could fall, the dollar could collapse, disease could rule, and the dog’s life would go on unchanged. If the food ran out they would be content to sleep until the very end, always friendly enough to share a lick and tail wag with a friend or passerby. The only problem is that if I had a Dog’s Life I would not have the chance to know Jesus as my Savior. So give me swine flu, global warming, failing economies, narco-wars, kidnappings and earthquakes so long as I can have Jesus too! You see having Jesus makes all of these other things light, making life carefree, allowing us to live friendly and generous lives. Jesus is and always will be the answer.

LAST SERVICE BEFORE SWINE FLU

Nestled in the mountains of Hidalgo is the village of Mecatlan with a population of about 2000 people. This is where the brethren of the Mecatlan church had prepared to host our quarterly local association of the Aztec churches. The church in Mecatlan had worked for days to prepare. One of the local community pavilions had been secured for the service, chairs had been rented and one of our project pigs that dressed out at 180 lbs had been converted into tamales for all of the attending brethren to eat. They had prepared to receive 600 to 800 people that are the usual attendees at this service.

On this occasion the was a rumor was beginning to circulate that there was a new deadly disease that we killing people in Mexico City and people were beginning to be afraid. Our expectations began to drop as to how attendance would be.

Saturday morning we were blessed to see brethren begin to arrive by truck and foot. When the time to begin the service, more than 450 brethren arrived. We worshiped together in song and preaching of the word. After the service we fellowshipped while everybody ate pork tamales and had plenty left over for everyone to take some home with them.

After the service the local church workers and pastors gathered for prayer and to eat a “tapataxtle”. A tapataxtle is giant tamale made from the pig’s head. The ladies had packed the entire head in corn doe and wrap the entire thing in banana leaves. It is all steamed over an open fire. It is considered a real delicacy because the head has the most tender meat cuts.

The news of the Swine Flu outbreak was public that next Monday. We don't leave the house unless we wear a face mask. Our town is almost a ghost town as people are staying off the street. More than 40 people died last week in Mexico city from the flu. There are 8 confirmed cases here in our area and we expect more as hundreds of unemployed workers flock home to the Huasteca from Mexico City. School has been canceled at least until May 6. I think it will be much longer before we go back to school because the pandemic hasn't peaked yet. The health organizations will have to get a handle on this before they let people congregate at school again. The whole town is sold out of facemask. I had a box in storage so we are OK.

After meeting with the men of our church we decided to follow the health recommendations and suspend church services until they give the green light. We are going to broadcast our Sunday sermons over the radio so folks can listen at home.

This is a great opportunity to let people see the witness of security and hope God has given us that believe in Jesus.