Victory Baptist Church in Reading, PA

This week I was reminded of the fact that though I graduate from seminary there is still more to be done.  In truth there is always more to be done and accomplished for the glory of God.  We glorify God by sharing the joy of the Gospel, which is God’s vision.  This we attempt to do at every church and with every person we meet.    

So tonight we get to visit a church a little closer to home this time.  We are visiting Victory Baptist Church in Reading, PA. Pastor Rochester invited me to preach in their evening service.  The following Sunday I get to preach in our home church, Living Stone Baptist Church.  Then Sunday the 22^nd we will be visiting Rise Up Church in Norristown, Pennsylvania.  Please pray for us as we begin to rack up a few miles of travel and as we share God’s vision for the Gospel in Spain. 

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Current Tasks

Hello friends,

You might be wondering what we are working on now.  Our first task is to line up meetings in churches.  This takes more time and effort than I had anticipated.  I spend a few hours every week (mostly Wednesdays) calling friends and pastors sharing our vision for ministry in Spain.  Then I try to meet with them to share our vision.  Because of this we have a few more meetings lined up.  Our next church visit is May 22, with a few scattered throughout the summer.  But the majority are in September and October.  Our goal is to have every weekend filled.

Our second task is to get all our missions “stuff” put together.  What is the “stuff?”  Well, the last time we visited a church (Faith Baptist in Salisbury Maryland), we had two weeks to finish prayer cards, brochures, and a short presentation on Spain.  Lorena was even able to finish our website before our visit.  Unfortunately our prayer cards didn’t get printed off in time to have them to give out at Faith.  There is still more stuff we need to purchase or work on:  Purchasing of an HD projector, creating our DVD presentation, readying our car for the many, many miles of travel ahead, and more.  

We are trying to get all this put together so that we can hit the road.  In many ways we are ahead of schedule, but we want to remain ahead.  Yet in all this “stuff” that we do, we are relying on God’s sovereignty to work in His timing.  We cannot do a single thing in life apart from our King permitting it.  

Our Teammates

So who are our teammates?  The last time I introduced Scott and Juli Fulks was at our church a couple months ago.  I was so excited that I told our church I felt like a little kid at “show and tell” with his little teddy bear.  Unintentionally I called Scott a teddy bear!  Well, he is much more than this.  Scott is first of all my cousin.  Like it or not he is family.  But Scott through the last eight years has been my best friend, pointing me continually to Christ.  

We studied together at Northland International University where he met his wife Juli.  All three of us shared similar stories since we grew up in Latin America.  Scott and I in Peru while Juli in Ecuador.  We often found ourselves on campus speaking only Spanish and talking about missions. 

During college, Scott and I contemplated ministry together in Peru.  But God separately began to work on our hearts and minds causing us to consider other fields.  We both visited Spain and several other countries.  For many reasons Spain, however became our focus for missions.  We then seriously began to pray about going as a team. All through our seminary years (four to be exact) we prayed and consider this new field for ministry.  When Lorena became my wife, we formed a team of four Spanish-speaking, missionary kids eager to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Yes, we look very much alike!

Approved

We were up Saturday morning at 5:30 a.m. and on the road an hour later.  Praise the Lord, the interview went well, and we were approved with Baptist Mid-Missions.  We are now officially missionaries under BMM.  Thank you to all who were praying for us.  

We are also thankful to the Lord for a safe drive.  It rained pretty much the whole way there and back.  Half way through our drive back home we stopped at a rest area and heard there were even tornado warnings. Thank you also for your prayers of safety.  We have many, many more miles of driving ahead of us. 

Interview in Washington D.C.

This weekend Lorena and I will be driving down to Washington D.C. for our final interview with our mission board.  We had planned to do this last month in Cleveland, Ohio, but had to postpone it because of a bad snow storm.  Now we hope to finalize our approval through Baptist Mid Missions.  Scott and Juli Fulks (our teammates) will have their interview with BMM sometime in May.

BMM is an agency that has been around for a significant period of time.  In fact this gives it some credibility.  This mission board began in 1920 due to the desire of a man to gather more men and women from Baptist churches to carry the Gospel to foreign countries.  It was from his desire that BMM eventually arose.  If you would like to know more about his fascinating story, you can visit their website at http://bmm.org/BMM/AboutUs/. 

They will be the ones who will handle our finances and will serve to keep us connected with our supporting churches.  Please pray for us as we drive there and back. And please pray that we wouldn’t be too nervous.  It’s never fun to have random questions hurled at you for an hour.  Yet it’s a joy because it places us one step closer to getting to Spain.

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Spain: the Least-Evangelized Spanish-Speaking Country

I too was taken back when I first heard this.  There are many reasons that contribute to this fact, but one in particular stands out.  It begins in 1936 when Francisco Franco set himself up as Spain’s dictator.  Franco’s regime was in many ways much like Mussolini’s fascism.  Franco even embraced some of Hitler’s ideals. 

During his dictatorship, however, he “developed a sense that Divine Providence had chosen him to save Spain from atheism and anarchy” (The History of Spain, 155).  Many would add that he also had a desire to preserve a Spanish Catholic country.  Because of this, the doors were bolted shut for missionaries to enter and share the joy of the Gospel.  Spain then became nearly inaccessible to evangelical missionaries. 

It was not until Francisco Franco passed away on November 20^th 1975 that the doors to Spain began to creak open again.  The current Spanish democracy is only 30 years old. The Religious Liberty Law was just signed in 1985 and “evangelical growth followed this freedom” (Operation World 2010: Spain).  Today Spain is open to the Gospel. We are so excited to be part of the growth by sharing Jesus Christ, planting churches, and training leaders in the Least-Evangelized Spanish-Speaking Country.

Francisco Franco

Intentional Relationship Building

A few people have asked us what our strategy is while on deputation.  Typically they ask it like this, “How do you plan to raise the support needed for missions in Spain?”  I explain that our strategy for raising support begins by focusing on building friendships and relationships wherever we go.  In fact this is what Paul seems to model in the book of Acts and even in his letters to supporting churches.  It is clear that his relationship with the church at Philippi was not one sided.  Paul invested just as much in these believers as they did in his ministry.  In fact, Paul knew the believers by name and their struggles; while the Philippians shared Paul’s vision and partnered with him.

 Our desire too is to partner with churches and individuals that share our desire for the joy of the Gospel in Spain.  This first begins by building relationships.  We want to be intentional with these friendships so as to make them lasting and meaningful.  This takes time and great effort not only for us but for the churches.  Even now we are experiencing the delight of creating friendships with people.  All this is done for the joy of sharing the Gospel here and in Spain.