New Ministries

We are completing our first full year in the states. As we near the top of this mountain, we realize that it is only by the grace of God that we have conquered certain aspects of life in Mexico: We now drink the natural well water without illness, we eat in the homes freely without any stomach problems, we are able to converse freely in Spanish with almost anyone, and we are seeing the Lord really work through the ministries that are flourishing.

After the hurricane struck the villages, the children’s ministries came to a halt. This was a blessings, since two weeks before, we were contemplating on stopping the meetings for a while to regroup our focus. The meetings had become more of an entertainment and game time for the children, rather than teaching the Word of God to them. A month has passed since the hurricane, and with the free time that we experienced during that month, we have been able to develop and new and more effective ministry plan. Rather than entertaining the children with Bible stories, we are instilling New testament principles and using the stories only as support-lessons. We are back on schedule with four weekly classes again.

The adult meetings in Toltecas also came to a halt for about two weeks after the hurricane. Alfonzo was having trouble committing to the meetings due to his daughter’s wedding, and the believers were waivering in their committment to meet together because there was not a leader. With little confidence in his own abilities, Joshua was hesitant at first to heed the Spirit’s calling to take on the meetings himself. But after praying for the Lord to empty him of his abilities and power and fill him with the Holy Spirit’s power, he began the meetings again in Toltecas. There are now five adults attending the meetings on Saturdays. The congregation is currently studying through Luke on Saturdays. On Wednesdays, we meet together with food, and have an intimate group bible study around a table. It is an avenue for the believers to get to know each other and renew ties with one another, since this little church has been hit by many tempestuous storms lately. The believers are growing and soaking up the verse-by-verse teachings, and the Lord is mightily using Joshua to teach in Spanish.

More than anything, the most exciting event to see in Toltecas is that the believers have stopped seeing themselves as a mission and are treating themselves as a body of believers in a church. For months, the believers were waivering in their commitment to meet together. It puzzled us how they would come for a while, and then fade away. Finally, Joshua approached two families and gently confronted them about forsaking the meetings. They replied, “We want a church. This is just a mission. The pastor comes, and the pastor goes, and there’s no stability. We want a church that we can commit to.” It was, of course, just an excuse, because the real issue was that they, themselves, were not committed to the meetings. Just the same, in the next meeting, Joshua preached about the importance of understanding that a “church” is a body of believers, even if there are only three. In a church world dominated by heirarchial governments, these believers have been led to believe that they are not a church without 20 or more members. Now that they have negated that idea, they are eager to commit to meeting together.

Joshua is also teaching in Baciroa, a mountain village an hour northeast of us, on Fridays. The pastor there, a 20-year-old boy who barely knows how to commit to his own prayer life and study habits, has been struggling in leading the church. He has brought Joshua alongside him to help him teach on Fridays.

Joshua is also teaching a class on inductive Bible study. This, put simply, is the study of using the Bible to explain the Bible. The results have been amazing. Fernando, an Assembly of God pastor who has been twisting scriptures for years in his congregation, is amazed at the simplicity of Joshua’s teaching method and has asked to learn more. He attempts to mock the teaching method of verse-by-verse teaching, but prefers topical studies more. He and Joshua often converse about ways Fernando can integrate better study habits in his daily life to better prepare him for his messages. It is exciting to see Fernando using the Bible more to preach to his congregation, rather than just using his own words.

Please pray for us as the Lord continues to work in the ministries here. Plesae pray that we would constantly be open to his voice and direction.