In August, our church received the FPCNA mission team members, who were able to accomplish a lot in a short time. Not only did we enjoy their fellowship personally, we know that several in our congregation developed lasting friendships with those on the team. They were also able to distribute about 5000 “A New Beginning” tracts, leaving us with another 5000 for future ministry. The team did a five-day evangelistic English class, which has given us a wider presence in the community.
The congregation has been encouraged in recent months with numerical and spiritual growth. We have been very pleased to see Alberto Cruz, the newly-elected deacon, develop in his role, as well as teaching the bi-weekly youth Bible study. Ruben Callejas, also a deacon, is a young man who is studying under Jason with hopes of one day becoming a pastor, Lord willing. We have about six people who are interested in being baptized, and look forward to publicly professing their faith before the congregation. Jason also continues to oversee Lalo Peña, Ramon Sosa, and Jair Aguilar and their respective churches on a regular basis.
The Lord has been leading us to purchase a property for the church. We have seriously considered several locations over the years, but each time the Lord closed the door. We are currently looking at a property that Derrick Bowman mentioned while they were doing the tract distribution. The Lord has burdened the hearts of the people of the church to give beyond their usual offerings, and to give their time doing fundraisers. Many who have so little materially-speaking are doing what they can to pitch in.
We have other large tasks ahead of us apart from raising funds, such as needing to form a non-profit organization. Bureaucracy of any kind in Mexico can be a headache. We do ask for prayer that the way would be made plain and straight, and that we would have wisdom to make decisions. In addition, we are asking for prayer that God’s blessing would accompany our efforts to acquire an adequate and permanent place to worship Him.
By God’s grace, we continue to move forward with both short-term and long- term goals. Purchasing a property and being able to build on it is our most pressing need at the moment, and we need the Lord to continue to raise up men to serve as leaders in our church. We are continuing to focus on training our young people, and we are asking that the Lord will protect the next generation for His service. Long-term, we believe the Lord would use us to form an FPC denomination in Latin America. Therefore, we ask for prayers that the Lord would guide and direct, as well as raise up men to plant new churches.
Finally, please pray that we would not “grow weary in well doing” but that the Lord would send workers to come alongside us, to strengthen our hands, and to encourage us in the work.