Luis Marti, former pastor of Miramonte Baptist Church, and former missionary in Spain for 10 years, is on a year long sabbatical after turning over the church to younger leadership (Luis is still very young at 60 yrs old).
He will begin full time working with Global Focus next year, but while he is on sabbatical has already launched Global Focus with a group of churches in Spain this month.
We started mentoring churches in Latin American in the Global Focus missional process, because we had more missionary candidates to go the unreached from Latin America than churches that were willing or able to send them. In the beginning, we mentored very few churches, but those churches did so well in missions, their own people started participating personally in missions, the churches started praying every service for missions and missionaries, more and more of their members surrendered their lives to go out as missionaries, and they had the funds to send them. Then other churches wanted to be mentored a well, and Global Focus Latin America began to grow. Our beginning were very humble, no office, no staff, and no money (well, we still have no money).
That was just 4 years ago, we never dreamed the impact that Global Focus would have not only in Latin America, but in other countries as well, and that those churches would send now 52 missionary units to unreached people groups in the North Africa, the Middle East, Central and Southeast Asia, West Africa and Europe.
We are now mentoring churches 15 different countries, and we have 14 different facilitators who are multiplying the work of mentoring churches all over Latin America, all of them are successful pastors that have been through the process in their own churches.
In the last 4 years Global Focus has exponentially grown not only in Latin America, but because of what God is doing with the churches we mentor, now churches in other countries are wanting Global Focus as well.
From Santa Cruz, I flew into Sao Paulo where I am mentoring the Evangelical Free Church of Sao Paulo, and also teaching the Operation Mobilization (OM) team how to become Global Focus facilitators in our missional process. I was able to spend 2 days working with Pastor Frido and some of the leaders of the church, also Fabio Torres, the OM director.
I have been working for several months to get our new version of Global Focus not only translated into Portuguese, but also designed and formatted. Fabio is learning how to mentor as he participates with me as I mentor the church in Sao Paulo. This module they were able to develop their purpose statement and integrate missions into every ministry of the church.
Pray for the new partnership with OM and Global Focus that it will be able to mobilize even more Brazilian churches, and Brazilian missionaries. “The Evangelical Free Church of Sao Paulo exists to love and glorify God, making disciples of Christ in Sao Paulo to the ends of the earth, through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
From La Paz, I traveled farther down south to Santa Cruz, Bolivia where I also mentor Kairos, Santa Cruz (a daughter church of the church in La Paz). I have been mentoring this church almost since they started a little over 2 years ago. They have grown from less than 100 people to now over 250 every Sunday. I was privagled to preach this past Sunday there and see several profess faith in Christ, and many make missional decisions.
That evening I spent several hours working with their Global Celebration team as well. They will have their first Global Celebration the week before the La Paz church. They also are bringing in 12 missionaries from different parts of Bolivia, and the world.
They have developed some very strategic partnerships as a result of the Global Focus training, and their members are participating in God’s mission in different parts of Bolivia and among the unreached! They too had a team just return from the Middle East where they are working and gave testimony on Sunday of all God did on this trip.
Kairos in La Paz, Bolivia will have it’s first Global Celebration this year. I have been working with this church for nearly 2 years now in helping them to integrate missions into every aspect of the life of their church, and mobiize each member to participate in Christ’s mission locally and globally. I was able to spend 2 days with them in La Paz helping them with their Global Celebration team. We have been able to divide up all of the responsibilities of the celebration with different teams all made up of lay members of the church.
The members are not only getting involved personally in missions, but they are also helping to plan and organize their Global Celebration. They will bring in more than 20 missionaries and projects to the church for 5 days where each one of the members of this church of over 1,000 will hear personally from different missionaries in order to mobilize their people to greater prayer from missions, greater financial sacrifice and personal involvement.
Not only was I able to mentor their GC team, but also listen to the testimony of pastor Mauricio and members of the church that just returned from Central Asia, where they worked with the house church of one of Connect Global’s workers in that closed country. They were able to distribute “books” and preach in the house churches meetings and encourage believers from this part of the world that they are not alone when they face their certain persecution, that brothers and sisters from Latin America are with them in the battle. In the last year, this church has made 2 different trips to the the 2 most closed countries on earth. This is what Global Focus is doing in Latin America; the churches are not just making trips, but they are strategically working to get the Gospel where the Gospel has not gone because of great persecution.
Pastor Pablo Caruachin from Vida Nueva in Arequipa is one of our Global Focus Latin American facilitators. He was able to travel to Bolivia and launch Global Focus with several local churches there. He is doing a great job at mobilizing churches not only in his native Peru, but in Bolivia as well. These churches are stepping up to the plate as well.
I have been mentoring the oldest Wesleyan church in Mexico for over a year now.
La Iglesia Evangelica los Perigrinos (Pilgrims Evangelical Church) has been making significant paradigm shifts that are focusing the entire church on Christ’s mission, locally and globally. We have mentoring them in their first Global Celebration in which 12 missionaries will come. Because of Global Focus, they are now forming missional projects locally, planting churches nationally, and sending out their first cross cultural workers in the 100 year history of their church!
“God is doing something extraordinary in our church” Pastor Mario Cano of Getsemani B.C. in Puebla Mexico. God is already calling the members of Getsemani to do more than just come to and attend church. He is calling them to be missionaries locally in Puebla, in Mexico and unto the Ends of the Earth.
I had the opportunity to return to Getsemani this past weekend and teach the Global Focus seminar to over 100 of their leaders, and then preach in their Sunday services.
God moved greatly this past weekend, with one young man coming to faith in Christ, and dozens surrendering their lives to live their lives missionally and take the greatest news outside the walls of their church, to their neighbors and to the nations.
Several of the members of this church will be participating in their first cross cultural missions trip tot he Middle East with us in August, serving the Syrian refugee’s.
Also we are helping the church walk through the process of sending their first cross cultural worker to the mission field. Pray for the impact that Global Focus is having on churches just like Getsemani all over Latin America. We have now helped local churches send out their own workers to 12 different countries in Central and Southeast Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East.
We are proud of Nayeli and Matthew and God’s calling on their lives. While I was in Peru mentoring and preaching Nayeli was invited to share at the Worthy Conference in Pasadena, CA. where she was able to share with them God’s passion for reaching mslm people groups. Please continue to pray for them as the raise the last $1200.00 still needed for their vision trip to Southeast Asia.
