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Bells Shoals B.C. has been without a pastor for nearly 10 months, but even without a pastor the church had a wonderful Global Celebration. They were able to bring in missions partners from around the world that were able to challenge and invite the members of the church to join in on what God is doing both locally and globally. It was my privilege to preach in both Sunday AM services and challenge the people that missions is not just for missionaries, but the mission of God is for every Christ follower, and that we all have one single mission; to glorify God by extending His Kingdom and making disciples.

Xochitl and I also had the honor of being with the Hispanic congregation on Wednesday night and challenging them to be a Hispanic congregation that is making a global impact among the nations. We also had wonderful time meeting with dear friends and ministry donors, and several other partners churches in the area while we were there. 

Why is a Global Celebration so important? Many times people in the church do not realize how their church is impacting locally and among the nations. They do not realize all of the opportunities they have to participate with what God is doing around the world. Also, whatever we celebrate is what we prioritize, so when we celebrate God’s Global mission, we are saying, “this is our church’s priority”. That’s why having a yearly Global Celebration and continuously mentioning what God is doing throughout the world and all the opportunities that we have to engage with Him, is so important. 

We are weekly mentoring different churches in Latin America. This past week Luis was able to start the Global Focus process the another Amigos church in Metapan, El Salvador. This is a smaller church, that does not even have a pastor, but the leaders of the church decided they wanted to be a Global Focus church and impact the nations from their local church. 

Yovanny our Venezuelan director was able to preach a Missional Church conference in Brazil in the Evangelical Church of Jardim Maringa. This is a church that Fabio, our Brazilian directoris mentoring, They were able to hear how God is mobilizing some of the poorest churches in Latin America, the churches of Venezuela, and how they are being mobilized and sending missionaries to the ends of the earth.

This past week I was able to continue the Global Focus process in the “Hermanos Libres” (Plymouth Brethren) church of Orizaba. These are churches that were started by missionaries that came from England to Mexico over 100 years ago, but they still have not sent missionaries to the nations yet. Today, their desire is to personally participate in Global Missions and send their own people to the nations! We had a wonder wonderful time with nearly 50 leaders from this church learning how to align the church around mission that God has given the local church.

This week Luis Marti and I are teaching in our Missional Church conference in Cd. Valles, Mexico with the Peregrinos Church (one of the oldest Wesleyan churches in Mexico.) Today this church is now sending their first missionaries to the mslms of Eastern Europe, and to Southeast Asia

We have nearly 50 pastors and leaders that have come to learn more about how Global Focus can help them mobilize their own churches.  At the same time we are leading a school to help our new Global Focus facilitators learn how to better mobilize churches in Mexico with Global Focus. 

We began to mentor the Amigos denomination 3 years ago in Guatemala. This is a historic denomination that was started by Quaker missionaries over 100 years ago. Today those same churches that have gone through our missional process are not only sending families to Cambodia, but sending members from their churches to work with their missionaries on special projects that are helping the missionaries to plant churches and make disciples.

They sent a  team of 8 Guatemalans from their churches  to work in Cambodia with their missionaries for 2 weeks. They were able to purchase an oven to help teach them to make bread and cakes and also medical projects. This team was able to help local believers, and also make contacts with lost people bound in darkness. By personally engaging in missions, they were able to help their missionaries by making new contacts, and help extend the Gospel among this unreached people group in Cambodia.

It is amazing to think that today Latin American churches are engaging and reaching unreached people groups the other side of the world. Not only sending missionaries to the unreached, (we have helped the churches we are mentoring mentoring to send now 72 families to the nations) but they are also personally engaging in these unreached people groups by sending their members on short term projects. Last week I wrote about Latin American churches that are engaged in Southeast Asia, and the Amazon jungle. This week I would like to continue talking about how churches in Latin America through our missional process are engaging and impacting unreached people groups

This past weekend Xochitl and I were honored  honored to be part of the Global Outreach Celebration at Christ Community Church in Darien, Connecticut (NYC metro area) for pastor Landon Reesor, who is the son of the founder of our ministry, Dr. Larry Reesor. I was able to preach for them on Sunday on the subject of “How the Gospel defines our Life’s Purpose”. We had a wonderful time seeing how God is using this church for His glory among the nations. 

In our second module in our Global Focus missional process we help align churches around the singular mission of Christ; which is to make disciples in our Jerusalem, and all the way to the Ends of the Earth. Many churches are aligned around their own programs, their buildings, their weekend services, but not around the Mision of Christ. We help them to see that the reason the church exists is to be God’s instrument to make disciples locally and globally at the same time.

This past week Luis Marti was able to continue to mentor the Amigos church of Soyopango, El Salvador. They were able to develop their Missional Purpose Statement and integrate that mission into every ministry within the church. Also they learned how to implement a global prayer strategy in all of their small groups and services. 

At the same time that Luis was teaching in El Salvador, Yovanny was teaching the same module in Turen, Venezuela at the Ebenezer Evangelical Church. Pastor Yovanny pastored for several years First Baptist Church of Turen, which is a model Global Focus church and is now full time director for Global Focus in Venezuela. Ebenezer saw how Global Focus helped First Baptist and they asked Yovanny to mentor their church as well. They have now developed their Missional Purpose Statement; Missions Mentality and Global Prayer Strategy also. Yovanny was also able to travel to Bocono, Venezuela and continue to mentor First Baptist Church in the 3rd module of Global Focus, helping them to develop their Global Teams and thus reach locally and globally at the same time. We are very excited at how churches all over Latin America are joining in at engaging the lost in their own local area, and the unreached on the other side of the world! 

This week I am in Queretero Mexico, teaching the exact same module to a group of 3 Bible Churches. The enthusiasm was palpable as each church developed their Purpose Statements;  Missions Mentality and then a strategic prayer strategy to pray for missions and missionaries every week. One of the pastors mentioned he and his leaders knew that their church needed direction, and they had been praying for that. The last 2 nights God showed them that His Mission was His Direction for their church! 

One of the most exciting aspects of mentoring churches all over Latin America is now seeing them take decisive steps towards engaging the unreached. This past week  Pastor Oscar Loyola (who is the new co-director for Global Focus in Peru, and pastor of a model Global Focus church in Lima) was able to take pastor Braulio Martinez from Irapuato, Mexico and a team from his church to work with Ashenika peoples of the Amazon jungle.

They were able to take doctors and serve the indigenous people in this area with several different projects. Not only did they show Christ’s love for the unreached in a very tangible way to the Askenika, but also the team from Mexico was impacted by this trip. Their lives will never be the same, because they saw God work in an incredible way outside their comfort zone. We are very excited that Latin American churches are taking huge steps at engaging the unreached in Latin America, and also in the Middle East!

This particular country in Southeast Asia is one of the most populated countries in the world, and known for persecution Christians. None the less, this past Monday Vida Nueva Church in Arequipa Peru was able to send a nurse from their church to work in a hospital in Southeast Asia. She will be working along side of Christian doctors and other Christian nurses in this majority Mslm country by being the hands of Christ for many.

The majority of people in this unreached people will never come in contact with a follower of Christ, but those that come in contact with this Peruvian nurse will encounter the love of Christ. Please pray that more Latin American churches, and more Latin American workers will engage the unreached by going on missions trips and sending their own church members to the nations. We are helping to raise up a new generation of missionaries to the unreached! 

We have been praying for our Central Asia team for some time now. They are from Venezuela, and with their home country in total collapse, procuring their passports is an almost impossible task. But God has sovereignly and miraculously provided their passports, and now L. and E. are able to return. They will travel to Costa Rica in the next few weeks to solicite a student visa for their son Jr. in order to attend The College at Southeastern (part of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, which has graciously given us scholarships for several of our Latin American MK’s.

In December, D. and D. will also join this strategic team in Central Asia, the waited nearly a year for their passports, and their passports finally came in. God is moving governments, and answering pray, all for His glory.