Greetings from Mexico! In this update I am excited to tell you about a church planting trip I took to Mazatlan at the end of February! Mazatlan is a historical beach town in the Mexican state of Sinaloa! Almost eight years ago we sent down my good friends Tony and Angela Carranza, along with their son Caleb and a team to plant a church in this famous city of over 600,000!
Tony was one of our assistant pastors way back in the day, and also completed our church planting program with excellence. When I sent Tony out to church plant, he said that his goal was to copy our church down there in Mazatlan! (Not saying that I recommend that, but that was his goal) Over the past seven plus years that is exactly what Tony and Angela have done!
They have raised up many leaders, planted a large healthy bilingual church, and started their own church planting class. They have also planted six churches in those seven years and are planning on planting their next church later on this year in the South American Country of Venezuela.
Another great part of this church is they also host a yearly church planting conference just like we do. This year I was blessed to travel down to this church planting conference with a team from our church (Pastor Oliver and Super Mario) along with my good friend and church planting partner, Pastor Bruce Zackary from Calvary Nexus in Camarillo California!
The title of this conference was “The Sending Hub” (Un Centro Enviador) and our church was blessed to donate fifty of my books to give free to each pastor in attendance. The conference was powerful and convicting and everyone in attendance was encouraged to move forward in the great missions work of church planting. We were also able to send out Pastor Tony’s next church plant together at the conference. Please keep Pastor Pedro, his family, and his new church plant in Chihuahua (A large border city south of Texas) in your prayers.
In my time there in Mazatlan, I was blessed to teach and host their newest church planting class. This class was full of new students who are all praying about being sent out in the future. During the conference I was able to teach on the Biblical basis of this idea of a sending hub which is found all over the book of Acts. One of my favorite things to do at these conferences where I am not leading, is to meet and encourage pastors I don’t know in this great work of church planting. I was not surprised to see that God had many divine appointments prepared for me.
When Sunday rolled around, I got to lead worship for their congregation of 200 and also teach them a message from John 6:15-21, that I titled, “Jesus in the storms of life!” The good news from that story is that Jesus will always come after us and eventually rescue us. Even when we are getting pounded by the storms and trials of life like the disicples were in the middle of the Sea of Galilee!
Whenever I get to travel and visit our church plants, I keep in mind that I am not traveling alone. I represent a great team of believers who are working together and standing by side to reach people with the saving message of Jesus Christ. I am proud to not only be sent out by our local church, Calvary Rosarito, but also be sent out BY YOU, my precious partners and co-laborers.
I never tire of thanking you for allowing us to serve as your missionaries here in Mexico. It is through your prayers and encouragement that God meets our spiritual needs, and through your financial giving that God meets our physical needs. We love you and give thanks for you!
Con mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)
Mike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel
Prayer Requests!
#1- Pray that God would bless our new batch of church planters that began there new classes in February! (38 students enrolled this year)
#2- Pray that God will provide our children Grace and Daniel’s with good jobs.
Praise Reports!
#1- Praise God for a wonderful missions trip to our church plant in Mazatlan!
#2- Praise God for Sarah’s mom (Diane) moving down to Mexico this month to be closer to us and to join our church family!
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