Greetings from Mexico. We had another busy month of ministry in June, and in this missions update I am excited to tell you all about it. June is a special month for our family, and the reason for that is that was the month we were sent down to Mexico to plant the church!
It was the end of June 2002 when our family left California to move to Rosarito to plant the church. And this month our church celebrated 23 years of God’s faithfulness to us!
We had a wonderful anniversary party together, that included food, fellowship, music and over 600 from our congregation in attendance. I was blessed to share about the beginnings of the church, and for many of our new members, they were hearing that story for the very first time.
A special surprise for me was when they made a 23 year highlight video of some of my most cherished memories. I am so thankful to the faithfulness and kindness of God to our family over this past 23 years.
Speaking of new people at the church, our church has been growing a lot recently. We have been growing so much in fact, that next month (August) we are moving to four weekend services. Even with our 700+ seat occupancy, every single seat in our main (11am) service has been filled recently, so we are adding a new afternoon service.
So starting in August, we will have four services that meet at #1- Saturday 6:30pm, and then Sundays at #2- 8:30am, #3- 10:30am, and #4- 12:30pm! Please pray for this transition as it will be an extra work load on me, our church staff, and on our servant team.
On the church front, we have some more big news. The owner of our church building is finally ready to sell us the building. (We own the two parking lots on either side of the sanctuary, but the owner of the church property was not ready to sell UNTIL NOW.) We are expecting the price to be around $1.5 million US dollars, so we will need a miracle to purchase it. But the good news is our God is a miracle making God that has told us in Luke 1:37 that “Nothing is impossible with God!” Please pray with us for the miraculous provision from the Lord to purchase the church facility!
Also at the end of June, I was blessed to take a team of six men to a fantastic Pastors and Leaders conference located in Temecula California! The focus of this conference was “The Way Forward, Ministry according to Jesus!” And I was delighted that the headline speaker was one of my all time favorites, Alistair Begg of Parkside church in Cleveland .
I have listened to Alistair over the years through his online radio ministry “Truth for Life” for many years, but the funny thing is that he is Sarah’s absolute favorite Bible teacher. I have the blessing to listening to his online sermons preached almost every morning as my precious wife gets ready for work. To hear this seasoned Pastor teach in person was both motivating and encouraging.
Another aspect of this conference I enjoyed was their focus on church planting. While at the conference, I attended a Cultivate Church planting network meeting, and was blessed to hear their goal of planting 1000 churches over the next 10 years. The cultivate leadership team has a bunch of Pastors that are close friends of mine and I feel honored and blessed that they want to partner with our ministry.
Also on this trip, I was excited to bring a team of six men from our staff and church planting program. I have always modeled our mission’s ministry after the ministry of the Apostle Paul. And one thing you never saw Paul doing, was traveling alone. Paul always brought along young men like Timothy, Silas, Titus and others to serve with him and learn from the great apostle. One of my greatest joys in the ministry, is traveling with my own personal Timothy’s as we serve together and I am blessed to pour into them. Please keep the five men that went to the conference with me in your prayers as they pray about their own future ministry opportunities.
Finally, I want to thank you once again for your partnership with our family. Having served on the mission field now for over 23 years, I have seen the prayer and financial support of many missionaries dry up over time. But thanks to you, our support and partnership has remained strong. Sarah and I are so thankful for you, our ministry partners that have stood faithfully with us over the years. We love you and are praying for you.
Con mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)
Mike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel
Prayer Requests!
#1- Pray that God will provide a financial miracle and allow us to purchase our church facility.
#2- Pray that God will bless our church planting conference coming up on August 1-2.
Praise Reports!
#1- Praise God for a wonderful 23 year anniversary celebration at the church!
#2- Praise God for a wonderful pastors and leaders conference that our team was blessed to enjoy.
For our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873
For your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.
Or, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.
