Unless They Are Sent Pt. 2 September 2020 Update

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent?
– The Apostle Paul, Romans 10:14, 15

In my last update, I talked about how the Lord has used me in two of the three major ministries of SGWM: equipping future missionaries through our School of Missions and internship, and church planting in the 10/40 window as I help teach classes via Skype to one of our South Asia schools and discipling some young men here in the states to do the same. But I also alluded to the fact that I have taken on the role of Director of Missionary Sending for SGWM. I want to talk a little bit about that in this update.

In this role, my job will be to provide oversight over the ministry of taking care of American missionaries on the foreign mission field. SGWM provides a lot of administrative help in sending missionaries all over the world! We provide an avenue for missionaries to receive funds in a hassle-free way, we provide pastoral care where needed, we post and send out missionaries’ updates to their supporters, and so much more! I am excited to take on this role, to say the least! I have a passion for missions, so to be able to focus my efforts more to this role will be really helpful for me. Pray that the Lord continually provides fresh wisdom and vision for me in this role!

Things on the family front continue to go well. Maggie and Harrison are excelling in their schooling, and Jude and Clara are happy, healthy, and bring so much joy and fun to our home! Amy and I continue to lead our growing young adults group for CCSG, and we are excited to teach a family discipleship class at the church this winter. Pray for me and the other pastors at our church for wisdom and vision concerning moving forward as a church from the ways that COVID affected us. 

We would ask that you pray for our finances and consider partnering with our ministry financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.

We also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:

Email Updates

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

Unless They Are Sent Pt. 1 – Garcia Family August 2020 Update

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent?
– The Apostle Paul, Romans 10:14, 15

SGWM is all about planting churches among those who have never heard the good news of Jesus, especially those who previously have never had access to that good news. We do this in three ways: 1) by being a missionary sending ministry, where we send missionaries from the U.S. into the foreign mission field and help care for them, 2) by working with nationals in other countries who plant churches and Bible schools to train other nationals to go do the same, with a current focus in South Asia, and 3) by equipping young people passionate about foreign missions at our yearly Calvary School of Missions and through our internship program. These three ministries of SGWM are our response to Paul’s questions in Romans 10.

Teaching a class at CSOM

As I alluded to in my last update, I’ve taken on a new role with SGWM leading the first ministry mentioned above as Director of Missionary Sending. I’ll talk about that more in my next update, but for this update, I want to mention how I’ve been involved with the other two aspects of SGWM over this last month. First of all, I have been teaching a class through the book of Hebrews via Skype for one of our South Asia Bible Schools. The goal of these schools is to train nationals in these countries in order to reach the unreached in their own culture with the Gospel. I pray that there are students in this class I am teaching who will plant churches among the unreached!

Leading worship at CSOM

As I mentioned last time, I am also using this opportunity to train two of our interns in cross-cultural Bible teaching. J.S. has been doing an amazing job as we’ve switched off teaching the past few weeks, and I will be training Bryan, who just returned home from helping lead our School of Missions in Mexico, over the next three weeks. At that time, I will fully pass the baton over to them for this class. This experience will be invaluable for these two young men who want to start a Bible School in the Middle East!

Speaking of our School of Missions, I was so blessed to be able to visit it twice over this last month! Of course, both times I led worship for our students and leaders. The first time, I taught a class to the students on how the Bible defines worship, and how that relates to our heart for missions and practical matters of worship cross-culturally. The second time, I mostly just connected with the students to see how their experience was going and how the Lord was speaking to them, and I also had the opportunity to connect with 3 of our missionary families in Mexico, including our newest SGWM missionary who pastors Calvary Chapel Acapulco and was teaching a class at CSOM. I’m so thankful to the Lord for setting up these opportunities for me! And I’m also thankful for authentic Mexican tacos; no others can compare!

I love tacos, and I love these dear friends and co-laborers in Christ

Our family is doing great! Maggie (age 6) just started 1st grade, and Harrison (who just turned 5!) just started Kindergarten. Pray for Amy as she primarily homeschools them during the day while caring for and training Jude (3) and Clara (1). We certainly have our hands full! I also continue to lead the worship ministry and Life Group ministry at CCSG, and Amy and I lead our young adults group with my sister Jenn. It is an interesting time to be a pastor for a local church, but I wouldn’t trade this calling for anything. 

With Harrison at his 5th birthday party

We would ask that you pray for our finances and consider partnering with our ministry financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.

We also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:

Email Updates

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

Devoted – Garcia Family Update July 2020

Hello Friends and Family!

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at our update. It means so much to us that you would care about what is going on in our lives and pray for us. Lately, the Lord has been moving me toward being more devoted as an individual and as a family as we move forward in our calling for His work. He has done this by bringing me to passages in my daily reading like:

“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.” Colossians 4:2

“Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; arise, therefore, and build…” 1 Chronicles 22:19

“No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62

We all have a tremendous calling on our lives to devote ourselves, heart, mind, soul, and body, to the work of reaching the nations for Christ!

Family

The family is doing great! Clara is walking now, which we are (hesitantly) excited about, and Harrison is doing great reading and will begin “official” schooling soon! Please pray for us, as we have been hit with an unusual amount of spiritual warfare lately, from nightmares to sleeplessness to anxiety. It is good to be reminded that we are in a spiritual battle.

CSOM

The SGWM Calvary School of Missions is underway! The new batch of students are doing great in Mexico, and Pastor Mike and myself are leading the SGWM home office team as well as the weekly church administration while many of our leaders are down there with the school. I am thankful that I will get to go down to the school twice for a couple of days to get to know the students better and lead them with some devotions and worship. We are praying that some of these new students will become interns over the course of this next year with SGWM and CCSG!

Speaking of interns… some of you may know that some new and intense persecution has risen in one of the countries we work with, meaning that much of our ministry is changing in that location. Thankfully, this has not affected our ability to teach a Bible school class via Skype for one campus in that country. This has provided me the opportunity to teach a Thursday evening class through the book of Hebrews to that group. This time, however, I am using the opportunity to train two of our interns, J.S. and Bryan, who feel a call to pastoral ministry on the foreign mission field, on how to teach the Bible cross-culturally through a translator, so they are co-teaching the class with me. Super exciting stuff! I encourage you to click on their names above to find out more about them and their ministry, and consider partnering with them! I plan to do this with each new batch of interns who feel a pastoral calling on their lives.

Looking Forward

Something exciting that will be happening for us in ministry is that I (Joel) will be taking on a new role with SGWM as Director of Missionary Sending. This is a big job that includes leadership over accepting, sending, and caring for all SGWM missionaries outside of the 10/40 Window and CSOM/Interns (which are two other departments of SGWM). I will give more details in the coming months, but please pray that the Lord would guide us with vision for this aspect of SGWM and the ability to manage my time well and do the job with excellence.

We would ask that you pray for our finances and consider partnering with our ministry financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.

We also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:

Email Updates

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

Garcia Family Update May 2020

Hey Family & Friends!

Here is a quick video update including how we are handling the world’s present circumstances in our family and ministry:

If you would like to donate to the SGWM COVID-19 Relief Fund, you can do so by CLICKING HERE.

Please pray for our financial needs as we live largely off of financial support just like our international missionaries, and we are praying for the Lord to provide more financially to cover some increased costs of living. Please pray that the Lord may provide for us in His will, whatever amount of support He deems sufficient (Proverbs 30:7-9). If you feel led to partner with us financially, instructions are below.

If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.

We also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:

Email Updates

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

I’m Back!

Hey Friends!

After my last update, Amy and I received a ton of remarks from people concerning my comment about praying for God’s will whether He would have us move to Jordan or not. I mentioned it casually, as we are ALWAYS trying to remain open to what God has for us, but I realize that I should have been more clear that we have received no direction from the Lord about leaving the states full-time. I just know that God moves hearts on short-term trips, especially ones where we are praying specifically about a new work God is doing, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t bring any presuppositions into Jordan that would have kept me from clearly hearing God’s voice. But, for now, at least, God still has us here ministering to His church in SoCal and supporting ministry all over the world through my work with SGWM.

We had an amazing time in Israel! It was a very fast-paced trip, but because of the small size of our group there, we got just about as much done in 6 days as most groups do in 10+. I’m still digesting everything I saw and learned there, but I’m already noticing how it has affected the way I read, study, and teach Scripture.

By far the sweetest moment in Israel was out on the Sea of Galilee with this great crew

Our time in Jordan required a huge mindset switch, as our group grew in size and the pace slowed significantly. While we did do some ministry (leading worship, refugee visits, and I got to teach at a church-planting conference we put on), our real mission was to slow down and listen to what God would speak to us about the ministry He’s laid on our hearts for that country, and who He may be calling to go live there. 

The plot of land we plan to build a Bible School on

The Jordan leg of the trip took on a unique flavor, as Pastor Trent and I were given the opportunity to give our young team a taste of what it’s like to minister in a culture so foreign to our own. We could tell that there was a big adjustment for some of our team there realizing that we cannot simply bring American discipleship tactics to that area of the world; we must contextualize our methods to reach people with the Gospel in a way that they can digest it. So our “vision tour” doubled as an on-the-ground training. The Lord had amazing things in mind that we never would have imagined, and I was honored to be a part of leading it. 

Thank you all so much for your prayers over me and my family during this trip, and for all of you who brought meals and supported Amy and the kids in my absence! Please keep us in prayer as we continue day-to-day life and ministry, and as I have an upcoming trip leading youth to Nepal this Summer, and prayerfully a trip to Africa to minister to our missionaries there in the Fall.

Please pray for our financial needs as we live largely off of financial support just like our international missionaries, and we are praying for the Lord to provide more financially to cover some increased costs of living. Please pray that the Lord may provide for us in His will, whatever amount of support He deems sufficient (Proverbs 30:7-9). If you feel led to partner with us financially, instructions are below.

If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.

We also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:

Email Updates

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

Renewed Vision, Needed Prayers – Garcia Family Update January 2020

Hello Friends and Family!

With a new year, I always find it helpful to think through where God has us and what He has us doing. I am more convinced than ever of His role for me in world missions using the pastoral gifts He’s given me of leadership, encouraging, teaching, and administration. I have been stirred early this year to “go” more; to go where our international ministries are and strengthen the disciples there (Acts 13:43; 14:21-23). And, in the case of my upcoming trip to Jordan, help establish new ones while making my life a blank check written out to Christ, open to where He may send me short-term or long-term.

Before I leave for Israel (to bolster my biblical education) and Jordan (to pray and seek vision over a potential new SGWM ministry there), I wanted to present our latest prayer needs to you all.

1. Pray that the Lord would use me in Jordan to help guide a few of our interns and others who are praying about moving there long-term. I’ll be praying with them, seeking vision on what God wants for that part of the world through us, leading times of worship for them, teaching some of the national leadership on the ground, and doing some ministry among refugees there.

2. Pray that the Lord would give me vision for my own family. I will specifically be praying for our team there, my own ministry with our local church, and whether the Lord wants us to continue serving from our home in California or to move to Jordan or elsewhere. My prayer is that my life would be all the more surrendered to him after these two weeks.

3. Pray for Amy and the kids while I am gone, as it is difficult for them when I go on long trips. The kids are already having experiences that we equate with demonic spiritual warfare. Pray for their protection and Amy’s strength. Jordan is relatively safe, but it is still a spiritually dark part of the world and the enemy will oppose me going.

4. Finally, please pray for our financial needs as we live largely off of financial support just like our international missionaries. Our rent has just been raised a significant amount, and with 4 kids who are growing rapidly, the cost of groceries and other household consumables is rising as well. We trust the Lord always to sustain us, but we are hoping to raise an additional $350-$400 more per month. Please pray that the Lord may provide for us in His will, whatever amount of support He deems sufficient (Proverbs 30:7-9). If you feel led to partner with us financially, please visit our missionary page under “Find A Missionary” at SGWM.com.

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

Ready To Go! – Joel and Amy Garcia Update Nov 2019

Hello Family and Friends!

We are so honored that you’ve taken the time to check out our latest update. The Lord has been doing lots of exciting things in our lives, and we are so thankful for those who partner with us financially, in the work of the ministry, and in prayer.

Our family is doing great! Maggie is doing a fantastic job in school, especially in her weekly literature class. Jude is taking leaps in his learning, especially after potty-training. Harrison is a ball of energy, and loves to play basketball with Joel after Joel gets home from work. And Clara has energy to match Harrison’s! She finally seems to be really close to sleeping through the night as well, much to our delight!

The Ephesians class Joel was teaching has come to an end. It was a challenging and enriching experience for him, and he is looking forward to teaching more Bible classes next year.

Amy is doing a terrific job as a mom and manager of the household, making it a welcoming environment as we host young adults, Life Groups, and plenty of other guests regularly.

Finally, Joel is ready for his next international adventure! In late January/early February, he will be headed off for a couple weeks to Israel and Jordan. Israel will be a great experience; he won’t be there for too long, but it will be amazing for him to get a feel for the location of where the majority of the Biblical narrative takes place, and will hopefully just be a precursor for a longer trip at some other point. He’s also looking forward to his time in Jordan, where he will be with a team scoping out what kind of ministry SGWM may be able to plant there, as well as doing some Bible teaching.

Please keep us in prayer with all that is going on! A trip like the one Joel is taking to the Middle East obviously comes at a cost. If the Lord so leads you, we would be so thankful if you’d like to make a financial contribution. This can be a one-time partnership, which certainly helps towards trips like that. Or, you can become a monthly financial partner, which goes a long way towards helping us maintain our ministry with SGWM and establish a budget. We appreciate your support and prayers!

If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.

We also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:

Email Updates

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

New Life & Fresh Vision

Hello Family and Friends!

We pray you are doing well, and as always, we are so thankful that you’ve taken the time to read this update and see what the Lord is doing in and through our lives. We are so grateful for each and every one of you!

Family Camping Trip

After a lot of traveling the first half of this year, I’m holding off on any more traveling until 2020 (but there are exciting trips in the works!). That means I’m settling down for work at the home office for the rest of this year. But that doesn’t mean things aren’t exciting!

Five of the students from SGWM’s Summer School of Missions have opted to join us at Saving Grace as interns, as well as three other missions-minded individuals. They’ve made a year-long commitment to serve in the office and at our church, while working to raise support, so that they can see all that goes on behind the scenes of the church. During this year, they will learn most of the basics of what it may look like for them to plant a church in another country, and each of them will be going on at least one international trip as a “vision tour” to see if it may be a country that the Lord is leading them to move to. 

This intern program has really breathed some fresh life into the home office and our church, and it is exciting for me that I get to be a part of discipling these young potential church-planters and missionaries! One of my roles over the next couple of months is to teach some Bible courses for them to give them some additional Biblical training (and we’ve also opened up these classes to the rest of our church, which is a huge blessing!)

Teaching a course on the Book of Ephesians

The family is doing great as well, and little Clara (5 months) is coming along just fine. Maggie (5) is doing a great job in school and a new venture for her, a literature class she goes to weekly that she loves! Harrison (4) is passionate about food, singing, basketball, and life in general. And Jude (2) is now potty-trained! As you can see in the pic above, we also had a fun little family camping trip this Summer. 

Thank you all for your prayers and support! Please continue to pray for Joel as he works with Saving Grace’s new interns to train them for ministry and missions, as well as his accounting responsibilities with SGWM and his pastoral role with CCSG. And pray for Amy as she manages the family and household in the thick of life with little ones. 

If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.

We also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:

Email Updates 

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

Summer Update: Garcia Family August 2019

Hello Friends!

We are here in the middle of Summer, and this year has seen a lot of travel for Joel. On top of the 18-day trip to Peru and Brazil back in January/February, Joel got to go back to Peru in June/July with a bunch of youth and young adults from CCSG, and he also had the opportunity to go to CCSG’s 4-day youth camp in August to teach, lead worship, and minister to our church’s youth, including many who were on the Peru trip, and the children of one our SGWM missionary families.

That means that Joel by and large won’t be traveling for the rest of the year, but is looking forward and starting to already think ahead to getting out on the field next year. For now, he’s gotten to help support SGWM’s Calvary School of Missions in Mexico (a six-week program of intensive training for students for cross-cultural missions) by holding the fort at the home base in Yorba Linda. That means continuing his duties with the financial department, preaching periodically for Pastor Trent while he is on the field, and helping support trips like the School of Missions and a long trip to South Asia that a few of SGWM’s staff and interns will be taking in a few months.

One really cool thing Joel got to do this Summer was bless one of our affiliate missionaries, the Record Family, by representing SGWM at their home church for an update they were giving on their ministry. The Records have a focus on cross-cultural apologetics. It was great to meet them in person for the first time, and to help pass along our vision for sending missionaries well to their amazing home church.

Keep our family in prayer as we prep for Maggie’s kindergarten year of homeschooling while raising our other three little ones. It is a challenge, but we are so blessed by our children and want to give our all in raising them in the ways of the Lord!

A candid moment with the kids (L-R: Maggie, Clara, Harrison, Jude)

If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.

We also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:

Email Updates

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia

Garcia Family July 2019 Video Update: Back to Peru!

Hello Friends!

Thank you all for opening up this update so you can see what is going on in our ministry and keep us in your prayers. It really means the world to us to have people supporting us as home-base missionaries supporting international missions and missionaries. You are all an answer to our prayers!

I (Joel) just returned home from Huacho, Peru. Some of you remember that I went there a few months ago with some other pastors to scope out SGWM’s ministry there in preparation for this recent trip. We took almost 40 teenagers, young adults, and their parents to bless Pastor Craig Tippie’s church, Calvary Chapel Huacho. It was a fantastic trip full of twists and turns. Our entire team was amazing, holding to our mantra for short-term missions: “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken.” Here is a short video update that I recorded in the middle of the trip explaining why I love short-term trips like these with young people. I wasn’t able to get it uploaded with spotty internet connection in Peru, but here it is!

Amy did great back at home with the four kids, especially with the help of our family and some of our awesome supporters. But, it was great for me to get back home, and great for the family to have me back. Keep us in prayer as I will be representing SGWM for one of our affiliate missionaries this week, and in a few weeks I’ll be heading to our church’s youth retreat with Pastor Mike, where I can hopefully use that time to follow up with our youth who were impacted by their trip to Huacho.

Here are some pics from the trip. Thank you all again for your prayers and support!

Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia