Greetings from Mexico,

I think that all of us have had way more than our share of BAD NEWS recently, so in this missions update, I wanted to share some GOOD NEWS with you! At the end of April, we were able to send out our newest church plant, and I want to tell you all about it!

I first met my friend Martin Ramirez and his wife and children about 3 years ago when they began attending our church after suffering through a difficult experience at a former church. After sitting for a season, they began faithfully serving with excellence in our children’s ministry!

Eventually a couple of Martin’s friends also joined up with our church and they all began to serve together. I learned later that all of them lived in an adjoining community called La Gloria. La Gloria is a small town of about 20,000 people located between Rosarito and Tijuana, and is about a 20 minute drive to our church.  

As I got to know Martin, he shared with me his life-long desire to serve in the ministry but he had never had the opportunity to be trained up. I asked him to pray about joining up with our 2 year church planting program. Martin excelled in this course, and eventually,  two of his friends joined up in the class, and they did well too!

Over a year ago,  I asked Martin to start a home fellowship bible study in his home in La Gloria, which is one of our first steps to church plant. When I visited their church plant, I was pleasantly surprised to see 30 teens and adults packed into a small home listening to Martin’s Bible study! In fact, the room was so stuffed, that I had to sit on the floor.

As I watched Martin teach, God placed it on my heart that it was time that they move out and rent a local storefront. Their first step of faith, was a very small rental that could hold 25 seats. After outgrowing that small room, they took another step of faith and rented a larger one double that size. In the final meeting before the corona virus hit, they had 60 adults attend their Sunday afternoon meeting!

Just last Wednesday (April 29) , I had the opportunity to ordain Martin as the new Senior Pastor of this church plant, Calvary Chapel La Gloria! Even though the service was online (due to the quarantine) we were able to celebrate and rejoice in the great work that God has done and we are asking our Almighty God to do even greater things! As I watched Martin preach from our church pulpit, God reminded me that the attacks of the enemy and even pandemics cannot and will not stop the work of God!

I was also reminded that all of our ministry is a team effort including this church plant! We could never have planted this church (or the 23 before it) without the faithful prayers and financial support of you, our precious ministry partners! As Paul the Apostle wrote about his ministry in 1^st Corinthians 3:6  “I planted, Apollos watered, AND GOD gave the increase”    I want to thank you once again for your prayers and financial giving, we are honored and blessed to serve the Lord as your missionaries here in Mexico!

Con mucho amor de Mexico,  (with much love from Mexico)

Mike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel

Prayer Requests!

#1-  That God would keep our family, church, city, nation, and world safe in this corona virus, and deliver us!

#2-  That God would bless our new church plant, Calvary Chapel La Gloria!

Praise Reports!

#1- Praise God for the great response to our improving online services! We have had thousands of views, and many first time professions of faith!   

#2- Praise God that God’s people are continuing to give financially so we can keep our church staff employed, and continue to support our church planters!

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.https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B

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.

Greetings from Mexico, 

What a shocker this has been for us all living through the dangerous days of the Corona Virus. Please know that I am SO SORRY that you and your family are having to live through this. I am praying for you, and believing that God is going to get you and your loved ones through these difficult days. 

In this missions update, I wanted to update you in regards to how our church and family are responding to the tragedy of the Corona Virus. Just like up in the USA, the Corona Virus is alive and kicking down here in Rosarito, Mexico as well! Our Government and leaders have been basically following California in the wise restrictions they have put in place to limit the spread of the virus through social distancing. 

Following the Local laws, three weeks ago we were asked to close down our live church services and forced to go to an online only platform. Now the timing of this announcement for our church was very interesting. Our church has never done live streaming before, BUT just 3 months ago we purchased a camera and the needed equipment, and we had been doing test runs live with our equipment before the corona virus ever hit. So when we were forced to go to an online platform, God had prepared us and we were ready! 

For three weeks now we have streamed our services live on the internet. Our main service times are Wednesday evenings at 6:30pm and Sunday mornings at 9am. If you would like to join us, you can stream our sermons live on our church’s facebook page (search “Calvary Chapel Rosarito” ) or our church’s YOUTUBE channel! (again, search “Calvary Chapel Rosarito) Both of these platforms save our content so our audience can tune in and watch at their own convenience! 

When the corona virus hit, I decided to change up my teaching format from our usual verse by verse teaching to a special topical series I have called “HEROES”! In each service,  I pick a Bible hero and we attempt to apply the lessons and principals from that hero’s life,  to our lives as Christians facing the Corona Virus today! 

To our surprise,  God has given us a large online audience. My recent Sunday sermon on David vs. Goliath, has generated over 11,000 views already. Best of all, we had three first time professions of faith ONLINE, after I presented the message of salvation and gave an invitation! 

Additional studies at our church include a daily devotion for our congregation in Spanish that we stream live each weekday at 10am! Our children’s ministry, youth ministry, and young adult’s ministry have also transitioned to weekly online meetings! Please keep our church and ministry in your prayers during this difficult time! 

As bad as things are, there is still a lot of GOOD NEWS available for you today as a Christian! And as I finish up this update, I want to remind you of FIVE GOOD THINGS that God is doing in the world right now!

#1- God is still seated on His throne in heaven!

#2- God has promised that He will never leave you or forsake you! (Hebrews 13:5) 

#3- The battle (of the Corona Virus) belongs to the Lord! (1^st Samuel 17:47) 

#4- God has promised to work all things out for good in the lives of His children! (Romans 8:28) 

And #5- I know that God is going to use this corona virus to bring a great revival of souls into His Kingdom! (perhaps the final great revival of them all, wouldn’t that be awesome! )

Precious friends, you don’t know how much your prayers and financial support mean to our family, especially in these desperate days of the corona virus. Thank you once again for partnering with us and standing firm with us to reach Mexico and beyond for Jesus Christ! 

Con mucho amor de Mexico,  (with much love from Mexico)

Mike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel

Prayer Requests!

#1-  That God would keep our family, church, city, nation, and world safe in this corona virus! 

#2-  That God would bring forth a great revival of souls through this corona virus!

Praise Reports!

#1- Praise God for our newest church plant that we will be sending out in April, Calvary Chapel La Gloria! (20 minutes east of our church)  

#2- Praise God that our church’s online services are reaching many people with uplifting content, passionate worship,  Bible teaching, and the message of salvation!   

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. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B

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.

Greetings from Mexico, 

In this missions update, I am excited to talk to you about some staff changes that we have made at church since the new year!  Last year, of the five church plants we sent out, 3 of the pastors were our assistant pastors. When we sent out Pastor Fernando to Las Vegas, we realized we were in dire need of some new Assistant Pastors. 

After 4 months of praying, we were excited to ordain 5 new associate Pastors to our Pastoral staff. Each one of these Godly men meets the Biblical requirements of being an elder found in 1^st Timothy and Titus. They also have a deep love for God’s people and a long term commitment to our local church. In this update, I wanted to introduce you to our 5 new associate Pastors. 

Ted Thayer (right) joined our staff as a missionary from Santa Barbara over 5 years ago. Ted joined us after serving on the wonderful staff of Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara, and he brought many gifts with him. Ted is a gifted worship leader, an amazing electric guitar player, and a fantastic Bible teacher. Ted has led our weekly English men’s Bible study for the past 3 years, and we are excited to have him serving as our Associate Pastor over English Ministries! 

Mario De Los Santos and his wife Wendy came to faith in our church, were baptized, and over time, proved themselves as gifted servant leaders. Mario has recently taken over leadership of our New Believers class and ministry and is doing a fantastic job. This past month, we were blessed to baptize 22 people, and every one of these friends was part of our new believers class. We are excited to have Pastor Mario leading our New Believers ministry. 

Jorge Blancas came to our church many years ago as a drug-addicted and hopeless man! Eventually, George became an intern and worked his way up to a staff position. Over that time, George also married a young lady from the church and had a couple of daughters. Last month we were honored and blessed to ordain my good friend George as our new Associate Pastor over facilities and security! 

I often call my friend Francisco Ahumada the nicest man in the church. If you have visited our church, no doubt you have been greeted by him as he leads our friendly welcome ministry! Last year, we were blessed as Francisco married our director of Celebrate Recovery Cheryl! It was an honor to ordain this Godly man as our new associate pastor over the welcome ministry and celebrate recovery! 

Mario Medrano has been a missionary attending our church for over 10 years now. After graduating from our church planting program, Mario was sent out to plant a church in La Paz. After 4 years of faithful ministry there, Mario moved back to Rosarito to help me head up our church planting program. Mario is my travel buddy as we travel around Mexico together visiting and ministering to our church plants! It was a great honor to ordain Mario as our new Associate Pastor of Church Planting! 

It blesses me to share the stories of these five men with you, because each one is a partner with you in our ministry here in Mexico! Thanks again for your love, prayers, and financial support. 

Con mucho amor de Mexico,  (with much love from Mexico)

Mike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel

Prayer Requests!

#1-  That God would bless our five new associate Pastors who have joined our church staff!  

#2-  That God would continue to provide for the needs of our family and church in Rosarito!  

Praise Reports!

#1- Praise God for our newest church plant in February, CCOtay Mesa in East Tijuana! 

#2- Praise God that we were able to travel to Mazatlan to host a church planting conference, and join them as they planted a new church! (Calvary Mazatlan East)  

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. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B

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.

Greetings from Mexico, 

In this missions update, I am excited to talk to you about our upcoming church planting work outside of Mexico. As I write this report I am sitting in the San Diego Airport preparing to fly to Phoenix to visit our church plant in nearby Waddell, Arizona, Refresh Church! 

Just four weeks in, this non-denominational church plant led by my good friend Pastor Donny and Coby Aldana (who completed our church planting conference) is already averaging around 100 people. Praise God! 

Also in January we were able to send out one of our American interns, Jonathon Fruin.  (A young man that grew up in our church) Jonathon is preparing to translate for our bilingual church plant in Las Vegas led by Pastor Fernando Serrano. 

The fun thing about this church plant is that it will be the exact reverse of our church. This will be a bilingual church in the USA, where the sermon is preached in Spanish, then translated into English. Isn’t that cool! 

One of the most exciting things I get to share in this update is that God is extending our church planting borders to beyond Mexico and the USA! Jesus told the early believers in Mark 16:15 to go into ALL THE WORLD and preach the Gospel! As our new church planting class prepares to begin in 2020, we are happy to announce that we have four NEW NATIONS represented in our 2020 church planting class!  

#1- We have a couple taking the course who are from Sweden. (Wouldn’t it be amazing to plant a church in Europe together!) #2- We have a couple entering into the class who have an invitation to move North to Canada to church plant. #3- We have a new intern who has moved up to Rosarito from Peru, who is planning on returning to church plant in Peru after he completes our program. #4- Forth and finally, our intern Giovanni is planning on planting in Guatemala later this year after he completes our two-year church planting and internship program. 

Recently Giovanni traveled to Guatemala on his church planting vision tour with two of our assistant Pastors. After our pastors returned, Giovanni stayed in Guatemala for two months to get his legal paperwork in order. While Giovanni is 100% Guatemalan (both his mother and father were born there) he was actually born in Tijuana and had never visited Guatemala or any of his family members living there. 

On this trip, Giovanni got to meet his Grandma and Grandpa, Uncles, Aunts, and cousins for the very first time. Giovanni also got to share the gospel with his family and their friends and to share with them about his future church plant.  (We are targeting this plant to begin in the summer of 2020!) When Giovanni held an information meeting about the future church plant in a local coffee shop, over 20 adults attended showing interest and desiring to be a part of it. Please keep this future church plant to Guatemala in your prayers! 

It blesses me to share about these future church plants with you because all of this is your spiritual fruit. As the Apostle Paul wrote about his ministry in 1^st Corinthians 3:6,  I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase! Truly our ministry and church planting is a team effort and we are honored and blessed that you have chosen to partner with us as your missionaries. Thanks again for your love, prayers, and financial support. 

Con mucho amor de Mexico,  (with much love from Mexico)

Mike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel

Prayer Requests!

#1-  That God would bless our new batch of church planters that are beginning the course next week! 

#2-  That God would continue to provide for the needs of our family and church in Rosarito!  

Praise Reports!

#1- Praise God for a great beginning to Refresh Church located in Waddell Arizona! 

#2- Praise God that our church had the largest attended regular service in our history in January, with nearly 1,600 in attendance! 

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 go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, www.sgwm.com/wp2010/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/   Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.

Greetings from Mexico, 

This month our church got to send out another church plant, and this one was not only  very special,  but it really hit home for me and our church family!

I met my good friend Fernando Serrano, over 10 years ago when he and his family joined our church here in Rosarito! After seeing Fernando serve and seeing his spiritual gifting’s, I offered Fernando a full time position on our church staff as an assistant Pastor. 

Over the past 10 years, Fernando has served our church family in a wide variety of ministries that I would like to share with you. First off, Fernando started up our young adults group we call “Agamos”, (ages 18 to 30) that averages nearly 100 young adults at their weekly meetings. Next, Fernando transformed our once struggling Spanish men’s study, “hombres de fe” (men of faith) and transformed it into a large thriving weekly hub for men to grow spiritually. Fernando, also has been the director of our ever important church counseling program.  

Besides all that, Fernando served as one of my key right hand men, and one of my main translators for our church’s bilingual services. About 6 months ago, Fernando approached me and told me that he believed that God was calling him and his family to plant a bilingual church in Las Vegas Nevada. You can imagine my shock and surprise as I didn’t see this coming. But as I prayed and considered the pain it would cost our local church body to lose him, God reminded me of the early church located in the city of Antioch. 

Acts Chapter 13 tells us that two men named Saul (later Paul the Apostle) and Barnabas were leaders in the local church located in the city of Antioch. We can be sure that the gifted Apostle was the favorite Bible teacher of that congregation, yet God was calling Paul and Barnabas to leave their friends and family and church to travel around the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel and plant churches. I can imagine the difficulty that church faced in this decision, yet they were willing to allow their best to depart, and they sent Paul and Barnabas out on their first missionary journey! 

This past weekend, we had our sending services dedicated to hear from and send out our dear friends Fernando, his wife Liliana, and their children. There were many tears as we said our goodbyes and sent them out. Yet my firm believe in God’s heart to church plant has filled my heart with joy for the privilege and honor of sending out this family to complete the work that God has called them to do. 

In October,  I was blessed to travel with Fernando to Las Vegas on our church planting vision tour. We spent a lot of our time in North Las Vegas (the area of this future church plant, over 50% Hispanic) to seek the Lord. God spoke to us clearly through His word, and through prayer, and through His Spirit. We are believing that God is going to do great things through this bilingual church. 

Fernando is not only one of my best friends, but we were often roomates as we got to travel around Mexico to visit our church planters.  Our wives are also great friends, and our kids (who are the same age) are too! To be honest, it hurts to send out your best servants, but because we believe that this is God’s plan, we are happy to do it. Would you please keep Las Vegas Bilingual Church in your prayers, and if you have friends or family living in Vegas, please pass on the word about this new church coming soon to transform sin city! 

Finally, I want to thank you once again for partnering with us here in the ministry! It is through your prayers that God meets our spiritual needs, and through your financial giving that God provides for our physical needs. We are honored and blessed to serve the Lord as your missionaries here in the ripe fields of Mexico!  

Con mucho amor de Mexico,  (with much love from Mexico)

Mike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel

Prayer Requests!

#1-  That God would continue to bless the preparation of our newest church plant, Las Vegas Bilingual Church and the Serrano family! 

#2-  That God would continue to provide for the needs of our family and church in Rosarito!  

Praise Reports!

#1- Praise God last month for a blessed church planting vision tour to Las Vegas! 

#2- Praise God for the 20 new believers we got to baptize in our October Baptisms!

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 go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, www.sgwm.com/wp2010/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/   Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.

Greetings from Mexico,

In this month’s mission’s letter, I wanted to give you an update on our next church plant!

One of the most surprising aspects for me about our church planting program is that God has given us the great privilege of planting 4 (and soon to be 5) churches back in the United States!

Only God could call an American Missionary to plant a church planting school in Mexico, to train up church planters to church plant in the United States. This certainly was never my plan, but I can see now it was God’s!

I had the privilege of meeting my good friend Donnie Aldana over 10 years ago while he was on staff at a large church in Surprise, Arizona. Donnie led yearly missions teams to our church in Rosarito where we quickly became friends. After Donnie taught at one of our church’s conferences one year, God put it on my heart to ask him to pray about joining us someday to train to church plant!  Although Donnie was very open to it, the timing wasn’t right, so we continued to pray!

Fast forward 9 years later, we realized that the timing was right for Donnie and his wife Coby to begin to train up with us to church plant. After a year of training where they excelled in all of their assignments and coursework, the time is now! And we are proud to tell you that Refresh Church Waddell will be having their grand opening services very soon!

The vision of this church is to refresh the saints, and Donnie and Coby excel at doing this. If you ever have the chance to meet them, you will be amazed at their story of how God lifted them out of the ashes for such a time as this! God has refreshed both Donnie and Coby through unspeakable trials and tribulations, and they are ready to share the refreshment they have received from the Lord with others!

Last month, I had the opportunity to travel to Waddell, Arizona (30 miles from Phoenix) for the very first time to go on a church planting vision tour and I instantly fell in love with it. As we sought the Lord and prayed about God’s vision for this church plant, God was faithful and He gave us very clear directions about His heart for this church!

One interesting aspect of this particular church I am particularly excited about is that it is going to be the first non-denominational church we have ever planted! I love being a Calvary Chapel Pastor, but I am also aware that God’s plan for the world is much bigger than any particular denomination or religious tradition.  I hope that this church is the first of many non-denominational church plants that we get to be a part of!

Presently, the core team training meetings (weekly meetings for Bible Study, prayer, and preparation for the church) for Refresh Church are scheduled to begin in October while the Sunday services will be starting in January of 2020! Please keep this upcoming church plant in your prayers!

Finally, I want to thank you once again for partnering with us here in the ministry! When you read about these church plants, please know that as ministry partners, they are all part of your spiritual fruit!  We are honored and blessed to serve the Lord as your missionaries here in the ripe fields of Mexico!  

Con mucho amor de Mexico,  (with much love from Mexico)

Mike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel

Prayer Requests!

#1-  That God would continue to bless the preparation of our next church plant, Refresh Church, Waddell, Arizona!  

#2-  That God would continue to provide for the needs of our family and church in Rosarito!  

Praise Reports!

#1- Praise God last month for a blessed church planting vision tour to Waddell!

#2- Praise God for the work He is doing in our local church here in Rosarito!

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 go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, www.sgwm.com/wp2010/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/   Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.