Dear ministry partners!
In May we got to celebrate and send out our 17th church planting team. In this update, I want to tell you all about this wonderful event! I first met my friend Michael Hanson, his wife Melissa, and their three children (Caleb, Sarah, and Nathan) at our church over 6 years ago. They Hanson family had been sent out to Mexico from a church in their hometown of Santa Cruz (Northern California) to serve full time at a local orphanage that we partner with!
After completing their four year commitment with the orphanage, Michael sat down with me and shared that he has always felt called to teach the word in a full time ministry position! I invited Michael to join our ministry team, and it was at that time, the Hanson family joined us as full time missionary staff. Michael also enrolled in our church planting course!
Over the past two years, the Hansons have not only been strategic ministry partners but good personal friends of ours! We eventually ordained Michael as one of our Assistant Pastors as he took on more and more ministry responsibilities! After completing our two year church planting course, Michael and Melissa both sensed that God was calling them to move back to their hometown to plant a church to reach the large Hispanic population in Santa Cruz that would be based on the bilingual model that we have at CCRosarito!
In May our church was able to have a SENDING WEEKEND service where Michael preached about God’s call to the nations and also shared the calling that God has placed on his family to church plant! As always, it was with mixed feelings that we sent their family out! Not only have the Hanson’s become our good friends, but our children have literally grown up together. One of the blessings of being a sending hub is that many missionary families join our staff and it gives our children an opportunity to develop friendships with the children of other missions minded families!
Many tears flowed as we held our going away parties for the Hanson family! We miss them terribly, but we stand firm in our belief that God has called them back home to church plant! Just last week, the Hanson’s arrived back in Santa Cruz, and they have already seen God begin to open up doors of ministry for them. Please pray that God will bless the home Bible study that they are beginning soon, and that God will bring servant leaders alongside of them to serve in this great work! Thank you once again for partnering with us! Together God has blessed us to with the opportunity to partner together to reach so many communities through church planting!
I want to finish this update by sharing with you about the progress on our church building fundraising campaign! After 3 months of only local (Mexico/church side) fundraising, we have received over 35% of the total goal! (180k out of 480k full asking price) The time has now come for us to visit the USA for our two planned fundraising dinners!
We hope that you will be able to join us for one of these two dinners! If you are in the Bakersfield area and would like to join us for our Friday June 30th dinner, please contact my father Mark Vincent at 714-649-3105, so we can plan on you’re attendance! If you are able to attend our Orange County Fund Raising dinner in Yorba Linda on Saturday July 1st, we have an online sign up for you to confirm your attendance. Please copy the link below into your internet browser and kindly tell us how many seats we can provide for you!
https://www.egsnetwork.com/events/?eventid=30EF7971A97D4EE#
Finally, #1- please continue to pray that God will bring those donors ready to partner with us to these two dinners. At these dinners I will share about the history of the church, everyone will enjoy a free delicious Mexican dinner, and then have the opportunity to give a tax deductible donation to help us purchase our building! #2- Pray as we continue on with our monthly local fundraising efforts in Mexico. #3- Pray about joining us for one of our fundraising dinners, and please feel free to invite other donors that you know that might be interested in partnering with us in this worthy cause! In our next month’s update, we will include sign up information for those interested in attending one of these fund raising dinners! (The dinner is free, but you and your guests will need to reserve your spot)
Thank you once again for your love, prayers, and support of our family here on the mission field of Mexico! It is through your prayers that God meets our spiritual needs, and through your financial support, that God meet’s our material needs!
Con mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)
Mike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel
Prayer Requests:
#1- Pray that God will bless our newest church plant, Santa Cruz Bilingual Church and our church planters the Hanson Family!
#2- Pray that God will continue to provide for the financial needs of our family personally!
#3- Pray for our stateside fundraising banquets scheduled for Friday June 30 in Bakersfield and Saturday July 1st in Yorba Linda!