Greetings from Mexico,
This past month I was so blessed as March was packed full of church planting adventures. The month began with our church plant in Mazatlan hosting their annual church planting conference! (Sadly I missed this conference for the first time, as I was officiating my cousin Steve’s funeral) At that conference, our ministry was blessed to send out our next two 2nd generation church plants!
Calvary Culiacan sent out their sixth church plant, Calvary Patria (Patria means “the Fatherland” in Spanish) in Culiacan! Then next, Calvary Maranatha in Mazatlan sent out their 2nd church plant (Calvary Chapel Stone Island) a bilingual church plant 20 minutes away from their sending church! Each one of these church plants is led by an exciting young couple that graduated from our local schools of church planting!
I was also blessed to visit two of our 1st generation church plants! My church planting assistant (Super) Mario Medrano and I have had plans fall through again and again to visit our 4 year old church plant in Monterrey! (The 3rd largest city in Mexico) This city had the most stringent rules in regards to covid, and because of that, the church was closed down for over 1 ½ years! Throughout that trial, our church planters Pedro and Amparo and their five children, have stayed strong over that time, and praise God we were able to keep supporting them financially to keep them on their feet!
Six months ago, they re-opened the church in a new more strategic location! I traveled with a team of four, and we hosted a conference we titled “the greatest commandment!” This conference was focused on loving God, and loving your neighbors around you! We had over 50 adults in attendance and we were honored to host a Carne Asada BBQ to celebrate with them!
The following night, I taught their midweek service on my favorite topic, The SENDING HUB!” Our desire for our church plants is to not only plant churches, but plant churches that plant other churches! (We call that, “A SENDING HUB!”) The most exciting aspect of this trip was it was all in Spanish! That means that this gringo taught two sermons in Spanish! (And I only butchered a couple words! LOL!)
At the end of the month, we took another ministry team to visit our one year old church plant in Hermosillo Sonora! (The next state over from Baja) On this trip, we flew in a couple of our other church planters and we hosted the first church planting conference in the history of this great state!
The title of the conference was “GO” and we had a great turnout of local pastors that joined us to learn about God’s heart for church planting! Once again I was blessed to teach in Spanish, and encourage our friends in Hermosillo to reach this entire city of 1 million with Spirit filled Bible teaching churches that plant other churches!
After the conference, our church hosted a church planting dinner with 10 of our church planters that had flown in. I nearly welled up with tears seeing my good friends that had all at one time been my Assistant Pastors, but have now been sent out to the mission field and are planting churches and encouraging other pastors.
On Sunday, I was blessed to teach at Calvary Hermosillo. It was an amazing experience to see the growing congregation in action, along with the team of 6 servants that we sent here. We ended the day hosting another all you can eat BBQ, and the fellowship was so special, that we didn’t get out of the church until after 3pm!
You’ve probably noticed that I love talking about the great work that God is doing here through church planting. But the reason I write about it so often is because all of this is YOUR SPIRITUAL FRUIT! As Paul the Apostle wrote in 1st Corinthians 3:6, “I planted, Apolos watered, and God gave the increase!” This verse is a reminder that together, we are separate but equal partners in the ripe harvest fields of the Lord! We love you, are praying for you, and thank God for you!
Con mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)
Mike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel
Prayer Requests!
#1- That God would bless the two churches we visited in March (Monterrey and Hermosillo) and that they would grow to become sending hubs!
#2- That God would strengthen our family, marriage, and children!
#3- That God would help me be diligent in the church planting book He has placed on my heart to write, titled “THE SENDING HUB!”
Praise Reports!
#1- Praise God for the two conferences we got to host in March!
#2- Praise God for new ministry partners He is bringing us to partner in this great work!
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