Greetings from Mexico. As I write this update, I just got back from a trip up to Orange County to speak at a conference, and I am preparing to fly out tomorrow to Las Vegas, for another two speaking engagements. I am not a world traveler or even a guy that loves traveling out of town for vacations, but God has opened up the door for me to travel to share about God’s heart for missions, and I am so thankful for these open doors.
When the Apostle Paul traveled on his four missionary journeys, he often revisited the churches that he had planted on his earlier trips. One of my favorite verses (quotes) from the Apostle Paul is found in Acts 15:36, where we read; “Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.”
This year I have had the privilege of taking eight trips so far, and I have six more remaining in the rest of 2024! I have two main types of trips that I travel on, and in the rest of this update, I want to talk about the different focuses of these missions trips.
First off, most of my trips focus on me visiting one of our own church plants. There is nothing more exciting for me than to travel with a small team from our church to bring encouragement, love, and finances as we visit one of our church plants out on the mission field. On these trips we usually fund a work project, spend time with the church planter and his family, and host and fund a conference of their choosing. The conferences this year have included: Basics of the Christian faith conference, a marriage conference, family conference, relationships conference, and (surprise surprise) church planting conferences!
When I arrive at our church plants, for them I am viewed as their spiritual parent. But even though I raised up and sent out the church’s pastor and his original church planting team, many of the people in the congregation have never met me before personally. It is such a joy to me to meet these new believers who have come to faith in our church plants.
Historically, most of my trips have focused on visiting our church plants, but recently, God has been opening up many more doors for me to speak at Missions and Pastors’ conferences. Now, I am not a conference speaker and I have never viewed myself that way. I am simply a local church pastor that God has blessed with the privilege of planting other churches. But with the message of church planting and the release of my book “The Sending Hub,” God has opened up many new doors for me where I get the opportunity to speak with pastors and leaders that I would never have met otherwise.
This year, I have five of these trips planned where I get to speak at outside conferences and bring this missions message to a new audience. I thank the Lord for setting this open door before me, and pray that I am able to present this message in a loving way so that it encourages my listeners to move forward in the great missions work of church planting.
The reason I wanted to tell you about my travels in this update is because when I travel, I don’t travel alone. I am always sent by #1 – our local church, but I am also sent #2 – by you, our precious ministry partners! Our ministry model is based on the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts and Paul was always supported by a group of spirit-filled believers who sent him to do his missions work. For my family and I, that group of senders IS YOU! There are many worthy causes out there to support, and please know that Sarah and I take this responsibility of representing Jesus and you very seriously!
So once again, I want to thank you for supporting me and my family as your missionaries. It is through your prayers and love, that God meets our spiritual needs, and it is through your financial partnership, that God meets our physical needs.
Con mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)
Mike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel
Prayer Requests!
#1- Pray that God will bless my two trips planned in September to Las Vegas, Nevada and then later to Mexico City and Cuernavaca.
#2- Our daughter Grace is going through her 2nd follow up interview for a job in San Diego, please pray for God’s perfect plan with this job opportunity!
Praise Reports!
#1- Praise God for the open doors He has been placing before me in the ministry!
#2- Praise God for another (small) victory in our court case against the thieves trying to steal our south property/sports court.
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