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.
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!
As I mentioned last time, I am also using this opportunity to train two of our interns in cross-cultural Bible teaching. Jorden 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!
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.
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:
Love in Christ,
Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia