And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Acts 2:42
Dear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,
The fellowship of God’s people is a special communication. I had many opportunities to try my Spanglish with a lot of sisters and brothers in Culiacán this week. Seven Calvary churches have been planted in Culiacán, and we attended services from almost all of them. Although the communication was awkward and difficult, it was always a joy to share a common Savior with others in a different language. I had taken 2 years of Spanish in High School, yet I am still very far from fluent. During most of the church services we served and help take a load off the local leaders. Pastor Trent Douglass (founder of Saving Grace World Missions) also gave his special sermon on the ‘Purpose of the Church’ at most of these services. Seeing the church in action and actually doing what the Bible teaches, planting churches, has given me a much deeper understanding of why we need to do missions through the church. Although we should be regularly continuing in Acts 2:42, and it is a blessing to do so, our main purpose as a church is actually found in the previous chapter. Acts 1:8 says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The purpose of the church is the evangelization and discipleship of all nations.
Pastor Trent Douglass, CC Saving Grace
We began our road trip trek back to Culiacán Wednesday. Though, before we left, we attended the first class of a new semester of Church Planting School in Calvary Chapel Maranatha Mazatlán. Pastor Trent gave a great introductory class to the students on conducting an inductive Bible study using observation, interpretation, and application.
Hosting the Mexico and Beyond Conference at CC Culiacán Norte (North) has been the biggest event we’ve put together. The missions team served during the whole event. The church’s pastor, Hugo Limon, gave an introductory class on the importance of being a church that plants others churches. After that, pastors Trent Douglass, Rob Douglass, Tim Papas, and a few other speakers gave many insightful classes, testimonies, and studies.
I had an awesome evening talking with Jose at the conference. He is an awesome brother who is helping at a new church plant in CC Aguaruto. He is practicing English, and I am practicing Spanish, so we had a great time fumbling through words. Please keep him and his wife in prayer, they are pumped up for mission work and praying for us daily! After firing up Calvary Culiacán for missions and finishing up an outstanding conference, we spread out the team to all the different church plants on Sunday. I went to Calvary Oeste. Then that evening we had fellowship with the saints in Villa Juárez, about half an hour from the city.
Finally on Monday we had an extremely effective day helping a construction team at Culiacan Norte get ready for renovations by cleaning up and demolition. It was a great feeling to get sweat in the pores. I am praying for all of you back home! I am excited to share more in person when I get back.
Prayer Requests:
- God’s favor and blessing on the churches in Mazatlán and Culiacán to continue planting churches in Mexico and beyond.
- Bryan and Brittney De La Cruz, new friends of mine who will be starting a church plant this coming December about an hour south of Mexico City. This awesome new work has great potential to be an international sending hub for church planters and missionaries because of the large property and proximity to the Mexico City International Airport.
- A team of people from Calvary Saving Grace will be going to Jordan to start mission work next year. Pray for the country of Jordan that there will be great revival and they will be used greatly there. One of my family members will be going as well.
- God’s guidance for the next steps after this trip. I am praying about possibly going to a Calvary Bible Institute before starting flight school.
Praise Reports:
- So many pastors and members of the church in Mazatlan, Culiacan, and Rosarito shared their appreciation for our work with them.
- Many answers to prayer and healing for members of the school.
- Successful missions conference in Culiacan, many people wanted to get more involved in international missions.
Gospel Partners
All of you are our lifeline to the communities we reach, so I would love to get to know and partner with you more as I learn to be an ambassador of CC North Texas to Mexico!
You can contact me through email, phone or text. There is also a button on the bottom of this letter if you would like to financially be apart of this work in Mexico. Praise the LORD, the tuition is now 63% funded!
Eirene,
Joshua Vanrenterghem
joshuavan6@gmail.com
971-762-7451
