Greetings from Mexico,
This month is a HUGE MONTH for our family and ministry! This is our ANNIVERSARY MONTH and I am excited to tell you all about it! First off, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO Sarah and I! On June 28th, we celebrated 25 years of marriage, and I want to tell you about the amazing story of how God brought us together!
Sarah and I met at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in Yorba Linda back in 1996! I was a worship leader there at the time, and God had been placing the convalescent ministry on my heart, but I hadn’t joined them yet! Finally one Sunday I decided to join this ministry from the church to visit and minister to the elders that were living in a local convalescent home! It was on that visit, that I first set eyes on a beautiful 21 year old Redlands University graduate named Sarah Lancaster! I later learned that Sarah and her best friend Katie had started this ministry and were the leaders!
I brought my guitar and we ended up ministering together going room to room singing old hymns and sharing a word of encouragement and prayer with these seasoned saints! I quickly found myself falling in love with this Godly young lady, but I didn’t want to force the issue so I asked God to confirm things before I moved beyond a friendship!
It was at a CCSG Men’s Retreat a few months later when my good friend and Pastor EZ (Emeal) Zwayne shared a vision that God had given him while teaching that one of the men in attendance was going to be getting married soon to a woman in the church! EZ didn’t mention any more details but he asked the man he had seen in the vision to step out in faith and come up and talk with him! Immediately after hearing that vision, I thought of my budding secret love for Sarah, but I didn’t have the faith to go up to EZ and mention it! (Although 7 other single guys at the retreat did go up to him, to be sadly turned down!)
I think you know that the reason I’m telling you about this vision is that God gave Pastor EZ a vision of Sarah and I standing at the altar getting married. The most amazing thing about this vision is that EZ didn’t know that Sarah and I even knew each other. A couple months later EZ saw Sarah and I sitting together at church and he got a huge smile on his face. Later on, when Sarah and I made our friendship official and got engaged EZ showed us in his bible how he had written down the date of the vision, along with Sarah and my initials! Thank you Lord!
Fast forward 25 years and I am beyond thankful that the Lord gave me this Godly strong woman to be my wife and ministry partner! And we have been so blessed to have now spent 20 of those 25 married years, serving the Lord on the mission field of Mexico! Which brings up the 2nd anniversary we are celebrating this month, the 20 year anniversary of Calvary Chapel Rosarito!
I can remember so vividly that sending Sunday 20 years ago when Sarah and I stood before our local church family at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace and shared the vision that God had given us to plant the church in Rosarito! At that time, Grace was 2 years old, and our son Daniel was just 3 weeks old! Looking back, we never could have dreamed about the plans that God had for us on that Sending Sunday!
Our dream was to simply build a local church that could reach our community. But we had been trained up well, and we wanted to one day also send out our own church planters! As I stood before our church family yesterday and we began to celebrate our church’s 20 year anniversary I nearly burst out in tears! I could have never imagined the great plans that God had for our church and ministry. The Bible promise found in Ephesians 3:20 has come true before our very eyes! Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us!
God blessed us with a large church full of Mature servant leaders and new Christians that is reaching our community with the Saving Message of Salvation in Christ! God has also allowed our local church to be a sending hub of church planting that now has 46 other churches in our church planting family tree! The Lord is SO GOOD!
Finally, I want to thank you for choosing to partner with us and support our family as your missionaries! Many of you have stood with us from the very beginning! WOW! It’s through your prayers that God meets our spiritual needs, and through your financial giving that God meet’s our Physical needs. 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 preparation of our annual church planting conference, August 5th and 6th!
#2- That God would give us another 20 years of ministry here in Mexico that is even more fruitful than the first 20!
Praise Reports!
#1- Praise God for our 25 years of Marriage!
#2- Praise God for 20 years of fruitful ministry here in Mexico!
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
For your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.
Or, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.
