2007 Mexico Update

This will be the first Mexico update I've posted in a long time, but I'd like to let all who care in on what the Lord has in plan for me regarding our missions to Mexico.

Starting Spring Break 2 years ago, Emmanuel Baptist Church first started taking trips to Mexico. Since then we have been returning around 3-4 times a year as a group. Our connection to a pastor there was formed through Brian Minnicks (a friend in San Marcos). I am going to give a brief summary of our trips and what occurred then, to help you understand the work that is going on right now.

The first trip (which I was not apart of) took the group to a church in Morelos, Coahuila (a town about 45 minutes in from Piedras Negras). There the group worked with the senior pastor, evangelising some, as well as doing some physical labor for the church. This trip included a neat story in which the group, lacking good exterior paint, prayed in the van that the Lord would provide specifically "exterior paint, oil based" that they may paint the outside wall of one building. Later on as they were eating at a local restaurant, a man whom no one knew walked up to Darren (our college pastor), handed him a paint can, and said "Pastor, exterior paint, oil based" and then walked out. There is a reason the Bible says "the fool says in his heart there is no God!" The Lord provided just enough exterior oil-based paint to cover the wall.

The second trip (summer '05) was the first trip I went on. Again we returned to the church in Morelos, and continued working with that pastor in that town. It was there that I first met the associate pastor, Armando. This trip went well, however some events happened towards the end that were unexpected. Jose, one of the college guys from a&m with us, had a dream one night of being attacked by a "religious wolf." Not saying 'thus saith the Lord' or anything, we put it on a shelf and kept going. That night some serious contentions arose between the head pastor and Darren. Apparently there were things which the head pastor was doing which seemed very suspicious. I will not go into detail of the things that went on, but it is sufficient to say that over some of these issues with the pastor, the church split for biblical reasons, including the associate pastor Armando and some of the congregation.

A word is needed here regarding Armando: there was one neighborhood that we evangelized this trip that was very responsive to the gospel. However even more to our surprise was that in that neighborhood afterwards, it was Armando that followed up and continued ministering to the people. His faithfulness is what brought to my recollection around 10 souls into the Kingdom of God from that neighborhood.

From the church split, Armando and some of the congregation began meeting on their own in Allende, Coahuila (Allende pronounced "ayende", is a town 10 minutes outside of Morelos).

Due to some of the issues in Morelos, for the next couple of trips we did not return there, but rather worked with pastor Ruben Juarez in Piedras Negras. It was with this pastor and at his church that I worked with over the summer in 2006. While we have not directly spoken with the church in Morelos since the incidents that happened during summer 2005, we did not lose touch with Armando. During the 2005-2006 year he has continued to meet in Allende with the congregation that left with him. Lacking a building and money, they met in the house of his sister I believe.

At the end of my first missionary trip to Mexico in 2006 we briefly went to Allende to meet with Armando and his family (wife, son, daughter, and 1 son that no longer lives at home). He was doing well, however had no secure source of income. From that time we have begun as a body to support him and their church financially. Again a note on his character is needed: there have been times we have visited and they had literally no food in the fridge. One time in the winter they could not afford to purchase more gas for heat, and resolved to wear their winter coats in the house. However despite their condition, when we would send him food to help provide for his family, he would then turn and give some of that food to families that are even poorer than they are! This has given us great confidence in providing for him, knowing that he is not hoarding the blessing for himself, but rather blessing others with what the Lord has provided. It is good to remember that the Word says "he who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given."

Last Christmas break we returned to Allende to help Armando and the church there. Through the financial support of the local Baptist association here in Bryan Texas, we were able to come up with enough money to rent a building for their fellowship. The house in which they have been meeting was no longer large enough to hold them, their numbers at times fluctuating to 25 people on a Sunday. We found a building for rent in the neighborhood, and were able to rent the place out. During Christmas we spent the trip cleaning up the building (which coincidentally was a local drughouse before being converted into a church!), as well as reaching out to the local community in which it was located. At Armando's desire, their church was officially named "Iglesia Bautista Emmanuel, Allende" (Emmanuel Baptist Church, Allende). We (our church here in Bryan Texas) have considered this church to be a mission church, and are supporting it financially every month. However our goal is not to support this church indefinitely, but, Lord willing, we hope that it will be self-sustaining in 3 years time, by around January 2010. Also supporting Armando and his church is Brian Minnick's church in San Marcos (a good Christian brother who was our first connection to Mexico).

This brings us to this past Spring Break, in which we again went to Allende. This trip has been different, especially for me. In the previous trips there has been a group of Christian brothers and sisters from Brownsville that joined us, and being bilingual, provided as translators. This trip however none of them could join us, and I become one of the 3 translators (I have learned alot of Spanish from the various trips, as well as living there for 2 months, but not necessarily fluent). However despite the odds, the Lord pulled through miraculously! It is hard to explain, but it was almost as if the Lord put a new processor chip in my brain, and I was able, with some difficulty, to follow what people were saying, and was able to understand and translate for our group when we split up. It was definitely an answer to prayer, and I became very confident that the Lord could use me even with my limited Spanish abilities. If we trust the Lord, he'll provide the rest.

During this trip we spent much time going out into the neighborhoods and talking with the people. In the past we have met many lost people this way, but it seemed like the majority of people we talked with this trip were Christians, and thus we had more of a ministry of encouragement to the community. Nevertheless I was able to give my first sermon in Spanish, the congregation being about 6 local kids thursday night, one of them riding a horse. So it wasn't really a sermon, but I was able to share the complete gospel with all of them, who were just wandering about at night looking for something to do. Also during one of the outings we met a man named Ricardo, who attended a pentecostal church nearby. He told us of how the Lord freed him from drunkenness and saved him and his family, as well as physically healed his mother-in-law, which was very encouraging! It is not uncommon to meet Christians there with similar supernatural stories as these (there is a lady in the Baptist Church there that was healed to my knowledge as well). They may be a bit more charismatic that we're used to, but the Lord uses such demonstrations to draw people to himself, and in the cases where they have been properly administered with the Gospel, have led the witnesses to a repentant faith the Lord.

Well now we have caught up to the present. The future holds some exciting propositions as well. This summer I will be returning to Mexico to aid Armando and the church there in Allende. The plan to my knowledge right now is that we will be working closely with him, and then be used to disciple some of the members of the church. He has a vision of discipleship, and training disciplined followers of Christ, but has not the manpower to reach out to everyone. So his vision right now is to bring missionaries (us) to prepare them to reach out to those in the congregation to teach on the basic principles of Christ, so that they in turn may teach others, and the whole body grow together in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks for bearing with me in this long post, but I did want to bring yall up to date on the happenings in my life concerning our developing ministry in Mexico. Thank yall for your previous prayers, and if you would be so willing, we will need a definite prayer support for this upcoming summer. Prayer requests include: that God would bring the right people together to goto Mexico this summer, that we as a group would be unified with one another, as well as with our brothers and sisters in Christ in Mexico, that until we depart, we may keep our eyes focused on the now since we still have more than a month of ministry opportunities here at school, and in all things that we may always keep running with endurance this Christian race, keeping our focus solely on Jesus Christ. I will do my best in the future to keep yall updated as time permits this summer. Again I thank you for your support, feel free to email me if you have any questions, Dios les bendiga!

Chris Edwards