The little boy standing next to Julie was interviewed all in English. He received a nice round of applause for his interview with Julie.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
English Class – Mex-i-Kids
Robin and Julie recently ended their time with English Classes at a local church. Many new families were introduced to the church through their English Class. Please pray for these new families as they learn more about who Jesus is and can be in their lives.
The little boy standing next to Julie was interviewed all in English. He received a nice round of applause for his interview with Julie.
The little boy standing next to Julie was interviewed all in English. He received a nice round of applause for his interview with Julie.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Sharpening Your Inter-personal Skills & MOPS
What a joy it has been to begin working through the Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills class with our leadership team for MOPS. Almost all of the gals on our leadership team are new to leadership positions and some are new Christians. As we have been working together for two years now we have started to see some rough areas we needed to work on as a team and individually - So we decided to go through this Bible based course together and the blessings have been abundant! Today we learned about listening, not just hearing, and about communication skills - It is incredible to watch the women as their eyes light up when some part of the lesson really impacts them.
Please pray for our leadership team as we seek to grow and glorify God. MOPS is really coming to life and we are seeing new women attend every session. Please pray that women in the community will be reached for Jesus through the MOPS ministry.
Please pray for our leadership team as we seek to grow and glorify God. MOPS is really coming to life and we are seeing new women attend every session. Please pray that women in the community will be reached for Jesus through the MOPS ministry.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Speech update
Thank you to all who prayed for us as we spoke to about 100 couples this past Saturday. Our purpose was to simply share out own marriage testimony. Fun, communication, making your spouse the second priority, and making God the top priority were the points of our talk. We pray and trust that our words will continue to plant seeds, water, cultivate, and maybe even harvest lost souls for the Jesus' Kingdom. Thanks for praying!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Prayer needed
Last week we accepted an invitation to be the guest speakers at a
couples dinner at church. Needless to say we are nervous for our
Spanish. We only want to glorify Jesus and impact these marriages for
eternity. Please pray for us for fluid speech as well as for the
hearts of those listening to the truth.
couples dinner at church. Needless to say we are nervous for our
Spanish. We only want to glorify Jesus and impact these marriages for
eternity. Please pray for us for fluid speech as well as for the
hearts of those listening to the truth.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Women in Crisis
I (Robin) had the chance to meet up with a group of women from the Cuautitlan Izcalli UNIFAM church this week that are involved in a ministry for women in crisis. What an amazing impact this ministry is having. Six different women from the church volunteer their time to man phones (and meet in person) with any women wanting to talk through a problem. The service is free and confidential. Several of the women manning the phones are women who have benefited from the service. One women shared her testimony of how the ministry had changed her life by introducing her to Jesus - and how she is now liberated from depression and anxiety. It was beautiful to see women reaching out to other women in need.... Indeed, all around us are women who are in crisis - are we available to reach out to them and to bear their burdens with them?
Please pray for this ministry. Specifically pray that funds could become available for this church to hire another full time worker. There are many exciting ministries happening in the church at the moment but the Pastor is the only paid staff member and his work schedule is overwhelming.
Please pray for this ministry. Specifically pray that funds could become available for this church to hire another full time worker. There are many exciting ministries happening in the church at the moment but the Pastor is the only paid staff member and his work schedule is overwhelming.
Are Children a Burden or a Blessing?

This was the theme of our MOPS meeting this past week. A pastors wife from our sister church in a nearby town shared and the message was incredible! Are our children a blessing or a burden? Of course we want to immediately say a blessing! But is that how we really feel? Are there times when we dream about life before kids and times when our kids seem to get in the way of all we want to accomplish? Through a solid biblical understanding of the privilege of motherhood we can adjust our perspective of parenting and make adjustments in our schedules and our lives so that we are living in a way that truly indicates that we believe our children are blessings! Indeed, being a mother is one of God's high callings!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
More Fruit!
Praise God for the work that has been done in the past week. Our good friends from England were here visiting and following up on the friends they made through teaching English. They were only here for 6 days, but they led 5 of their old friends to Christ. Pray for us as we have agreed to meet with them in order that they can receive discipleship.
We also praise God for 3 families who just came to the Lord west of Mexico City by another missionary. Pray for Christian as he and the ECC Committee decide how to disciple and train these people too.
We also praise God for 3 families who just came to the Lord west of Mexico City by another missionary. Pray for Christian as he and the ECC Committee decide how to disciple and train these people too.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Mex-i-Kids
Robin started teaching English to about 50 kids at a local church on Saturday. You can see her enthusiasm as she teaches the first lesson, "What's you name?" Our hope is that English will be used to bring many to Jesus in this area. She and Julie (pictured on the left) will co-teach this program over the next few months. Please pray that many will come to believe in Jesus and that the families of these kids will be moved by the Holy Spirit to follow Him!
Waco Team
Bringing Greetings
This past Sunday evening Christian was given the opportunity to bring greetings on behalf of OMS to the UNIFAM LaLoma church as they celebrated 9 years of serving the Lord here in the Mexico City area. When we visited Mexico in 2004 to pray about coming here as missionaries, we visited this church and it was there that we both received conviction from the Lord that He was working mightily in Mexico. The church was used by God to bring us here and so it was an honor to celebrate with the church body.Pray for Christian as he will have more and more opportunities to share in front of others. In the states public speaking is one of Christians strongest gifts....it can be done with ease, without much concern and done very well. Here however, with all being done in Spanish it is a much more humbling experience. Much more preparation, prayer and practice is required. Perhaps that is exactly how Jesus wants it.... to remove us from relying on our own strengths and gifts to relying completely on Him. Indeed we feel that there is not a day that goes by that we are not clinging to our Lord.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Waco Team
Today Christian had the opportunity to help introduce a team from Texas to leaders in the national church assembly. It is a passion of Christian's to share with visitors about how the Lord is working in Mexico. Our goal with all short term teams is that they will be compelled by the Holy Spirit to pray, give, and/or go to the field.
Please pray that this team will catch the vision of OMS in Mexico.
Please pray that this team will catch the vision of OMS in Mexico.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
We need more Prayer Warriors!
Our field recently started a prayer blog for all of you who take prayer seriously. We believe this is our greatest need. Check out the link in the upper right hand side of this page (above our profile) to view the current prayer requests for our field.
Success on the Streets
Christian was so pleased to see what had happened on the streets. As you can see there are only 6 kids in this picture. In all there were about 10 kids that they recently visited within this particular group. You can see many other photos of this group throughout the blog. So, what is the success here? We only visited with 10 kids! This means that some of the group had left (normally there are about 20-25).
So, where did they go? The gray-haired man on the right runs a Christian rehabilitation center north of the city and near several of our churches. Nearly half of this group is now living at his rehabilitation center. We praise God that so many of them had decided to turn their lives over and start a new life. Please pray for 3 things: that the rehabilitation center can continue in spite of a lack of funds, that the street kids' decision to change will actually stick, and that this group can be wiped out and sent to the same place to find true hope!
Special thanks to the Ardmore Team for their work at the drop in center and sharing of testimonials on the streets. You definitely made a lasting impact! Who knows who will join the rehabilitation center next due to the seeds that you planted during the week.
So, where did they go? The gray-haired man on the right runs a Christian rehabilitation center north of the city and near several of our churches. Nearly half of this group is now living at his rehabilitation center. We praise God that so many of them had decided to turn their lives over and start a new life. Please pray for 3 things: that the rehabilitation center can continue in spite of a lack of funds, that the street kids' decision to change will actually stick, and that this group can be wiped out and sent to the same place to find true hope!
Special thanks to the Ardmore Team for their work at the drop in center and sharing of testimonials on the streets. You definitely made a lasting impact! Who knows who will join the rehabilitation center next due to the seeds that you planted during the week.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Jonny and Julie go to a new church
Today, we went to the Tultitlan Church in order to support and make sure there was a smooth landing for Jonny and Julie Pollock, 2 missionaries that arrived in August of 2007. One of Christian's responsibilities is to help new missionaries assimilate into life and work here in Mexico. We are so pleased with how the pastor laid out the red carpet for Jonny and Julie today. Please pray for this church: for growth, solid discipleship, the new daughter church, and for a hedge of protection for the pastor's family and Jonny and Julie. Exciting things are happening in this area of town through the church and the daughter church. And we know the enemy hates to see Jesus' Kingdom expanded. We can see many coming to Christ in spite of spiritual attack.
Monday, January 14, 2008
New Position
As many of you know, we have been praying about our future here in Mexico. We have relied on many of you for prayer and support. We praise God for all your petitions on our behalf.
We heard a lot of advice over our time in Indiana and since we have been back in Mexico. Two common threads seemed to come to the forefront every time we considered scripture and this Godly counsel: Go where God can most effectively use you and glorify him....period. As of last week we decided that it would be best to remain in Mexico and to assume the leadership of the field. Our field director has recently announced his leaving on July 31, 2008. Christian has already started the transition into leadership and will start to lead the field more as these 6 months go by and then fill his vacancy on August 1st.
Christian is confident in only one thing, that he will be able to lead the field with success ONLY through the power of the Holy Spirit and in the fact that Jesus is Lord of all the work here in Mexico. And so we humbly come to you and ask for prayer. Please pray for our priorities to be kept in place in our lives (relationship with God, then family, then OMS....in that order), for wisdom as we lead the field, for our Spanish to sufficient for the communication that God wants us to have. We know that spiritual warfare is just around the corner and so we covet your prayers. ".....and so we make our goal to please Him." II Corinthians 5:9
We heard a lot of advice over our time in Indiana and since we have been back in Mexico. Two common threads seemed to come to the forefront every time we considered scripture and this Godly counsel: Go where God can most effectively use you and glorify him....period. As of last week we decided that it would be best to remain in Mexico and to assume the leadership of the field. Our field director has recently announced his leaving on July 31, 2008. Christian has already started the transition into leadership and will start to lead the field more as these 6 months go by and then fill his vacancy on August 1st.
Christian is confident in only one thing, that he will be able to lead the field with success ONLY through the power of the Holy Spirit and in the fact that Jesus is Lord of all the work here in Mexico. And so we humbly come to you and ask for prayer. Please pray for our priorities to be kept in place in our lives (relationship with God, then family, then OMS....in that order), for wisdom as we lead the field, for our Spanish to sufficient for the communication that God wants us to have. We know that spiritual warfare is just around the corner and so we covet your prayers. ".....and so we make our goal to please Him." II Corinthians 5:9
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Successful Church Planting!
At a recent ECC board meeting, which Christian a member, testimonials were given by 4 different church planting teams. Each of the teams reported that God has been working and growing the number of believers every day. Some of the activities have been non-traditional in reaching their communities for Christ, like renting a tarp so as to show movies about Christ, or partnering up with Traditional Christian Churches to help out with a lack a of funds. The geographic coverage of these three areas is amazing too. The very south of the D.F., to northwest, to the northeast is the range of these three areas. In total there are over 100 people attending these three house church areas. We praise God for the creativity he has given us as well as willing hearts to hear the message of the Gospel.
Please pray for wisdom and accountability to the plan as Christian co-leads the board in planning future church planting areas in Mexico.
Please pray for wisdom and accountability to the plan as Christian co-leads the board in planning future church planting areas in Mexico.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Spiritual Attack
Our friend Raymundo has had a tough year since accepting Christ about 10 months ago. The workplace has been unfriendly to his new Christian life, his car was stolen, and just last week he lost his job. We cannot definitively say whether this is spiritual attack or a trial. Nonetheless, our prayer is that he glorifies the Lord in all he does and that others will see his testimony and be drawn to Jesus through it.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Donita
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Jesus' Messenger
As Christian drove into Indianapolis this morning he listened to WGNR Radio. Chuck Colson's Breakpoint section came on and he was convicted. We'll let his article tell the rest of the story....here's and excerpt from his organization's website. Click here to see his whole article.
.....That we have been going to church to make ourselves feel good and have our ears tickled. That therapy has replaced truth. There is more than a drought; there is a famine of reading and living by the Word of God.
I think God is telling His people to repent, to get serious about what we believe, to hunger for the Word of God, to seek holy living, and to ask God’s forgiveness.
We need to repent, as well, for not applying God’s Word, and repent for looking for a political savior while neglecting the true Savior. We need to repent for blaming our nation’s moral collapse on the gay-rights movement, or on the media, or on the politicians, and look right at the people whom God expects to know better—those who call on His name: you and I.
Thank God there are leaders who are now getting it and speaking out, like Bill Hybels, who two weeks ago publicly repented for failing to make disciples in his church. Others need to follow Bill’s lead.
We are all missionaries. This we have learned in our time back in Indiana. We pray that this message will pierce your heart as you consider your part in His kingdom!
Colson, C. (2007) The Drought. Retrieved on December 12, 2007 http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=7307
.....That we have been going to church to make ourselves feel good and have our ears tickled. That therapy has replaced truth. There is more than a drought; there is a famine of reading and living by the Word of God.
I think God is telling His people to repent, to get serious about what we believe, to hunger for the Word of God, to seek holy living, and to ask God’s forgiveness.
We need to repent, as well, for not applying God’s Word, and repent for looking for a political savior while neglecting the true Savior. We need to repent for blaming our nation’s moral collapse on the gay-rights movement, or on the media, or on the politicians, and look right at the people whom God expects to know better—those who call on His name: you and I.
Thank God there are leaders who are now getting it and speaking out, like Bill Hybels, who two weeks ago publicly repented for failing to make disciples in his church. Others need to follow Bill’s lead.
We are all missionaries. This we have learned in our time back in Indiana. We pray that this message will pierce your heart as you consider your part in His kingdom!
Colson, C. (2007) The Drought. Retrieved on December 12, 2007 http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=7307
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Sharing at our sending church
Sharing with more MOPS programs
Thursday, November 29, 2007
What's in a title anyway
Last night we met up with some good friends of ours. They shared with us about their burden to reach high school age kids. In fact for a couple of years they have been adult leaders in a local youth group of about 50-60 kids. Due to some spiritual battle they have felt challenged in the ministry. We all were drawn together as we realized (once again) that no matter where we go or what job we may currently hold, we are missionionaries - ambassadors for Jesus. In our minds these two friends of ours are missionaries. How much deeper in the 'trenches' do you have to be than working with youth who daily are pulled in dozens of directions. It was a priviledge given to us by the Holy Spirit as we encouraged them to continue in their work. We praise God for them!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Meeting our prayer warriors
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Purpose of our visit to Indiana
We thought we might explain the purpose of our visit home in this post. As many of you know we recently had a baby girl and only 1 family member and a handful of friends from the states have had the opportunity to see her face to face. Our number one purpose in visiting was to introduce Amelia to her family and friends. Needless to say we have thoroughly enjoyed this part of the visit.
Sharing the ministry with our supporters has been another reason for being home. Many of our supporters are family and friends, so we've been fortunate to do both at the same time. Speaking and sharing at mission's conferences has also been on our agenda too. We praise God for being able to share about what God is doing in Mexico in areas like ECC, MOPS, and Project MEFI (Street Kids Ministry).
Pictured is Christian's cousin, Kara, with the 3 oldest kids during a recent visit.
Sharing the ministry with our supporters has been another reason for being home. Many of our supporters are family and friends, so we've been fortunate to do both at the same time. Speaking and sharing at mission's conferences has also been on our agenda too. We praise God for being able to share about what God is doing in Mexico in areas like ECC, MOPS, and Project MEFI (Street Kids Ministry).
Monday, November 12, 2007
Sharing at CCG
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Sad News
Tonight we got an email to phone some dear friends of our in Mexico City - we called and they told us they had their car stolen last night.... a sweet little red Volkswagen. It was their only car and they are in a real bind now! We feel awful for them and we feel odd to not be in Mexico to support them in person. It is so hard- so hard to even put into words - how it feels to be so far away from Mexico where our life is... and yet here we are in the states where our life was...We feel like we are caught between two worlds and we are not sure where home is! Jesus is teaching us through this that we really are foreigners in this world and that as Christians we will only truly be home in HEAVEN! Please pray for our friends the Rojas Family.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Back Home Again... at CCG MOPS

It was a wonderful privelage to speak to the MOPS group that I was a part of for three years here in the states and to share with them about the MOPS ministry we have in Mexico City. A member of the MOPS group at CCG (Community Church of Greenwood) supplied all funds we needed to start the ministry in Mexico. It was a blessing to share about the lives of the Mexican women and how different and how similar they are to those of the women in MOPS at CCG. Please pray that we will continue to impact peoples lives with the stories of our ministry in Mexico.
The World NEEDS Jesus!
We have been in the states for two days now (we are home for two months to speak at churches and visit with family) and we were driving down the road when we saw this back window of a pick-up truck.... Pictured here are the American and Mexican flags untied by a picture of the Virgin of Guadelupe - an idol that is worshiped in Mexico. We are used to seeing her everywhere in Mexico but we were caught off guard to see her here in the states. It pierced our hearts as we remember that people are turning to so many things when all they need is Jesus! Please pray that we can be a shining light for Jesus to the Mexicans here in the United States.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Work Team

What a joy to make friends with folks that come down to Mexico on short term teams... and it is an even bigger joy when they return for a second or third time to continue ministering in Mexico. In this photo, our friend Steve from Oaklahoma is working construction, for the second time in a year, on the drop in center for the street kids. It has been a joy to get to know Steve and we look forward to his return (with his wife) again in January. Short term teams are a wonderful blessing to the work in Mexico.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
MOPS Get together
As we prepare to leave Mexico for two months we decided to invite the MOPS leadership team and their husbands and children over for dinner. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and it was exciting to see how each of the women are growing in their leadership roles. Please pray as the team tries to work together effectively. Pray specifically that each girl will follow through with her commitments.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Still Chasing

It's been about 7 months since Christian had contact with his friend, Sergio. Since he lost his job as a local gardener there has been no communication. Last week Sergio called Christian to ask if the invitation to go to church was still good. So, Sergio, his wife, his little boy and Christian all met at church today. Sergio says he will continue to attend the church. God never stops chasing people!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Carlos and Vanessa
Every week we meet with some dear friends, Carlos and Vanessa (and their son Moses). We praise God for their lives and for the things we are learning together. Recently our Bible Study focused on the Holy Spirit. The next week Carlos shared how he sensed the Holy Spirit's leading at work. He is a new Christian, but it obvious to see that he has been baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
A new year of MOPS
Our MOPS (Mothers of Pre-schoolers) group held its first meeting for this year (we follow the school year calendar) on Tuesday the 9th and it was wonderful! The MOPS leadership team this year is incredible and they are working hard to incorporate new ideas and to reach out to the women in the community.
At our kick-off meeting we were honored to have Valetta Crumley, a dear friend of ours from Greenwood and a missionary for over 50 years, come and share with the women. Valetta's life is an incredible testimony to the ability to rejoice in the midst of horrible, hard situations. Indeed we can have joy and hope regardless of what we face when we have Jesus. Her story of living through losing her small son at age 4, her husband to cancer, years later losing her two teenage children to a car accident and being raped while on the mission field all work together to help us realize that life is only worth living in Jesus. Valetta's powerful testimony impacted the women greatly and started our year of MOPS focusing our eyes on Jesus. We praise God for this wonderful meeting.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Celebrating the First Year of House Churches
The other day, Christian had the opportunity to be a part of the First Year Celebration for one our house churches. The "House of Vicki" is the name of the church. A little over a year ago one of the ECC teams found Vicki, a person of peace, in the northwest area of Mexico City. A person of peace is someone who is open to the power of the gospel message, a new Christian, and someone who is willing to host a church in their house.
Now, a year later, Vicki and the congregation is celebrating their first year. Although not all the family is on-board, the church continues to thrive. We had 30 in attendance for the service and 5 accepted Christ! God has used 1 person of peace to grow this tiny church to 30 strong!
Worship time was full and the presence of the Holy Spirit was clearly felt.
The "Wind" blew through the house and congregation!
Now, a year later, Vicki and the congregation is celebrating their first year. Although not all the family is on-board, the church continues to thrive. We had 30 in attendance for the service and 5 accepted Christ! God has used 1 person of peace to grow this tiny church to 30 strong!
Worship time was full and the presence of the Holy Spirit was clearly felt.The "Wind" blew through the house and congregation!
Friday, October 05, 2007
Faith vs. Sorcery
Last month Christian was placed on a church planting team just 25 minutes north of our house. During a house church service yesterday a lady by the name of Joany shared that her mother-in-law had "cleansed" her son, Daniel, of a recent sickness. She went on to say that her mother-in-law practices sorcery & card reading. Joany in fact had gone along with her mother-in-law on several occasions, however she is a new Christian she didn't know how sorcery stacked up against Christianity and Faith. Salvador, the team leader for this area, simply called the sorcery what it was: sin, and the backed it up with passages from Deuteronomy. Please pray for this new Christian, Joany, and her family as she puts on the full armor of God to combat this real present danger.
Monday, October 01, 2007
"Cleansing"
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Independence Day
One of our favorite times of the year is the "Dia de Independencia" - Independence Day for Mexico. This year our National Church Assembly invited all churches to participate in one "Noche Mexicana" Celebration. Over 300 people were in attendance at the Seminary Building - one of the best attendance numbers ever. "Viva Mexico" is shouted throughout the evening, but "Viva Cristo" was the reason we really celebrated. Here are some photos of our family and friends from this very fun evening.....
Friday, September 14, 2007
ECC Board
Recently Christian was named to the ECC Directors Board. His responsibilities will include working with 4 other men (2 from OMS and 3 from Mexico) to direct the work of ECC which is charged with planting churches in Mexico. Please pray for wisdom and guidance for these men as they lead 5 teams of church planters in the Mexico City area. Their names are Alexis, Joel, Jonathan, Miguel, and of course Christian.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Tultitlan Celebration
On Sunday the 9th our family celebrated the 14th year of the Tultitlan Church. This community is very poor with as high as 60% unemployment. Desperation leads to so many issues, but we pray that it will lead this community to a point of crisis that results in their finding Jesus. We covet your prayers for this church and it's pastor, Jonathan. We praise God as well for 14 years of ministry in this area of the city.
At the end of the evening it was time to cut the cake. As tradition states, everyone starts yelling, "Quiero Pastel" - which means I want cake! The pastor definitely had fun hamming up the histeria with yelling and lots of laughs as you can see with Robin and Ethan.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
A Full Turn Around
Today after our church service one of our previous English students was waiting at our car wanting to speak to Christian. His name is Benigno and Christian had eaten lunch with him the week before and shared the Gospel message with him. Benigno told Christian during the lunch that he was not a believer in Jesus and that maybe one day he would consider it but not right now. Today when he met Christian at our car Benigno told him that he had been thinking a lot about what Christian had shared and that he wanted to follow Jesus but he wanted to do it his own way. Christian talked with him for a while and encouraged him to go into the church service that was about to start and arranged to meet with him again this week.
The Holy Spirit is chasing Benigno. As we loaded into our car to come home Benigno walked away from the church, not into the service. Christian said to me, "Look Benigno isn't going in - he is leaving. Well, that is OK, I am meeting him again this week." Then suddenly as Benigno was leaving the church property he turned around and walked back to the church. On the way into the building he stopped at our car window and with a smile said, "I will go in."
We praise God for Benigno's literal turn around - that he went into the church service - and we pray for a spiritual turn around- that Benigno would give his life to Jesus. Will you pray for Christian as he meets with Benigno this week?
The Holy Spirit is chasing Benigno. As we loaded into our car to come home Benigno walked away from the church, not into the service. Christian said to me, "Look Benigno isn't going in - he is leaving. Well, that is OK, I am meeting him again this week." Then suddenly as Benigno was leaving the church property he turned around and walked back to the church. On the way into the building he stopped at our car window and with a smile said, "I will go in."
We praise God for Benigno's literal turn around - that he went into the church service - and we pray for a spiritual turn around- that Benigno would give his life to Jesus. Will you pray for Christian as he meets with Benigno this week?
Friday, August 31, 2007
UNIFAM National Assembly
This week Christian had the opportunity to witness the UNIFAM National Assembly. The purpose of the assembly was to conduct business and guide the direction of the young national church organization. Their are 10 established churches in Mexico with about 25 house churches. Christian was impacted greatly by the spirit of unity and love amongst the pastors and church board. In the past we have heard that the meetings have been far from unity. We praise God for the Holy Spirit's interceding and intervention. A bit of background, and why this assembly was so important: OMS started the work in Mexico in the early 90's. However a key purpose of OMS International is to raise up nationals to take over the ministry of evangelism, church planting, and leadership training. Foreigners reaching another nation for Christ is good, but the better option is when nationals reach their own. In Mexico these nationals are represented by UNIFAM (literally a denomination set up by OMS to facilitate this hand-over of ministry). We may be years from handing all of the ministry over to UNIFAM, but they have complete governance over almost all 10 established churches.
UNIFAM will also be directly involved by guiding ECC (Every Community for Christ). In the past this has been exclusively governed and operated by OMS, but now both UNIFAM and OMS are teaming up very much like Paul and Timothy did in the New Testament. In the case of ECC, UNIFAM is starting to have more and more ownership in the work here in Mexico. Christian will be directly involved in the direction this takes as he will be 1 of 5 on a new board directing the work of ECC.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Pastor Alexis
A special ceremony was held Sunday at church as our Alexis Saucedo was installed as Senior Pastor of the Campanario church. Previously a missionary had held the title of Senior Pastor. We praise God for this transfer to a Mexican national. Our goal as missionaries here in Mexico is to train and equip Mexicans to reach their nation for Christ. This hand over of the position of Senior Pastor is a perfect example of what we want to see accomplished. Please pray for Alexis and his wife Alicia as they lead the church.
Here leaders of the UNIFAM church pray over Alexis and his wife Alicia. (She is expecting a baby any day!)
Here leaders of the UNIFAM church pray over Alexis and his wife Alicia. (She is expecting a baby any day!)
WE DO!!!


This past Saturday at our church 11 couples said "I Do" as they wed in a joint ceremony. In Mexico couples must be married in a court by a judge to be recognized as married by the law. Having a church wedding is symbolic of including Jesus in your marriage. Some of these couples had been civilly married for over 40 years but had recently become Christians and thus wanted to wed in the church. Others, we wed civilly only days before the church wedding. Once couple shared that they had been waiting to marry until they could afford a church wedding. This joint wedding offered to couples by the church was free of charge. All the couples had to pay for was there clothing and rings.
It was an awesome celebration as Jesus was invited to be a part of these 11 marriages!
Friday, August 03, 2007
Hello Again!
Two weeks ago we were blessed to visit with a gal that served here in Mexico for three months when we first arrived in 2005. She was an incredible blessing to our family and to the ministry here. It was wonderful to hear how God has used Melissa in the past year and half and to be reunited with her.
One of the most difficult things about being missionaries is that there are a lot of comings and goings. This is especially hard as people climb into your heart and become part of your family. We are in prayer for our kids as it is difficult for them to understand that they may not see people they love dearly again this side of heaven. What a blessing it was for our kids to see Melissa again - she is a real favorite for them!

Melissa with Joshua in Dec. 2005

Melissa and her fiance Barry with Joshua this July 2007.
One of the most difficult things about being missionaries is that there are a lot of comings and goings. This is especially hard as people climb into your heart and become part of your family. We are in prayer for our kids as it is difficult for them to understand that they may not see people they love dearly again this side of heaven. What a blessing it was for our kids to see Melissa again - she is a real favorite for them!

Melissa with Joshua in Dec. 2005

Melissa and her fiance Barry with Joshua this July 2007.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Festival of Hope
We received this email from a lady who came to Mexico City on a short term missions team with her church last year.... we think this idea is AWESOME!
"You know that Mexico had a big impact on many of us last year and God has been speaking to us. The outcome is that we were really challenged by the way you all have a vision to reach Mexico City for Jesus. We thought of our little home town of 8000 people of whom probably only around 800 - 1000 ever go near Church. We are now holding a mission for a week this year instead of sending a team overseas. We have called it 'Festival of Hope' and are so excited at the opportunities God is opening up for us. The Festival will run from 18 to 25 August and includes loads of events such as: Family Fun Day, Christian Concert for young people, Songs of Praise evening, Kids' Clubs, Lunch for Retired people with a speaker, Lunch for all the traders in our town with speaker, Ladies' Evening, Breakfast for Men, Pub Quiz with speaker for young people, Mums and Toddlers morning, Bar-B-Q and celebration, Bus parked in the town serving teas, having Christian literature, using this to meet with people to talk about Jesus and pray with people. We also have a caravan planned to use for prayer for our town. We've made booklets to go into every home and DVDs of testimonies of people from our Church. Would love you to pray for this."
What could you and your church do to reach more people in your city for Christ?
Monday, July 23, 2007
Armagh Team




One of Christian's favorite things to do in ministry is to help lead short term mission teams to the streets with Proyecto MEFI. Proyecto MEFI is the name of the organization that facilitates the care, compassion, outreach, integration into society, evangelism, and discipleship with key Christian Churches in Mexico City all for street kids. Christian is honored to a part of this effort. Pictured is Christian translating Andrew's testimonial (from Northern Ireland), the street kids praying, Alex (a Proyecto MEFI worker) sharing from Mark 7:14-23, and a street kid with Christian.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
VBS Kickoff
Last night we had the opportunity to see Maddie perform in the church's Campo de Verano Obra (VBS Play). You'll notice Maddie say her line like a pro and sing and dance as well. It was great to see Maddie in ministry.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Dairy Queen

One of our closest Christian Co-workers are Alexis and Alicia Saucedo. He's the pastor of our church & she works as a teacher and MOPS coordinator with Robin. We've had the opportunity to visit the Pacific Coast together and while we were there we enjoyed Dairy Queen more than one night (American Style Ice Cream is very difficult to find).
So we've been on a quest to find a DQ somewhere in the central valley. The day before Amelia was born Alexis and Alicia told us they had a surprise to show us. So we traveled for about an hour into the center of Mexico City and sure enough there was a Dairy Queen. It was a complete delight to be with our good friends and their kids....and good old American ice cream!
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Short Term Missionaries
Today we said goodbye to one of our short term missionaries - Kristen. Her role was teaching English and video taping the work that UNIFAM and OMS do together here in Mexico. As the short term missionary coordinators we are charged with planning out, following through, and evaluating their work. Kristen made it very easy on us as she often took the initiative to make relationships. The OMS Team and many Mexicans will certainly miss her and her smile.
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