God sends the harvest to our door!

Today a Catholic missionary studying in Acayucan at the Catholic Seminary knocked on my door.  He came inside the garage and we started talking.  He was convinced that God doesn't condemn the sinner and that one had to have good works along with his faith in Jesus to be saved.  Starting in Genesis and going on to Revelation he came to understand differently; he was really open to what the Scriptures had to say.  He readily confessed that according to God's Word he was going to an eternal Hell for his sin.  Then further along it clicked with him that the Bible speaks of the Biblical salvation as a free gift based solely on the Person and work of Jesus Christ.  After about three hours he asked Jesus to save him!  He actually sighed two big sighs after praying.  Talk about resting from your labors.

Preaching in La Isla

Today I preached the two Sunday services for a national pastor in La Isla, a town about an hour away.  He has been there about a year and a half.  He left from Isla fifteen years ago and worked in Washington State the whole time.  He got saved and was trained up under a good Hispanic ministry and came back down to southern Veracruz to bring the Gospel to his people.  I am so encouraged in this.  God has been bringing in national pastors to this area over the last three to five years.

Almost everyone in the ministry here in Mexico understands the lack of Bible preaching churches in southern Veracruz and some have been sending pastors here.  I had previously met another national pastor in Minatitlan who has been there for almost six years.  God is moving and bringing people in to an area where they are really needed! 

We were talking along these same lines about four weeks ago.  I came here to Veracruz with a burden for the southern half of the state, roughly four million people.   There is just a small handful of Bible preaching, doctrinally sound, soul winning churches.  I can’t reach four million people but I can train up men and women who can and help send them out to establish local churches here in this state.  We decided to step out on faith and start a Bible Institute that would commence with classes in August.  We have several here in the church who would attend, and talking to the few national pastors around, they would send their students here as well.  We will also, Lord willing, start beginner and intermediate English classes on the same three days when we have institute classes.  This alone would bring in sixty plus people each week to hear the Gospel.  I believe that God has already begun to bless as we head toward this goal of August to start the school.