UBC On Mission

In the entries below, you will find the stories and experiences of the people of UBC on mission for the glory of God.  We created this weblog so that you may join with us as we passionately seek to declare, demonstrate and display the gospel of Jesus Christ to every tribe, language, people, and nation here in our community, state, nation, and to the uttermost parts of the world.

Feel free to make comments.

La Fiesta – October 2009

Here are some shots from the La Fiesta we threw for Pastor Jose’ Segura’s Church – Iglesia Bautista Shalom on Saturday, October 24th.  We had about 50 kids from the neighborhood and some of their parents come out for the event.  We had a soccer clinic, puppets, crafts, snacks, and a pinata busting as part of the afternoon.

 

Oaxaca – October 2009

My wife, Angela, and I traveled with Mike and Dianne Lawrence on mission trip to Oaxaca, Mexico.  Oaxaca (wa-ha-ka) is a state in the far southern portion of Mexico.  The capital, Oaxaca City, is the home and ministry area of one of UBC’s direct support missionaries, Floriano Ramos.  The main purpose of our trip was to encourage Floriano and to see the scope of his ministry as we plan to send future teams to work in areas of ministry needs.  Personally, I was so encouraged by the depth and reach of his ministry.  I’ll share more below.  We also spent a day and half with Kerry and Mauri Johnson, missionaries working among indigenous people in the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains.

On Thursday, Oct. 15, we spent the morning at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary of Oaxaca.  Floriano teaches church history three days a week.  He also spoke during the chapel service where he taught on biblical marriage and family.  We had the opportunity to visit with the seminary director, Iván Sosa López.  He shared his dreams for the seminary wanting to see it doubled in student attendance over the next five years.  He also shared some of their physical and financial needs.  We also had the privilege of meeting the IMB missionary to Oaxaca, Tim Lightsey.  Tim and his wife Becky focus their efforts upon raising up national pastors to plant new churches.

On Friday, Oct. 16, we spent the day at two of the churches Foriano’s church has planted in the last five years.  The first was in a community called Solidadidad.  Irving Jarquin is the pastor and also a student at the seminary.  Five families are members of the church.  Let me encourage you to pray for this church plant as they reach out into a community heavily influenced by Catholicism.  They are presently ministering in the community by providing free cement block to 24 unchurched families.  We also visited a church in a community in Monte Alban.  Celestino (Cele) Diaz Gutié serves as the pastor of about ten families.  Cele recently graduated from seminary.  The church meets on rented property under a large canopy.  He brought in a medical mission team to his church and invited the community to come for free healthcare.

Friday evening we met at Floriano’s home church for worship and a special time of teaching on marriage and family.  I had the privilege of sharing the message in the service. After the service, we enjoyed an extended time with the Lightsey, Johnson, and Ramos couples.

On Saturday, Oct. 17, we traveled outside of Oaxaca to three small towns where Floriano’s church is seeking to plant new churches.  There is no evangelical work in any of the towns.  In fact, each town has a large Catholic church in the town center like the one pictured here, which pretty much controls the religious life of the community.  We spent time in each town praying for the community, for open doors to the Gospel, and for the individuals from Floriano’s church that are doing mission work there.  What’s wonderful is that Tim Lightsey is also training these missionaries as church planters.  He leads an institute on church planting and Floriano’s church helps with the funding for the missionaries.  I’ll share another blog which will allow you to virtually prayerwalk these three towns.

Sunday morning was a wonderful time of fellowship with Floriano’s church.  Mike had the opportunity to share his testimony and I again preached the message.  Our emphasis was on the mission of the church.  We were blessed to have the church pray over us.  After lunch, we traveled with Kerry and Mauri up into the mountains to a community called La Cumbre.  The views at 9000 feet were spectacular.

The village of La Cumbre encompassed about 70 families.  Kerry and Mauri have spent years developing relationships and helping with water and agricultural projects.  Numerous families have come to Christ, and the Johnsons lead a weekly Bible study in the village.

Us men helped set a pump in a well, which would furnish water for one of the widows of the village.  The ladies helped some of the women make blankets.  We enjoyed the hospitality and genuineness of the people of La Cumbre.  Our time in the mountains ended with a stop at the local trout restaurant.  I can still taste the fresh, fire-baked trout and tortillas.

We’ll be planning future trips to stand alongside our partners in Oaxaca.  God is doing some incredible things through the ministries of Floriano & Lillia, Kerry & Mauri, and Tim & Becky.

Written by John Mueller

Nicaragua – October 2009

Sunday, October 18

Tonight we worshipped with the church in Las Sabanas and it was one of the most humbling experiences I’ve had.  Everything was very simple; the pastor played the guitar and his wife sang (along with a couple of other women).  The guitar was not tuned and the singers were off-key… but they didn’t care.  They sang and played with all their heart and mind and strength and the resulting passion was incredible.  It was all to the glory of God and God alone.  How foolish we can be when we forget who we worship and think our own ideas of perfect pitch and tone are anywhere close to what God desires.

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! Psalm 95:1-2

Tuesday, October 20

Today we went to a community called La Victoria.  It’s a small town and is not easy to get to.   In our prayer-walking the day before, we were invited to a believer’s house who offered to host us today.  She was someone who had done evangelism in another area before and was now in La Victoria.  Again, I was amazed to see God’s sovereignty at work in how He puts people in each other’s paths at just the right time.

Because of the small size of the community, it did not take long for us to go house-to-house and we were done by lunch time.  I remember thinking that sometimes we get these “Billy Graham” views of evangelism and expect that “success” equals thousands of people coming to Christ in a single setting.  Or, that we’re somehow more spiritual if we walk long distances over huge hills to do God’s work.  Yet, God shows how limited those views really are and how different His perspective is.  There was a reason He sent us to a place that had maybe 25 houses.  To Him, that community was important, regardless of its size.  Those people were valuable to Him and they were worth the effort.  And, that night, just about the entire town came to a 1-room school house to watch a movie about Jesus and heard the gospel.

But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.       Ezekiel 33:6

Friday, October 16

There were times during this trip that I felt completely inadequate for the task laid ahead of me.  I’m not an outgoing person, I cannot hold conversations with people in Spanish, and I rarely hold conversations with people in English.  I confessed to Loren that one of the things I worry about is that my “introvertedness” gets in the way of doing things that God might want me to do.  After reminding me of a number of people in the Bible who felt similar inadequacies, Loren also reminded me that I did end up going up to several people’s houses and communicated effectively enough in Spanish that they knew I had a gift for them and when/where the movie was that night.  Before and afterwards, I was my quiet self, but for 45 seconds, God absolutely gave me what I needed to get His work done.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.  Isaiah 55:10-11

Written by Jennifer Gidden

Nicaragua – October 2009

Our primary purpose while in Nicaragua was to partner with IMB missionaries Loren & Karen Dickey, as they oversee Operation GO Nicaragua.  The primary task of Operation GO is to get the Gospel into the hands of every person in Nicaragua.  This is done through Gospel saturation and showing the Jesus Film.  During this week our team of seven worked alongside Pastor Francisco who is a local church pastor in Las Sabanas Nicaragua.  Francisco has a heart for reaching eight neighboring villages surrounding Las Sabanas.  Our team was able to go into two of the remote villages (La Victoria & Aruse) passing out the Gospel of Luke and sharing the film.

During our time of ministry in La Victoria and in Aruse, as we showed the Jesus Film to 100 plus individuals and families whom we had visited over the span of two days, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the urgency with which we share the Gospel.  Not only that, but what it must be like to finally have someone come into your village (which can only be reached primarily by foot, horse, donkey, or in our case Land Rover SUV) to share the Gospel message.

As I sat there with my team and the Nicaraguans watching the visual depiction of Christ’s life, death, burial, and resurrection I wondered how many were seeing and hearing the Gospel for the first time.  How would they respond?  Would they cry, be amazed, wonder, or maybe not care?  Then I thought how many times I have seen, heard andread the Gospel account.  Would it affect and impact me now, just as it did the very first time I understood what Christ had accomplished for me.

I also began to think about how far we drove to get to these communities and then hiked to get to these homes.  Who would go if we didn’t?  Who would share the good news if we hadn’t?  As Carl F.H. Henry is quoted as saying, “The Gospel is only Good News if it gets there in time.”  I came away from this trip with a much deeper devotion to the Gospel, to evangelism and to taking the message of Christ to those who have yet to hear.

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?  And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ “  – Romans 10:14-15

Written by Ryan Martin