Saturday, July 16, 2005
JULY- THE BALL IS ROLLING
I hope everyone is having a good month of July. Things are going very well here in Leon as we see many barriers being broken and the “ball” of church planting starting to really “get rolling.” Weekly, victories are evident as we continue to press forward through this cultural terrain that is 98% Catholic.
SHOW ME A SIGN
Although it is not exciting news, it is important to note that June ended with the Leon team replacing our old, 3 square foot sign, with a massive one that reads in Spanish “Church of Christ.” The sign, which prominently stands above the entry of our building, took several hours to build a frame for and was quite a task to set up. However, the response to this new sign was worth all of the work. Several have knocked on our door midweek and told us that they have been wondering what is going on here at the building. Others have come to worship and study on Sunday, just because they saw the sign and wanted to come in and see what was going on. We are excited about the response, especially as we distribute literature that directs people to our meeting place, which can be easily found and seen.
EXCITING RESPONCE
Between our sign, the distribution of literature, personal evangelism, house study groups, and the various forms of ministry that we are involved in, we have seen a large “bump” in the number of worshippers this month. Last Sunday we were up to 31 worshippers. Of course, I have reported numbers like this before. However, this week was different because 10 of our regular members were away on vacation. The result (if you do the math) was that we had 23 visitors on Sunday! This was especially surprising because it was during the summer holiday, and we weren’t having a special worship Sunday. We are very excited about what we are seeing, and continue to take opportunities to “plug” these visitors into ministry and house group points.
A STORY ABOUT THE CHURCH WORKING
One visitor to our building was a man who could barely hold in his tears on Sunday. As we sang, he quietly walked in, sat in the back, and wept. After speaking with him following worship, it was made known that he had lost his job, was in need of money, and was concerned for his family’s inability to survive without food or income. I personally had to focus on another role at the time, and so my teammate Omar and a Mexican brother named Manolo began to determine how they would handle the issue. When I returned to Omar, I found that the church was assisting the man with money for food for the day. Also, Manolo who works for the government would be taking the man to get a government job. I then turned around to see a visitor also hand the man money and offer to give him a job. To me, this event demonstrated exactly what we are here to be doing. Empowering Mexican leadership to become the body of Christ! I was touched deeply by the events and was proud to see both our young Christians, and even visitors putting Christianity into practice.
PARTNERSHIPS
Jessica and I continue to be thankful for all that you have done and are doing for this ministry. We just a few months ago saw our finances for living finally reach what we have needed to live here in Leon. To all who contribute to that undertaking, we praise God for you. Your sacrifice will be rewarded.
As a team, we are still lacking funding for working here and have difficulty at times covering all of the first time costs of chairs, literature, and other items that come up. If anyone knows of those who might help in this task, it would take off some of the stress we as a team are facing to cover these bases. We are looking for monthly assistance for our working fund and appreciate your prayers and assistance in this task. I can be emailed at Mexico4Jesus@hotmail.com if you are able to assist financially in this way.
ROLLING ALONG
This month has been a challenge to write about because it is not filled with any BIG news. Rather, this month has been a pretty typical one. We continue to do mass evangelism in the mornings and Bible studies during midweek. Still we visit our visitors in their homes and open our homes up for small group studies. We look forward to the near future and pray for continued success as we hit spurts of growth and see major victories along the way. Strongly we believe in the Mexican people and that they will turn their hearts and minds towards the Lord. Still, we ask your prayers for them and us as we strive to change some of the cultural statistics here.
Very Grateful To You To Be A Minister In Mexico,
Chris Johnson
SHOW ME A SIGN
Although it is not exciting news, it is important to note that June ended with the Leon team replacing our old, 3 square foot sign, with a massive one that reads in Spanish “Church of Christ.” The sign, which prominently stands above the entry of our building, took several hours to build a frame for and was quite a task to set up. However, the response to this new sign was worth all of the work. Several have knocked on our door midweek and told us that they have been wondering what is going on here at the building. Others have come to worship and study on Sunday, just because they saw the sign and wanted to come in and see what was going on. We are excited about the response, especially as we distribute literature that directs people to our meeting place, which can be easily found and seen.
EXCITING RESPONCE
Between our sign, the distribution of literature, personal evangelism, house study groups, and the various forms of ministry that we are involved in, we have seen a large “bump” in the number of worshippers this month. Last Sunday we were up to 31 worshippers. Of course, I have reported numbers like this before. However, this week was different because 10 of our regular members were away on vacation. The result (if you do the math) was that we had 23 visitors on Sunday! This was especially surprising because it was during the summer holiday, and we weren’t having a special worship Sunday. We are very excited about what we are seeing, and continue to take opportunities to “plug” these visitors into ministry and house group points.
A STORY ABOUT THE CHURCH WORKING
One visitor to our building was a man who could barely hold in his tears on Sunday. As we sang, he quietly walked in, sat in the back, and wept. After speaking with him following worship, it was made known that he had lost his job, was in need of money, and was concerned for his family’s inability to survive without food or income. I personally had to focus on another role at the time, and so my teammate Omar and a Mexican brother named Manolo began to determine how they would handle the issue. When I returned to Omar, I found that the church was assisting the man with money for food for the day. Also, Manolo who works for the government would be taking the man to get a government job. I then turned around to see a visitor also hand the man money and offer to give him a job. To me, this event demonstrated exactly what we are here to be doing. Empowering Mexican leadership to become the body of Christ! I was touched deeply by the events and was proud to see both our young Christians, and even visitors putting Christianity into practice.
PARTNERSHIPS
Jessica and I continue to be thankful for all that you have done and are doing for this ministry. We just a few months ago saw our finances for living finally reach what we have needed to live here in Leon. To all who contribute to that undertaking, we praise God for you. Your sacrifice will be rewarded.
As a team, we are still lacking funding for working here and have difficulty at times covering all of the first time costs of chairs, literature, and other items that come up. If anyone knows of those who might help in this task, it would take off some of the stress we as a team are facing to cover these bases. We are looking for monthly assistance for our working fund and appreciate your prayers and assistance in this task. I can be emailed at Mexico4Jesus@hotmail.com if you are able to assist financially in this way.
ROLLING ALONG
This month has been a challenge to write about because it is not filled with any BIG news. Rather, this month has been a pretty typical one. We continue to do mass evangelism in the mornings and Bible studies during midweek. Still we visit our visitors in their homes and open our homes up for small group studies. We look forward to the near future and pray for continued success as we hit spurts of growth and see major victories along the way. Strongly we believe in the Mexican people and that they will turn their hearts and minds towards the Lord. Still, we ask your prayers for them and us as we strive to change some of the cultural statistics here.
Very Grateful To You To Be A Minister In Mexico,
Chris Johnson
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posted by Chris J : 4:51 PM 
Thursday, July 14, 2005
