Mission News
April 28, 2008
Partnership in Action
Partnership in Action, GO International, First United
Methodist and Refuge of Peace Methodist Church, building churches in Mexico and Honduras,
bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to what we would call -
the ends of the earth or the middle of no where! Gathering
together God's lost sheep from the remote mountains and
plateaus telling them the good news. We are sharing this
free gift of salvation with these hard to reach folks
because that is what God commanded us to do - it's what he
expected from us - so here we are.
This process began about five years ago under the
leadership of pastor Jose Padilla in a remote village in
Mexico. There worship experience began with six members and
the pastor’s family meeting in a rented facility. Nearly all
of there finances went to rent. Collecting money to build
their dream church seemed so far off. but they did
eventually began the purchase process for some property
recently where they are now meeting in a tent.
The property lies at the foot of the mountain “el Cerro de la Silla” or in English Saddle Mountain because it is shaped like a
saddle. (See photo below)
The pastor, his family the congregation of six worked
very hard clearing the property. See the following slide
show to see the pictures sent by Pastor Padilla of what was
happening just a few weeks ago in March.
Report from Honduras
This report is from our Partners in Action, GO
International, a message from the field by Larry Cochran. he
and group of volunteers were at the Guadalupe, Colon,
Honduras site. (They have just returned in the last few
days. We hope to have more in depth report very soon.) The
area is inhabited by poor farm workers. The church they are
building has access to about 300 families now, but area is
growing. Pastor Herman Maldonado and his wife, Maria have
been working in the area for about one year. Larger work
remains under the supervision of Francisco Pavon.
The following photographs were taken at the Honduras
site.
Frame and Brick Structure, the beginnings
of a church
Pastor Herman Maldonado, his wife, Maria,
and a parishioner pray over the church site.
Come - Matt 11:28; Come to
me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you
rest.
Tarry - Luke 10:38-42; As
Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a
village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.
39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet
listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by
all the preparations that had to be made.
Go - Matt 28:19-20;
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very
end of the age.
April 14, 2008
Special Mission Letter
Special Letter from Marilyn Wykes, Missionary to
Indonesia
Thank you for your part in the ministry here in
Indonesia. You are a blessing to me through you prayers and
financial support.
Latest News on the Summer 2008 Mission Trip to Mexico
Mission Team to Monterrey, Mexico
July 10 -19, 2008
Irving First and Go international are teaming up with our
ministry partner Rev. Jose Padilla to assist with the
planting of a new church near Monterrey, Mexico. We are
looking for 10 people to join the Go International team to
help raise the walls of the new church and participate with
an evangelistic outreach and prayer ministry to the
Monterrey neighborhood.
Requirements:
-
Passport
with expiration no later than Dec. 19, 2008
-
Good
health and willingness to serve
-
Cost:
$900 plus airfare to Monterrey. This includes ground
transportation, food, lodging, insurance, project and
miscellaneous costs.
Eight scholarships of $1,000 each are available to the
first 8 that sign up. Additional funds are also available.
If you want to go, we will find a way. If you want to
register for the trip and a scholarship, please contact
Pastor Dave. Dr. Phil Thornton from Go International will be
here during the Missions Conference to answer any questions
you might have regarding the trip.
The deadline for registering with our church is May 11th,
2008.
Don’t miss this opportunity to invest in kingdom
ministries with our neighbors to the south.
March 30, 2008
Update from the Missions work area.
As we announced on Sunday, through your generous support of
Faith Promise last year, our church is assisting in the building
of two new Methodist churches in Honduras and Mexico through a
partnership with Go International. I’d like to share a portion
of the letter Go International received from the pastor of the
church in Guadalupe, Mexico. These are his own words, translated
with the help of his sister. You can just hear the excitement in
his words and feel the heart he has for his church. Please lift
him and his congregation up in your prayers and prayerfully
consider traveling to Mexico this summer with the Go
International team to help raise the walls of this new church.
Greetings in the name of Jesus.
I am Pastor José Padilla, Pastor
that is establishing a new Methodist church in Guadalupe,
Nuevo Leon, Mexico, which is next to Monterrey.
My bishop, brother Raul Garcia,
informed me about your interest in work together in the
foundation of a new Methodist church.
Our History: About five years ago,
God moved me and my family from Matamoros, Tamaulipas to
Monterrey , with the vision of planting a new church. We
started with 6 member and my family. We started to preach at
open squares and in houses, the gospel of God, during this
time we have been renting a place. Three weeks ago, after a
great search of a land, and a deep praying intercession, God
has blessed us with a property, where we plan to build our
church "Refugio de Paz" (Refuge of Peace).
We are still doing the Sunday's
services at the local we rent, because, we need to build
bathrooms, and to clean up the property to set a tent to
move maybe in two more weeks to the property, and to have
all services over there.
Now we have a congregation of about 70 people in average.
Our vision is to establish a church
dynamic in the evangelism ministry, prayer ministry,
discipled and to build with that purposes a building that
have: the temple, fellowship , Sunday school classrooms, and
a tower for praying.
Also, we have the dream to have
missionary center, where we can have dormitories up to 34
people at a same time, and to recieve and to give support to
missionary teams from all over the world that wants to do
missionary work in our city or Monterrey area, evangelistic
teams, medical groups, dentist groups, praying groups,
construction groups, social aid groups, etc.
We have a project that has been
done by two Methodist architects, that have donated their
professional work to God. So we are ready to start building
the first fase, which is, the foundation of the half of the
first floor.
Yours in Christ.
Jose Padilla
February 18, 2008
The last weekend in April will be a very special time for our
church. There will be guest speakers, and of course, extra
meetings! Some of those will include food! This year there will
be a special effort to involve everyone in the church in this
weekend. The children’s department will be working on a surprise
for the conference!
One of the last things Jesus told his followers to do was to
go and “make disciples of all nations.” This is the “mission” of
the church. Not just our church, but “the” church. Missions
Conference is an opportunity for each one of us to focus on the
lost of the world around us, near and far, and decide what we
are willing to do to spread the gospel of Jesus to the world.
Helping others is a good thing, but telling others about Jesus
and how they can have eternal life through faith in Him is
REALLY helping others!
We will meet some people during our Missions Conference
weekend who are dedicated to Christ and to fulfilling His “great
commission” to make disciples of all nations. We will have the
privilege of coming along side them in prayer and in financial
support. Listen to the leading of God’s Spirit and discover
where you can be in missions, too!
January 6, 2008
At the last meeting of the Missions Work Area we voted to
spend $32,000 to build two churches in South America with the
assistance of GO International. Larry Cochran who spoke at the
Revival and Mission’s Conference leads GO International and has
primary responsibility for building new churches. $8,000 in
assistance will be offered for those that are selected to go and
help build one of the churches. Qualifications for this
assistance will be determined soon by the new Missions Work Area
members. This trip should be very exciting for those that can go
. . . spreading God’s word . . . building a church . . . seeing
the Love of God growing in another country. Get that passport
ready and go with us to build a new church in South America.
More details will be coming soon.
October 29, 2007
I am not always the best at writing so I guess it is time to
update you on what is going on in the Mission’s Work Area. We
have had several Missionaries move, get promoted and move, or
have had no change. We have had the wonderful problem of how to
spend the money that has been donated wisely to help spread
God’s Word.
 You may well know by now that Tommy and Sue Moon are back
in the US. Sue’s mother has a rare auto-immune disease and they
have moved close by to take care of her. Tommy has accepted a
position at Northwest College in Orange City, Iowa, as their
Missions Director in the Department of Spiritual Formations and
Vocation.
Morgan Stephens will be moving to Nashville Tennessee;
it is my understanding that it is a promotion for all the great
work he has done. He will still need our support and we will do
our part. We congratulate him on a job well done. He has done
some great work in Austin bringing young college students to
Christ. Morgan has become a church budget item as well as the
Faulkners. What this means is that they are no longer paid
out of the Faith Promise Undesignated account, which is money
people donate to Mission’s and do not specify where to spend it.
This was usually a year-to-year promise Mission’s made with the
Missionary. The budget is a long term commitment to them.
 We have sent
emails to our Missionaries asking them what they need to do
their jobs. Charles and Becky Jackson are developing a
mini-loan program that makes small loans of approximately $100
to women primarily. They say women are much better at paying
them back. They train the women in business processes and how to
manage their lives and money. They hold regular church services
and perform a number of baptisms. We have sent them $3000 to
start two mini-loan programs.
The Savutos in Africa help at the Maua Methodist
Hospital in Kenya. The people there are very poor. They are
unable to pay for the medical treatment they need and they can
always use our help. You may remember when they were here last
they told us about the number of people suffering from the AIDS
epidemic. It leaves many young children to be raised by their
grandparents. The grandparents are barely able to make it and
now have children to raise. We sent them $3000 to help with the
hospital bills. Their unpaid bills run
 $30,000 a month. We
have pledged to sponsor the Jay and Teri Whitten’s Missionary
trip to China. We have pledged to sponsor them for three years
at $100 a month. Jay and his wife Teri are friends of Ralph and
Sue Wilson who referred them to us and we were glad to help
sponsor their trip. It will be quite a change for their children
but one they say they are ready for.
I am sure you remember Larry Cochran of GO
International, our speaker at the Revival and our Mission’s
Conference. GO International builds a lot of churches and
schools around the world. We are planning to build a church with
the help of GO International. We are reviewing all the different
options they have and hope to send a group to help build it. We
will let you know as details are confirmed. This may be
something that you may want to do yourself.
The Mission’s Conference will be the last weekend in
April. We are beginning plans now. We have sent the Missionaries
we support notice asking them to attend if possible.
That’s all of the latest new in Missions. Our meeting is the
second Sunday of the month at 5:00 pm in .Room 204W. Stop by if
you have a chance.
Thanks,
Gerald Stanford
(for more information on missions and
missionaries that FUMCi sponsors, go to the
Missions page.)
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