Praying Seriously About Expanding to Guadalajara, MX

Josef knows a friend of mine in ministry, Mike Gendron. He is already using tracts written by Mike. Plus, as you will read below, I used to pray with his wife at Grace Community Church in the prayer room when this ministry first began at Venice Beach! We feel the Lord's hand on this partnership, but we are still praying about it. Below is our discourse by email. You will find my response after Josef's excellent description of this mission field and their needs.


Hi Dwayna,

...I showed my wife the pictures you sent and as soon as she saw them she said, "Oh that's Dwayna!" Apparently, she used to go to the same prayer meeting as you at Grace [Community Church]. Her name is Lina, maybe you remember her? We are very interested in this type of ministry.

Last week, the Lord opened a door for us, and without even intending to set out to try to secure a position for a table in a local 'tianguis' (outdoor street market), we were just pushed into it and obtained a place for free. We now have a spot available there for every Thursday to set up a table with tracts, booklets and Bibles. We did it for the first time last Thursday and the response was great. We were able to give out several hundred Gospel tracts (ones that we print here at a discounted price), have some good conversations, and give out 10 Bibles. This was all in about 5 hours, and at a very small local market. The Bibles were only given to those who showed great desire for a Bible and don't own one in their homes, and even so, 10 still went out! We were able to really preach to a young man in his early 20's that really received what we said (the Gospel), and even had tears in his eyes seeing his great need for faith in the Savior. Several more took other literature, including booklets in Spanish of the testimony of an ex-priest from the 1800's (you can read it here: http://www.puregospeltruth.com/the-gift-of-god---testimony-of-a-former-roman-catholic-priest-named-charles-chiniquy.html). It was only a test run, but it went very well.

There are also other places in the city where we can possibly obtain booths in the markets if the Lord opens the doors and provides the resources. It was a wonderful way to draw the attention of people, have conversations, and get Bibles into the hands of those who don't have one. One lady actually prayed that morning, "Lord, let there be a Bible at the market today that I can buy", and sure enough, she came and ran into our booth and recieved one for free with gratefulness and thanks to God. This is amazing, because it's not normal to find a Bible at these side street markets. I personally have never seen one at any! But, God had a plan! So, it looks like the Lord is confirming our steps.

First it started with a desire to do this type of ministry, then with prayer, then with mentioning it to my wife, then with stumbling across your website and reading about your ministry and being surprised that there are others doing this who have good doctrine (when I wasn't searching for anything of this sort), then with having a place at the local market here pushed onto our lap. I have also talked to the pastor of our church here in Guadalajara, and he likes the idea also. I talked about how it would potentially be a great way to get some of the other members involved in ministry and reaching the lost, especially the older women of the church (but not limited to the older women). There are older women who have been in the Gospel for many years but still don't have any type of active ministerial involvement (other than evangelizing in their own circles of influence of course), and this is something that may be very appealing to them and allow them to get active in sharing their faith more regularly and will even bring others to the church. His counsel was that I spell everything out on paper, exactly what we'll be doing, include pictures from those already doing it, and get all prepared to present it, then we will call a meeting with all the women of the church and present the idea to them and see if there is any voluntary interest among them. We both believe that some will respond with interest. Also, we will keep it open to men too, and to married couples, etc. Then we will have to find markets and areas to place booths and figure out a way to supply the resources as best we can to set up the tables. So that is the discussed plan among us thus far. Of course, I myself, along with my wife and other brethren, plan on continuing to have a table in the market to preach at ourselves at least once a week in addition to this. Who knows, maybe it's possible to saturate this city of over 9 million souls with Gospel tables?

Now, a little but about Guadalajara. It is the second largest city in Mexico in the state of Jalisco. It is dead center of what is known to missiologists as the "Circle of Silence". It is basically a circle on a map that highlights the area around us, encompassing 6 states. In this "circle", less than 2% of the overall population identify themselves as evangelicals. Most are devoted Catholics. So Guadalajara is the largest city in this circle where the Gospel is scarce and is a perfect beachhead from where the Gospel can go forth abroad, with many frequent visitors from the neighboring states and areas. Our mission is to preach Christ, and see God win souls and to make disciples.

We also have a vision of coming alongside native believers and helping to bring them into maturity and sound doctrine and equipping them to evangelize their own people, that the work may be uniquely "theirs" as natives and not "ours" as foreigners. We evangelize regularly in the busy city squares, most of the time using methods such as open air preaching, personal evangelism, handing out tracts and conversating with people, etc. We also have Bible studies to teach the converted. I also lead a youth/singles group at our local church here and preach to them regularly, as well as other ministerial teaching and preaching activities in the church and at events. There's so much to do but few laborers and resources, and because of this, we need help to provide more materials and help mobilize the believers here into effective ministry.

These are a few things the Lord has us doing right now to give you an idea of the work here. The main problem we're going to have if we continue is the cost of the materials. The Bibles end up costing between $2.50 and $3 a piece for soft-cover newsprint-paper Bibles. Plus tracts, plus booklets. It's an easy $30 we need every week to support just one booth, plus 4 weeks per month. I know the Lord will make a way if it is all His will, so I'm not worried, but just practically laying out reality. I do know the church will have some capacity to support their own work as well for what they do, but I don't know exactly what it will all look like.

Well, there is more I could say but I don't have time to type all morning! For more information about us, visit our website and read all the pages on it: www.puregospeltruth.com -You can especially go to "Updates" and read the last few months of updates we have sent out including our recent trip to a village in Guerrero, another Mexican state in great need of the Gospel.

I will tag you onto our email newsletter also and you'll get a notification from InJesus. So, what exactly do you do with the ministries you help? Can you explain to me in detail? If the Lord permits we try to work together, what exactly will it all entail? Thanks and blessings in Jesus.

In Christ alone,
Josef Urban
http://www.puregospeltruth.com/

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My response WITH A PRAYER FOR GOD TO PROVIDE:

Josef,

We simply partner internationally when it comes to resources and prayer. We list updates, prayer needs, resource needs (such as more Bibles and tracts) for more people here in America to give to meet….We ship out materials, many for people involved in the occult, to table outreaches who need unique materials for Buddhists, etc. We often make a banner reading “A Free Gift for You” for the tables and ship that to the locations. Since shipping is so expensive internationally, we would be happy to reimburse you for a banner if it is something your table needs….Anyway, we just want the table to look the best and be the best (with the proper materials such as Bibles, tracts, books, sermons and articles) TO MEET THE PEOPLE RIGHT WHERE THEY ARE AND GIVE THEM ANSWERS TO LEAD THEM TO JESUS.

I have posted what you have sent me asking others to pray about our partnership….

GOD BLESS YOU.

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Dwayna