One of the things we clearly heard from the Lord about our brief three month trip to Mexico is that we would be spying out the land, much as Caleb and Joshua and their team did millennia ago (Deuteronomy 1:19-23). Just as for them, we had a choice about how to look at the land. We could 'be real,' focus on the difficulties (too many to list) and become disheartened; or we could look with the eyes of faith and see what God could do with us and through us in that beautiful land hungry for the Kingdom of Heaven. We chose the latter.
During our visit we experienced great favour and learnt how to steward that favour by using it only for what God intended and by working diligently for His purposes in all things. We believe that this mission was imperative for laying the foundation for our second mission, which will differ in several ways. During our second mission we feel the Lord is sending us to "take the land". Sam and I felt the Lord was going to open many doors for us, even doors we hadn't knocked on. The fame of all the miracles and salvations that were being done in Jesus name through us extended over all the city. As an evidence of this, I have been asked to present our 2010 vision for the city, before an association of 100 churches. The meeting will take place at the beginning of January 2010. If they decide to go ahead this will imply the following:
- We will be coordinating one team per church. In other words, there will be up to 100 teams.
- We will be running weekly workshops to equip the teams with the tools and expertise to reach out effectively.
- There will be a great framework and huge net to collaborate for doing monthly campaigns reaching out to thousands in stadiums, auditoriums, parks and squares.
The team that we led on our recent mission, as a model of equipping and evangelism for the future, saw between 50-100 coming to Christ every week. We evangelised every two weeks as we spent the weeks in between evangelism weeks consolidating the faith of the brand new believers saved the week before, pursuing quality alongside quantity - we want to see fruit that remains. With those very "realistic" figures, a team, well trained, per church could easily lead between 1000 and 2000 people to the Lord in 10 months. Now, multiply that by 100. Can we reach out to 100,000 in 10 months in the city of Tuxtla? The answer is: Yes we can!!
"Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain" Psalm 127:1
Without God's help, nothing will prosper. This is why Sam and I ask you to join us in prayer for the following:
- Wisdom and favour to document and present the vision for 2010 before the association of pastors.
- As we are in the process of setting up a trust fund for Gospel Action, that God will enable whatever is necessary for it take place.
- As the "worker deserves his wages." (1 Timothy 5:18) and knowing that "the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel", that God may release a constant flow of finances to be able to afford flight tickets and wages.
We hope you have enjoyed our adventures in the Gospel and we look forward to seeing you back in the UK or other parts of the world soon so that we can rejoice with you!
All our love and blessings!
Mario and Sam
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