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Spring Break Redefined

March 8, 2013 in Ministry, Prayer by Dave | 1 comment

Spring Break is a well known concept here on the Yucatán Peninsula. Many residents have personal experience working in the Riviera Maya, where students descend to spend their week-long vacation. They speak of the droves of sunburned gringos on the beach or of the wild all-night parties in the clubs throughout that region. So imagine the surprise on their faces when we tell them that Spring Break can mean something radically different!

Starting this Saturday, March 9th, we will be hosting two Chi Alpha Campus Fellowship missions teams from the University of Virginia and American University. These students and their leaders have repurposed their Spring Break to make an impact here in the Yucatán!

This Spring Impact has a three-part mission:

1. Advance the construction of Instituto Bíblico Bethel.

Bible school facade

Advancing Construction

Thanks to several key donations at the close of 2012 and the fundraising efforts of these students, we’ve been able to dedicate over $7,000 to this ongoing project. With these funds and the their hard work, the second floor of the school’s multi-purpose building will begin to take shape.


2. Stimulate ministerial formation among Bible School students.

Student Sergio Ek and Pastor Rudy Cano together with Dave in San Bernardo

Ministerial Formation

We’re teaming up these American students with their Mexican counter-parts. They’ll be working side by side thoughout the week, putting their education into practice both in ministry and in plain, honest, hard work.


3. Encourage evangelism efforts.

Antonio Armando Balam sharing in Sierra Papacal

Encouraging Evangelism

More than 40 individuals will be divided between the villages of San Bernardo in the south and Sierra Papacal in the north in support of two, newly-planted churches. The groups will spend their afternoons in community service, door to door evangelism, and the invitation of residents to a special community day, where they will have the opportunity to respond to the message of salvation.

Would you pray especially for this time of construction and outreach? Pray for the health and safety of all involved. Pray for an ability to communicate both within the teams and among those who would hear the message of salvation. Pray that the churches would grow as a result of these efforts, and pray that both the Americans and the Mexicans would finish this trip with the sense that they have been used by God.

Thanks for standing with us!

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Can the Yucatán be a Force in Missions?

February 8, 2013 in Maya, Ministry, Missions by Dave | 1 comment

Traditionally, missions has been the realm of those of White, Anglo-Saxon descent. The ranks of missionary heroes are full of names like Hudson Taylor or Jim Elliot. However, Latino, Chinese, or African names remain remarkably absent from such lists, even after decades of work within such nations.

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We understand these tendencies. Those mentioned were ones who opened up new territories to the Gospel. But, now that those areas have been opened, what of those who have been reached? Do they have a responsibility to share in the burden of World Evangelism?

Jesus seemed to think so. His missions strategy was the original Pay it Forward plan. “Freely you have received, freely give” (Mat. 10:8). He expected his fledgling disciples to pass on what they had learned from Him, and he commissioned them to engage in that worldwide effort from the get-go (Acts1:8).

Still, while some have answered the call, actually reaching the country of their calling is a tremendous challenge. The reality here in Mexico is that, although missionaries are responding, the church as a whole remains largely non-committal in regards to missionary responsibility. This is dangerous, especially as unreached areas close to those fitting the traditional missionary profile.

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This month, were working toward a solution. I had the chance to preach in our sectional pastor’s meeting, and I challenged our leaders to take steps to increase missions consciousness among their churches. Also, this week, we are in the middle of our District Missions Convention, “The Awakening of the Mayas to Missions.”

What is the goal of these efforts? It’s to encourage our churches to feel the responsibility of missions and to sense the empowerment that Christ has given to all his disciples regardless of nationality.

We believe that the Yucatán can be a force in missions. Pray with us to that end, and, maybe someday, we’ll read of a Norma Uitzil, or a Lidia Pompeyo among those lists of missions heroes.

Blessings on you as you stand with us in prayer!

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Go East Young Man?

January 22, 2013 in Maya, Ministry by Dave | Permalink

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Practicing personal evangelism

Certainly that’s not right. The direction is supposed to be west, is it not? Well, if you live in Merida, and your goal is ministry among the Maya, then east is the direction you want to travel.

And go east we did, Joseph and I that is, to be a part of another Action Group training for the Jesus Film in Maya. We travelled three hours on a rather circuitous route to make it to the city of Tizimin, where one of my former students, Alex Canul, served as our host.  Once there, churches from Tizimin, Espita, and Dzonot Carretero, five in all, were trained with the view to participate in a Jesus Film outreach in their area.

Of course, the goal of the Jesus Film is much more than simply the projection of the film itself. The goal is to leave a nucleus of believers, a functioning church, in each place it is shown. To do so, Action Groups are trained in everything from personal evangelism and testifying to teaching discipleship classes to new believers.

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Pastor Alex Canul

Our time in Tizimin was a full day of teaching strategy, methods, and techniques, but we took time as well to emphasize our dependence on the work of the Holy Spirit to create opportunities, to open doors, and to work in the hearts of those reached by the film. We left satisfied with the ground that we were able to cover, but more desperate than ever for God to reach Maya speakers in the Yucatán with a clear presentation of the story of Jesus and a church home full of the sound of their native language.

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There’s Just Smething About It…

January 16, 2013 in Ministry by Dave | Permalink

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Christmas is one of my favorite times of year. There is just something about this celebration of our Lord’s incarnation. First, there’s the anticipation of special events and family gatherings. Then, there’s with the expectation, both in the minds of the kids wondering what they’ll receive, and the adults wondering what their reaction will be. This translates into an excitement, even as the cooler temperatures bring a pleasant crispness to the air. At the same time, good cheer translates to warm greetings and quick smiles, whether among friends or even in the presence of perfect strangers. It’s a special time that I always hate to see come to an end.

Still, though the season may come to an end, our memories of Christmas 2012 can live on. One such memory I’d like to share, was our outreach to Yaxkukul, where we were able to participate with our home church, Centro Cristiano Gólgota here in Merida and Sparrow Fellowship in Waterford, PA, to make the Christmas holidays just a bit warmer for the kids of Yaxkukul.

If the name Yaxkukul sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve been there before. That time it was to help coordinate efforts to put a new roof on a building that had previously been declared structurally unsound. Well, the roof is back on, and Pastor Rudy and his church are reaching out again to the community, but, in order to bless their kids, it was going to take a coordinated effort.

That’s where the efforts of Centro Cristiano Gólgota and Sparrow Fellowship come in. Earlier in the year, the kids at Sparrow gathered together their coins to bless kids in Mexico. Working together, they were able to collect over $80! Meanwhile, the kids at Gólgota answered pastor Rudy’s appeal for help. On the day of the outreach, Kelly, the kids and I, used the $80 to purchase blankets, and later joined with the Pastor Maria Jesús Salazar, the parents, and kids of the church to put together a Christmas party for the kids of Yaxkukul.

At the church in Yaxkukul, parents, kids, and church members joined together to sing, play, eat, and gift each child (23 in all) a new toy, blanket, and new clothes as well! It was a great time of togetherness, cooperation, and blessing, for those who gave as well as those who received. There were even fireworks, a decidedly Mexican touch, to cap off this special event brought about by a truly international effort.

Thanks to all who made this outreach possible. Be sure to check out the pictures here!

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A bag of chips, a bottle of Coke, and a thought.

January 9, 2013 in Maya by Dave | Permalink

Speaking with prayer group members

We were in San Isidro de Ochil on Monday night. We went there as as family in order to meet the new congregation planted by Jesus Film team member, Efren Sánchez. We made our way through a driving rain to meet Efren and his team, and then picked our way through the back roads that led from Efren’s village of Pixyah to the town of Ochil. Once there, we met the owner of the home where the church was meeting. Then, I got busy interviewing those who were there while Efren and his group went out to invite those who had not yet arrived.

The prayer service was quite standard in many respects, except of course for the Latinized Maya language that flowed through the house. We sang, prayed for the needs of those in the home, and received a message from Efren about the uniqueness of Christ. It wasn’t until all was over that the significance of the situation struck me.

With the service over, several members of the team from Pixyah headed to a corner store. They came back with bags of snacks and bottles of soda. The snacks were placed in a common bowl and passed for all to share. Plastic cups were then filled and distributed among those who had gathered in the house. It was as I reached my hand in the bowl that I couldn’t help but wonder if this was what Paul had in mind when he gave his rules for communion in 1 Corinthians 11.

Here were people of different levels of education, social circles, and economic status all gathered under the same roof. There were those who spoke Spanish, Maya, and English, conversing with each other, granted, some better than others. There were people from all walks of life sharing from a common bowl. We were disparate members, each with his or her own story, but in this one spontaneous, boisterous, yet holy moment, we were unified as the body of Christ.

There, in that little room, was a congregation. There, in that gathering, a new church had met. This is why we came. We remain so that others might live moments like these, moments that give opportunity for changed lives.

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Expanding the vision

December 10, 2012 in Media by Dave | Permalink

Be it with new students or on new soil, God has called us to expand our vision so that all may be reached. Click on the image or follow the link to read about how we’re responding.

Our online newsletter is viewable as a PDF document. If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader software installed, you may download it here.


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A New Generation

December 5, 2012 in Ministry by Dave | Permalink

Evangelism is important to me. Since 2006, it’s been one of the principle classes that I’ve taught at the Bible School. So, for me, evangelistically related themes take on a special interest.

This past month, as I wrapped up my Missions class, I discovered some interesting information about world evangelism. First of all, the need is immense. The Joshua Project, a site which reports the state of the gospel among unreached people groups, declares that 2 out of every 5 people do not have an adequate witness of the gospel. Nevertheless, Evangelical Christianity has never been so prevalent as it is today. According to Ryun Chan, author of the “Manual de Misiones”, at our current numbers, there is one evangelical believer for every nine non-believers in the world.

What does this mean? It means that although the task is great, if each of us does his or her part, the goal of finishing the Great Commission is within reach. Still, with the promotion of tolerance as the most prized virtue, pressure is mounting for us to keep our faith to ourselves. In other words, if the trends continue, we may be experiencing the high water mark of Evangelical Christianity even as our goal is within reach.

How do we combat these trends? Only by keeping our stated purpose in focus. Our denomination, the Assemblies of God, in its statement of faith has declared that “the Church has a Mission to seek and save all who are lost in sin.” It is therefore an imperative to engage in and promote evangelism, and that is just what we’re doing here in Merida.

On November 13th, I began teaching a new generation of Bible Institute students in my sixth installment of “Evangelismo Práctico I.” This new group of eight students are walking through a set of lessons and assignments to help them make evangelism, not just a task but a way of life. Already, we’re seeing fruit as these students are putting themselves in contact with seekers. Stay tuned for updates as we continue through the semester!

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Thankful that He Calls

November 22, 2012 in Culture, Ministry, Missions, Thanks by Dave | 2 comments

Angel y Berenice, following after the call

“Hermano, ¿podemos hablar un ratito?” were Bernice’s words. Something was clearly bothering her. Berenice was one of my students in my Missions class. She was troubled because the theme had confirmed an idea that God was revealing to her and her husband, Angel.

“Are we crazy?” she asked. She wanted to know if it was right for them to feel led to go to another place. She wanted to know if it was OK to leave her home, her extended family, and her church. She asked if I could give them advice. I prayed with her and encouraged her to be attentive to the voice of God. He did not fail to speak.

Just a week ago, Kelly and I met with Berenice and Angel. At the meeting, they shared their story. They related to us how they had been called to minister in Guerrero, in a village whose name they had never heard. They told us how they had taken steps to dismiss their impression only to have it confirmed time and again, but never more intensely than after our previous conversation.

We shared our own experience with them, prayed with them and encouraged them, but it was obvious that no convincing was needed. God is doing his work. They’re now preparing to take the next step in fulfilling the vision.

During this Thanksgiving holiday, I have a reason to be grateful. I’m grateful that He calls men and women to follow Him although their culture would have them stay at home. I’m thankful He still confirms His word, even in the most unlikely circumstances, and I’m glad that He’s allowed us to be a witness of it here in Yucatán.

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Mid-term Mission Statement

November 13, 2012 in Ministry, Prayer by Dave | Permalink

As we move into the second half of our term, we’ve seen God moving us to undertake a three-fold mission. In this prayer update, we present this vision to you so that you might agree with us for it’s completion.

Reach the lost

Since our missionary career began in 2004, our desire has been to reach others with the gospel. We’ve engaged that mission through social outreach, campaigns, and one-on-one evangelistic efforts. This term, we’ve had the opportunity to reach out to the indigenous Maya people in their own language. With your help, we can equip and send more teams to plant churches among them.

Remove obstacles to the gospel

I’ll never forget the sadness I felt as I watched one man walk away from the church. He was an addict, and that particular church had nothing to offer him to meet his needs. I prayed in that moment that I’d never have to witness an event like that again.

This term, we’ve seen God answering that prayer. We’ve been able to come alongside two drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers to introduce them to Teen Challenge resources. We are working to help them to shape and expand their programs. Our desire is to see these ministries become regional resources for people struggling with addictions.

Raise up others to do the same

At “Instituto Bíblico Bethel” we’re training up the next generation of pastors and missionaries. Regularly, we’re teaching such subjects as evangelism, apologetics, church planting, and missions, sharing our God-given vision. Right now, we’re halfway through a project to expand their facilities to better serve these ministers in formation. We believe that with your help we can reach our goal to finish this building in this term.

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The Fall Newsletter has been Uploaded!

September 28, 2012 in Media by Dave | Permalink

How does missions become an intrinsic part of the church? By teaching it from the beginning. Hit the link here or click on the picture to find out how we are making that happen in the Yucatán! While you’re there, don’t miss the rest of our latest quarterly update from the field!

Our online newsletter is viewable as a PDF document. If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader software installed, you may download it here.


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