Los 300 in McMinnville

Los 300 is a cooperative outreach between 7 or 8 Spanish speaking churches in the Willamette Valley and the Oregon Coast. Once a month we gather at one of the churches for a unified evangelistic effort in their city. The cities include Newport, Corvallis, Albany, Jefferson, Salem, Eugene, and McMinnville. Our first outreach was in Albany in July. We have also gone to Corvallis, Salem, and Newport. This last Saturday we were in McMinnville. We gathered for a great meal together. After a training session we broke up into teams and went door to door witnessing and inviting people to come to an event that evening. Over 80 people come from the participating churches. We made some very good contacts as we went door to door. At the event there were games and prizes. Several people responded to the evangelistic message. God is good!

Fighting Syncretism

Syncretism is the mixing of truth and error. One common way it is found is when people have their own belief system and then hear about Jesus. They decide to ask Jesus to forgive them of their sins but never break away from their previously existing belief system.

We have been fighting syncretism among the people that we minister to both in Oregon and Mexico. People want to trust in Jesus for forgiveness but do not want to turn away from any of their previously held beliefs. “What fellowship does light have with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14).

I am convinced, after many years of studying this problem, that the fundamental reason that people syncretize their beliefs is due to their completely inadequate view of God. The ancient Syrians thought that “the LORD is God of the hills, but not the God of the valleys” (1 Kings 20:28). In the same way, most people think that God is no where close to the infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Creator and Sustainer that he is. “Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised!” (Ps. 48:1).

I am equally convinced that one effective way to combat syncretism is to expose people to the majesty of God through presenting his story as revealed in Scripture starting with before the beginning of everything. “In the beginning God…” “In the beginning was the Word…” “Before Abraham was, I AM.”

This is what I am working on right now. Soon, I hope to have several people in our ministry both here and in Mexico trained to teach who God is, what he has done for us, and what he expects from us. Please pray.

Follow us on vacation.

We are on vacation! For the next two weeks Jerilyn and I will be riding our tandem bicycle down the northern California coast from Eureka to San Francisco. You can follow along by reading our journal at: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/eu2sf



I will be updating the journal every day (that we have internet access) with pictures and story line.

This is a picture of us on our last bicycle tour that went from Eugene, OR to Eureka, CA.

We had a great Church Family Camp!

Last weekend we had our best church family camp ever. We were at Sawyer’s Rapids Resort camping along the Umpqua River. The weather was perfect – in the 70s. It was a little cold at night but everyone had plenty of wraps. Everyone pitched in with the camp chores and cooking and so we had a more relaxing time as well.

The children enjoyed catching baby fish and crawdads and everyone enjoyed swimming and fishing. Julio caught his first fish ever on Saturday and then caught a huge steelhead. He got the bug and spent every moment he could with a fishing pole in his hand. Everyone enjoyed eating roasted marshmallows and fire roasted corn on the cob.

On Saturday night we had a great time of singing and testimonies around the campfire. On Sunday morning we had church in the sand.

After a Week in Mexico

Things are going well. We arrived safe and sound in Negritas and spent nine days there. We spent all day Tuesday giving a Bible conference - Jon preached 5 times. Saturday was an all day of prayer and Sunday he gave two more messages. Jerilyn had many good conversations with the ladies and taught children's church several times so that all the ladies could attend the messages that Jon gave. Jon met with the leaders of the church two times and Jon and Jerilyn had a very good meeting with Lupe and Leti on Monday morning.

We are now in Huajuapan, Oaxaca, Mexico with Juan and Vicki Herrera - a couple we ministered to for many years in Oregon and Jon baptized 5 years ago. They are doing well and Juan is starting Bible School this month. He is helping to start a church in his home town.

On Thursday we will be traveling to Jessie's in-law's house for a couple days of R&R before heading back towards Oregon.

Pray for the fan in our car to work as it has been on and off. When it is hot and off we have no air conditioning and traveling in Arizona can be unbearable with 100+ temperatures. Mexico is green and much cooler.

On our way to Negritas

Jerilyn and I are on our way, driving to Negritas, Mexico, to visit the church we planted a year and a half ago with people we led to Jesus in Oregon. Lupe is the pastor and Leti his wife.

Their ministry seems to be continually in flux as the situation there is always changing. There are currently a couple of Bible studies going as well as a regular weekly prayer meeting and an all day of prayer the first Saturday of every month. Pray that we can be an encouragement to everyone in the church and especially to Lupe and Leti.

Lupe’s mother is in serous condition as her liver is failing. This is of great concern to the family as she is still rejecting faith in Jesus. This visit will probably be the last time we will be able to see her alive. Pray for wisdom as we visit with her. Pray for her salvation.

We are also going to visit Juan and Vicki Herrera. They received Jesus and were baptized several years ago in Oregon. Now they are living for Jesus in their town as the only believers. Circumstances are sometimes very discouraging and we are going to encourage them.

Pray for safety as we will be passing through a couple of areas where there has been violence recently. Pray that we will be able to encourage believers and be used by God to share Jesus with those who do not yet know him.

Carne Asada Outreach is Tonight

Pray for our Carne Asada tonight in Jefferson. We are praying for 100 people to come. We will serve barbequed beef, tortillas, salsa, beans and rice. Afterwards we will play basketball and soccer until midnight. Pray for Miguel Velarde who will preach and for Remedios and Zeila who will teach children’s church.

After the service Jon will be immediately driving to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to bring Luis, our son-in-law, home to his family as he received his legal papers to immigrate today. Jessie and their daughter Citlali have missed him a lot.

Urgent prayer request for Lupe in Negritas.

Please pray for Lupe, the pastor of our church plant in Negritas, Mexico. His mother is an alcoholic and of course the family (and especially Lupe) has been trying to get her to quit for some time. This week Lupe's mother drank too much and fell down. She received a large bruise on the side of her face. To save face, she is telling everyone in town a lie - that Lupe was trying to get her to stop drinking and hit her.

• Pray that people would not believe her as Lupe has a good reputation of being a Godly man.
• Pray that Lupe and Leti would have wisdom to answer the questions and allegations in a way that would glorify God.
• Pray that the Holy Spirit would convict Lupe's mom and bring her to salvation.

1 Peter 2:12, "having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation."

Good Friday went well!

On Good Friday we served a great home cooked meal. Then we had a worship service. Then we played basketball past midnight. Our Good Friday Outreach is an outgrowth of our Open Gym ministry. Way back in 1994 when we first started our Open Gym we had a first Good Friday service. Open Gym was held on Friday nights and when Good Friday came around we couldn’t just ignore it. We had a special short service in the middle of our gym night. In 1997 it grew to what we have today with a full blown meal and an hour long worship service followed by playing basketball “until we drop”.

This year Carmelo and Cristina gave their testimonies during the worship service. Two years ago Carmelo received Jesus as his Savior during our 10 Days of Prayer. Cristina received Jesus in our living room a couple months later. Jon had the privilege of baptizing Carmelo and Cristina last September during our family camp. Carmelo is teaching an evangelistic home Bible study. Also, our church van sits outside their house and they fill it each week bringing unsaved neighbors and friends to church.

This year we only had 120-130 come to Good Friday. This is down quite a bit from our normal 180 or so. On the bright side, of those who attended there were about 100 people who do not know Jesus as their Savior. Several people expressed an interest in receiving a Bible and/or attending a home Bible study. As a result one new Bible study has been started. We hope to start at least one more as a result of this year’s Good Friday outreach.

10 Days of Prayer were Great!

Ten days of prayer were great! We prayed a total of 1745 “man hours.” The children played a huge role in the number of hours we prayed this year as together everyone under 18 prayed a total of more than 600 hours.

Primarily we were praying for people who need Jesus - by name. We had over a hundred cards with several names on each one. We were also praying for our Good Friday Outreach. (News on that to come later.) Another focus of our prayer was the 10 Days of Prayer that our daughter church was having in Negritas, Mexico.

The church in Negritas had a goal of praying at least 1000 hours during their 10 Days. God blessed them greatly as they prayed a total of 1560. In Negritas, they wrote down the names of every single person in the community on the cards and prayed repeatedly for them to come to know Jesus.

Some people from a nearby community of Lindero came and spent a good amount of time in prayer. They have been attending the church every week since Jon was there in January. The work there is growing!

Emily came to pray - at two days old!

10 Days of Prayer starting

We are beginning our annual 10 Days of Prayer. We will begin Saturday, March 20, at 7:00 pm and end Tuesday, March 30 at 8:00 pm. We are primarily praying for our Good Friday outreach. We pray for unsaved friends and relatives by name (we write them all down on cards). We pray that they will come to Good Friday and that God would draw them to himself. Pray for us, that God would move in our hearts as we spent time with him, seeking his blessing.

To encourage people to come and pray we remove some obstacles by providing childcare and food. Our goal is to pray at least 1500 “man hours” – very difficult seeing that we are a small church. We strongly believe that the more we pray, the more God will bless. God answers prayer!

At the same time we are praying here in Oregon, our little church down in Negritas, Mexico will be having their own 10 Days of Prayer. Last year they prayed over 600 hours and had an outreach of their own on Good Friday.

The Latest News out of Negritas

Guadalupe Hernandez is referred to as “the Grandpa of Negritas”. He was very ill for a long time… and several times very close to death. Everyone knew that he was very afraid of death and fought death very hard. Last week Lupe and Leti went to visit Guadalupe – and the family allowed them to. They told him about Jesus and how Jesus loves him. They told him about Jesus’ death on the cross and about putting his faith in Jesus. They told him about repentance – turning from one’s sins. Guadalupe received Jesus as his personal Savior. And Jesus forgave him and gave him peace with God. The Grandpa of Negritas just passed away with peace in his heart. He was not afraid to die and everyone knew it. Guadalupe Hernandez is now with his Savior.

Pray for Lupe and Leti to continue to shine Jesus’ light. Pray for people to continue to take note of fact that Guadalupe’s attitude towards death was radically changed and that Jesus gave him peace in his heart. Pray that more people would put their faith in Jesus because of his testimony. Lupe and Leti are trying to visit another grandma in the nearby town of Lindero who is also in her last days. Pray for permission to visit the grandma and for wisdom for how to share God’s word with her.

Three Elders Named in Negritas

In Acts 14:21-23 it says that Paul and Barnabas revisited the churches they had planted to encourage the believers and appoint elders in every church. This is a pattern that Paul repeated throughout his ministry. On Monday evening, January 25, I met with all the men in the church in Negritas. After reviewing these verses and then reading through and discussing the qualifications of an elder in 1 Timothy 3, I told them it was time to appoint elders in the church of Negritas. I told them that my choices were Lupe, Fidencio and Francisco. All of the men present agreed that these three were the most mature in Christ and that they would be the best choices for leaders in the church. We then discussed what responsibilities they should have and closed the evening with a time of prayer, asking God to bless the church and it’s newly appointed leaders.

Little did I know that when I appointed these three men, they would immediately find themselves in a crisis. That night Fidencio shared with me that one of the men in the church was having inappropriate contact with a woman of a nearby town. This contact was bringing reproach on the church. (I should point out that this does not mean he was having a sexual relationship with her. In the culture with any kind of close friendship with an unrelated woman there is an automatic assumption of a sexual relationship.) Knowledge of this contact is spreading and at least one person said to Fidencio that they would have nothing to do with our church because of this inappropriate contact.

Since I was leaving the next morning I could do nothing directly about this problem. I shared 1 Corinthians 5 and Matthew 18 with Fidencio and told him what the leaders of the church must do. Pray for Fidencio and the rest of the leaders as they must confront the offending person. Pray for repentance and restoration. Pray for the church to come out of this with a much higher reputation in the community.

Pray for My Trip to Mexico

Please pray for my trip to Mexico. I well be leaving the country on January 14 and will be returning home before the end of the month.

It is critical that I go and visit Negritas to encourage the believers at this time. Among the people that are regularly involved in my ministry in Oregon (that do not know Jesus) there is a widely held belief that while it is possible to be a believer here in the US and live the Christian life, it is impossible to do it in their home town. The reason this is a widely held belief is because some people have gone back to their home town who appeared to be believers and subsequently completely reverted to there old way of life. Just this last year of the people we sent back, one of them could not stand the pressure of friends and family and he stopped attending church and reading the Bible. The non-Christians there told our people that it would just be a matter of time before they all would fail as well. Also another person who returned earlier went to Lupe, the leader of our church in Negritas, and told him flat out that he would fail, that it is impossible to live for Jesus there, and to give it up before he made a complete fool of himself.

The believers have been subject to open criticism and rejection from almost every possible source. A month ago the local Catholic priest began an attack against our church and its leaders. Since that time 3 evangelistic home Bible studies have been put on hold because of this pressure.

If the work in Negritas fails my ministry in Oregon will, to a great degree, fail with it. Right now there are about 10 pre-Christians eyeing the Negritas group to see if they will stand or fall. Since all of them plan on returning to Negritas area some day, it makes no sense to them to trust in Jesus here if it is impossible to trust in him there. Also there are two other couples who are considering returning to their home towns close to Negritas to start Bible studies there. If Negritas fails this will be a big discourager to these two couples. Negritas has the best chance of success because there are more believers involved.

• Please pray for the believers in Negritas.
• Pray for Lupe and Leti as they lead Bible Studies and the church.
• Pray that we can register the Ford Explorer I took to Lupe last August in Lupe's name. This is not a done deal. Pray!
• Pray for Bible Studies to start up again and for more Bible studies to start as well.