MEXICO
MISSIONS
HANDBOOK
MISSION LAREDO/N UEVO-LAREDO JULY 2012
On July 7th at 6:00 a.m. we will be leaving from the Miner Baptist Church Parking lot for a trip that will absolutely change your life! We will be heading by van to Laredo, Texas to do VBS and Medical Missions in Nuevo-Laredo, Mexico. We are excited about this mission opportunity and would invite you to partner with us in this effort. This is our 20th trip to this area since 2002. We are pleased to have established solid relationships with key individuals and churches in the area that enable us to minister more effectively.
Our goal is to provide a service oriented venue for college kids, adults, and families that will be both uplifting spiritually and enjoyable. We are looking for individuals with a heart for service and a desire to make a difference.
Following is a preparation guide for the trip.
CHECK LIST
FOLLOWING ARE THE ITEMS THAT ARE NECESSARY FOR THE TRIP:
U.S Passport
BIBLE
SLEEPING BAG OR AIR MATTRESS
BEDDING (SHEETS AND 1 PILLOW)
PERSONAL HYGIENE ITEMS
CLOTHING FOR WARM CLIMATE (REMEMBER WE ARE ON A MISSIONS TRIP – WE ARE CHRIST’S AMBASSADORS – THEREFORE, NO SLEEVELESS SHIRTS, NO LOW CUT TOPS, NO SHORTS ABOVE THE KNEES, CAPRIS AND LONG LOOSE PANTS ARE ACCEPTABLE – PACK AS LIGHT AS POSSIBLE – WE WILL HAVE A DRYING RACK AVAILABLE AND A LAUNDRY IS CLOSE BY)
A SET OF APPROPRIATE SUNDAY CLOTHES AND SHOES
COMFORTABLE SHOES FOR THE MISSIONS SITE
SOAP
SHAMPOO
TOILET PAPER
TOWEL (NO MORE THAN 2 LARGE TOWELS)
DRIVER’S LICENSE OR GOVERNMENT ISSUED I.D.)
PERSONAL MEDICINES IN THEIR BOTTLES
SPENDING MONEY FOR SHOPPING AND PERSONAL ITEMS
READING MATERIAL (NO SECULAR MUSIC, NOVELS, ETC.)
LONG DISTANCE CALLING CARD OR CELL PHONE
SPACE IS LIMITED – PACK AS LIGHT AS POSSIBLE – NO MORE THAN ONE SUITCASE PER PERSON!!!!
Telephone Numbers
Please find the following telephone numbers for emergency use:
Jim Cell – 573-380-1991
David Thompson – 573-225-0025
Rodney Davis – 479-233-0609
Dorso Maciel – 956-334-1132 or 956-725-9204
Primera Iglesia – 956-723-9475
Reuben & Beverly cell – 573-380-0795
Super 8 Austin, Texas – 512-339-1300
PREPARATION AND TRAINING
It is vitally important, as you prepare for this trip to be spiritually ready. Following are some suggestions that have been adapted for you to be come prepared.
COST
The cost of this trip will be $290 per person. We are figuring very close this year to try to keep the cost down. This will include most meals and beverages (tea, lemonade, kool-aid, coffee, juices, milk at appropriate times and H2O), hotel room coming and going, lodging, transportation, and a t-shirt. We will eat sandwiches on the way down at a roadside park. The cost will not include snacks coming and going and the evening meals traveling as well as the Sunday goingand Friday and Saturday return noon and evening meal, spending money for shopping, and personal items.
VBS and Medical supplies we try to get donated and would appreciate your help here. We also try to get donations of toys to give out to the VBS kids and personal hygiene items to give the parents.
This trip is designed primarily for college age kids, adults, and young families. The full payment needs to be to Miner by July 1st .
PREPARATION BY DAILY PRAYER
“A SIMPLE PATTERN FOR A POWERFUL DAILY PRAYER TIME”
*Special Note: The following outline is a general description of an effective daily quiet time. The times listed are only samples and are not meant to be rigidly followed.
I. Begin with a period if praise and thanksgiving (5 - 10 minutes) Psalms 100: 4-5
Take a few moments to thank God for past, present, and future blessings
Spend some time praising God for who He is (His characteristics and names)
Freely worship and adore Him from your heart
II. Continue with confession and repentance (at least 5 - 10 minutes) Proverbs 28:13; Psalms 66:18
Ask God to search your thoughts and attitudes
Carefully examine your speech
Ask God to thoroughly search your relationships
Confess any sins of commission and be sure to forsake the sins God reveals
Confess any sins of omission and make a definite commitment to obedience
Resolve to fully repent of any known sin of thought, word or deed (Be specific)
Ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit
Be sue to utilize a thorough biblical tool designed to search all areas of your life with God’s Word (Provided in the cleansing guide)
III. Move into Prayers of Personal Petition (10 - 15 minutes) Philippians 4:6, Matthew 6:33
Pray for the development of character and holiness. Pray through the specific fruits of the Holy Spirit or other character words (Matthew 5: 1-12; Galatians 5:22)
Pray for your ministry and service to God (be very specific in your prayers)
Pray for any physical, emotional, spiritual or financial needs
IV. Proceed with Prayers of Intercession (10 - 20 minutes) Ezekiel 22:30, 2 Timothy 2:104
Pray for needs of family and friends
Pray for your pastor and church
Pray for specific lost people and for the entire Nuevo-Laredo Area
Pray for missionaries and mission efforts (Use guides from the International Mission Board)
Pray for revival and spiritual awakening in your church and nation
Pray for the Leadership of this trip
Pray for the VBS Sites and Teams
Pray for the VBSSiteChurches and their Pastors especially Bro. Jose Santos Hernandez at Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida and Bro. Gregorio Reyes at the mission.
Pray for the Medical Team
Pray that lives will be changed and souls will be saved.
Pray for the cooks
Pray for Primera Iglesia and their Pastor Dorso Maciel
Pray for safe travel
Pray for easy passage across the borders each day
Pray for each one the on the trip
In your intercession, seek to be as specific a possible. Also remember the value of focusing on only tow or three categories per day. If you thoroughly prayed for every category, you could literally pray for hours. Though some may be led to prayer for hours, most people will be led to focus on certain categories on certain days. As always, the guiding principle is close sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. True prayer is a relationship, not a ritualistic formula.
V. Conclude with a time of meditation and Assessment
Reflect on key points of your scripture reading and prayer time
Assess how God has impressed on your heart
Write down key impressions in a daily journal
End your time with thanksgiving for God’s grace, mercy and power
Again, I emphasize the previous pattern is a general guideline, not a rigid program. As you allow God’s Spirit to guide, you will be amazed at the ways He will direct you day by day. It is awesome to pause and remember that Almighty God desires a close personal relationship with you. May God help us settle for nothing less than the glorious reality of His presence!
A SPIRITUAL CLEANSING CHECKLIST
BY DR. GREGORY R FRIZZELL
Listed below is a brief check-list to assist believers in examining their hearts before attempting ministry or witness. Take several moments and carefully consider the various questions. Listen closely for God’s voice and claim the full forgiveness we are promised! (I john 1:9) After you have fully confessed your sins, ask God to fill and empower you by His Spirit. You can rest assured God will grant you His own mighty power!
1. Do I have any sinful thought patterns I need to confess and forsake? Romans 12: 1 - 2; 2 Corinthians 10: 3 - 5
Areas to consider: Do I frequently have unclean or impure thoughts? Is my mind often dominated by worldly thoughts? Am I often angry and critical? Am I frequently filled with fear rather than faith? Do I have bitter thoughts? Am I mostly selfish in my thinking? Are there any thoughts I know I should confess and forsake? Please lay these before God even now.
2. Do I have attitudes I need to confess and lay before God? Revelation 3:15; I Peter 5;5; Hebrews 11:6; Ephesians 4:2
Areas to consider: Am I lukewarm rather than passionate for Christ? Do I have any attitudes of arrogance or pride? Do I have an attitude of anxiety or doubt? Am I in any way harsh or unkind to others? Do I have any attitude of materialism or worldliness? Am I guilty of jealousy or competition? Do I harbor any attitudes of prejudice?
3. Do I have sins of speech I need to confess and forsake? Ephesians 4:29; 5:4; Colossians 3:9; 1 Corinthians 10:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Areas to consider: Do I ever use inappropriate speech? Am I in any way guilty of cursing? Have I participated in off-color jokes? Am I prone to exaggerating or lying? Do I frequently complain and murmur? Am I guilty of divisive speech or backbiting? Have I been critical and harsh?
4. Do I have damaged or wrong relationships I need to address? Matthew 5:23; 6:14-15; Ephesians 5:25-6:3
Areas to consider: Are there people I have offended yet I haven’t obeyed God and gone to them? Is there anyone against whom I’m holding the slightest grudge or bitterness? Do I have any relationships that have gotten out of balance? As a husband, have I failed to be the spiritual head of my house? As a wife, am I neglecting my role as a godly helpmeet? Have I allowed rifts to develop between myself and fellow believers? Am I a party to conflict and division in my church or family?
5. Do I have sinful action or habits I need to confess and forsake? Ephesians 5;5; 12: 2 Corinthians 6:17; Exodus 20: 2-3; Malachi 3:8 -10; 1 John 3:20-22
Areas to consider: Have I been involved in any form of immorality or pornography? Do I abuse my body by unhealthy habits? Have I put other people and things ahead of serving God? Have I participated in gambling? Am I in any way involved in horoscopes or new ageism? Have I violated God’s standards by compromising my values? Do I in any way mistreat others? Have I gone places I shouldn’t have gone? Do I in anyway watch questionable movies or videos?
6. Have I failed God by sins of omission? John 15:4 - 5; Ephesians 4:18; Romans 6:14; Hebrews 4:1; James 1:23-24
Areas to consider: Do I neglect daily Bible reading and prayers? Have I robbed God by neglecting tithes and offerings? How I failed to discover and use my spiritual gift? Have I tolerated a spiritual stronghold in my life? Do I fail to work at deepening my marriage? Am I neglecting to be a witness in daily life? Do I fail to generously support missions?
7. Have I refused to die to self or in any way relied on my own strength? Matthew 16:24-25; John 12:24; Proverbs 17:3; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Areas to consider: Has God told you to do something yet you’ve ignored Him? Is there a point in which you insist on your own way over God’s? Are there points you try to ignore God’s conviction in you life? Do you rejoice in your trials or view them only as impositions? Do you seek to let God prune your life or do you resist Him? Have you in any sense relied more on your own strength than on prayer and the Holy Spirit? Do you trust in methods and strategies more than God?
CONCLUSION
When you sincerely confess your sins, rest assured of God’s forgiveness. You can now ask Him to fill you with the Holy Spirit. Rely upon God to fill you with His mighty power and wisdom as you witness. Each week as you prepare for Cross Training, take time to work through some of the primary questions for cleansing. As cleansing becomes a lifestyle pattern, you will experience a fullness and power you never dreamed possible! You will truly experience the glorious life of Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
PERSONAL EVANGELISM
By Alcides Guajardo
I. The Mandate
The mandate for personal evangelism is in the Great Commission. There are many expressions of the commission in the Gospels but there are four classical expressions. They are:
Matthew 28:18-20 The best known and most comprehensive expression of the Commission
Luke 24:45-49 The most detailed expression of the Commission
John 20: 19-22 The most personal expression of the Commission
Acts 1: 6-8 The most strategic expression of the Commission
II. The Evangelizer
A. A saved person
One cannot give away what one does not possess.
B. Every saved person can be and ought to be an evangelizer
Evangelism does not mean only leading a person to faith in Christ; it means using some effective method to share the Gospel, the good news that God knows a person and wants him/her to be saved. This means that:
1. The person who plants the seed of the Gospel is an evangelizer. How do you plant the seed?
a. If you lovingly say to a person: “God loves you and wants you to be His son/daughter” you are an evangelizer.
b. The person who shares a Gospel tract is an evangelizer.
c. The person who shares a Bible or Bible portion is an evangelizer.
d. Etc. etc. There are as many genuine ways to plant the seed of the Gospel as there are earnest Christians praying that God will show them the way.
2. The person who cultivates (encourages, shows genuine love for, and otherwise helps a prospect) is an evangelizer.
3. The person who intentionally leads a person to faith in Christ is an evangelizer.
4. The person who assists the evangelistic efforts of a fellow Christian through prayer is an evangelizer. At this point I like systematic prayer efforts like having a group of people at church earnestly praying while their fellow Christians are out in the community sharing the Gospel.
5. The person who assists the evangelistic efforts of a fellow Christian through some other form of assistance like caring for their children while they visit is an evangelizer.
6. Etc. There are certainly other genuine ways to be an evangelizer.
C. Dependence on the Holy Spirit
Notice that all of the expressions of the Great Commission listed above promise the assistance of the Holy Spirit to carry out the Commission.
D. Preparation
1. Learn the plan of salvation. The plan of salvation is:
a. God Exists
b. God cares for and truly loves all men and women.
c. The reason people do not experience God’s love is sin.
d. The cure for our sin is asking Jesus to forgive us.
Don’t ask Mexican if they are a Christian - They believe if you are a human being you are a Christian
e. To receive forgiveness, a person has to take the initiative to ask Jesus to forgive him/her.
f. To be a Christian one has to believe the plan of salvation and give himself totally to Jesus Christ.
2. Learn to share the plan of salvation contextually–according to the expressed, implied or visible need of the person to be evangelized.
3. Learn to share your personal testimony
a. Share it clearly. A clear and emphatic persona testimony includes four parts:
1. Tells about our life before we accepted Christ as Savior.
2. Tells about how Christ began and continued to deal with you.
3. Tells about our accepting Christ as personal Savior
4. Tells about our Christian life since we accepted Christ.
b. Share it briefly; share it in 2 minutes
c. Share it sincerely and with love.
4. Learn a specific sharing the Gospel method.
5. Be a Bible reader, a Bible student
6. Learn to look for opportunities to share the Gospel and to depend on the Holy Spirit to lead while doing it.
E. A saved person who is an effective evangelizer is one who prays faithfully. Faithful prayer means praying a lot. Effective evangelizers are faithful in their prayer life.
III. The Person to be Evangelized
A. “The Baptist Faith and Message” says about men and women: “Man was created by the special act of God, in His own image, and is the crowning work of His creation...by his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed...Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship...The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore every man possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love” (Hobbs, 1986, p 49)
B. All persons are alike; all persons are different.
Lives governed by culture
1. Alike before God
2. Different because of culture
C. Persons are invaluable; so valuable that God was willing to pay the highest price possible.
D. A lost person. A person without Christ is lost.
E. A cultural person. Hispanics along the river are:
1. Roman Catholics by choice or tradition
2. Philosophically, very stoical, very deterministic (Fatalistic) Hispanics live for the moment, The song “Que sera, sera” captures fairly and well the over -all Hispanic attitude.
3. Socially, very gregarious, though not extroverted.
4. Family oriented
Both parents live at home generally
IV. The Act and Procedure of Evangelizing
A. Do it, be faithful
B. Do it clearly and simply
C. Use the Bible; know the Bible
D. Ask direct and pointed questions like:
1. Do you feel that God is your father?
2. If you were to die tonight, would you go to heaven?
3. Would you like to know for sure that you will go to heaven?
4. Do not ask a Hispanic if he/she is a Christian
E. Present the plan of salvation
See II, D.
F. Ask for and expect a decision
V. Follow Through
A. Teach assurance of salvation
B. Teach assurance of victory in the Christian life.
C. Teach them assurance of forgiveness for sins.
The key Bible passage we need to know by memory is 1 John 1:6-10. It tells about God’s willingness to forgive us. The two key verses say: “If we say that we have not sinned, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth isn’t in our hearts. 9 But if we confess our sins to God, he can be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away” (vv. 8-9)
D. Teach assurance of God’s Grace in their daily Christian life.
E. Teach them to read and study the Bible