PUEBLA, Mexico – Mexican pastor Javier Gonzalez knows firsthand the reality of Christ’s words from Mark 6:4, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town.”
After training at a Bible institute in Mexico City, Gonzalez felt the Lord calling him to proclaim the gospel in his own hometown in the Sierra Negra (Black Mountains) region of Puebla. However, after he and his wife started sharing the gospel from house to house, they were resisted by Catholic priests in the area.
This tension came to a head nearly two years ago when priests incited a mob in a neighboring village to overtake evangelistic members from the church where Gonzalez served as pastor, Iglesia Cristiana Bautista Monte Sion (Mount Zion Christian Baptist Church).
The mob poured gasoline on one church member, intending to set him ablaze. Fortunately, their lighter failed to ignite.
The following day, Gonzalez confronted the mob and shared the gospel with them for nearly two hours. Although no one came to Christ at that time, Gonzalez’ courage broke down walls that had prevented people in the village from accepting his witness.
Today, Gonzalez oversees evangelistic ministry in 13 different villages in the Sierra Negra region of Puebla. He wants to plant a church in each village, and he dreams of making 1,000 new disciples for the gospel by the year 2020.
From Sept. 12 – 17, a nine-member team from two Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) church plants traveled to Puebla to join this Great Commission endeavor. Their trip was funded, in part, by the MBC’s Vivian McCaughan Missional Living Endowment Fund, which was established in 2010 to support—among other ministries—the MBC’s partnership missions efforts.
The Puebla mission team included two MBC church planters in Kansas City, Jason Dawson of Bales Avenue Church and Shane Stamm of Open Door Bible Baptist Church, as well as members from their churches.
At least seven people professed faith in Christ during this mission trip.
During the trip, Stamm captured a video interview with Gonzalez to take home to his congregation. Having risked his safety to share the gospel in his hometown, Gonzalez told Stamm and his Missouri Baptist audience that they should prepare for mission work in Puebla by winning souls in their own Missouri neighborhoods.
“You need to prepare yourself in your ‘Jerusalem’ (Acts 1:8) by doing the Great Commission,” Gonzalez said. “There should be a fire in your hearts and in your churches for lost souls. … Prepare yourself by being a soul winner, and do it with all your heart. That is my recommendation.
“And never forget prayer,” he added. “The number one secret is prayer and the Great Commission.”
Nevertheless, Gonzalez invited Missouri Baptists—prepared through prayer and passionate to win souls—to partner with his church to bring the light of Christ to the dark Sierra Negra region.
“I want to share with you a little bit about the Sierra,” Gonzalez said. “There are 300 villages. 99 percent of the people live in idolatry. This has cursed the land, and as a consequence in Sierra Negra there is alcoholism, domestic violence, homes that are destroyed, children without parents—and more than 70 percent immigrate to the United States and many other cities in the country to look for food.
“We need people saved. We need passion for lost souls. Pray for them,” Gonzalez said. He said that Missouri churches can send evangelistic and discipleship literature and Bibles, but more than anything they should pray.
“If we don’t have love, if we don’t pray, everything is done in vain.”
Omar Segovia, MBC church planting catalyst for the Kansas City area and leader of the mission team to Puebla, said that team members were reminded of an important reality during this trip: Whether in Mexico or Missouri, prayer, evangelism and discipleship grows a church.
“It was extremely encouraging. We don’t realize how blessed we are with resources and just the basic means of transportation,” Segovia said, explaining that some of the members at Mt. Zion Baptist in Puebla walk two hours to attend church. Also, despite persecution, Christians in Puebla continued to pray and share the gospel.
“They were beaten and threatened,” Segovia said. “But because of their persistence in reaching out, they’ve seen more breakthroughs now. They are seeing more fruit right now.”