Our missions organization, Assemblies of God World Missions (AGWM), promote a missions policy that seeks to create and nurture an indigenous national church. Therefore, we as missionaries are charged with the task of forming or motivating national churches that are to be self-propagating, self-governing, and self-supporting. What does this mean you ask? Simply, our job is to partner with the church in Mexico–working, modeling, and training, so that they can, with their own people and resources, evangelize the lost and disciple new believers, administrate the work, and fund the church.
If you noticed, the order is intentional. Often, a new work moves forward quickly in the area of propagation. New believers are eager to share with others about the new-found freedom that they have in Christ. Leaders are harder to come by. Time and training are required to cultivate those who would guide the fledgling work. Still more challenging though is reaching the point of self-support. In developing countries like Mexico wages are low (the minimum wage here in Mérida is $5 a day), and the requirements of ministry can be quite high, especially if the church wishes to take an active part in evangelization and outreach to the community in which it is located. Therefore, missionaries often find themselves called upon to lend a hand when it comes to stimulating the work.
This is the reason that I am writing today. Our home church is in need of a helping hand to meet its needs as it expands to reach out to the community. Pastored by Orlando Vazquez, El Centro Cristiano Gólgota, is located in a strategic area of the city, but it’s current size is affecting its ability to minister effectively. Therefore, the church has been expanding its facilities to keep pace with its vision.
The $55,000 expansion began in mid-April with about $10,000, not even a fifth of the required need, but, through the sacrifice of the congregation and the response of friends and the community, Gólgota has finished walling in, roofing and is currently using the lower portion of the expansion where the sanctuary sits. It indeed has been a blessing to see the response of the people as they have challenged themselves to move forward. Still, about half of the work remains, including classrooms to minister to the bulging children’s Sunday School classes.
That’s where we are asking you to consider pitching in. Kelly and I have seen the kind of contagious motivation and sacrifice that the congregation has displayed, and we would like to offer you a chance to participate. So we have created, as a project with AGWM, a fund in order to receive offerings from those who would like to help Pastor Orlando fulfill his dream of seeing the church built.
If you would like to donate directly to this work, you can give through this secure web-server by entering your offering and the project name and number “EXPANSION OF CHURCH BULIDING GOLGOTA #14290.”
Need. It confronts. It demands to be met. Take for example a stone in our shoe. Even the tiniest pebble can cause reduce our gait to a hobble. What’s the response? Well, it’s impossible to negate, and limping to avoid the stone usually only lasts a few steps. Basically our feet demand that we sit, take off our shoe and get rid of the stone. 
What can we say except, “Thank God for his protection!” as we assess the situation here in the Yucatán. 
Although we are still under a red alert here in Mérida, Dean is now a category 1 hurricane and is passing into the Gulf of Mexico. From our vantage point, the hurricane has proved to be little more than a big blow. We’ve been experiencing high winds since 5 o’clock this morning, but little to nothing in the way of rain. Damage has been relatively non-existent here in the city. In actuality, the 
Storm models continue to push the landfall of Dean further south on the peninsula. This means Mérida remains at a state of alert, but hasn’t declared an emergency situation. However, in the south of the state of Yucatan and in Quintana Roo, where Dean is expected to be more of a problem, many are facing the reality of this man in the picture to the left. Several have houses made of little more than sticks or corrugated roofing. While the majority of those in this situation have been relocated into shelters, the chances are that many will have nothing to return to. Please keep these in mind as you remember the people of the Yucatán in your prayers.
