Pictured above is my wife Janelle, with a few of the ten family members that live in Gringa's home, where a new church began this week. Here are some of the comments Janelle heard from new believers. When new believer “Anna” was asked why she attended three groups a day, she said, “I haven’t been to church in a long time, so I have to catch up”. When Janelle asked one group what she could do for them, one woman answered. “What you could really do for me is to teach me to share my faith with this ‘evangecube’, so that I can share with my two sons and my ex-husband.” After a small group meeting, one mother gave this prayer request: “Please pray that I can remember everything I’ve been taught, so I can share it with others.”Her daughter, the next day asked this prayer request: “Please pray that I can have more faith, because I know it can only come from God and please pray that I can remember what I have learned so that I can share it with others”.

On June 3-12, we took an eleven member team from San Antonio to the province of Santiago del Estero, Argentina.  This was my 13th mission team to Argentina, and my fifth in the Santiago del Estero province.  We count it an honor to work with pastor, Gabriel Cejas, our regional leader in the province.  He was worked for years with country leader, Eduardo Buldain, and the E3 country leadership in setting a long term "church planting" vision for his province.  This year we assisted two churches of which we had previously been privileged to help establish.  It was a great joy to work with pastors David Navarro and Fabian Santillan.  It has been a joy working alongside both of them in past years, planting churches in Santiago del Estero and Clodimira.  This year was the first "granddaughter" church plants with Fabian and David.  Our team started the week by participating on Sunday in three services.  Firstly, we went to participate in a house church dedication with Pastor David and gathered in groups to pray over the barrio we were to work in during the week.  That evening we drove out to Clodimira to join pastor Fabian.  During the evening we prayerwalked the downtown Clodimira area (where a new church was being planted), worshipped with the church, and trained the workers in how to lead an "I am Second" small group discipleship meeting.  
   During the week our team would sub-divide into two groups for the day of ministry.  Teams went door to door, to businesses and to schools, sharing the good news of Christ and discipling the new believers.  We saw two new churches begin that week; one in the downtown area of Clodimira and one in the home of Gringa in Villa Borges.  It was a joy to work alongside the 55 nationals who participated in church planting on the two sites.  It also was wonderful to see churches from Tucaman send a team to partipate in the church planting campaign.  We also were thrilled to work with several Baptist missionaries, who participated in the church planting campaign.  During the week the team personally shared the gospel with 340 men, women, and children.  It was a joy to see 265 place their faith in Jesus Christ as their savior.  During the week we also went back and discipled 85 of the new believers, through one on one and small group discipleship meetings.  Many church members grew in leadership and by the end of the week many of the church members (and even a few new believers) were leading others in discipleship.  Janelle, told me that when Gringa was asked to lead her first small group discipleship study, she replied, "Why not, there is a first time for everything!".

Third Generation Church Planting

In 2007, we had the privilege to work with Pastor Fabian Santillan, planting a church in his back yard. (Pictured with Sandy Marek, Church Plant Coordinator with E3). During the years the church has matured to the point of planting a new church this year in the downtown area of Clodimira. This was not the first year we had worked with Fabian. He had participated with us six years in both the Santiago del Estero province and the Sante Fe province. Iglesia Jesucristo me Esperanza of Clodomira, the church that was planted in his backyard in 2007, now has caught the vision for the church planting movement. Clodomira has 22 barrios and Pastor Fabian's plan is to establish 10 churches in barrios surrounding the downtown. A church member, Dora, has already donated some of her land and opened her home for the next church plant in Barrio Mendilarzu. In Barrio Fatima, Lorena Gauna's home is used for children's ministry every Saturday. In Barrio Ramon Carrillo, there are weekly meetings with youth, adolescents and women. In Barrio Juan Domingo Peron, there is also an ongoing children's ministry. We are excited to work with pastors, like Fabian, who have a vision for their towns, cities and beyond. This year Fabian involved the local Baptist missionaries, as well as churches in Tucaman province that sent a team to participate in the church planting campaign. We are excited to see what God does in the future through leaders like Fabian. This year the church in Clodimira received some special training on how to start “I am second” groups in their community. Pictured above is the small group discipleship training for the church members on the Sunday before the campaign. This small group discipleship training equipped the church members to follow up new believers through natural "home discipleship" studies.

This March's trip to Santiago del Estero, Argentina, was a special mission trip for me, because it involved my wife, Janelle, and daughter, Beka.  This is the sixth year that my daughter, Rebekah, has gone on mission with me.  During the week we ministered to many individuals in both Clodimira and in Villa Borges in Santiago del Estero. Pictured below with my daughter, Beka, are two "sisters in law", Estella and Vanessa, and Vanessa's niece, Clara.  Estella and Vanessa came to Christ outside the home of their mother in law, Blanca, on Monday.  They attended the small group study at Gringa's home every evening and grew in love for each other and for the Lord.  Each night Estella would go home and share the Bible story with her sister late into the evening. On Wednesday, I visited both ladies in their homes and taught them how to share their new faith with family and friends.  Estella went right away and shared her faith with her neighbor!  When Vanessa was taught, she shared with her niece, Clara, who trusted Christ right in Vanessa’s own home.  Vanessa brought Clara that evening to the new church gathering that was meeting in the house of Gringa. Clara and Rebekah, both fourteen, enjoyed getting to know each other that evening.