SPRINGFIELD – A short-term mission trip over twenty-five years ago sparked a long-term mission partnership between the Greene County Baptist Association and the Emmanuel Baptist Association in Guadalajara, Mexico. Since 1997, churches in the GCBA have sent teams to Guadalajara, partnering with Mexican churches to meet practical needs and share the Gospel. According to Samuel Gonzalez, the GCBA Ethnic Ministry consultant, the partnership has produced much Gospel fruit.
“The first missionary trip took place on August 10-18, 1997, with twenty-six volunteers from fourteen different churches,” Gonzalez said.
“The main objectives were to support the development of new churches, train leaders, and encourage the brothers in Mexico.”
Over the years, teams have participated in a range of activities including training workshops, pastor’s retreats, women’s gatherings, prison ministry, construction, public music concerts, vacation Bible schools, and street evangelism. A staple of the partnership has been medical missions, according to Gonzalez.
“In 1998, the Mexican churches asked the GCBA to help build a medical clinic in the small town of El Zapote on the outskirts of Guadalajara,” Gonzalez said.
“South Gate Baptist Church took on this challenge and in one year they managed to put all the necessary financial resources together. Groups of volunteers worked with their hands to lay the concrete and bricks for this new clinic. It was dedicated to the Lord in August 1999.”
In 2000, the GCBA formalized a partnership with the Emmanuel Baptist Convention and has regularly been sending mission teams ever since.
Aaron Armstrong, Pastor at Harmony Baptist Church, Rogersville, was part of a mission team that travelled to Guadalajara this summer. The team provided medical screenings, hosted a VBS program, and helped facilitate a large soccer tournament where the “ball of many colors” was used share the Gospel.
“God brought an awareness of what he is doing globally in the church and in the world,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong praised the commitment of Mexican believers to evangelize their neighbors. Local church members took time off work to travel with the mission team, sometimes to locations several hours away, to share the Gospel with their neighbors. The commitment and sacrifice of the Mexican believers stirred up the team members’ hearts, according to Armstrong, for greater evangelistic efforts back in the States.
“One of the most important things a pastor can do is to help his church get involved hands-on in the Great Commission. Not just knowing about the Kingdom, but being engaged in the Kingdom,” Armstrong said.
“The trip reminded me of why I surrendered to ministry.”
“This partnership has grown and expanded for over twenty years, and we hope it will continue for many more years. Without a doubt, this fellowship with the Mexican churches has brought fruit for the churches in Mexico, as well as churches in Green County,” Gonzalez said.
As the churches of the GCBA look for new mission partnerships, they have many opportunities close to home. Gonzalez noted that Green County is experiencing a steady rise in its ethnic population.
“The doors have been wide open for evangelistic opportunities with people from all over the world who live in Greene County. We currently have seven ethnic congregations: Korean, Filipino, Chinese, Chin (Burmese), and three Hispanic.”