CANDELARIA DE LA FRONTERA, El Salvador – The Concord Baptist Association sent five mission team members to El Salvador in early October, establishing a partnership with four churches in the region of Candelaria de La Frontera. The team was led by two pastors, Jared Rivera and Noah Angel. They were in El Salvador, Oct. 1-8.
They led a discipleship conference for church leadership and provided kid’s ministry for the children of the conference attenders. It was held at Primera Iglesia Bautista in Candelaria de La Frontera. The conference was intended to help leaders from the four churches learn how teach the Bible better. After the conference, they went out into the city and distributed some Bibles and met the people of the community. They also helped prepare for some construction updates on the church property.
Five people were part of the mission team: Jared Rivera, pastor of First Baptist Church, Tipton; Noah Angel, pastor of Familia Cristiana International, Jefferson City; Ari Viveros Knight of Familia Cristiana International; Henry Leon of Familia Cristiana International; and Taylor Hampton of FBC Tipton. The association intends for the partnership to extend five more years.
Rivera said travel inside the country required patience as the roads were difficult to traverse, especially during rainstorms. They traveled from San Salvador to Candelaria, and it took about half a day. They had a good driver, Douglas Rodriguez, who is an engineer and a contractor. He is helping coordinate the mission efforts among the churches in the region.
Construction materials for the project did not arrive on time due to the heavy rains, so the team was not able to help with that part of the project. Instead they spent that time distributing Bibles and talking to people about the Lord in the city. The following week the materials arrived to build a security wall around the church, and the local believers were able to erect the wall.
Pastor Angel is a native of El Salvador. He was born in a Christian home there. As a youth he would go out with his family to evangelize. However during a time of war and revolution in the Central American nation, he asked the Lord to save him from danger, and he trusted in Jesus as his Savior. As a young adult he moved to Los Angeles, Calif., in 1992. From there he was invited to come to Missouri by Pastor Mauricio Vargas (a former MBC staff member), and he served with MBC Super Summer youth camps and was part of some church planting efforts in central Missouri.
While on the mission trip he was able to return to his hometown and preach in a church in San Juan Opico, El Salvador.
Pastor Rivera commented, “My prayer is that God will use the churches here in mid-Missouri to help equip and encourage Salvadoran Christians to do this same mission we have in mid-Missouri. In no way do we pretend that we have all the answers, but we have the same God and belong to the same family.”
He hopes they will be encouraged to focus on the Gospel. Rivera added there are many false teachers in the region and are drawing Salvadorans down wrong paths. The Latter Day Saints (Mormons) are very active there and are pouring a lot of money into the region. The Jehovah’s Witnesses are there and many “prosperity gospel” preachers are there misleading a lot of people.
Concord Association director of missions Alan Earls said “God used this CBA mission team to serve the Lord, build relationships, share the gospel, and provide Christian encouragement to our sister churches in El Salvador. The association is so thankful for their tireless efforts to walk with and beside our sister churches in Candelaria de La Frontera.