June Prayer Letter

Happy Summer!!

We trust that God's presence is real in your life and that this time of regeneration of creation reminds us all of the work that God is doing in each of us, and desiring to do in those around us!

We have had a busy spring!

Bible College grad.

CCBC -Ensenada grads Spring 2013

We graduated 12 students from the Bible College in Ensenada this spring. I love getting to teach and interact with the growing, dedicated young people! I usually teach 2 classes  each semester. This last semester I taught Galatians (I'm still marking exams for that one...) and Practical Ministry. I love the book of Galatians and it's call to freedom! The practical Ministry class was awesome too. I had people from different areas of ministry come in and share their passion, their calling and the Biblical imperative to be involved in their area of ministry. To finish off the class we took the guys to jail! Ivan Martinez and Irvin Penner brought us into the Ensenada prison where they serve each week. We served the men hamburgers as others served them in baptism (14 baptised that day!!), rap worship music and a biblical message from one of our students!

It was a great day where I got to see my Rosarito ministry world collide with my Bible college ministry! Praise God for His work there!

New Pastors training class begins.

Jose and seve Barbosa have started a new class in Tijuana. They have 35 students from several churches in their area teaching them through the 3 year course. We have been speaking to other pastors and leaders in Tijuana / Rosarito and we may have up to 100+ more students this coming fall. Please pray for these students- that they would have the perseverance necessary to complete what they begin. Pray for protection as the enemy begins to attack as they prepare for service in the Kingdom. Please pray for clarity and that they would fall in love with Jesus and His Scriptures! That they would base their beliefs on the Bible, not on tradition or teachings of men. Please also pray for the teachers and wisdom on how to organize this growing ministry!!

Trip to Southern Mexico

In my ministry with our local church, I assist them with our church planters. We have a couple in Central Mexico in the state of Guanajuato who were sent out almost 2 years ago.

Jose Luis Rangel, Mike and Ryan Gause in Irapuato, Guanajuato

It is a difficult place to serve, in that it is the most traditional state in all of Mexico. Christians are not welcomed very warmly and people are bound in traditionalism. The work there has progressed very slowly and it has been discouraging for the couple who are there. I wanted to go and encourage them and give them some instruction on planting churches and evangelism, so a colleague and I flew down for a 3 day trip to meet them and a couple other churches in the area.
We had a great time buzzing around in our tiny little rental car (cost us $9.00/ day !!) visiting and encouraging pastors. I am planning on going down again in the fall with some more formal training. This is difficult, hard ground, but we believe that rain is coming. We're preparing for rain, as they say!

New responsibilities

I reported a few months ago that we were given some new responsibilities in the Rosarito Outreach Center  (ROC) with YUGO Ministries. The good news is that I still have those responsibilities, the other news is that they've given me more!  I am now the co-director of the ROC with a great brother in Christ, Ron Struska. Ron serves in the areas of the finances, food and facilities at the Center, and I serve those in the areas of the actual "camp" program, the ministries that serve directly with Mexican churches and pastors as well as administration / volunteers. It seems to be a good fit as we complement each other well.

Please pray for me in these new responsibilities  that I will be faithful to the Lord and His calling on my life; That we would serve well; For unity in the team; that God would be honoured in our service to Him!

Summer Schedule

With the end of homeschool (soon...) comes a change of schedule. Shar and I will be helping out at the ROC more often this summer. Caleb will be there as well. He has some interest and ability in the area of construction, so he will be serving in our house building ministry this summer, learning the ropes and being a servant! Jacob will be going with teams to different sites translating and serving in the sports / soccer ministry. I can't think of anything he'd love better than combining soccer with serving the Lord!  Elijah is on a bit of a different trajectory this summer as he will be going back to Saskatchewan! Elijah will be serving at a Bible camp for a few weeks and then making work for himself to earn some money. He will be staying in Turtleford, SK with good friends the Steins, where we stayed on furlough last time in Canada. He had the opportunity to jr. counselor last time we were in Canada and we saw tremendous growth in him then. He feels he needs to grow up a bit and wants to jump into the deep end of the pool and serve and work! We will miss him tremendously, but know that he is in good hands as our Heavenly Father cares for him wherever he is!

Thanks so much for your prayers and your support! God is moving here in Mexico and we are incredibly blessed to be a part of it!

Terrazas del valle, Tijuana, Mexico

Please let me know if you want to be physically present here as well serving alongside us! We have lots of opportunities to help repair churches, build buildings, train leaders, serve the humble and love the forgotten! You are invited!

God bless,

Mike, Shar, Caleb, Jacob, Elijah