Pastor Carlos Baca files a mission trip report on our time in Barcelona

You are certain to be blessed by this Barcelona mission trip report filed by our own Pastor Carlos Baca (Prince Avenue Hispanic Baptist Mission - Athens, GA). He returned 18 December, after I returned 16 December.

“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10

What value does a soul have to God?

When I read the gospels, especially Mark 4:35-5:20 which tells of a story of A DEMON-FILLED MAN, I can see Jesus’ interest for even just one person. It is interesting that in Mark 4:35- Jesus said, “Let us pass over unto the other side” and they took a boat and the first thing that they are faced with is a storm and through this Jesus shows his power over nature. Mark 5:1, “And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes” and in that place there was A MAN needy, suffering, hopeless, demon-filled, attached to chains, who scared people, who lived among tombs; in other words, “the dead with the dead;” not far from there was there a prosperous community, filled with people, but Jesus crossed the sea to help this man. The results is that Jesus frees him and this act aroused the town, but not enough to draw them to Jesus but instead to tell him to leave the outskirts because they were not interested in the spiritual but the material. Jesus then leaves this new man so that he can share “how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee (v.19).”

What Jesus did has always grabbed my attention: He crossed the sea, even though there was a storm, just to save one man.

Although in this trip to Barcelona the results might not be extraordinary in the eyes and ears of humans, it encourages me to think that we have crossed the Atlantic to share the gospel of our lord Jesus Christ and to witness the rebirth of one person with great spiritual necessities, whom God has been preparing beforehand , whom might not be a man like in this story, but a woman, whose name is Nathalie Bedoya. This reminds me of an event in the life of the apostle Paul narrated in Acts 16:11-14, when he arrives in Philippi and addresses a group of women and God opened the heart of Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira.
The big question is: What will God do with Nathalie? ….only He knows.

If she was the only reason that this trip took place, Glory to God! But there are still many lived experiences in Barcelona like the following:

1.Our encounter in the hotel with two Peruvian men, one of whose name is Aldo, who resides in Spain and works in the dock of fishers, who was very interested in knowing about the Bible. The other’s name was Angel, a director in the planning of the region Trujillo, who showed interest in helping us if we ever went to San Martin. The funny thing is that their flight had left them and they had to stay in the same hotel as us and Also said to me, “God let us stay here so we could meet.”

2. Re-meeting with Yeldi, a Christian young woman who assisted our mission here in Athens four years ago; seeing her in Barcelona where she is studying dentistry and being able to talk to her and find out that she was not assisting church anymore or reading her Bible, but God who does care for her, used us to encourage her and connect her with a group of people from the church Les Roquetes. The pastor has two daughters Yeldi’s age whom are willing to help her.

3. Encourage the Julca family: Violeta, Jeanelle, Hinomi, and Mohamed. We shared many things about God with each one of them and we were able to clear up many doubts with the help from the Word of God. Especially with Mohamed, a Christian young man whom we were able to encourage to prepare himself and serve God with all of his heart; we think God has called him to be a servant of Him.

4. We were able to meet the brothers and sisters from Les Roquetes and encourage them to preach the gospel to everyone they come into contact with; this is missing in Spain. We were also able to animate the pastor and give him models on how to work with the children and the house prayer meetings.

5. We were able to teach the ladies of the church how to study the Bible with an inductive method.

6. We were able to encourage the group that meets in houses to persevere and gave them some guidelines on how to work with more dynamism and to integrate the church to do the same.

7. We were able to contact pastor Jose Luis Fernandez and his wife Elizabeth-they are Spaniards and by God’s grace, they hosted us in their house. It was a blessed time to get to know each other and learn about the church and pastoral life in Spain.

8. I had the opportunity to assist a pastors’ conference in Barcelona, in which the immigration subject was talked about (more than 900,000 people in Barcelona) and they want to help those people integrate to the Catalonian society.

9. I had the opportunity to contact pastor Jose Luis with Alvaro Figueroa, organizer of Bible Training Centre for Pastors in Seville, and give him the BTCP program so he can check them; we hope he uses them.

10. Personally, I experienced God’s care for my life, his provision, his grace for this new church group of Les Roquetes; thanks to this I was able to feel acceptance, especially with the Spaniards-they spoke Spanish, but their mother language is Catalan and I was able to learn a couple of phrases: Buon dia tutom (Good morning to all) and Adeu (Goodbye). I was used to encourage, advise and relate people to God with the local churches, know the pastoral family - a couple who loves God and the people.

11. We were able to know the reality of the people of Spain, that even though they are mostly Catholics-they aren’t Catholics just because they don’t want to know anything about the church, the popes, or the Bible.

12.We were able to find out that the preaching in the churches is not based on the gospel. The people don’t read their Bibles. They don’t have a vision to evangelize or a missionary vision. The church is filled with youth but they lack a program for them. There is no leadership and the leadership that is, is made up of mostly women.

What is the next step?

A. Wait for God to show us the way.
B. Pray that God raises men with the desire to be trained for God…just as happened with Jesus Loo in Peru and that way we can start a mission in Spain.
C. The other thing would be to start working in partnership with the church Les Roquetes. We have left this thought with the pastor there also.
D. Maintain contact with the church, which could be the bridge needed for future missionary trips.
E. To send a couple to plant a mission there.

Personally:

-I thank God for the opportunity to travel to Barcelona, a desire I have had in
my heart for many years.

-I thank Brother Jerry for his sensibility and love for the work of God and for his care for me, which is very appreciated.

-I thank each person that supported us with prayers..

I want to finish by saying this:
If Jesus thought that one person was important, just one person should matter to us as well.
Let us rejoice just as the heavens rejoice when one sinner comes to God.

The history of Spain is still an open book for God. This has been the first step, there are still many steps to fulfill as we fill the pages of the book of the acts. I hope God gives us an opportunity to be a part in this.

Glory to God always!

His servant,
Carlos Baca

A true story from a visit last week in Romania that I cannot fail to share with you

As an older father and his adult son were kneeling in their home, praying to receive Christ, another adult son (Vali - 37 years old) opened the door to the small, wood burning stove heated room. After quickly surveying the situation, he stepped back out. Finishing the prayer, the father stepped to the door and opened it to check on his grandson who had been coming in and out of the room. Vali stalked back in, a scowl on his face, and planted himself in a chair opposite me.

Having not been introduced to him at the time, I greeted him and started to introduce myself. He cut off my introduction as he began to tell me his story through my interpreter.

Vali is typical of many economically poor Romanians. He works hard for little pay and usually holds multiple jobs to try and provide for the necessities of life. Like many countryside Romanians, he still lives in his ancestral home. In his situation, the patriarch of the family (his father) has chosen not to work, so Vali - along with his brother and other extended family - contribute to the well being of the entire clan. When possible, he travels to other countries where the pay is better, usually under the table, and lives in conditions that we cannot imagine. It was in Serbia (formerly part of Yugoslavia) that he encountered a Romanian Christian, a number of years ago, who would be a tragic witness in Vali's life.

This young man talked to Vali about Jesus; was consistent in his bible reading; was consistent in his prayer. He chose not to participate in the drinking, cussing, crudity, and womanizing of other workers. Vali befriended him with the purpose of corrupting him. That's right; Vali despised this young man and his faith. He set out to prove that Jesus could not make a difference in a person's life.

Week after week Vali persisted. The young man stood firm. After weeks of witnessing the steadfastness of the young mans faith, Vali decided to give the young man one more week. If he could not corrupt him, Vali vowed to place his faith in Jesus. None of this was known to the young Romanian believer. If he had known Vali's plan, perhaps he would have endured the constant onslaught. He didn't. The young man broke that week and began to follow the crowd. Vali declared himself the victor. He wanted to know from me, "What happened to that young mans faith?"

The Romanian Orthodox priests expect payment for every prayer they offer up on behalf of someone. Vali venomously expressed his disdain for the priests. He said that before praying for a newborn or the soul of the recently departed, you had to pay them. In his opinion, the clergy are only concerned with money, not the wellbeing of the people. Right or wrong, this is his perception. He railed against them. Finally asking me, "Why should he be part of any religion that exploits the poor that way?"

Vali had many more questions for me that afternoon. Fortunately, I had no answers - but God did. For each question, God provided the answer in His Word. In responding, I would lovingly ask, "Can I give you God's answer?" Then I would patiently read from the scriptures. Time after time, Vali would ask, and God would give me His response. The more Vali asked; the more God answered; the more I began to see Vali's demeanor change. After almost an hour, with the Word of God having pierced him to the marrow of his bones, a smiling Vali revealed something to me.

He told me that he came into the room to talk with me after seeing his brother and father praying. His sole purpose was to provoke me to anger. He wanted to prove to me that my faith was no better than that young Romanian man he encountered in Serbia, or the Orthodox priests which he so strongly disdained. If he could provoke me, he could continue to convince himself that no one could have a faith strong enough to last. And if my faith could not last through his onslaught, then there was no way it could be a faith that provided life everlasting. Vali said that I had displayed extraordinary patience (for which I again took him to God's Word), and that the clarity of the message I gave him would fill the churches in Romania if the people could only hear it. Again, I shared with him the power of God's Word - the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.

Vali did not pray to receive Christ. However, he did accept a bible and attended the evangelistic meetings in his village last week. He had a hard heart, but God's Word is tenderizing it to His truth; to His Son.

God gets all of the glory for what went on in that home last week. I just had the tremendous privilege of being His tool.

In spite the fact that my recounting this story could come across as spiritual boasting, I did not want this experience to go unrelated. My prayer is that the Lord will use it to encourage you in your faith.

That young Romanian believer may never know the impact his faith was having on Vali, and I pray that his fellowship with God has since been restored. There have been too many times in my life that I failed God, but I know that He is faithful and just to forgive me of all my unrighteousness. His love for us is unexplainable.

Thanks for all your prayers. As you can read, God honors them.

Romania mission trip wrap-up

Our time in Romania has drawn to a close, but we know God continues to draw the people of the Oltenia region to Himself. This was the first time we worked with the churches located in the Danube River valley along the southern border with Serbia. But as 0n each trip that God leads, He provides.

Apparently our team was unique in its apporach to ministry. Our desire is to come alongside the local churches in the work they are doing to evangelizae, disciple, build leaders, and plant new churches. We understand that when we leave, they are there to remain God's church - His people - through whom He works to expand His kingdom.

It was interesting to see their reaction as we put ourselves at their disposal for ministry. Past teams from the US - not WorldReach teams - had always given them the "time slots" for which they would be available for ministry; sandwiching ministry time between group meals and rest periods. Not so our team.

On any mission trip we understand our window of opportunity begins closing as soon as we arrive. Our focus is to allow God to use us as much as possible. We purposely avoid scheduling group gatherings aside from early morning prayer, praise and planning meetings, so that we can be fully engaged in ministry. After all, we can carry snack bars and water in our day packs and satchels. We can eat back in the States..but we cannot be in the villages and homes sharing the gospel alongside our host believers unless we make oursleves available on the time schedule of those who need to hear the gospel.

This strategy and focus allowed us to see scores of people profess faith in Jesus Christ. From the first meeting of the first day, to the last meeting of the last day, God gave us the privilege of seeing Him birth people into His kingdom, encourage His people, touch the heart of His creation, and experience Him working through us to accomplish it.

Lord willing, we will once again send teams to Turnu-Severin, Romania in 2009. Perhaps God is speaking to your heart about going. If so, continue to pray, and check back regularly so you can find out when the next team will be going to take the Word to the world in Oltenia.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support. To God be the glory, great things He is doing in the Danube Valley of southern Romania.

Going into the homes, a new way to minister in this area of Romania

The past three days have been filled with our witnessing God move in the hearts of people in their homes and at evangelistic meetings. We know your prayers are being answered and I believe it is important for you to be able to rejoice with us in what God is doing.

Anytime we travel to minister alongside brothers and sisters in a cross-cultural situation, we often find ourselves in the position to provide leadership training or direction. Never do we superimpose upon them "the way we do it in America." However, through God's leading in our past experiences, we will often respond to ministry opportunities in a manner that is new to the leaders with whom we are working.

This morning, we had a team gathering with some of the church leaders and believers. It was a time to firm up our schedule for the remaining two days of ministry, pray together, and share testimonies of how we have experienced God these past days.

I really enjoy these meetings because we are spread out in various villages each day, so we do not get to see all that is happening. The testimonies are encouraging and uplifting. We know God is always at work around us, so it is a joy to hear people give testimony to His work.

This morning, one of the church members who helps in a village ministry, spoke about something we had done that she and her husband (the missionary working to plant and grow the work in the village) had not done before. As we make visits in the village, we accept all invitations to go into the peoples homes...even sometimes asking if we can go inside to sit down and talk. Once in, we try to build a quick relationship bridge with them and allow God to lead the conversation into discussing spiritual issues, sharing the gospel, praying for specific needs, and inviting them to the service where we will be speaking that evening. We have experienced people responding to the gospel, sharing prayer requests, and accepting our invitations to attend the evening meetings (and show up at them!). Until now, the local believers who are working to plant and grow the village churches had not gone into the homes of the people. Their past activities involved standing at the gate to the yard, or just inside the gate, and inviting them to meetings or, if possible, sharing the gospel. However, they have not experienced God working during these "stand up" encounters as they have during these in home encounters.

Yes, we are here sharing the gospel and seeing people surrender their lives to Christ, but to this woman and her husband...and probably the other church leaders and members...we will leave an example of ministry that I believe God will use to accelerate the gospel going forth.

Please continue to pray for our meetings tonight, Sunday morning, and Sunday evening. There are many more who God wants to reach with His message of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Ministry in Oltenia region of Romania begins

Our team has arrived in the southern Romania region known as Oltenia. We are in Turnu-Severin, a large town located on the Danube River - along Romania's southern border with Serbia. There are ten on our team. Five from the US, four from Jibou Baptist Church (our partner in northwest Romania) and one from Grace Baptist Church in Lugoj, Romania.

Our previous work in Oltenia was a little further north, and in fact, we will send part of our team back into that area for one and a half days later this week. They will once agian be working with the church in Rovinari.

We need your prayers. Economically, the villages in this area are poverty stricken. Spiritually, they are open to the gospel. The fields are white unto harvest, but the workers are few. Please pray to the Lord of the harvest that He will work through us to reap souls for the kingdom.

At one village meeting tonight, there were 50-60 people at a church building in bad need of repair from water damage. It did not dampen the work of the Spirit, as more than half came to Christ. We know God is at work, but the opposition is great. Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. This spiritual battle will be fought with the sword of the Spirit - God's word - and the faithful fervent prayers of God's righteous people...you!

Thanks for your partnership in the gospel. I will post praise reports and prayer requests in the days to come.

Discipling a new Muslim background believer in Spain

We must never forget Christ's command to disciple new believers in what we refer to as the Great Commission. If His direction in this matter has ever waned in my life, it has certainly been renewed.

Mohamed is a Berber from Morocco. Like the overwhelming majority of Moroccans, he grew up Muslim. This is the religion of his entire family - still residing in Morocco. You need to understand that Mohamed was not a marginal Muslim. He embraced the five pillars of Islam wholeheartedly: praying five time a day, alms giving, the fast of Ramadan, total belief that Allah is the true God and Mohammad was his profit, and planned on making a pilgrimage to Mecca.

But God intervened in his life and led him to Europe to study at a university in Germany where he obtained his degree in Industrial Management.

Through a series of events, Mohamed ended up in a coastal town outside Barcelona where I have been the past two days. He is engaged to be married to a Peruvian young woman, whose family extended the initial invitation for Pastor Carlos Baca (Prince Avenue Hispanic Baptist Mission) and me to come and assist their small group of believers in evangelism, discipleship, leadership training, and church planting. The young woman and Mohamed met in Germany, and he followed her back to Spain after his graduation. They dated in Germany, but she never shared her belief in Jesus with him. His exact words to me (he speaks English) were, "She never told me about Jesus."

Why this young woman never shared her faith in Christ is unknown to me, but fortunately her mother insisted Mohamed attend their church. For six months he sat and listened to the Word of God being preached. However, it was a special gathering of young people from regional churches that the Truth became real in his life. He said that in his culture men do not shed tears. But as the Word of God was being preached, he began to weep. He understood who Jesus was, why he came to earth, and accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior. This was six months ago.

This afternoon we were talking about a conference he attended led by missionaries from Operation Mobilization who are working in Algeria. He was excited about all that was being done there to share the gospel. It was a joy to see how he wanted the same type movement of God to take place in his native Morocco. I asked him to tell me how he came to know Christ as Lord and Savior. After sharing his story, I asked him, "So do you know for certain that if you died tonight you would go to heaven?" He responded,"Not for certain, but I hope so."

You may ask, "Why did you ask him that question since he just told you he had received Christ as Lord and Savior?" Uncertainty regarding heaven (paradise) is inherent in the Muslim faith. My asking him was simply to contrast the certainty of heaven as a Christian with the uncertainty he experienced as a Muslim. I had no idea that the uncertainty still existed in his life.

Well, I asked Pastor Baca to join our conversation, since Mohamed's worship and bible reading are all in Spanish. Together, we took him through the truths of the Scripture, teaching him about the certainty of eternal life in Christ Jesus. His eyes filled with tears as the certainty of heaven became real to him. This is discipleship. Teaching new believers the truth of God's Word. Can you imagine the burden that could have been lifted from his heart if someone six months ago had immediately began discipling this young man? He knew he had placed his faith in Christ for eternal life, but did not know that it was guaranteed!

It is estimated that more than 95% of Christians have never shared the gospel with anyone. This same percentage probably tracks with those who have never instructed new believers in issues regarding their new found faith in Jesus Christ.

I encourage you to allow the Spirit to fill you and lead you into the exciting experience of living out the Great Commission, "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19, 20 HCSB)

Divine appointments in Barcelona

With God we must always expect the unexpected. After arriving early this morning, Pastor Baca and I checked into our hotel just in time to eat breakfast. While in the dining room, Pastor Baca overheard two men talking a few tables away and told me they were from Peru.

Eventually he engaged them in conversation. It was very interesting. First, his being from Peru did not spur much additional response from either man, but once he mentioned he lived in the United States and that he was traveling with another American, they wanted to talk about many things...including churches! That's right, churches. Once they inquired about what Carlos did in America and found out he was a pastor, one of the men wanted to talk about his church experiences here in Barcelona. Remarkably, he was talking about a non-Catholic church he attended. After further discussion, he encouraged Pastor Baca to start a new church here, and he would attend during his frequent travels to Barcelona from Peru.

As only God could orchestrate it, this man is with the Ministry of Economics in Peru. His geographic area of responsibility includes the area of San Marteen, the Amazon basin region where WorldReach has been asked to establish a Bible Institute. He asked Pastor Baca to stay in touch with him regarding our work there.

Later, we ventured out to try and orient ourselves to the city. God brought us in contact with a park worker with whom we had the joy of sharing the gospel. While he did not receive Christ as Lord, he did take the follow-up tract that Pastor Baca gave him. We pray that God will draw him to Himself, and birth him into the kingdom!!

Please keep praying for us. We know God is at work...and it is exciting to have you partnering with us through prayer.