Earlier this week, a group of missionaries sat down around a table with a veteran missionary. The countries represented were Peru, South Africa, Chile, North Africa, China, Japan, and Argentina. The topic? Church planting on the mission field. We all read three books in preparation for this class. We all learned about the importance of church planting and the “how to’s” of church planting on the mission field.

Why Plant Churches?

This is a great question. I will answer it by giving you an example. Almost 40 years ago, a man named John Faison started a small church in a house in Monroe, GA. The church moved a few places and before long, Mr. Faison moved on, handing off the church to be lead by another pastor. The church began to grow more each year. Today the church is located in Loganville, GA. It is my home church, Victory Baptist Church. This church has sent (or is sending) out  7 missionaries in the past 5 years. This church has trained and built 6 more men who are Pastors/Assistant Pastors/Youth Pastors. This church is continuing to train men to advance the Gospel.

I don’t know if Mr. Faison is still alive, but I can tell you he did something (more appropriately, God did something through him) that will long outlast his life! Because of 1 man’s labor of planting 1 church, there are churches that are growing and changing lives around the United States, and there will be churches planted in Brazil, Thailand, Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Chile, and Argentina! Why plant churches? Because they will last long after us, and will reach far beyond our capability!

That is why we gathered together around a table with a veteran missionary. God’s plan to evangelize the world is through churches! May we all strive to advance the Gospel by planting churches around the world!

Bible Reading: Malachi 1:1-4

God used Malachi to ask questions and answer them. The first question “Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.” (1:1-3). How has God loved Israel? The answer comes from how the descendants of Jacob (Israel) had been treated in comparison to how the descendants of Esau were. Both peoples were unfaithful to the One, True God. Yet Esau’s descendants and their land had been impoverished and any attempt of prosperity would be met by God’s indignation (1:4). Jacob’s descendants were not faithful to God, yet God continued to bless them and be their God!

I think we forget how God has blessed us. I know we are not Israel, but we (as Christians) do have things in common with Israel. Living oblivious to God’s blessings in our lives may well be one of the things we hold in common with them. May God help us to see His blessings in our lives.

We are in the midst of a mission conference here at Forest Hills Baptist Church in Hartsville, SC. God blessed in each of the services here. Please pray for the service tonight. On Sunday, we will be in Wilmington, NC for the morning service with Pastor Shepard and in Greensboro, NC for the evening service with Pastor Thomas. We look forward to sharing what God has put in our hearts in each of these churches!

We will be starting another three week trip in the north next week. Please pray that God will use us in each and every service to glorify Him and to encourage brothers and sisters in Christ!

It is surprising to many, but Argentina has a large population of Jews. The question people ask is “Why?” I wondered the same thing. This is what I learned after reading up on the subject.

• Argentina is home to around 250,000 Jews, making it the sixth largest Jewish community in the world, and the biggest in Latin America.
• The vast majority of Argentina’s Jewish population is now located in Buenos Aires. There are smaller communities found in other parts of the country, especially Rosario, Córdoba and Santa Fe.
• 85% of the Jews in Argentina descend from France, Germany and Eastern Europe. The remaining 15 % are descendants of those from the Iberian Peninsula, the Middle East and North Africa. The majority of the 15% are Orthodox.
• A small amount of Jewish settlers came to Argentina very early on, to evade the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions. During the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries some came as ‘conversos’ or secret Jews.
• After Argentina gained independence from Spain 1816, there was a spike in Jewish immigration, mostly from France, with others coming from England and Germany.
• At the turn of the 20th century another wave of immigration diversified the community, with Sephardic Jews arriving from Turkey and North Africa.
• In the 20th century Jewish immigration to Argentina peaked following both world wars and the Holocaust.
• According to the 1960 national census, there were 275,913 Jews living in Argentina, though it is believed that this figure was more like 310,000, representing the peak of the Argentine Jewish population in the 20th century.

Since the first surge of Jewish settlers, Argentina has been both a safe haven and a place of persecution for Jews. Today Jews in Argentina are in need of the same transforming Gospel as the Argentines. Pray for them with me.