Leslie and I have four daughters. God has blessed us with these girls, we love them so much! We believe God has a plan for each of their lives! There are things we want for our girls, things that all parents want for their children. We purposefully invest time, instruction, money, and prayer to help them grow up to be the young ladies God wants them to be. Parents want their children to grow up to be responsable, to work hard, to be successful, and to enjoy their lives. In addition to all of this, Christian parents want their children to love God and know Him as Father, to be faithful to a Bible believing church where they worship, grow, and serve, to be a faithful witness of the Gospel of Jesus, and to be good stewards of all that God has given them. These are common things we all want for our children. As missionaries, Leslie and I want all of this and want our children to love the ministry. Whether God leads them into full-time ministry or not, whether they serve the King on the foreign mission field or in the States, we want them to love the ministry and be burdened for the mission field. So how do we do this?

First off, it is important to remember that children will grow up and will ultimately decide things for their future. The Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: And when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6. This is biblical truth, but we need to understand what it means. When we train up a child in the Truth, it will always be with him, whether he live for Jesus or not. But, as they grow up, they will be responsable to make their own decisions. So there is nothing we can do to guarantee their love for the mission field.

But there are things we can do to help them. Here are a few that are on my mind…

• Don’t complain about the field where you serve. There are a lot of things that go on that are not easy. To add in a foreign culture and language, it is a recipe to complain. Don’t do it. Don’t just “not complain in front of the kids”, don’t complain at all. This means we must have a distinct outlook on things.
• Help them see the positive things about ministry and about the field where you serve. If you love where you serve, you will be able to share that with your kids. We serve in Argentina and there is so much we can enjoy. The food is incredible! We have amazing places to see in the country, including the second largest waterfalls in the world, the Andes Mountains down in the Patagonia, the beautiful coastline, the green pampas, and the rolling sierras. The people are kind and we have made friends. We focus on those things. No matter where you are, there is always something to complain about, but also there is always something to thank God for in the name of Jesus. We choose the latter.
• Teach the biblical principle of contentment and live it out as an example. Philippians 4:10-13 says, “¹⁰ But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. ¹¹ Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. ¹² I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. ¹³ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” This was Paul’s testimony, and we can learn a lot from it. First off, we understand that contentment is not natural, it is something we must learn (vs. 11). We are sinners and as sinners we struggle with being content. But it is something we can learn. Second we learn that contentment is no related to how much we have, or how much we lack (vs. 12). We can think, “If I just had more money”, or “If I could have the car that my neighbor has”, or “If I were more healthy”, if we could just have these things we would be more content, but nothing could be further from the truth. Contentment is not found in what we have. Lastly, we learn that contentment is found in Jesus (vs. 13). In Jesus, we can be content in all things, in the good and in the bad, with a lot or with little, and anywhere, whether in the States, or on the foreign mission field. We can be content, and we should be!
• Make time for your kids and be patient with them. The kids need their dad and mom, so make time for them. When they do have hard times, or when they struggle with culture shock, love them through it. Be patient and walk with them.

I am so thankful for my family and I want them to love where God has us. They are not missing out on life by living on the field, the opposite is true, they are blessed to be able to live in another culture and serve Jesus by helping start Bible-preaching churches on the foreign field.

This Sunday is Mother’s Day in Argentina (you read that right, Mother’s Day is in October). Pastor Matías and Faith Baptist Church have a big day planned. Moms will be encouraged, and Jesus will be preached! Please be praying for this special day.

Serving Together,

Patrick, Leslie, Lily, Piper, Ivy, and Isla Henry

Family Spotlight: Lily Passed!

Our oldest daughter, Lily, took her driver’s license test and passed! She is now able to drive on her own! We are so proud of her! She is growing up fast! She is very mature for her age, even with this new freedom of being able to drive, she views it a responsibility and understands how important it is to drive safely (something that I did not do when I was 16 years old).

I came across a few startling statistics from a 2003 survey conducted by a company called The Jenkins Group. I realize it is somewhat dated, and I also do not know how the survey was done, or any details on the Jenkins Group, even so I find the following statistics alarming.

• 1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
• 42% of college graduates never read another book after college.
• 80% of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
• 57% of new books are not read to completion.

What does this have to do with being an effective missionary? It is about growth. Graduating from a Bible College or Seminary is not the end of our growth. We must continue to learn, we must continue to study, we must continue to grow! I realize that reading is not the only way we can grow. With the technology we have today, we can listen to leadership podcasts, we can watch instructional videos on ministry (or on almost any other subject), there are also online classes on a plethora of subjects. I was recently talking with a man who was learning how to play the guitar from an online class! There is so much opportunity, and as missionaries we need to continually read/watch/listen, etc. to grow. There are many different areas in which we can grow, but with this short blog post, I am only going to address five areas.

The Bible: I am convinced that I do not know enough Bible. I read it daily, I study it, I preach it, I take classes about it, I read commentaries about specific passages, I memorize verses from it, etc. But I need to know so much more! It bothers me that Satan quoted the Bible to Jesus in Matthew 4:6. Could it be that Satan knows more Bible than we do? We need to learn more Bible and there is no substitute for getting in it and reading and studying it! An old missionary once said, “If you have not read the Bible through at least 12 times, you probably should not be a missionary.” Some may no appreciate his perspective, but I think we would all want a surgeon who had a deep knowledge on the area he is going to operate on. I wouldn’t be very optimistic with a surgeon who told me, “I really don’t know much about the surgery I am performing today!!”, especially if it were a serious surgery! If we want our surgeons to have such a knowledge on what they are doing, we should at the very least want the same for missionaries who are serving on the field! We need to read, study, and grow in our knowledge and application of the Bible.

Leadership: Missionaries are leaders. We are to lead others spiritually. There is so much to learn from about leadership in the Bible. There are also great books and podcasts that speak on the same subject, that give biblical principles on leadership. I want to be a better leader, I want to lead like Jesus. I want to point to Jesus as I lead.

Church Planting: If a missionary is going to plant churches, he ought to know how! Learning from someone who has already done it will help the missionary avoid paying “stupid tax”. “Stupid tax” is something a missionary pays because he didn’t have someone tell him not to do something, or to do something different. I have paid a lot of “stupid tax” on the mission field! I want to help my missionary friends not pay that same price!

Mentorship/Discipleship: Our goal is evangelism and discipleship. We train leaders. Just like in any other subject, there is a great opportunity for growth in this area. It is great to have practical “how to’s” on discipleship. We know we need to disciple others, we know it is important, but how do we start? What does that look like? Do we ever give up on someone who isn’t showing interest, if so, when? What do we do if _______? Mentorship/discipleship is easy to the one who is not doing it. But to those who are in the midst of it, know it is hard and knowing what to do next is not so obvious.

Family: I love my family! Our oldest daughter is 16 years old. I am realizing more than ever that our time is very short with our children. I wish I could go back in time and have a conversation with myself 16 years ago (don’t we all!!). I would tell myself to enjoy every moment with my family, to not “wish away” their youth, to not be so consumed in my own goals. I have grown so much as a father and dad, and I want to grow more. I want to be able to be the father my girls need as they continually grow. I want to be the husband my wife needs whether we are on the field or on furlough, in each stage of life, every day of my life. Outside of my salvation, my family is the greatest gift God has given me, and I want to be the husband/dad they need, the husband/dad God wants me to be. One of the was I can do this is by growing. There are so many wonderful books on marriage as well as being a parent. There are podcasts, videos, and even retreats to help us work on our marriages and families. Let’s use them to the glory of God!

There are so many areas for us to grow. As missionaries, as effective missionaries, we need to continually grow.

Mother’s Day, Evangelistic Outreaches, and Our Travels

The September Family Conference was a huge blessing with many in attendance in each service. Pastor Hugo from La Plata preached the final message of the conference and it was well received! The men’s fellowship was also a great meeting! It is Spring now in Argentina and Pastor Matías and the church have several special events planned for this season to preach the Gospel to others. One is to hold special services in the public plazas (or parks). Pray with us that God works in these special evangelistic services. 

The big service for October is Mother’s Day. That may sound strange but Mother’s Day is celebrated in October in Argentina. This is special day and we are praying that Faith Baptist Church will have many visitors on that day!

October is one of the busiest months during our furlough. We have meetings in Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, and Florida. Please pray for our travels and that we are a blessing in each church we are in.

Serving Together,

Patrick, Leslie, Lily, Piper, Ivy, and Isla Henry

Prayer Requests

• Pray for Faith Baptist Church.  
• Pray for the Mother’s Day (Mother’s Day is in October in Argentina).  
• Pray for the
  upcoming evangelistic campaigns of Faith Baptist Church.
• Pray for our furlough travels.