This is the seventh post in a series on how to be an effective missionary, and I believe it be a very important one. An effective missionary learns from others. We are so blessed to have men who are “further down the ministry road than we are”. I am thankful form men like my pastor and other mentors who have guided me through the years and given me counsel time and time again. There are also other missionaries who are further along than I am. There are some who are just a few steps further than I am, and others still who are many years, even terms further along than I am. I seek their advice often.

But there is a problem missionaries can have. On deputation, we go from church to church sharing our burden, our desire, and our dreams. We sound like we know what we are doing, we sound like we know all about planting churches in a cross-cultural context, we sound like we have it all together, but none of this is true. We have a lot to learn, but after being in 100+ churches, if we are not careful, we end up being “so wise, that we become fools”. I think of two example in the Bible, Solomon was the wisest man in the world, and he “received instruction” from the lazy man (Proverbs 24:30-34) and from the simple man (Proverbs 7). If the wisest man in the world learned from foolish people, we too can learn from others. The other extreme is the fool whom Solomon wrote about throughout the book of Proverbs. A few lesson we learn about a fool is that he has no desire to learn (Proverbs 18:2), and that he already knows it all (Proverbs 12:15). The wisest man in the world learns from others, while the fool can’t learn from anyone because he already knows everything.

An effective missionary cannot be a fool, he must learn from others, and this means that the missionary purposely humbles himself and seeks the counsel of others. There is always room for improvement. My pastor often says, “We can improve almost everything, but there are only two things we cannot improve, our salvation and the Bible”. This means that everything I do as a missionary can be improved, and God has given me great men to help me do so.

So what does a missionary do to learn from others who are further down the road than he is? He asks others missionaries lots of questions. Learn to ask questions about everything, about evangelism, about where to rent a building, about special events, about how to work with others, about culture shock, about everything! We will never be effective if we don’t learn to learn from other brothers and sisters in Christ! Dear missionary, you are not alone, and you don’t have to go about the ministry alone, seek counsel from others, attempt great things, work hard, learn from others, ask lots of questions and do something great for God! To be effective missionaries, we must learn from others!

A big part of our furlough is going to supporting churches to share what the Lord is doing in the ministry in Argentina. I love these meetings, these churches have invested in the ministry God has given us and I have the blessing of sharing with them what God has done through their faithful prayers and support. We rejoice together as we see how the Lord uses both that local church and our family as missionaries to advance the Gospel! We also are blessed to be in new churches. Over the past month, we have been in Ohio, Delaware, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. This Sunday we will be in Mississippi. It is an honor and a privilege to share what God is doing in the ministry He has given us and to share future plans about our second term in Argentina! Please pray for our travels, that we glorify God in all that we do, that we are a blessing to the churches we are in, and that He keeps us safe!

Serving Together,

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

Missionary Spotlight: The Underwood Family

Stephen and Ashlee are missionaries in Argentina. We have the privilege to be serving with them as partners in the ministry! They recently planted Hope Baptist Church in Ezeiza and are doing a wonderful job! The church is only had services for a few months, and they have already seen people saved! The Underwoods are working hard, they are great missionaries and God is using them. It is a privilege to serve with them! Here are a few prayer requests they shared with me.

• Pray for Hope Baptist Church in Ezeiza, Buenos Aires.
• Pray for the spiritual growth of those attending and the numerical growth of the church.
• Justín, a young man from Peru will be going to Argentina to help the Underwoods at the church, pray they Lord uses them.
• The Underwoods have three boys, they are trying to enroll them in school, pray for the process to go smoothly.

The first two years of a missionary’s ministry are crucial. But with that being said, missionaries do not have a set program to follow. In other words, after deputation, some missionaries may go to a specific language school to learn the language, others don’t even learn the language and start the work immediately, some start language school and immediately after they start a church, and there are some who may go about it another way. This is not so with other careers (I understand that being a missionary is more than a career, but please bare with me). A doctor has to complete his/her undergraduate studies, then must continue his education further with medical school. After medical school, he/she must complete a two – six year residence training, after all of this he/she can become a doctor (I found this information on www.bemoacademicconsulting.com). There is a set path for a doctor to take, but this is not so for the missionary.

As I stated above, those first two years are crucial, and I think it would be great if missionaries did have a set path to follow in order to help them succeed. Those first two years constitute a foundation that may well determine the success and longevity of the missionary. They are a “parenthesis term” for the missionary. They are no longer on deputation, they are on the mission field, but they are not planting churches or serving in the capacity that they will be when they begin their first term, even so, this “parenthesis term” is not a waste! It actually will become a solid foundation on which the missionary will build a ministry! I wish all missionaries would complete a 2 year “parenthesis term” after deputation!

So what does the missionary do during their “parenthesis term” to lay such a foundation? Two critical things…

• Language learning
• Cultural acquisition

Both of these things will greatly determine the success or failure of the missionary. They may well determine the longevity of his ministry as well. A missionary must learn the language and must learn the culture of the country he serves in, if not he will not be an effective missionary! The truth is learning a language cannot be done in one year, or two, or even three, it is a life-long process. But one – two years of dedicated language learning should get the missionary to a place where he will be able to serve effectively. He will be learning along the way, but he will have a foundation of the language to build upon. Like the language, learning all of the “ins and outs” of a culture will not happen in two years, but he will learn so much that will enable him to act and interact appropriately with the nationals. This two year parenthesis term is vital!

I understand that this is not a standard path, but I do believe it is one of the best ways to become an effective missionary!

Faith Baptist Church will be having their couples fellowship tomorrow. I love these special meetings! We have ladies in the church who have husbands that do not attend the services with them, but they will come to our couples fellowships. I have had the opportunity to witness to them individually during these fellowships. It is a special time. We love marriage, it a blessed gift of God, and we want to encourage every marriage to magnify Jesus! Please pray for this special Saturday fellowship!

Serving Together, 

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

The Passing of a Dear Friend

A dear friend and member of Faith Baptist Church recently passed away. Isaac Leví was born to a Jewish family. In the 90’s, while working in Venezuela, a missionary led to him to Jesus. About 15 – 20 years ago, Isaac and his family moved back to Argentina. They were never able to find a church home until we started Faith Baptist Church. I can remember when they first visited us. He and his wife signed as charter members of the church in 2019. He passed away at 83 years old.

Isaac was faithful to church. His family begged him not to go during the pandemic, but he would arrive to church and tell me that he just had to come, because he missed being in church. He was funny and had a positive outlook on life. He loved Jesus and he loved his wife Angela. On their anniversary, I asked him to give our young church advice on marriage (the picture above), the first thing he said was that his relationship with Jesus made their marriage great, and the he was completely in love with his wife. 

Leslie and I loved him so much and we will miss his dearly!