This post is the next installment on the topic of an effective missionary. An effective missionary has specific characteristics, characteristics that I want to have in my life. We have learned about a few, and today we continue with perhaps the most obvious characteristic of an effective missionary. Pleasing Jesus is his number one goal.

Becoming a missionary takes time and there are several stages before the missionary family ever plants a church. A family serves in their local church. God works in them and in time they share with the pastor their desire to go to the mission field. As the pastor and the family share this news with the church, the church family recognizes what God has done and they rejoice! From there, the family starts deputation. This time can last anywhere from 2 – 3 years, some may be on deputation for even longer. After traveling to different churches around the country (or at least around their region), God raises their support and they leave everything to go to the mission field, but that is not the end. The missionary family then sets up a house, and begins language school and cultural acquisition. This “parenthesis stage” should take around 2 years. The missionary family then may take a 3 month furlough before beginning their first term (this is recommended). Finally, the missionary family starts a church (which begins a whole new set of stages). Through all of this, an effective missionary must keep his priorities in line, and number one should be to please Jesus no matter the stage.

We started Faith Baptist Church in Lanús, Buenos Aires, Argentina. We have a theme for the church, “Todo se trata de Jesús”, it means “Everything is about Jesus” or “It is all about Jesus”. Everything we do should be to glorify Jesus. If that is our motive, everything else will fall in line. I want to see the church grow, I want to plant other churches, I want to see people saved. The important question is “Why?” If the answer is to be well known among my Baptist friends, or to please the churches that support us, or even to make my home church proud, then I have failed. I want to be an effective missionary and to to do so, I must make pleasing Jesus as my number one goal!

God spoke to Israel through many prophets. Some saw “great success” from the human perspective. Jonah went to Nineveh, and saw the whole city turn to God! Others did not see such results. Isaiah volunteered to be sent by God in Isaiah 6, and when he asked God how long he would prophesy, God told Him until they are judged (Isaiah 6:11-12). In other words, they were not going to repent. Jeremiah faithfully prophesied God’s message of judgement to a rebellious people while other “false prophets” preached a message of peace, Jeremiah prophesied that message until the city was burned! These men had one priority, to please God, and they did so!

I want to do everything I can to please Jesus, I want it to be my top priority, and I think you do too. Let’s make pleasing Jesus our number one goal! This is perhaps the most important characteristic of an effective missionary!

Friend Day is actually a day celebrated in Argentina. This Sunday Pastor Matías will be using this day to talk about the best friend anyone could ever have, Jesus! We are praying for the friends that have been invited to come to the service. Pray with us for God to work in the services of this special Sunday!

Lord willing, we will be in Louisiana sharing what the Lord is doing in the ministry with churches that have supported us since we were on deputation. We want to be a blessing to these churches, pray that God uses us!

Family Spotlight

We are blessed to be the parents of four amazing daughters! Our two oldest daughters were a part of “The World’s Cheapest Missions Trip”. At the end of the week long missions trip, both of our daughters each surrendered to be missionaries, if the Lord leads them that way. Each did so on her own. Both have a burden for India. They may have an opportunity to go on a missions trip to India in November! While we don’t know what the Lord has for them, as their parents we are so encouraged to see them respond to God’s working in their lives!

I have enjoyed reconnecting with churches that we haven’t been with since deputation. I was recently in one of those churches and I was greatly encouraged by what one of the men who spoke with me after the service. He remembered well when we were with them back in 2015 and he said to me, “You went and did exactly what you told us you were going to do!” That stuck with me, I have humbly thought about how good God has been, how He has blessed us and given us fruit in the ministry. I know it is God that does the work, and He deserves all of the glory. I cannot take any credit, it is really all about Jesus!

An effective missionary does what he has been sent to do. We are church planting missionaries, so we should plant churches. Other missionaries go out and do other things, and they too should do what they have been sent to do! That is an effective missionary! I can only speak to what God has led us to do. Planting churches means evangelizing, baptizing, discipling, and training men to continue the work, and hopefully help train a man who will one day pastor that church. But there is even more to planting churches. I remember our first months (even years) when we planted Faith Baptist Church. Nothing was set up, we rented a building, decorated it, designed the order of the services, printed tracts and invitations to pass out. Everything done in those months was done by us, every prayer, every invitation given out, every Bible message, every visit, and every discipleship session, all of it was done by us. Before long, the Lord started blessing. We saw a few people saved, and we started discipleship with a couple. People slowly started to respond. Today is a totally different story, Faith Baptist Church continues on. Matías is pastoring the church and doing a phenomenal job. The church now has her own building. There are a few things we need to fix and to improve, but the ministry is progressing. Young men are wanting to plant churches in surrounding cities in the southern zone of Buenos Aires. It is all very exciting! I share all of this to explain that “planting a church” is much more than just “planting a church”.

We need effective missionaries. Do what you have been sent to do! That doesn’t mean things will go smoothly, they probably won’t, but little by little, God will do His work and Jesus will build His church. Lord willing, we will go back to Argentina in January and start our second term. What will we do? We will do exactly what we have been sent to do, we will plant more churches and train more men to advance the Gospel! God will really be doing all the work, and by faith we believe God will use our meager efforts to reach the lost and work in them as He as worked in and through us! Effective missionaries do what they are sent to do.

Tomorrow, Faith Baptist Church will host a special ladies fellowship. Ayelen is going to be teaching the lesson. Brian and Ayelen are assisting missionary Stephen Underwood in the church that he and his family recently planted in Ezeiza. It is a blessing to hear how they are a blessing to both the Underwood family and this new church plant! Please pray for this special meeting. We have found that there are ladies who may not come to a traditional service, but will come to a ladies fellowship.

The ladies ministry at Faith Baptist Church has grown over the past year and we are praying that more ladies will be saved as a result of this special meeting!

Serving Together, 

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