The ‘Heart of Darkness’ is a seven state area in the southwestern portion of Mexico that has a geographical outline resembling a heart shape. The “darkness” part of its name comes from the fact that the entire area is less than 2% Evangelical. Mike Brundart, is the IMB team strategy coordinator for reaching the five megacities within this region, all of which are at or above one-million in population. The five cities include: Leon, Agauscalientes, Querétaro, Morélia, and San Luis Potosi.

One of thousands of neighborhoods in the "Heart of Darkness" without Christ

“(These are) five large cities in desperate need of the gospel,” Brundhart relates.”It’s amazing how people will say, ‘the church is there, the gospel is there,’  he says, “but in many of the colonias (neighborhoods) where we work among the classe popular (common folk), these people live in their colonia. A big trip for them is to go from their neighborhood to centro (downtown) to shop, but they don’t they don’t travel outside the city. So unless we go to their door  in their neighborhood and share the gospel with them they are never going to hear.”

In Leon, for example, there are only 7 Baptist churches, all of which average less than 50 members, in a city of 1.5 million. Brundart compares this to Memphis, Tennessee which has a similar size population but hosts over 600 Baptist churches alone, not to mention all the other Evangelical churches in the city. Similarly, Jim Repetto, a volunteer coordinator on the team, relates that in the state of Michoacán, where he lives, only 26 of 113 counties have a Baptist church.

The team

Mike is excited about the team that God is assembling in the area. He and his wife, IMB missionary Jennifer Brundart have four children, Matthew, 14, Luke, 12, Sarah, 9, and Rachel, 6. who serve along side them in their ministries and work with volunteers. The children enjoy doing puppet ministry, face painting, and interpreting for volunteers.

Jim Repetto is a Masters IMB Missionary and serves as a volunteer coordinator, receiving up to 20 teams this year. He is originally from Kansas City, MO. where he lived all his life until being appointed as an IMB missionary. He and his wife retired in 1996, but after her death Jim decided to go back to Mexico in 2006. Jim lives in Morélia, and will be the one to receive most of the Kentucky GO MEXICO teams as they arrive.

Jerri Yorkmann is a new member of the team, moving to Leon just this year from Guadelajara where she served from2002 -2009. She worked with Operation Go there where she hosted many GO teams that were part of the 1.3 million gospel packets delivered through December 2009.

Jenna is the newest member of the team, arriving in Leon less than two months ago. As a new career missionary, she is spending a lot of time just getting her feet on the ground, improving her language skills, learning the culture, and getting familiar with the city. Presently, she is also surveying the people in different neighborhoods in order to find out what their needs are and how future mission projects and volunteer teams can best minister to them.

Volunteers complete the team.

“What we need are churches that will come and pray that God will provide ‘people of peace’ where we can start evangelistic Bible studies. That will lead to the gospel spreading up family lines, and that will help us to plant churches. We are looking forward to what  God is going to do in the next year or two, or three, so we’d like to see Kentucky Baptists be a part of what God is doing in this region,” says Brundart.

Mike went on say that volunteer teams help on many levels – they are on site – where they can see smell, taste, hear, and learn how to better pray for the people in “the heart of darkness.” They also serve as a model of  ministry for the national Baptists, encouraging them to reach new heights. The US volunteers also advance our work, he said, because they are able to cover so much more territory and visit more homes than we could ever begin to do on our own. In additi0n, the Americans also draw attention to the work. People see them out cleaning a park or painting a school and they begin to ask, “Why?,” forming the bridges for witness and relation building.

From the February 2010 edition of Samaria Update. Written by Tim Yarbrough

The numbers are in and it’s no surprise they indicate a church’s focus on Kingdom growth and Acts 1:8 missions makes a significant impact on baptisms, mission participants and giving.

An informal survey of churches committing to the Acts 1:8 Challenge, versus all Southern Baptist churches, shows a church’s focus on its role in carrying out “the mission of God” makes a huge difference in Great Commission impact. More than 3,800 SBC churches have signed up to be a part of the Acts 1:8 Challenge initiative since its launch in May 2004. The survey was done by the North American Mission Board (NAMB) research team.

Per capita, the number of baptisms by churches embracing the Acts 1:8 Challenge are double the number baptized in all SBC churches. The survey showed that mission participants averaged 28 per capita in Acts 1:8-focused churches, as compared to four per capita in non-Acts 1:8 Challenge churches.

Additionally, giving to the Cooperative Program, Annie Armstrong and Lottie Moon were markedly higher. Below is a summary of the survey:

Gains Seen Around EKG Emphasis in Louisiana

Recently, an article published in Baptist Press pointed to similar gains in Louisiana churches as a result of the Louisiana Baptist Convention’s focus on Empowering Kingdom Growth(EKG). The Acts 1:8 Challenge has been the missional component of EKG since 2004.

The Baptist Press article, “Making an Effective Difference for the Kingdom,” with details from the Louisiana survey, is available here.

Very simply put, this principle puts forth the idea that God always has someone in an unevangelized area that will be receptive to the gospel. Therefore, as church planters and those working with them make their initial contacts with a new area they should be sensitive to the Holy Spirit leading them to this person. Most often God uses this person and their family to establish a “beachhead” for the infiltration of the gospel into that neighborhood.

What is the basis of this principle?

The concept is based on the account of Jesus sending out the disciples two by two to minister in the surronding communities recorded in  Matthew 10, Luke 9, and Luke 10. As He  sent them, He gave certain instructions about what they were to do, what they should pack, and how they were to respond based upon a person’s reception. Specifically, in Luke 10: 5-7 Jesus instructs them:

When you enter a house offer peace. If a Person of Peace is present, your peace will rest on him. Stay in theat house, eat and drink what is put before you, and do not move around from house to house.   

Obviously, Jesus did not say, “here is the key person for starting a church plant in the area.” The passage can safely be interpreted, however, to imply that when you are entering a new territory with the gospel (the essence of missions) there are going to be those that will receive you well. We should recognize their reception as a place to begin fellowship. 

Who is the person of peace? 

You never know who this person is going to be. Oftentimes, God prepares the most unlikely candidate to take on this role. I recall in one of my last church plants in Brazil the “person of peace” turned out to be a family that had what we called “the bicycle shop.” The shop was nothing more than the palm leaf covered “front porch” of the mud and stick house where they lived. Of course, God knew that their location was not only strategically located, but well known by the residents of the neighborhood. In a recent church start effort in Mexico, the lady pictured at the right turned out to be the “person of peace.”

How does the principle apply to volunteer missionaries?  

One of the primary uses of volunteers by careeer missionaries is to cover great areas of geography to make multiple contacts with people that the missionary might not otherwise locate if he worked alone. Therefore, as a volunteer missionary, you play an incredibly important role in being a “scout” for the missionary and his church planting teams to help find the persons of peace which are so vital in the life of new church plants.

Our Baptist neighbors to the north have developed an exciting new, online tool that provides high quality training resources for you and your church. It is called MissionOhio.E-quip and is offered to anyone, anywhere with web access.

Over 200 video training modules are now available with more being added regularly. Many are accompanied by PowerPoint presentations and supporting documents such as outlines and handouts that can be downloaded and printed out. The training videos are categorized by: 

• Church Planting
• Discipleship
• En Español (Spanish)
• Evangelism
• Leadership
• Missions
• Prayer and Spiritual Renewal
• Student Ministry
• Sunday School and Small Groups
• Women’s Ministry
• Worship / Preaching

CLICK HERE TO GO TO E-QUIP

In addition to the Whilteys, there are now two Brazilian Baptist Home missionaries working with the Rroma and Calon peoples. The Whitleys are praying that God will call out more missionaries, pastors and leaders to help take the Gospel message to this unusual people group. They are also praying that God will call out Rroma and Calon men to be pastors and leaders that will take God’s Word to their own people.

There are many volunteer opportunities in various parts of Brazil to work with gypsies, or ciganos as they are called in Portuguese. 

• A volunteer team is needed to work in Uberaba, Minas Gerais for the dates of June 7-10, 2010.  This is a joint project with JMN  missionary Igor Shimura and other pastors, leaders and volunteers who work with the Calon Ciganos that make up the Amigos dos Ciganos organization. 
• Other locations include:  
  • The city of Curitiba, working with Pr. Igor in the state of Paraná. 
  • Goiânia has a very new work and could use a larger team to reach various locations at once, including working with calon who have converted to Islam. 
  • Small teams are needed in Eastern Sao Paulo and southwestern Minas Gerais. 

If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please contact the KBC Partnership Missions Department.

Use the player below to listen in:

In Luke chapter five, Jesus led Peter to follow him gradually, first asking only a small commitment – to push his boat out a short distance from shore. Eventually, Jesus challenged him to “put out into deep water” – a call to a deeper commitment. Partnership Missions’ four levels of involvement is based on this principle of a progressive growth in commitment to overseas ministry – from the shore to deep water.

Special thanks to Brenda Smith and Larry Brannin of the KBC Media Department for their technical assistance in the production of Deep Water.

Do you want to impact the nations with some powerful prayer?

From the quietness of your morning to your favorite coffee shop, no matter where you are, a prayer journey starts in your heart and reaches beyond anything we can imagine. Prayer is an indispensable part of reaching the nations.  

At this very second, many have not heard about the ultimate freedom in a life with Jesus Christ! Take the journey. No boundaries, no borders, no boxes . . . JUST PRAY.

PRAYERthreads is mobilizing our churches and groups to pray for people around our world with no chance to hear about Jesus.  

Check out the website and find out how to pray for a forgotten unreached people group that no one is trying to reach. CLICK this PRAYERthreads link

For centuries in southern Africa, Zulu chiefs have called together their people to discuss important issues at meetings called indabas (in-dah-bahs). 

Ohio Baptists are hosting their own Indaba to consider an extremely important — the lostness of over 50% of the people groups of Sub-Saharan Africa.

By attending this Indaba, you can:

• Identify unreached and unengaged people groups.
• Learn how to connect with IMB missionaries working among Sub-Saharan African peoples.
• Hear what God is doing through churches like yours.
• Discover ways your church can have an impact.
• Obtain resources and information to undergird your mission efforts.
• Network with others who are engaging the lost.

Please make plans to attend and begin your journey of bringing the Gospel to an unreached people group.

Where?

                State Convention of Baptists Office
                9000 Antares Avenue
                Columbus, OH 43240

When?

               March 23 from 10am – 2pm

Questions?  Please contact Greg Queen at gqueen@imb.org. Or see www.imbafrica.org/indaba for more information and registration

To register: http://westafrica.imb.org/surveys/survey.cfm?su_id=272

Scholarships available for qualified KBC leadership. Call 502-489-3529 for details or write partnership@kybaptist.org.

One may question a stategy that includes partnering with a government agency, for instance, or a church of another denomination. Under the right circumstances, however, such a partnership is not only “OK”, but could be essential to your overall success. The question then becomes ”when” and “to what extent” are these kinds of partnerships appropriate?

The IMB has developed guidelines for forming strategic relationships in accordance with five levels of engagement of the target population. These intentional relationships carry different guidelines depending on the purpose being pursued mat each level. The deeper the level, the greater its significance and openness to partnering outside Baptist circles.

LEVEL ONE

• Goal: Entry into the target population
• Guiding Principle: Suitable to the target population and recognized by them as acceptable
• Partner examples: Tourism, business, government, schools, any organization that helps you to get entry into the target population

LEVEL TWO

• Goal: Prayer for the population, ministry to felt needs for the purpose of pre-evangelism
• Guiding Principle: Legitamate response to spiritual and physical needs
• Partner examples: Government agency, relief organization, local government, professionals in the area of need

LEVEL THREE

• Goals: Evangelism and Scripture Distribution
• Guiding Principle: Commitment to New Testament evangelism
• Partner examples: Para-church organizations such as Campus Crusade, Gideons, Ministries that provide evangelism tools and tracts, other like-minded evangelicals

LEVEL FOUR

• Goal: Plant New Testament churches (in accord with Baptist Faith and Message)
• Guiding Principle: Commitment to planting Baptist New Testament churches
• Partner examples: Sister Baptist organizations such as colleges and seminaries, state conventions, associations, and churches

LEVEL FIVE:

• Goals: Ministerial training and development, theological education, ordination, deployment of missionaries
• Guiding Principles: Doctrinal Purity
• Partner examples: IMB, NAMB, and other Baptist entities (seldom, if ever, relating with outside groups)

This edition of Deep Water features a phone conference between a KBC church pastor and an IMB missionary who were connected last year through our department’s ALL THE WORLD initiative. Ronnie Raines, Pastor of FBC Colds Springs, Kentucky, and Rick Thompson, IMB missionary to Brazil discuss their partnership experience. The initial project between these two was the focus of a story posted  last year, “Trip Report: FBC Cold Spring Experiences Brazilian Blessing”.

Use the player to listen:

In Luke chapter five, Jesus led Peter to follow him gradually, first asking only a small commitment – to push his boat out a short distance from shore. Eventually, Jesus challenged him to “put out into deep water” – a call to a deeper commitment. Partnership Missions’ four levels of involvement is based on this principle of a progressive growth in commitment to overseas ministry – from the shore to deep water.

Special thanks to Brenda Smith and Larry Brannin of the KBC Media Department for their technical assistance in the production of Deep Water.