The Kings to Mexico
The Kings to Mexico
ABOUT
The Problem
There are over five and a half million people that call the Mexican state of Guanajuato their home. There are thousands of villages in this state ranging in population from two thousand to seventy thousand people. The only semblance of a church in the vast majority of these
communities is Roman Catholicism.
The Plan
With the Lord's continual direction we are planning to reach the people of Guanajuato by first canvasing these communities with the Word of God. We hope to use this effort to lead souls to Christ and start Bible studies. Ultimately our hope is to see these Bible studies grow to the point where they will be organized into local Bible-believing Baptist Churches.
Testimonies
Chris
Salvation and Baptism
My Name is Chris King and I was raised in a Catholic home. The Bible was not opened a single time during the duration of my upbringing. When I was fourteen years of age I was hospitalized and nearly died from pneumonia. This profoundly impacted my understanding that life is frail and that I was going to die someday. After leaving the home at the age of eighteen I continued to try to fill the God-shaped void in my heart with a number of different things. However, in the summer of 2003, I accepted an invitation from a young lady to attend a little Baptist Church in the town where I was living. She didn’t know this but while she had been witnessing to me I had a co-worker who had been sharing the gospel with me as well. This caused me to stop and seriously consider what I was being told. It was on July 10th, 2003 while at work that the Holy Spirit of God convinced me that I had made a mess of my life and that I needed to stop living for myself and start living for Him. I knew that I was a sinner and that my life was a wreck. That morning I trusted Jesus Christ as my personal savior. It was shortly thereafter that I went forward after a Sunday morning service and spoke to the Pastor about my need to be baptized. I was later baptized by immersion in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost under the authority of our local church. I immediately joined that little Baptist Church and began serving the Lord there in any way that I could. A year later I married that young lady who had led me to Christ.
God’s call to preach
The Lord had been dealing with me for several months about yielding my life for greater service. After a season of much prayer and counsel from my Pastor on April 12th, 2005 while at work I surrendered to God’s call on my life to be a preacher. When I went to Church the following Sunday morning I was overwhelmed with concern. Was this my idea or was it God’s idea? If this was my idea, it wouldn’t work and would ultimately bring shame to his name. As I wrestled with these types of thoughts the Spirit of God asked me “Do you love me”? After I told Him yes, he replied: “then feed my sheep.” I knew at that moment that this was not my idea but instead that it was his. I went forward during the invitation at the close of the service and told my Pastor that I believed that God had called me to preach and that I had surrendered to His call.
Why Missions?
I have had a soft spot in my heart for missions as long as I can remember but the Lord began specifically working in my heart after I took a trip to Guatemala in April of 2016. I was blessed to be able to take several other short term missions trips including a trip to Brazil in August of 2016, Honduras in March of 2017, Mexico in June 2018 and twice to Mexico in 2019.
Why Spanish Missions?
In October of 2014 Brother, Allen Johnson preached our Missions Conference and he asked if there was anyone in the area that spoke Spanish. Since we live about 30 miles from the Canadian border we don’t have that many Spanish speaking people in the area. However, one of them happened to live on my street. I went with Brother Johnson and listened intently while he spoke with the man about his need for the Lord. After that, the Lord began to prick at my heart asking me why I don’t learn Spanish. After all, who is going to reach this person if you do not? I asked my wife what she thought and she agreed that it would be a good idea for me to learn Spanish. So I began learning Spanish around January of 2015.
Why Mexico?
After the trip to Mexico in June of 2018, the Lord began dealing with me. When we were down there Brother Lacy Wheeler gave us an open door, an open invitation to come down there and serve there in Mexico. When I came back I approached my Pastor about the possibility of doing that. We prayed and fasted and agreed that it wasn’t the right time yet. Eight months later I felt like the Lord was brooding my nest again. The Lord used 1 Samuel 3:21 to communicate to me that He would use scripture to confirm His calling on my life to Missions. It was on March 27th, 2019 that I believe that the Lord clearly communicated to me and confirmed his call on my life to be a missionary to Mexico and he used the verse 1 thess. 5:24 “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”
Writing this has caused me to look back and reflect on where the Lord has brought me. I am very encouraged to see how he has so skillfully and carefully guided and directed me over the years. It also causes me to be equally excited to see what the Lord will do in the years to come. I can see the Lord’s fingerprints all over this.
Christy
Salvation
When I was about four years old our pastor, Jim Holder, preached a message on hell. This message caused a great deal of fear in my heart that if I died, that is where I would go for eternity. My mom had baked rolls and bread that Monday morning, and as usual she spread butter on the top while it was still hot out of the oven. My mom gave me one of the rolls, still hot out of the oven, and it burned my hand. I began to cry, and when my mom asked me why, I just blurted out that I didn’t want to go to hell. The burn from the butter had given me a visual of what hell would be like, only all over my body and for eternity. My mom lead me over to our couch where she showed me from the Bible how I could be forgiven of my sins, and saved from an eternity in hell. I don’t remember the verses that she used, but knowing my mom, she probably took me through the Romans road. Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And I’m sure she ended with Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.” I don’t remember what I said that day. But I knew I was a sinner, I knew I deserved hell for my sin, and I knew Jesus could and would save me if I asked him to. That day I prayed and asked him to forgive my sins, and take me to heaven when I die.
Having been saved as a small child I did have some struggles however. Did I know what I was doing? Did I really mean it? Did I understand everything? The Lord has been so gracious to show me through His word, by His Spirit, and from the power of preaching, that if I called on the Lord Jesus, believing he would save me, he did. I am trusting in Christ, and him alone for salvation. I can trust and believe that when he said: “for whosoever” that includes little girls. A verse the Lord has used to help me with the assurance of salvation is Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold fast to the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)” That is a sweet promise I hold onto.
Our Statement of Faith
The Holy Scriptures
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the verbally and plenarily inspired Word of God. The Scriptures are inerrant, infallible, God-breathed and preserved and, therefore, are the sole and final authority for faith and practice. The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the complete and divine revelation of God to man. We believe that God has faithfully preserved his Word in the Masoretic Hebrew text of the Old Testament and the Greek Received Text of the New Testament. The accuracy and legitimacy of all Bible translations shall be judged by this standard. We believe that God has faithfully and perfectly preserved his inspired, inerrant, infallible Word for the English speaking people in the King James (1611 a.v.) Version, so that we can say with good conscience that the King James Bible is the Word of God, free of any error or fallacy.
(2Tim. 2:15 Titus 1:7-9 Psalm 12:6-7; Isaiah 40:8; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21)
The Godhead
We believe in one triune God, eternally existing in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - each co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections. We believe God to be perfect in his holiness, righteous in every deed, omniscient in his knowledge, omnipotent in his strength, and omnipresent in his existence (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 22:32; 28:19; Luke 1:37; John 1:1-3, 14:10, 26; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 John 5:7).
Jesus Christ
1. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that he might reveal God and redeem sinful man (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; Galatians 4:4-5; Philippians 2:5-8).
2. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice for man's sin and that he fully accomplished our redemption through his death on the cross, his literal physical resurrection from the dead, and the application of his precious, sinless blood on the mercy seat in heaven (Luke 24:36-39; Acts 2:18-36; Romans 3:24-26; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:11-14, 10:10; 1 Peter 1:3-5, 18-19, 2:24).
3. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven and is seated at the right hand of God where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Mediator, Intercessor, and Advocate (Acts 1:9-10; Romans 8:34; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 6:19-20, 7:24-25, 9:24; 1 John 2:1-2).
The Holy Spirit
1. We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and that he is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption (John 1:12-13, 3:5-6, 16:8-11; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14; Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30; 1 John 2:20, 27).
2. We believe that he is the divine teacher who assists and guides believers to understand and appropriate the Scriptures and that it is the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit. We further believe that the result of his presence and filling in the life of believers is to be witnesses to the lost world ( John 14:26, 16:13-14; Acts 1:8, 1 Corinthians 2:12-16; 1 John 2:20,27).
3. We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowal of spiritual gifts to every believer and that the believer is responsible to use those gifts for the edification of the body of Christ and the glory of God. God uniquely uses evangelists and pastor-teachers to equip believers in the assembly in order that they can do the work of the ministry (Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; Ephesians 4:7-12; 1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:60).
4. We believe that certain gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as prophecies, tongues, knowledge, and healing were temporary. Speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the baptism or filling of the Holy Spirit. Ultimate deliverance of the body from sickness or death awaits the consummation of our salvation in the resurrection, though God frequently chooses to answer the prayers of believers for physical healing (1 Corinthians 1:22, 13:8-10, 14:1-40; 2 Corinthians 12:7-9; 2 Timothy 4:20).
Salvation
We Believe that salvation is a gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. We believe that the means of salvation in every dispensation is by grace through faith. At no point has anyone or will anyone be saved by works or a combination of works and grace. We believe that both the death and blood of Jesus Christ was necessary to make atonement for our sins. We believe that Jesus Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the believer, but also for the sins of the whole world. We believe that God has given to mankind a free will and that God has given us the ability to choose whether to accept or reject him. We believe that all sins, except blasphemy of the Holy Ghost are forgivable ( Matthew 12:31-32; John 1:12; Ephesians 1:7, 2:8-10; Romans 6:23; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 1:5; Romans 4; Hebrews 9:22; 1 John 2:2; Joshua 24:15).
The Church
1. We believe the church is the blood-bought body of Christ espoused to him as his bride and that in its earthly capacity is a local visible body of baptized believers.
2. We believe that all who are born again are baptized into the body of Christ and are thus part of his bride, and are positionally seated in the heavenlies. In this capacity, the church encompasses both time and geographical bounds, but in this sense has no function in this present world.
3. We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures.
4. We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or control.
5. We recognize water baptism and the Lord's supper as the Scriptural ordinances of obedience for the church in this age.
We believe that in order for a baptism to be biblical it must be by immersion, after salvation, and in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost under the authority of the local church. If we were to choose between “open”, “close”, or “closed” communion, we would practice “close” communion. In no way do we believe in the doctrine of transubstantiation or that the communion wafer becomes the literal body of Christ. We believe that this ordinance is to be practiced by baptized believers that are members in good standing with their local New Testament church and to be done in remembrance of Christ until he returns.
6. We believe that the church is the pillar and the ground of the truth and therefore it's primary responsibility is to uphold and defend the truth.
7. We believe that the church started with Christ and his disciples and was empowered on the day of Pentecost.
8. We do not believe that the Church replaced Israel. We are not in any way sympathetic to their rejection of Jesus Christ as Messiah. However, we do believe that they are still God’s earthly chosen people. (Matthew 26:26-28, 28:19-20; Luke 22:14-20; Acts 2:41-42, 8:36-39, 13:1-3, 20:7,28; 1 Corinthians 10:15-17, 11:20-34; Ephesians 2:6, 13-22, 5:21-32; Revelation 21:2, 22:17).
The Return of Christ
We believe in that "blessed hope," the personal, imminent return of Christ (in the flesh), who will rapture his church prior to the seven-year tribulation period. At the end of the tribulation, Christ will personally and visibly return with his saints, to establish his earthly Messianic kingdom which was promised to the nation of Israel. We believe that he will literally rule and reign in Jerusalem for one thousand years (1Thessalonians 1:10, 4:15-18, 5:1-9; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; Revelation 4:1, 19:11-20:4).
