April 27, 2007
Youth Ministries
OK, so here we are … posting to the blog on a Friday evening. It’s just been a busy week. However, I wanted to share a few thoughts about youth ministries. I returned this past Sunday from the 2007 International Conference for Youth Ministries (http://www.icym.org/) which was hosted excellently by the Boston Church of Christ. It was entitled, The House on the Rock…
There was a little bit of everything … great times of worship … speeches and classes by some of our best youth ministry builders and workers … round table discussion groups … workshops … ample free time for fellowship and one-on-one talks … good news sharing… I was very glad that Alex and Magally Hernandez came from Guatemala City. They have full time jobs and she goes to school, however they gladly oversee the 70 teens and 40 pre-teens of that congregation!
Since last year I’ve been having several conversations about how to properly configure our churches’ youth ministries. The churches associated with the MCA Missions group were planted with a strategy of reaching out to young people, mainly single adults and college students. The idea was to bring people who could be trained more rapidly to continue the work should the original missionaries have to return home for any reason.
Our first “teen” ministries were basically a younger version of the rest of the church: teens converted out of street evangelism. Some of them brought their parents to church, but the majority would come to church by themselves. In Latin America many teenagers have to work full time to help support their families; many go the high school in the evenings or do something similar to the GED in the United States. They tend to be fairly inependent.
Because of the relatively young age of our membership, we have very few teenagers in our churches who have actually grown up in the church (“Kingdom Kids”) However, many members who were converted during the early years of our mission work are now married and raising great families in the Lord. As a consequence, in a few years we will experience a “rush” or “wave” of boys and girls raised in the church, who are now 7-10 years old but will soon enter their adolescence.
What a wonderful opportunity! Having raised four children through their teen years (and still working on the last one!) I am fully aware of the challenges of parenting during those years. But I am also very grateful for the experience, and I can honestly say that I’ve enjoyed every moment, both good and bad.
To build the youth ministries of the future, we will need the combined efforts of parents, ministers and other disciples of Jesus who are willing to volunteer to serve in this beautiful minsitry. Are we ready to make it a priority? Are we going to put it at or near the top of our prayer lists? Are we willing to begin seeking the economic resources to build it?
I certainly hope so, because we cannot afford to lose the “next” generation.
J De Anda
Here is a photo from 1988. The newlyweds are Jorge and Paty Barrientos. They were the first couple of converts to get married in the Mexico City Church! The Barrientos went on to join us and 6 other disciples to plant the church in Guadalajara in 1990. They were a pillar couple for that church for many years, with a brief outing to plant the church in Tepic in 2002. Jorge and Paty were faithful disciples and loyal friends. My life was spiritually enriched by having known them.
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Marlon and Perla Fernandez send us this note about their recent events in El Salvador: The San Salvador Church of Christ held its annual Men’s and Women’s Conferences this past March 24. Javier and Kelly Amaya from Los Angeles were our guest speakers. Nearly 200 visitors joined our 170 church members during this great weekend of teaching and inspiration. Please pray for us to bring God a fruitful harvest of souls!
The Women’s Conference was entitled “Reflecting God’s Glory“. Laura Garcia spoke about the need for women to be confident that they can live victorious lives in Christ. Pedro and Laura also brought a donation from the US that was made possible by the sale of HOPE worldwide calendars last Christmas. With the donation, the local HOPE worldwide program will be able to buy desks for the HOPE school in Monteverde, where 200 children now have access to elementary education.
We also have two great upcoming events. Francisco Botello, who leads our church in Leon, Guanajuato (Mexico), send us this announcement about the Second Annual Worship Retreat in Guadalajara. This event is open to all who want to attend, however it is designed mainly for songleaders and those in charge of their church’s worship ministry. The special guest speaker and trainer will be Brian Craig of Los Angeles. The dates for the event are June 22-24, and the cost is MN$1,200 (about $120 US dollars) which includes 2-nights lodging, meals and access to the facilities (University of Guadalajara Club) For more details contact Frank at 
A month ago, a group of eight brave missionaries arrived here from Leon, Aguascalientes, Guadalajara and Mexico City. They have been praying, fasting and sharing their faith actively. God has led them to 22 people who are currently studying the Bible. On March 25, the new 
Zacatecas Church of Christ hosted its first official Sunday service. Brothers and sisters from various churches around Mexico, and even some from San Diego, CA, joined them for this great occasion. More than 80 visitors came to church and stayed for an after-service lunch. Zacatecas is the 25th discipling church planted in the country of Mexico since the beginning of our work in 1987.
Manuel Borbonio (left), the church’s ministry leader, has this to say: “Many of our visitors, including two whole families, have signed up to study the Bible. Please pray for these people who are studying the Bible so that soon they can also become disciples of Jesus…Thank you all for your spiritual and financial support.”
Juan Moguel (left), evangelist from Guadalajara, says: “It is important to note that this mission was financially supported by the joint efforts of the churches in Guadalajara and San Diego. It shows that we are a spiritual family, unified by one purpose and by the dream of taking the message to every corner of the world.”