Good Afternoon-

It has been a busy of couple days and will give you a brief update regarding yesterday, Tuesday, February 25. I also apologize for the poor grammar & spelling in this post. I have limited time.

The topic of discussion and training was the post-conversion follow-through in the development of a Christian. An article by Corcoris’ on Biblical Follow-Up and Acts 2: 42-47 were key elements in our Socratic discussions. Acts 2:42-47 outlined those elements:
1. Baptism
2. Instruction (vs. 42 – “…they continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine”)
3. Fellowship
4. Breaking of bread/Lord’s Supper
5. Prayer

Discussion headed in the direction of the centrality of the local church and how para-church organizations cannot fulfill all of the functions and biblical mandates, especially the area of baptism.

Our afternoon discussion was centered on identifying the cores elements of the Gospel and how many of these elements were presented to us at the time of our conversion. Scripture references that were central to this discussion were 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 and Ephesians 2: 1-10.

Though these sound like elementary teachings, these are basic foundation blocks is on going establishment of the church, not only in Mexico, but in the US. As time together progressed through this material, I became more evident to me that our churches in the States in state of repair, much like the condition of wall that Nehemiah found upon his arrival to Jerusalem.

When doing ministry in a foreign setting, planning is necessary, but so is flexibility. (We have given Mexico the nickname of “Flexico”.) We made an unplanned stop at Pastor Ernesto’s new church plant, which is currently going the First Principle study, Becoming a Disciple. This study followed a study on How to Know God. We spent about 20 minutes with them, encouraged them to continue in the faith and prayed with them. That definitely was a highlight thus far to our trip.

Lastly, we had the opportunity to have a late meal at a local restaurant with Octavio Jimenez and his wife. Octavio is a very godly, Biblically minded man who is the very glue that has held this movement of churches together in Ensenada. Octavio has been nothing but encouraging and helpful as we prepared for this trip as well as previous trips. We will be have dinner again with them prior to our departure, this time at their home.

I hope to make another up regarding our training today later this evening or early tomorrow morning before our day begins.

Grace & Peace

Scott