Begun in Faith

On Sunday, December 18, we had the privilege of baptizing six new members of our church, six new servants of God’s kingdom. Before the baptisms, each person shared a short testimony of why they wanted to be baptized. It was awe-inspiring to see how God has brought six very different people on six unique journeys to the same place at the same time. Marcelo shared first. He laughed as he explained that he was forced to go to his first Encounter retreat by his wife and the pastors. He gave his life to Christ in that first Encounter. Two months later, he attended another as a leader and experienced the tangible presence of God for the first time. Since then, he can’t stop worshiping. On the bus, at work, at home, he loves singing praises to his Savior and feels closest to God when he expresses his adoration of Him. The Holy Spirit has been repairing his spirit in many ways, and he wants to be baptized to show his love for God and God’s sacrifice for him. Lucas moved to Cór...

In its first years of being planted, a new church looks and acts differently from an established, mature church. The pastors of a baby church have to use different strategies with a different focus from their peers to reach out to a community without the history, traditions, or manpower of a developed church family. These differences are even more exaggerated in our churches within Extreme because we use a specific model a team of foreigners. Sometimes it can be hard for us to fit in with the other churches on a district. By God’s grace and the work Extreme did with district leadership before we arrived, the Córdoba district has always been supportive of our work here in the capitol. They showed their support and approval once again by asking us to host this year’s district assembly. We aren’t even an official church yet, but we are the most centrally located. Aside from convenience, our district superintendent really believes in our pastors and the potential of our impact on the city...

“Figuring it out” is a big part of a church-planting missionary’s job. Each routine and norm needs to be decided and built into habit. How will we, Puerta Abierta Cordoba, serve communion? Set up the chairs? Celebrate Mother’s Day? Every first is a new opportunity to form the church culture. Recently, we were able to plan our first wedding with a very special family. We pray God will use them to continue forming the culture of the church after we leave. Last December, Emilse was enjoying a summer day in the park with her sons when she met Rachel, one of our 40/40 missionaries. Emilse had converted to Christianity a few years earlier, but had been without a church or much guidance for a while. She was seven months pregnant and living with her boyfriend. I should insert here that living together is much more normal in Argentina than getting married. The government grants marital benefits to couples who have been living together for a very short amount of time. Unless you have been t...