More information on AIM

Apprenticeship In Mission

Activities starting in January 2016: in-depth survey of youth in a town where we are planning to begin precision harvesting. Write us for more info at davidjuanesau@gmail.com.



A view of the town

Should we AIM lower than what God wants?

AIM stands for Apprenticeship In Mission. As Sharon and I begin to head up this program in Spain under Operation Mobilization we want to operate as closely as possible to how Jesus operated. We will take a limited number of apprentices (starting around October 2015) and share life together as we share the gospel in the towns around us. Jesus, with his 6 teams of 2, took the Gospel of the Kingdom to the 200 Jewish towns of Galilee in about a year’s time. I don’t have quite that many towns on my list. But we have a big job here between the mountains and the river.

How do we go about this? Not by doing anything new. From our earliest days in Spain we have worked with children, engaging young people as helpers and leaders. We have learned to let people offer their homes, and gather small groups of children who participate in activities based on the video teaching that they receive. We connect with parents so they know what their children are learning. We also have included picnics and camps.

Who do we work with? I guess there is a new factor here. In the past all our volunteers have been from our church. Now we want to give the opportunity to anyone who wants to help in a Christian venture. If they are not clear about the faith they will begin to understand as we have retreats together to show them how to minister to children.

One thing we need to learn from Jesus is to go to the synagogues (Matthew 4:23 and 9:35). The reason for this, of course, is that this is where the godly Jews met. And also, outside of Israel, the Gentile seekers, which was why Paul visited synagogues. What represents the synagogues in Spain? It’s Catholic parishes. That’s where people look for God. We want to be more direct than in the past, and offer the gospel in a very straightforward way.

Of course, Jesus warned that the synagogues would be a source of persecution. Paul discovered this also. But we want to give it a try.

What part will the apprentices play? One of the first things we must do when they arrive is to see where each one is: their level of Spanish, their experience and their gifts. Then we want to find the exact place where they fit in. They will also be doing studies in discipleship and missions, perhaps linking up with some of the missionaries around here who work with Muslim immigrants. Some key areas of need would be to work with the logistics of our outreach, preparation of new videos and being friends with people their age.

This is not a new idea. Over 20 years ago I started writing out the Galilee Plan. With God’s leading it can catch on like a brush fire. We are ready to commit ourselves to the apprentices. If you know of someone who might fit, put them in touch with us.

Video on AIM in Spain

Remembering

46 years ago today we woke up to our first morning in Spain, with no jet-lag. That's the advantage of travelling by boat. Actually, there were planes in those days but on the boat we could take all our stuff. We realized later that we had brought too much. We were in a country where we could get everything we needed, even if not everything we were used to. Also on the boat you get all your meals served in the dining room. But that was a disappointment because even though the food was great, Sharon got seasick the first day and didn't get over it till we were back on land. So for 9 days I had to eat alone and fill up the 2 baby bottles with milk. You can see the ship we came on in Wikipedia>

I read a book about that time, The Thirty Thousand, referring to the Evangelicals in Spain. Statistics indicate that that number has multiplied by about 15, to 450,000 during the last 50 years. The stats also show that a high percentage, in some churches a majority, of these believers are Latin American immigrants. You can see some of this in Operation World.

During all these years God has supplied our financial needs through faithful churches and individual supporters. Some of these are still helping us. We are deeply grateful. This is now supplemented by retirement income. Now it's so neat that our sense of duty coincides with what we enjoy, sharing the gospel with the Spanish people. It's also cool that 2 of our 4 daughters are in Spain, although on the other side. Tomorrow we begin our annual trek, visiting both their homes. We have the privilege of not only having served the Lord in starting new churches, but of having descendants who are doing the same, as missionaries or bi-vocationally.

Let me say again what I've said so many times: I'm convinced that many Spanish people would accept the gospel if they saw it practiced by believers totally committed to Jesus. We hope that our AIM program will bring together a small committed group that will see a harvest of souls like we haven't seen yet.

Go tell it on the mountain

When we debriefed a bit with the Operation Mobilization Transit Team that recently spent 10 days with us, one response was that they wished they could have been here at the beginning of their 5-month trip rather than at the end. The orientation that they got from the people we had invited to share was an eye-opener into why Europe appears to be the only continent where Christianity is decreasing. Our Basque Buddhist friend with a PhD in religious history had prepared a power point with his research on why people are fed up with "The Church", which to Spaniards means Catholicism. I felt kind of sorry for the priest who was with us, to tell us what the Catholic Church's "New Evangelism" is. He actually spent more time rebutting what our Basque friend was quoting, and didn't seem to have much to say about evangelism. The time with the 7 member team (US, Switzerland, Uruguay, Ireland) was so helpful, doing work on our property and sharing their testimonies, even surveying people using prepared literature, since only one speaks Spanish.

The new snow from these mountains is going to find its way down to the Tagus river. We want to follow it with the gospel, covering the same territory, especially to children and youth. The next step is to continue praying. We don't quite see how just the 2 of us, in our 70's, can initiate what needs to be done. So we ask your continued prayer for the southern slope of the Gredos range. Think of Spain whenever you see mountains. We were encouraged by the personal responses from a number of you to our recent communication. Let's keep up the 2-way interchange to strengthen the bonds of prayer. As a response to those prayers I think the Lord has placed in our thoughts the AIM program (Apprenticeship In Mission, the idea of which goes back years, even before joining OM), a 2-year training program to be totally integrated with an outreach program based on things that have proved effective over the years.

May the Lord open the eyes of the blind

    A couple of nights ago a lady drove down our dirt road to have a long talk with Sharon about her spiritual need. Yesterday morning we had breakfast with a Muslim couple. He began energetically trying to show me the superiority of Islam over other religions. When I shared with him from the story of the Green Prince, who became a Christian after reading what Jesus said about loving our enemies he said that this man could also have learned about loving enemies from reading the Quran (???). I regularly have conversations with another man who did doctoral studies in religion, and eventually turned from Catholicism to Buddhism. This afternoon Sharon and I will be meeting with a couple who follow a religion from Brazil which uses hallucinogenic plants to develop their spiritual insight.

    Why do I say these things to you over and over again? Because we do not want you to forget to bring us to God in prayer over and over again claiming that we will speak with the power of the Holy Spirit in these situations.

    All these people whom I have mentioned are not foreigners but Spaniards who have given up on Christianity because of what they have seen in Catholicism but they are still searching for spiritual reality.

    If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a hundred times, that if searching people could see real Christianity lived out by Christians who love one another they would turn to Christ.

    Are there some here in formerly Catholic Spain who still hope to find answers in Christ? Here’s an example: yesterday evening I attended a prayer meeting of Catholic charismatics. It didn’t seem all that “charismatic”, just an old-fashioned prayer meeting, gospel choruses interspersed with praise and prayer.

    These people are closer to gospel truth than our new age friends. One thing that the Lord is using is the Alpha courses. Just as God used the monk Martin Luther and the priest Menno Simons centuries ago he could use people from within the Roman Catholic church to bring their own people into a new relationship with Christ. We feel increasingly called to search for these people and help them understand what God is offering them. At the same time we will stick with our old friends. Launch us by your prayers into over 100 towns around us in search of seekers. Sample prayer:

Worthy is the Lamb

One of the Scripture texts that I review daily is from Revelation 5, where the 28-member praise team sings a new song, Worthy is the Lamb to open the book... and receive...
Sometimes I spend time with the sheep (4 of them) with their new little lamb, and look up at the mountain that I mentioned in my last post in this blog, and claim all the land watered by its streams. Jesus is worthy. He did pay with his life. As Jesus and his 12 disciples harvested Galilee, I am praying for this area to be harvested. I am praying for prayer warriors to come alongside and fight daily with us for the release of prisoners from their esoteric delusions, from dead traditional religion, and from total materialism. That is my hope in writing this. Pray also that Sharon and I will be focused on our "Galilee" and be able to convince our many friends that "Jesús es más grande..." (Jesus is bigger...). The team in Revelation 5 not only had the harps for singing, they also had the golden bowls which were filling with incense which is your prayers. Then God took action (Revelation 8:5). During the 47 seconds of this video pray that here in the mountains of central Spain people will turn to the Lamb of God to give them the whiteness of wool (Isaiah 1:18).

Give me this mountain

This week we celebrated our 47th anniversary. Went out for supper to a place where some of

our friends hang out. Several of them commented that we deserve a prize for being together so long. Most of them don't have much of an idea of what a lifetime commitment means. We thank God for the way we complement one another and for the family and the ministry that he has given us.

Thinking of the years reminds me in this our 45th year in Spain, of what Caleb said. Let me quote from the King James, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years... I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. Now therefore give me this mountain... (Joshua 14). Physically I'm not as strong as I was then (although Sharon probably is), but we have been learning to be victorious against  principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6). And we have a prayer support team who carry out what Paul requested in verse 19, (praying) that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel... Here's the CEV:  Pray that I will be given the message to speak and that I may fearlessly explain the mystery about the good news. (...)< This parenthesis is for you to take some time now to pray for God to clearly lead David and Sharon. We are grateful to those of you who have responded personally to my last SpainScreen, and my goal is to be more in touch.

20 years ago, thinking of Jesus evangelizing Galilee in about 2 years with 6 teams of 2 (all from Galilee except Judas), I began writing up my own Galilee plan. Josephus tells us there were about 200 Jewish towns in Galilee at that time. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem in triumph a large part of his followers had accompanied him from Galilee and Perea (see John 12:12). To have a Galilean accent made you suspect of being a follower of Jesus. The whole region had been harvested, as Jesus had planned.

Now I say with Caleb, GIVE ME THIS MOUNTAIN. It is generally translated hill country or mountainous region. The peak that we see from our house is the highest in the Gredos range, which runs about 150 km from East to West and whose southern slope drains into the Tagus river. "As the Father hath sent me so send I you".

Father, now enable us to reach the families in these towns, with special emphasis on the children. Enable me this coming Sunday as we study Romans 15, where Paul was planning to evangelize Spain, to enable this little group of believers to take steps to become a ministering church with the ability to reach their neighbors.

Father, your Word is a powerful sword. It will be read in thousands of Catholic churches this coming Sunday (starting Saturday evening). Open the eyes of people who are hungry for the truth as they listen to the reading of Colossians 2:12-14 (July 28, 2013). May they understand that you have cancelled our debt, nailing it to the cross. And show us how to contact the "people of peace" (Luke 10:6) who will become the key to the establishing of your church in their communities.

Give me the strength to prepare the property with the big house that we are renting and would like to buy, to make it a magnet for children to come for camps and for young people to come for retreats and become excited about Jesus. Send the army of helpers that you are preparing.

The mountain is named after Almanzor, a Muslim chieftain who commanded some of the armies that overran Spain for 600 years. Father, in this month of Ramadan, when they are fasting in the day and feasting at night, speak to our dear friends from the Maghreb who have come to work in so many of these towns. Give us an intelligent outreach to them. Strengthen our co-workers who are engaged in ministries to them. Show the Muslim people that Christians are a people of love and sacrifice. Show them Jesus in us.

Enable the prayer warriors who are supporting us to understand what this battle involves, to see the demon powers lurking with the intent of disarming us and maintaining the blindfolds on the people in this mountainous region. Free them up to dedicate more time to this warfare. Give us victories that will encourage them to pray even more.

And yes, what I am dreaming about here is unrealistic, when you look around at what is happening in Spain. But wasn't it also unrealistic for Jesus to try to harvest Galilee? There was so little spiritual life. People had been crushed by spiritual tyrants. But then Jesus came. And he is here now also, in us.