Seeing Your Generosity in Action, Part 2 — Plainfield Christian Church
Plainfield Christian Church has thirty-one Global Impact Partners. One of the coolest things about having this many partners is seeing them work together. For every dollar you give to Plainfield Christian Church, approximately seventeen cents of that goes to missions. We want you to know how your money is used, and here is an amazing story of how God is working through our church.
Several years ago, Antonio and Jenny Gomez, also our Global Impact Partners, planted a church in Monterrey, Mexico. After that, they wanted to go and plant more churches, but their congregation wanted them to stay. They agreed to stay on the condition that the congregation agreed to help them plant more churches. They went on to plant two more churches with the help of their congregation. Then Alfredo Valdez, another Global Impact Partner in Monterrey, got involved. He and his church partnered with Antonio, Jenny, and the churches they planted to start yet another church.
A few years ago, I met with these partners in Monterrey. They explained that Monterrey was a city with millions of people, but at the time there were only twenty-something Christian churches. They wanted to double the number of Christian churches in the city. They also wanted Plainfield Christian to help. This was an ambitious vision and, frankly, I did not know how much we would be able to help. We could certainly provide prayer and financial support, but we did not have the church planting expertise needed to help accomplish that vision.
Ryan Sudsberry grew up in our church. The first missionary he ever heard of was Lonnie Pacheco, a pastor that we used to support in Monterrey, Mexico. Today, Ryan is one of our Global Impact Partners. He serves as the Lead Director of Global Church Planting with GO Ministries. He and his team are working to catalyze a church planting movement in the Caribbean.
Ryan and his team do amazing work so I reached out to see if he could help. I wanted him to talk to our partners in Monterrey about what he was doing. He exceeded my expectations by raising funds to fly four of the Mexican leaders to Dominican Republic for GO Ministries’ Global Church Planting Conference. From that, Alfredo Valdez joined Ryan’s Global Church Planting Zoom meetings to continue learning and investing
Ryan and his team have wanted to visit Monterrey for a long time but have been delayed by COVID. They were finally able to visit in October. Ryan and six of his teammates spend a weekend listening, teaching, and visiting churches in Monterrey. At the end of their visit, the Mexican churches asked them to partner with them to continue planting churches in Monterrey.
This story is still being written. I am so excited to see how God uses this connection to grow His Kingdom in Monterrey. Please join me in praying for Ryan, Antonio, Jenny, Alfredo, and all of those involved both in Mexico and in the Caribbean.