The young teacher left his home state in the south of Mexico to go north to look for work. In Juárez he found work, but he also found Christ in a BEAMM church plant and began to grow in his spiritual walk, participating in the life and ministry of the mission church. He met his wife in Juárez, and together they grew stronger in their pursuit of ministry. He entered the new San Pablo Seminary, started by BEAMM, to further prepare for ministry. Mentored by other BEAMM men, he was able to pass his licensure examination, and after presenting his ordination exam, received a standing ovation from the other presbyters! Today Juan Antonio, along with his wife Brenda and their two children Caleb and Abril, continue to live in Ciudad Juárez, where he pastors Promesa de Vida Presbyterian Church. At least six men out of his church are now studying at San Pablo.
God's Church needs good leadership, and the lack of strong, Gospel-centered leaders is very obvious on the border, both in Mexico and in the United States. Hispanic communities need mature, Bible-saturated leaders who love the Gospel and love discipling people in its truth. The border is an excellent place for discipling future leaders in knowledge of the Bible, theology, and witness. For twenty years, BEAMM has been working as a team on the border, seeking to start a movement of church planting through training leaders and reaching out to border cities with the Gospel in both word and deed. But recently, God has impressed upon us that if we desire to see this movement grow, we must become extremely focused in preparing more men for future leadership of His Church just like we have done with Juan Antonio.
"Follow Me." With these words, Jesus called twelve men unto Himself. For three years they lived with Him, walked with Him, ate with Him, learned from Him. When they were ready, Jesus sent them out to build His Church. For many years now, the method for equipping new leaders for God's Church has been focused on the classroom, imparting head knowledge, with little practical experience or character development. In addition, individuals are sent out by themselves with the hope that they will be able to plant a church in a particular area. In many instances we find these men doing what they were taught, imparting head knowledge, but lacking in bringing others to a strong personal relationship with the risen Christ. Today, BEAMM is returning to Jesus' model of life-on-life discipleship, but within a team context, through what we are calling E4 Teams. Each E4 Team is made up of persons with expertise in Evangelism, Church Planting, Education, Justice and Mercy, and Administration. As a team, they disciple apprentices, equipping them as future leaders of God's Church not only through theological training, but also with relational practical experience. These apprentices will one day spearhead the planting of other churches, while at the same time equipping others for the work of ministry.
We are committed to church planting. Our passion is to see a movement of churches being planted all along the border.
We are committed to equipping others for ministry in God's Church. It makes little sense to establish churches unless there is the intentionality of creating a chain of prepared laborers. Our vision to equip is driven by two biblical passages, Ephesians 4:12 and 2 Tim 2:2. God has placed pastors and teachers in his body to equip others for the work of ministry so that they are fully prepared to do the work in dependence upon the Holy Spirit. In his instructions to Timothy, Paul challenges him to entrust the sacred teaching to faithful men who will teach others, who will then teach others. In both texts we see the idea of equipping as a key component to a lasting ministry.
We are committed to equipping others in a team context. We believe that a well-rounded, fully-equipped servant of Jesus Christ requires a team.
These Ephesians 4 (E4) teams will not only engage in the planting of new churches, but will also disciple (equip) apprentices who will be trained to equip others. These teams will work with intentionality because they understand that the best way to equip others is in the context of on-going ministry, with life-on-life training. Academic training that is separated from practical ministry is not as effective as life-on-life discipleship. Apprentices learn best when they are fully engaged in ministry, where their gifts and abilities can be discovered and developed, where character and integrity are honed, where knowledge, obedience, and love are perfected in the crucible of working in close relationship to others.
We fully expect that apprentices who pass through our E4 Teams will be able to pass ordination exams within the Presbyterian Church in America and the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico. In addition, we intend that they will be fully equipped to effectively engage in ministry because they have had their gifts and abilities tested and sharpened by their apprenticeship. We also intend that they will form part of a new E4 Team, planting a church and discipling other future leaders.
