MISSION IN THE MOUNTAINS

Lion and Lamb Church from Culiacán, Sinaloa, went on a missions trip to the Sierras of Nayarit to minister to the Kuare Indians. They handed out gifts to the children and played with them, gave medical consultations with their Doctor and handed out medicine, as well as sharing the Love of Jesus with them. The first Kuare person who received Christ in past trips, made a decision to get baptized this year.

Enjoy the video:

Thank you for your continued prayers and support of this ministry. Become a partner and join us.

Investment in the Kingdom: Flee in the Name of Jesus!

Growing up, my mom taught me that when temptation comes or if I'm feeling attacked, I can tell Satan to flee in Jesus Name, and he will flee. It works. It works because Satan is defeated. Jesus defeated him. He is just a powerless being with a big mouth. His specialty is lying, mainly through deception. We see this all over! Here in Mexico AND in the states.

A few days ago, a young man came by the house and told me that he was having trouble sleeping at night. He said he could feel a presence enter his room. Sometimes, he says it grabs hold of his arms and he can't move them. Other times it covers his mouth so he can't speak. He said this happened the other night, and he was able to get out the words, "Flee in the Name of Jesus!". As soon as he said that, the presence left the room and he was free.

This reminds me of an encounter I had in the late 1990s when I first arrived in Cofradia. I had been here for a little over a year when a brother in the Lord (Joel) asked me to go with him to pray for a girl who was having some problems sleeping at night. Joel was from San Diego (a nearby village) and had recently given his life to the Lord. His testimony was amazing! I used to go out to his house each week for a home group bible study as well as another Indian village called Agua Aceda, about 7 miles up into the mountains. Joel has since passed away.

Joel and I hiked out to where the 12 year old girl lived with her mother between the two villages. When we arrived at the house, her and her mother were there to greet us. I think I remember a couple little kids, too. This girl told me that she couldn't sleep because she was afraid. She said something scary that looked like a purple pig with really long fingernails appeared at the end of her bed trying to grab her at night.

I looked at her and said, "I cannot help you, only Jesus can." After explaining to her who Jesus is, she decided to make Jesus Lord of her life and accepted him into her heart. I told her that because she had Jesus inside her, all she needs to do is tell whatever that scary looking thing is to "flee in the name of Jesus!"

A few years went by without seeing them or hearing from them. One day, while visiting San Diego where Joel lived, I saw the mother of the girl, her name is Julia. She remembered me and I asked her how things continued with her daughter. She said after we prayed for her and left, she never saw that creature again! Praise the Lord!

Thank you so much for your Investment in the Kingdom. Your prayers for our ministry, the people we come in contact with, and our own lives are so appreciated! It is because of your partnership that we can reach these people.

MISSIONS OPPORTUNITIES

COFRADIA UNITED, USA

On the field needs in Nayarit, Mexico:

Here is a list of different ministry opportunities we have in COFRADIA UNITED. Some "positions" can be overlapped, but these are the ones that are most needed and are in no particular order.

Our heart is to Raise Up Leaders in Rural Mexico. That means that we, as missionaries, are discipling believers to be followers of Christ and willing to lead and take ownership of the ministry.

VISION: 

The unified body of Christ working together (Romans 15:5-7) “…be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus…with one mind and one mouth glorify God…receive one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.”

MISSION: 

Raising up Leaders in Rural Mexico (2 Timothy 2:2) “And the things you have heard (me teach) among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”

All "positions" require:

-A genuine love for God and people

-A consistent, growing relationship with the Heavenly Father

-Grasping the vision and mission of the ministry

-Working under the supervision of the Mission Base Director

-Using and continually developing leadership skills

-Financially supported through a donor support team for personal fundraising (no paid positions)

-Consistent communication (monthly) with that donor support team

Please contact Steve here for more information.

______________________________________

Mission Base Director Assistant

-Shadow the Mission Base Director

-Be willing to offer general counseling, teaching, conference speaking, and mentoring.

-Be available to local Lead Pastors, who form part of this ministry, for pastoral care and mentorship 

-Over-all Ministry Oversight and Supervision in Director’s Absence

-Spanish Speaking Required

Property Manager

-Live on Mission Base

-Keep grounds clean and looking good

-Keep buildings clean and looking good

-Oversee vehicle maintenance and usage

-Oversee/Fulfill maintenance responsibilities (water, gas, electricity, etc.)

-Oversee properties in other Cofradia United locations alongside locals

-Teach/train others to do what you do on the mission base

-Spanish Speaking Highly Recommended

Short-Term Missions Host

-Ability to communicate well with and in front of people

-Recruit and prepare stateside teams for a 7 or 10 day mission trip

-Work along side the Short-Term Mission Coordinator for stateside preparations

-Come along side the vision of the local church on the field

-Be responsible for hosting and leading short-term missions teams on the field

-Make hotel/travel/meal arrangements on the field for the teams

-Spanish Speaking Required

-Stipend Available

Projects Manager

-Ability to work along side locals teaching them skills and learning from theirs

-Ability to prepare accurate project budgets

-Ability to communicate project proposals with current and potential partners

-Ability to coordinate and fulfill the steps to complete a construction project

-Facilitate and delegate responsibilities among locals and guests

-Be responsible with Mission Base tools

-Construction skills necessary

-Spanish Speaking Required

Sound Technician

-Oversee the local Church’s sound system’s maintenance and usage

-Teach others to run sound and maintain system

-Coordinate the use of the sound system for outreaches

-Extend help to other Cofradia United churches

-Spanish Speaking Required

Videographer

-Oversee the local Church’s Livestream services

-Oversee the local Church’s in-house projections

-Make video productions for promotional use and reports

-Teach others to make videos

-Extend help to other Cofradia United churches

-Fundraising skills highly recommended

-Spanish Speaking Required

Student Ministry Volunteer

-Serve the Student Ministry Pastor

-Coordinate events alongside Pastor

-Be willing to help lead bible studies, games, conversations

-Extend help to other Cofradia United churches

-Fundraising skills highly recommended

-Spanish Speaking Required

Children’s Ministry Volunteer

-Serve the Children’s Ministry Pastor

-Coordinate events alongside Pastor

-Be willing to help lead bible stories, games, crafts

-Extend help to other Cofradia United churches

-Fundraising skills highly recommended

-Spanish Speaking Required

Rehabilitation Center Assistant (Rosamorada, Nayarit)

-Single Male

-Live at the Restoration House

-Serve the Director of the Restoration House for drug and alcohol addicts with humility and transparency

-Grasp the vision of the Restoration House

-Have a love and calling to Drug and Alcohol addicts

-Be willing to adapt and follow the in-house rules, showing an example

-Respect the schedule and work towards completing the goals

-Spanish Speaking Required

Mission in the Nayarit Mountains

Pastor Rodrigo and his wife, Annel, have been going up into the mountains of Nayarit for the past couple of years alongside the missionary movement "At the King's Table" to minister to an unreached people group called the "Cuares". They are a variant of the Cora Indians we've ministered to here and have their own dialect. The only information we have found on this people group is here in Spanish.

The team is preparing to head up to the mountains again this next month, November 2022. Their cost is $1,000 USD for their travel expenses. Join us in partnering with them in order to reach these people with the gospel. You can mark your contributions "Cofradia-Cuares" and we will make sure it gets to them. Click here for instructions on how to give.

Please read what Pastor Rodrigo has to say about their trips...

Cordial greetings to you, our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.

I am Pastor Rodrigo Romero. I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and at the age of twenty-two, I decided to travel as a missionary to Sinaloa, Mexico. Ten years later, together with my beloved wife Annel Sánchez, we are now pastoring a young congregation called The Lion and the Lamb in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa. In this letter we want to tell you about our hopes and desires in the Lord.

The Church is going through difficult times around the world in recent times, both in being persecuted and in the coldness we see in many of its members. It is the opportune time to return to the essence of our calling as the Body of Christ, the truth to which we were commissioned: the preaching of His Word to the ends of the Earth. We are motivated by that call to make missionary work a priority in the activities of our local church. Apart from being an influence in the community where we are planted, our goal is to reach into communities that have never heard the name of Jesus Christ.

For two years we have been traveling to the mountains of the state of Nayarit, Mexico, in partnership with a missionary movement called At The King’s Table, which assists migrants and people with addiction problems. There are many different indigenous communities living in mountains; one of them we have encountered is the Cuares. They descend from the Cora people group, but unlike the Cora, the Cuares have never heard of the Gospel of Jesus. Of the 11,000 Cuares only 1% of them have been reached. We are fortunate to have reached two towns (Ojo de Agua and Guacamayas), and during this time we have visited them three times. Apart from the preaching of the Word, we bring toys and sweets for the children and free medical assistance. Everything that is in our power to do, we do. The missionary group that we partner with in answering this call gives everything to fulfill the purpose of bringing the Good News of Jesus to unreached communities. We have friends and brothers in the Faith who live in the state of Nayarit who can follow up in the community. We are happy to collaborate as much as we can in the missionary work.

Our plans are to travel on Thursday, November 17, from Culiacán, Sinaloa, to the Sierra del Nayar, arriving on Friday, November 18. We plan to spend two days with the Cuares serving both children and adults. We will return home to Culiacán, Sinaloa, on Monday, November 21, with a heart grateful to be able to serve in this way.

We are praying and preparing ourselves for this project. We share it with everyone who could partner with us, supporting us in every way. We count on your prayers and the knowledge that part of the Body of Christ is aware that the Gospel is growing in unknown places. It would also be a great blessing to have financial donations from those who can and want to partner in that way. To travel to the mountains, we will have to rent a van. Basic costs are $1,000 US Dollars, which includes the rent of the van and gasoline to transport a total of fifteen missionaries.

I once heard a phrase that said: “Missions are accomplished by the hands of those who give, the knees of those who pray, and the feet of those who go”. Be one of those who give, pray, or go; never stop participating in missionary work.

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14).

This is a video one of the team members made their last trip...

 Thank you for keeping them in your prayers this month and partnering with us with them.

MISSIONS OPPORTUNITIES

COFRADIA UNITED MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL

We have needs for our US base non-profit as well as on the field in Nayarit, Mexico.

US based non-profit needs:

Bookkeeper/Treasurer This is an urgent need as we are inheriting an already functioning non-profit. Our friends at Family Renewal Ministries who have been overseeing our Pastors and Projects Ministry Funds are handing us their non-profit, but we need someone stateside to do our books. If you're interested, please do not hesitate on contacting Steve for more information.

On the field needs in Nayarit, Mexico:

Here is a list of different ministry opportunities we have in COFRADIA UNITED. Some "positions" can be overlapped, but these are the ones that are most needed and are in no particular order.

Our heart is to Raise Up Leaders in Rural Mexico. That means that we, as missionaries, are discipling believers to be followers of Christ and willing to lead and take ownership of the ministry.

VISION: 

The unified body of Christ working together (Romans 15:5-7) “…be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus…with one mind and one mouth glorify God…receive one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.”

MISSION: 

Raising up Leaders in Rural Mexico (2 Timothy 2:2) “And the things you have heard (me teach) among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”

All "positions" require:

-A genuine love for God and people

-A consistent, growing relationship with the Heavenly Father

-Grasping the vision and mission of the ministry

-Working under the supervision of the Mission Base Director

-Using and continually developing leadership skills

-Financially supported through a donor support team for personal fundraising (no paid positions)

-Consistent communication (monthly) with that donor support team

Please contact Steve here for more information.

______________________________________

Mission Base Director Assistant

-Shadow the Mission Base Director

-Be willing to offer general counseling, teaching, conference speaking, and mentoring.

-Be available to local Lead Pastors, who form part of this ministry, for pastoral care and mentorship 

-Over-all Ministry Oversight and Supervision in Director’s Absence

-Spanish Speaking Required

Property Manager

-Live on Mission Base

-Keep grounds clean and looking good

-Keep buildings clean and looking good

-Oversee vehicle maintenance and usage

-Oversee/Fulfill maintenance responsibilities (water, gas, electricity, etc.)

-Oversee properties in other locations alongside locals

-Teach/train others to do what you do on the mission base

-Spanish Speaking Highly Recommended

Short-Term Missions Host

-Ability to communicate well with and in front of people

-Recruit and prepare stateside teams for a 7 or 10 day mission trip

-Work along side the Short-Term Mission Coordinator for stateside preparations

-Come along side the vision of the local church on the field

-Be responsible for hosting and leading short-term missions teams on the field

-Make hotel/travel arrangements on the field for the teams

-Spanish Speaking Required

-Stipend Available

Projects Manager

-Ability to work along side locals teaching them skills and learning from theirs

-Ability to prepare accurate project budgets

-Ability to communicate project proposals with current and potential partners

-Ability to coordinate and fulfill the steps to complete a construction project

-Facilitate and delegate responsibilities among locals and guests

-Be responsible with Mission Base tools

-Construction skills necessary

-Spanish Speaking Required

Sound Technician

-Oversee the local Church’s sound system’s maintenance and usage

-Teach others to run sound and maintain system

-Coordinate the use of the sound system for outreaches

-Spanish Speaking Required

Videographer

-Oversee the local Church’s Livestream services

-Oversee the local Church’s in-house projections

-Make video productions for promotional use and reports

-Teach others to make videos

-Fundraising skills highly recommended

-Spanish Speaking Required

Student Ministry Volunteer

-Serve the Student Ministry Pastor

-Coordinate events alongside Pastor

-Lead bible studies, games, conversations

-Fundraising skills highly recommended

-Spanish Speaking Required

Children’s Ministry Volunteer

-Serve the Children’s Ministry Pastor

-Coordinate events alongside Pastor

-Ability to lead bible stories, games, crafts

-Fundraising skills highly recommended

-Spanish Speaking Required

Rehabilitation Center Assistant (Rosamorada, Nayarit)

-Single Male

-Live at the Restoration House

-Serve the Director of the Restoration House for drug and alcohol addicts with humility and transparency

-Grasp the vision of the Restoration House

-Have a love and calling to Drug and Alcohol addicts

-Be willing to adapt and follow the in-house rules, showing an example

-Respect the schedule and work towards completing the goals

-Spanish Speaking Required

Pastors' Perspectives 2022-2

These are bi-anual reports where our Cofradia United Pastors share what the Lord is doing in their areas and how you can pray for them. Thank you for your partnership as we continue to see the Kingdom of God advance.

You can directly contribute to one or all by following the instructions at our Donate To Cofradia Ministries page. Please include the pastor's name so the donation will get to the right person. 100% of your gift is transferred to them.

_______________________________________________

Pastors Gregorio (Goyo) Hernández and Matilde (Mati)

Lead Pastors of Centro Cristiano la Cofradía United

Cofradia de Cuyutlán, Nayarit

Warmest greetings to all of you who, through your prayers and financial assistance, support us in the progress of the ministry of Cofradía Christian Center. During the first six months of 2022, we have focused on the theme “Time to Go Fishing,” and we have seen very good results so far. During Sunday services, we have been encouraging one another to visit with the townspeople as well as with our brothers and sisters in Christ, although we have focused primarily on investing in our leadership by leading them through the course The Balance between Faith and Grace. We met together every Wednesday morning at 6:00 a.m. over the past twenty weeks to grow in our understanding of how grace and faith work together to produce life and encourage us to rest in God. As a result, I have observed noticeable and consistent growth in those who have participated, which has been a great blessing.

We are offering this same course in our leadership school. It began on June 14 and will end on October 11. 

At the end of 2022, on December 15–17, we will host the Freedom in Christ seminar. This course has proven very effective in helping people understand their true identity in Christ.

We had planned to implement the Cofradía Kitchen in other locations, but that has not come to fruition yet. Thank you for your prayers that we will be able to get this going.

Thank you to all of you who partner with us to ensure that the ministry of Centro Cristiano continues moving forward. Thank you for your generosity!

 

Pastors Goyo and Mati

Cofradía de Cuyutlan

_______________________________________________

Pastors Horacio Garzón and María

Indigenous Ministries

Centro Cristiano Arrayanes Facilitators

Cofradia de Cuyutlán, Nayarit

Hello! Brothers and sisters, it is with great pleasure and joy that I take up my pen to write a little about how grateful I am for your financial support. Thank you!!

I also want to share with you a glimpse into what we’re doing in the Lord. Know, brothers and sisters, that we are well, thank the Lord. Kenia is still at university preparing to become a nurse. I give thanks to God that He continues to teach us through a discipleship class every Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. 

I am also praying that God will use me in a service project that is intended to bless people who have been incarcerated in the past because of drug trafficking. They have lost their youth and their health and find themselves alone, their lives devoid of affection, compassion, physical provision (roof, food, medicine). And of course, I do not overlook their greatest need: to be saved by Jesus Christ.

I am moved to embark on this project by Matthew 11:28, in which the Lord offers relief and peace for those who are tired and trodden down by the world. For that reason we welcome the disabled, drug addicts, alcoholics, and anyone who is heavy-laden and tired.

Brothers and sister, this endeavor is broad in vision and of great significance which consists of this message of relief and peace in order to bless serving and being served. Thank you!

Receive warmest greetings for Maria and Kenia along with my most sincere gratitude. Thank you, brothers and sisters!

Horacio Garzón Orozco

_______________________________________________

Pastor Amado Verdin and Lourdes

Lead Pastors of Casa de Oración, La Hermosa

Director of Restoration Center, El Faro de Esperanza

Rosamorada, Nayarit

Greetings;

The Leadership is growing in our church through our training courses, the goal of which is that they live in their true freedom and produce fruit.

 On Mondays we have been ministering to a family from here in Rosamorada.

Tuesdays we have been hosting a marriage course.

Wednesdays we have a Discipleship class for the congregation and on Thursdays, we have a discipleship course for the youth as well as a general prayer and intercession meeting. The youth are being discipled using the course The New You and The Holy Spirit.

We are making plans to begin offering marriage counseling on Fridays in the town of Las Pilas and on Saturdays our youth meet in Cofradía.

Sundays are our main service where everyone meets together.

A teacher training course was provided so that we are able to host a vacation Bible school this summer.

We celebrated our eights anniversary as a church, enjoying the fellowship of sister churches and the preaching of our fellow pastor, Gregorio.

We also celebrated Mother’s Day with all the mothers in our church.

Work continues in our rehabilitation ministry, The Lighthouse. We are working through the course Freedom in Christ with our current resident, along with his family. We are also providing them with marriage counseling and the marriage course from Victor and Gloria Richards.

Regarding our rehabilitation ministry, we are in need of a new six-burner stove, a larger refrigerator, three complete bunkbed sets, and kitchen cookware (pots and pans). Regarding property, we continue looking for property in the right location. There have been discussions with the Commissioner and some of the town counsels as we try to figure out the best option for the project of building our facility.

Thank you,

Pastor Amado

_______________________________________________

Pastors Ruben Perez and Valeria

Lead Pastors of Restauración y Vida Nueva

Church Plant Pastor in Mazatan, Nayarit

Las Varas, Nayarit

Hello!

 

We are the ministry Restoration and Life in Las Varas. These past six months have not been easy in our lives. One of my children, Ruben Jr., was diagnosed with cancer. He is the oldest, at 21 years old and is living with his Aunt in Houston, Texas. We have experienced the hand of God and the spiritual and financial support of our friends and pastors in this season. Our son is going through a very complicated process, just as we are. His cancer is stage three. We ask for your prayers for our lives and for his. We continue in the ministry, continuing to do what God has called us to do on His behalf and trusting that He is already working a miracle in the life of our son. Blessings to you and thank you for your support.

 

Pastors Ruben and Valeria

Las Varas

_______________________________________________

Pastor Alan Orozco

Lead Pastor of Comunidad Aliento de Vida

Tepic, Nayarit

Hello!

 

I am Freddy Alan Contreras Magallanes, pastor of Breath of Life Community Church in the San Cayetano neighborhood of Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico.

 

In planting this church, we first plan to begin meeting in homes where we may share a message from God’s Word intended specifically for that home and seek ways of spending time together and support those families, including helping with whatever is necessary to be able to meet in that home, be it food, financial support, support for physical ailments, and, most importantly, spiritual support.

 

We seek to follow the example of the first apostles in Acts 2:44–45. That is part of the mission we currently have before us as a church, which is that every person have a place to meet together where they may come to recognize that they are free, that they are loved, and that it is God Himself who sustains the work and to whom we have unfettered access. As it says in Acts 17:24, He is “the God who made the world and everything in it.”

 

Currently, we are renting a large house in which we hold our Sunday services, and our youth group meetings are held at the home of one of the brothers.

 

I will be getting married on October 28 of this year to my fiance, Elizabeth Carolina Reyes Serafín, who is a strong and essential part of this ministry that God has created.

 

Thank you,

Alan Contreras

Tepic, Nayarit

_______________________________________________

Pastors Rodrigo Romero and Annel

Cordero y Leon
Culiacán, Sinaloa

Greetings to all who may read this.

We are the pastors Rodrigo Romero (32 years old) and Annel Sánchez (33 years old). We have been married six years, and we have served the Lord since our adolescence. We are a missionary couple. I, Rodrigo, am from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and my wife, Annel, is from La Cruz, Mexico. Currently, we pastor a congregation in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa, where we have served since August 2019. We began with great excitement and expectation, and although the COVID-19 pandemic prohibited the normal activities of the church, the Lord helped us to comprehend His purposes. We could learn to be a church free of the trappings of routine, programmed gatherings or a physical building. We could do things like taking food to hospitals or to migrant passengers on the train. 

We have returned to our regular activities and services, and we have joined the missionary movement in the mountains of Nayarit, preaching the gospel to a small unreached indigenous people group,los “Cuares”, in two towns: Ojo de Agua and Guacamayas. Our intention is to eventually expand into the rest of the towns with the Word of God.

Our vision and longing as a church is to plant congregations in each city of the state of Sinaloa in Mexico. Currently we gather in the carport of the house we rent; there we have both our fellowship and teaching. Our dream is to have our own place to meet with more space for welcoming people in and a vehicle equipped for our missionary trips. Recently we became part of Cofradía United and are pleased to have mentors and family blessing us with their love, support, and wise counsel. The expectation we have in God’s plan is big, and we pray for the power to understand his desire and submit to it. To serve Christ is our entire life! Thank you for joining us. “The Lion and the Lamb” congregation is here to serve you in whatever way the gospel requires of us (2 Timothy 4:1-8)!

Pastors Rodrigo and Annel