Evangelism Conference in Tulancingo, Hidalgo, Mexico

The Spirit of God is moving in Mexico. We are seeing the beginning of an awakening to the true biblical Gospel and to biblical evangelism in this country. Last weekend’s conference in Hidalgo was a truly amazing experience that was orchestrated by nothing less than the powerful hand of God. 

Gathered together over the weekend were 11 pastors and about 160 people which consisted of a core group from each of their churches. There were about 10 different local churches represented from Tulancingo and the surrounding region, including a few Baptist churches, a Methodist church, a couple Pentecostal churches, and others. Unlike previous conferences, all the people seemed to stay the entire time, and in fact, their number grew over the course of the 2 days. I believe the Lord gave me much grace to expound on Biblical truth and to instruct in the Gospel and evangelism. Many hungry hearts were present that seemed to be surprisingly open and receptive.   

Over the 2 days we showed 5 different videos from the Way of the Master Basic Training Course in Spanish. In addition, I had 6 sessions of live preaching that consisted of sermons and PowerPoint teachings. I taught on themes such as:

• Foundations for Effective Evangelism. (The glory of God in evangelism, the biblical mandate, refuting common excuses for not evangelizing, etc.)
• The Importance of using the Law in Evangelism.
• Procuring True Conversions in Evangelism (and the dangers of false conversion).
• The error of using the sinner’s prayer and other modern, unbiblical methods.
• What is true regeneration and the marks of a true convert.
• Repentance and Faith: The only proper, biblical response to the Gospel.
• Elements of the Biblical Gospel (a full explanation of the true Gospel as contrasted with the modern gospel).
• How to engage strangers with the Gospel (giving out tracts, using the “Good Person test”, etc.).

The conference is as dedicated to “tearing down” many of the false methods of modern evangelism as it is to “building up” and teaching how to evangelize. This is needful, as it wouldn’t be wise to build on a faulty foundation of the modern gospel. That being said, we expected many to “kick against the goads” and reject what was taught, especially among the pastors. Experience tells us that this is often the case. However, surprisingly, many seemed to humble themselves and to, like the Bereans, “receive the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures to see if these things were so”. Many were frantically flipping through their Bibles and diligently taking notes of everything.

During the break times between teaching sessions, the people, including some of the pastors, stormed me with questions wanting to know more. Some were so moved that they invited me to hold conferences in other parts of Mexico. I received another 4 different invitations to do other conferences in the future, including one up in the mountains of Puebla amongst some indigenous churches, and another to the regional Methodist churches. I’ve never worked with Methodist churches before, but if we can get them preaching the Law and the Gospel, and proclaiming the new birth and evangelizing like John Wesley, we may see a revival in the midst of what many consider to be a dying church.

What is even more amazing is that 10 of the pastors who came have organized themselves together into an evangelistic alliance, and have agreed to each teach this very same conference in each of their churches to their entire congregations in 2 months, and then to unite their efforts to systematically evangelize the whole city. They each purchased a WOTM Basic Training Course in order to show the videos to their churches, and entreated me to pass onto them the notes and PowerPoint presentations I used so they can train their congregations and teach them what they were taught in the conference. This greatly surprised me, especially that they wanted the notes and PowerPoints, because these things present no “light” Gospel. They have the plans to each work in the meantime to invite their entire larger networks and fellowships of pastors to a conference in February, and to have me return to teach the same conference to those who come from their larger pastoral networks.

One pastor exclaimed to me and many other people, “I feel like Josiah who just found the Law in the temple!” (see 2 Kings 22-23). He explained that he’s been in ministry for over 25 years, but feels like he has just been awakened to the truth. He seemed both humbled and convicted and yet joyful at the same time. He also expressed that he would be kicked out of his movement (a fellowship of churches similar to a denomination) and lose his friends for preaching these things but didn’t care, saying that all that matters is “the truth”. Other pastors mentioned that they are tired of the modern gospel and the results it gets (“backsliders” who never slid forward in the first place, false converts, church members who lack zeal, etc.) and would from henceforth preach the whole counsel of God.

Yet this is not all… what really moved me was what happened after the conference:

On Saturday evening, we left the conference center and hit the streets with the Gospel. Over 60 people came along. After equipping them all with Gospel tracts and organizing them into squads each headed by a pastor, and then into units of 2 or 3 persons each under each squad, we sent them into different sectors of the downtown area, and flooded downtown Tulancingo with the biblical preaching of Law and Grace. It was like an army of soldiers of the cross flooding the streets and battering the gates of Hell with the Gospel. Lost people were hearing the Gospel everywhere. It was awesome! Many people stepped out of their comfort zone and engaged strangers for the very first time. Afterwards, we gathered together and those who thus evangelized for the first time shared their testimonies. Tears were rolling and Christ was glorified. Brethren testified that they’ve never experienced anything like this before, filled with fresh zeal and excitement to make Christ known. I heard numerous people making commitments among themselves to do this on a weekly basis. Some said they wish to begin open air preaching. Oh, this thrills my soul with holy gratitude and intense longing to see Mexico thoroughly saturated with the biblical Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is nothing short of a move of the Spirit of God and if the Lord wills, the beginning of a movement of biblical evangelism in Mexico.

Here's just a few pictures from the evangelism on Saturday evening. There were MANY more sharing the Gospel, but these pictures will give you an idea of what was going on... (click on the picture to enlarge)

Brethren, please keep praying for the salvation of Mexico and the purity of her church. We are earnestly praying for a widespread movement of Biblical evangelism in Latin America. I’m praying and hoping this is a taste of what is yet to come. Our God is faithful, and He is a living, powerful God –this is nothing beyond His reach.

Brethren, please keep your prayers burning on the altar with a white-hot fervency for the salvation of Latin America. False gospels and distorted gospels have reigned far too long and it's time they be challenged.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Doulos Kristou Iesou,
Josef Urban