We DEPART for our Missionary Journey!

We are heading out in the next couple days for…  

A MISSIONARY JOURNEY  

We are planning on taking a 6-month missionary journey into southern Mexico, namely, into the states of Guerrero and/or Oaxaca, or wherever else the Lord leads. During this time, we will be involved in reaching various towns and villages for Christ through the means of implementing a heavy evangelistic schedule and strategy that will present the true Gospel in an effective way to those we come into contact with. We will be involved with the evangelization of various cities and towns, relying on the power of the Holy Ghost to make our witness effective.    Initially, we are traveling to a town outside of a city called Ciudad Altamirano. It is located at about the point of the arrow below on this map:

This will be our initial destination. We are not sure at this time whether we will set up base at this point and proceed with our outreaches from there, or whether we will leave this point altogether and go “mobile team style”. Either way, we will be involved in itinerant village evangelism, reaching out to the surrounding towns and villages with the Gospel of Christ.  

The areas where we will be working generally consist of a major city center that is surrounded by many isolated towns and villages in the outskirts. These city centers aren’t your typical cities, they’re more like a tiny city in the US, and you could think of the towns and villages sort of like little isolated ‘neighborhoods’ surrounding the urban center as far as an hour’s drive away (or sometimes more) into the desert or mountains. Most of these towns and villages where we are going to are largely untouched with a true witness of the Gospel. We will be doing the bulk of our work in these little towns and villages; we will also be preaching in the city centers as the opportunity presents itself.  

In these areas, Catholicism reigns supreme as religious king over the majority, and it is often mixed with the practice of magic arts, witchcraft and voodoo. Spiritually, many of these regions are extremely dark and in desperate need of hope, deliverance, and the power of the Gospel. While many of these people have heard the name of Jesus (usually as presented in the form of “another gospel” –Gal. 1:6-9), they have no idea who He really is and what He really came to do. Even in spite of this, most of the people aren’t practicing Catholics and are very loosely religious. This creates the perfect spiritual void which makes these areas ideal for sowing the Gospel seed.

THE STRATEGY  

The goal is to effectively evangelize every town and village we set our focus on. We plan on using various strategies to accomplish this goal. Some of these may or will include:  

- Intercessory and warfare prayer for each particular village.
- Relational Evangelism.
- Door to door Evangelism.
- Power Encounter Evangelism (such as praying for the sick & driving out demons).
- Open Air Preaching and Marketplace Preaching.
- Tract, Gospel of John booklets, and Bible Distribution.
- Holding Bible Studies on basic Christian Truths for Seekers and Believers.
- Jesus Film Ministry and Meetings.

THE JESUS FILM TO REACH OUT  

We are very excited about implementing a new ministry tool, that is, showing the JESUS Film to these lost villages. The Lord has graciously and miraculously supplied everything we need to show this Film in various villages. We have been able to obtain a movie projector, a portable generator, sound equipment, a 5x8 foot makeshift screen, some chairs, and more to show this film, and all of this for around $1000. The Lord has provided every step of the way.  

This will enable us to show the Spanish version of the JESUS Film in these villages, even in extremely remote places that have no available electricity for us to plug into. The JESUS Film is an old evangelistic movie about the life of Jesus that is based on the Gospel of Luke. Just imagine a condensed movie depiction of Luke’s Gospel. That’s what we’ll be showing on a big screen in these villages. Here’s us standing by the screen:

We will be setting up the whole thing, and even have chairs for the people to sit in as they watch. This is a proven method of gathering people together, especially in the type of areas where we plan on going. It is ideal for drawing people out of their houses and assembling them together to hear about the Lord Jesus. Pioneer missionaries have used this type of Film ministry for years to evangelize and plant churches in un-reached regions.

-
A typical day using this Film will include... first of all choosing a village to target. Then we will pray and intercede for the people in it. Then we will go around, door to door, and through the streets, making an announcement that we will be showing a movie about Jesus on a large outdoor screen as soon as the sun sets, inviting people to come and watch. Then, just before dark, we will begin setting up the equipment. The people will gather and take their seats. We will show the Film, praying and interceding as they watch. Then as soon as the Film is over, we will turn on our bright outdoors lights, stand up at the front, and PREACH Christ and Him crucified, expounding on the exceeding sinfulness of sin and explaining the meaning of the Cross. We will preach the Gospel and call for repentance from sin and faith in the Savior. We will be calling out the sick and demonized and praying for their healing and deliverance, trusting God to confirm His Word openly. And we will be calling for immediate and definite, utter personal commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, calling for people to repent and be baptized and to receive the Holy Spirit. We will also be seeking to set up further Bible studies and personal instruction times for those are have made a commitment to Christ and for those who want to know more.
-

And so, as we have gathered many people from a particular village, preached the Gospel to them, and set up a Bible study for those who want to learn more, we will move on to the next village to do it all over again, returning to previous villages from time to time to teach in the meetings that were established and to follow up on those who are seeking salvation thru Christ.
-

(Also as a side note: we will NOT be using the “sinner’s prayer” to lead people into making a confession of faith. We will be following the Apostle’s pattern of calling for repentance and faith, for baptism, and for receiving the Holy Spirit. We will take every caution necessary to follow the Biblical pattern and to prevent giving people a false assurance of salvation. We will, as always, be preaching a radical salvation and emphasizing the necessity of the new birth and surrender to the Lordship of Christ)
-

THE BIBLES ARE ON THEIR WAY  

Special thanks to all who donated for Bibles! We currently have over 240 Spanish Bibles (whole Bibles that have both Old and New Testaments). Here is a picture of us with the Bibles:

In addition to the 240+ Bibles, we have about 600-700 Gospels of John and 6,300 Gospel tracts. And all of these we are going to be able to give away for free to the people we will be ministering to! Praise God! We were able to ship the Bibles to our destination a few days ago and they should be there when we arrive.

-
PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR SAFE ARRIVAL  

 We are set to leave in just two days, on Monday, August 18. It will be at least a three day drive from where we are to our destination. Dear saints, please keep us in prayer during this time. We have to pass over the border into Mexico and through many periodic military checkpoints as we drive through. In addition to the dangers of being stopped and/or exploited by these, there are dangers of thieves, false police, true police that are corrupt, and many other things. We need the Lord to give us a safe trip down there and to give us favor with the authorities so we can get through. This is so important. Please pray that we would make it!!!
-

MAY THE LORD BE GLORIFIED  

We are truly looking forward to this mission and desperately hoping the Lord will bless it and move in power among the lost as we preach the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation to those who believe. We are hoping to see the Lord reach many with an effective Gospel witness and to do a mighty work in peoples’ lives. We are praying that the Lord would glorify His great name among the nation of Mexico and gather His elect together that they may obtain salvation which is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ. To His name be all the glory, honor and praise forever.   We will still be sending out newsletters while on this journey and checking our emails at least every couple weeks or once a month, so be on the lookout for periodic updates from us. We will also try to keep the site updated as well: www.puregospeltruth.com  

MAY THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN RECEIVE THE REWARD OF HIS SUFFERING!!!  

In Christ –Josef & Lina Urban