How the Institute started
AIM Ex. Director, Seth Barnes, shares the following story of how the Institute started.
In 1998, we graduated our first class of 34 from a school of missions for Mexican nationals established at the Gateway near Matamoros, Mexico. These students went through a year of intensive study and ministry, preparing to become missionaries to their own countrymen. For about $2,000 per student, we were able to feed, house, and train them. The story of how this training center was established is remarkable because it happened so quickly and with so few resources. Here is how it happened:
On a project to Mexico in 1997, I felt God strongly saying that we were to begin training Mexican young people of college age. Training should be a year in length and geared toward missions with an emphasis on hands-on ministry. I excitedly shared this with staff members whom I felt would be involved in implementing the idea. Still, I was bothered by a gaping hole in the plan. Where would these young people come from.
Our last night of the project, we wanted to throw a party at the Gateway for the Mexicans at the women¹s shelter and the orphanage at which we had been working. That evening, they arrived at the Gateway and were seated at tables to be fed. Entering the room, I noticed a table of young Mexican men. They seemed to be exactly the kind of young men that I felt God was leading us to train.
“Where did these young men come from?” I asked.
“They are being trained at the orphanage where our groups have been working.” I was told.
My mind raced. Perhaps these people could tell us more about how to train Mexican nationals. Other questions came as well: What were the subjects in which they were being trained? Who currently did the training? Would they be interested in moving to our Gateway facility? What did they want to do with their lives after completing their training? How long did it last?
I introduced myself to the orphanage director and began asking questions. The answers were enlightening: They are trained in the mornings and in the afternoons do ministry: street evangelism, feeding the poor, and work around the orphanage. On Saturdays they go out and evangelize. At the conclusion of their training, they are sent out, much as Jesus¹ disciples, by twos, without any support to start a ministry. In fact, the entire ministry is run with very little support. Because of this, the orphanage director was immediately receptive to the idea of a partnership. They would love to have us help with the training. Currently, he and his wife are burning the candle at both ends running the orphanage and teaching two classes each.
When we sat down to talk at greater length, we were amazed at how God seemed to be orchestrating a partnership. The same morning that I felt God speaking to me, he had awakened from a dream. In the dream God showed him that his students were to be missionaries. That morning, he announced what he felt God was saying to his students.
Afterwards, our staff fasted and prayed about it. A particular concern was that we not spoil what God is doing with these Mexican young people through our sometimes overly-American approach. We have much to learn from them. They are truly practicing the radical discipleship to which we aspire. Many of these students have come from the streets. They don¹t have money for tuition, but they believe in a big God. They give what little they do have to those who are poorer than themselves. They trust God to supply their needs, and He does. The students are required to raise a small amount to help cover costs. Ismael has some contacts for support, but he is relying on AIM to furnish more contacts. The biggest ongoing expense is food.
In comparison, we in the U.S. see our own sometimes compromised approach to discipleship and aspire to an even more complete abandon to ministry. There are eight basic classes and five technical classes that are taught each week in the mornings. Courses include Pastoral counseling, Praise and Worship, Hermeneutics, Old Testament and New Testament, and Spiritual Warfare.
We housed the 34 students who enrolled in the first class in our existing facilities. At the same time, we worked overtime to complete a building capable of handling double or triple that number in this next year.
The first year was a tremendous success. Students fasted twice a week, prayed three hours a day, followed up on many new converts from our short-term teams, planted new churches, and led thousands of people to Christ. After graduating, they planted new works in cities and villages around Mexico.
The Institute has become a pilot project. Building on this success, we eventually, we hope to establish a network of training centers around the world.
How Can You Help?
- Consider supporting an individual student. For $2,000, we can train, feed, and house a national missionary for a year. After that, the graduate is sent to the field to plant a new church, orphanage, or training center.
- Consider supporting our Mission Training Institute staff. Our staff continues to grow at the school and they need to raise their own support. We have a multi-national staff who want to make a difference by training church leaders. Sometimes new staff do not have the established relationships necessary to raise support. They depend on people, like you, who desire to see the ministry of Adventures In Missions make a long term impact.
- We want to invite U.S. churches and our individual financial partners to come down to the Rio Grande valley and join God in what He is doing there. Come for a weekend, come for a week, or even longer. Come alongside these future missionaries from Mexico as they build a center which be a unique model for cross-cultural partnership. We believe that because of the urgency of the task and its potential for long-term impact, that this opportunity to help advance the Lord¹s kingdom is worth careful consideration.
Your contributions are tax-deductible. Checks should be made out to Adventures In Missions.
Send to:
Adventures In Missions
6000 Wellspring Trail
Gainesville, GA 30506
Deryck Livingston at (800) 881-2461 for more information on supporting the Missions Training Institute, its staff or students.
