Tuesday allowed us to get our bearings and to run several errands in the area. Then on Wednesday we started to meet with other missionaries who had flown in to be a part of the conference. It was a joy to get to meet other brothers and sisters who are serving The Lord all over the world and who are being used greatly in those parts.

Not only that but we got to meet and network with several pastors who are very interested in coming to Madrid and leading groups over to be a part of what we are doing. This is EXCITING!

For me the great highlight was the missions dinner they held on Friday night. 900 people showed up for the barbecue that was catered in but that is not why they came. They came to see and hear from the missionaries as we were on stage but also to hear the guest speaker, Dr. Gordon Fort, senior VP of the International Mission Board. My goodness, what an incredible sermon he preached. I don’t think there was a single person who didn’t leave thrilled to and desiring to be a part of a mission trip. It was greatness.

On Sunday I got to preach in two Sunday school classes and it was awesome. We had a great time and a bonus was I got to see my sisters, Elizabeth and Sarah who don’t live in the area but they are certainly closer than Spain!

All in all Jamie and I left with full hearts back to Madrid and hoping that the time flies till our return here to JFBC. We are truly grateful to have had this opportunity.

For instance, one verse that has given many people problems is 1 Timothy 2:10. In this verse Paul says that “she will be saved through child bearing if they persevere in the faith.” So many see the word saved and think that Paul is saying that a woman will be earn her salvation through childbirth and upbringing of children. This doesn't fit with the rest of Scripture at all. This would be a work. Not only that but what about women and men who can't have children?Ephesians 2:8,9 leaves the issue quite clear that one is saved through faith and not at all by works. Therefore if a passage appears to be explaining that one achieves salvation but the condition that is stated is something other than faith in Christ then most likely it is not talking about salvation from eternal salvation. Bob made the observation that too many people put on “salvation glasses” when they read the Bible and any use of the word, saved or salvation and then it becomes quite difficult to make some exegetical flaws and bad theology. For instance, one verse that has given many people problems is 1 Timothy 2:10. In this verse Paul says that “she will be saved through child bearing if they persevere in the faith.” So many see the word saved and think that Paul is saying that a woman will be earn her salvation through childbirth and upbringing of children. This doesn't fit with the rest of Scripture at all. This would be a work. Not only that but what about women and men who can't have children?

So what is it talking about? Paul has just spoken of what women must do in the church which he explains is relatively little so it fits that they will be saved from insignificance in raising up the next generation and the future of the church. We'll come back to this later…So what is it talking about? Paul has just spoken of what women must do in the church which he explains is relatively little so it fits that they will be saved from insignificance in raising up the next generation and the future of the church. We'll come back to this later…

To get to Segovia you must cross the Guadarrama mountain range north of Madrid and as you descend on the other side you see on the vast plains before you a steeple rising from the ground, in the distance.

Segovia is a “must see” for anyone who comes to the Madrid area. My Dad always thought it was a shame that Americans would come so far and not see it so he always took guests out to Segovia. We feel the same way and so in the last 4 1/2 years we have gone a couple dozen times with our guests.

Today it was freezing cold. It is almost always cooler there than it is in Madrid. We were sitting right at 32 degrees when we arrived and the wind didn’t help. Snow was all over but we bundled up and enjoyed a beautiful day in a beautiful city. Enjoy the pics!

- Bernard Meltzer

The concept that we challenge the student with is: “What is the grandest and the greatest that you wish to achieve for the glory of God?” We have them design to the most minute detail what that would look like and then we work with them to hone in on how they believe they would reach this goal. This goal is four years away so we ask. Where do you need to be in 3 years so you can reach your dream in 4 years? Then the next question is where do you need to be in two years to reach your 3 year goal? Then where do you need to be in 1 year, 11 months, 10 months, 9 months, etc. By the end of the session they have a 12 month plan that will help them be well on their way to their 4 year goals by the end of the first year. It is exciting to see some of the things they come up with during the day.

I feel blessed to be able to experience this event every year because I love to think that maybe in that room the next Spanish Billy Graham might be thinking and praying about what will be next.

I posted below some of the photos of these guys working, thinking and praying throughout the day.

They are now here to help with the church plant and be trained as church planters to make a great impact in this needy nation.

Please lift them up in prayer as they are working hard to study and learn the language as well as to better understand the culture of Spain.

We are thrilled they are here!!!

I am sitting in a Starbucks at the moment while our latest team enjoys a little free time sight seeing Madrid. (I have seen it.) So I thought I would come up to my place here by the window (yes I now have a place…4 mission trips and 4 weeks later) and post an update on the incredible highlights of this last ministry month.

The Northern Irish Return!!

Just a couple days after we returned from our month long trip to the U.S. and Cuba in June, we received 5 young people from Northern Ireland. We have been so blessed to meet these kids and God has brought great blessing throughout the year beginning from the time they first made it to Madrid last year. Well on June 2nd a few returned to help with our mission trips for the whole month. They have been a wonderful help!

Pantego Bible Church Shares the Gospel with the Terrorists!

Might sound a little more dramatic than it actually was. However this is not far from the truth as the terrorist’s party’s front is in power in the Basque region of Spain and they were the ones who granted us all the permits and in primo real estate spots! Two nights we were in front of the City Hall, one night just to right of it in a beautiful gazebo and two other nights in a massive square surrounded by high rise apartments.

In the five days that we shared the gospel with hundreds upon hundreds of people, we saw 209 people make decisions for Christ! The pastor we were working with there was astounded. He said they haven’t seen this type of response in a very long time. We believe that the 25% unemployment rate might have something to do with it.

Northern Irish Again!!

The day that our friends from North Texas left,we received a group of 14 from Northern Ireland. This was a different group than the group that came last year but from the same organization, Exodus. (Exodus is like young life with a mission trip in the summer.

They have sent out 500 kids throughout the world this summer.) I digress… We had 20 people living at our house for 10 days as Danny and Carol as well as Zoe and Claire were staying with us. Jamie did amazing cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner for the group in an incredibly hot kitchen. I don’t know how she does it.

Our focus on this 10 day period was to reach the youth of Barajas through a Soccer Tournament as well as reach families on the side.

The week started out a little shakily as we didn’t know if we would be able to control the gang members who ended up showing up at the tournament. But by the grace of God as the week progressed we made wonderful in roads into the lives of the kids and we had a blast. We were able to share the gospel with several throughout the tournament but then we shared with everyone in our awards ceremony on the last day. It was quite a day. Click the image on the left above to see a video of some of the action from the tournament.

Don’t Forget the Kids!

The final mission trip we received arrived a few days before July finished and this made us nervous as Madrid empties out on the 1st of August. Everyone takes their vacations in August. There is no traffic, there is plenty of parking, the heat abounds and all of this means that there are few people to reach. That said, we thought there would be enough to put on a week of outreaches so we did that. We went to the parks in the evening and played games with kids, painted faces, put on puppet shows and shared the gospel with scores of people. Have you ever heard that people need multiple touches before they accept Christ? Well these people were on the eighth or ninth touch and it showed. People we have tried to talk with over the last two years were finally opening up. Praise the Lord! We saw 30 people come to Christ and MANY heard the gospel.

But for me the highlight was that our church got a little bigger on Sunday as a result of this trip. I have to tell you that it is almost unheard of for people to come to Christ one day and then “get up early” as they call it (to be at church at 11:30) the next day. Nonetheless we had 6 people come to our church. And there are another 6 on vacation who would like to come as well. It looks as though God is bringing about growth slowly but surely. Praise His Name!

To see a PhotoMosaic of this summer click the link HERE.

Well Wednesday evening here in Madrid (Day 3 of 5 of the tournament) we had all the guys come back but strangely enough the “hot head” kids of the gang who had lost their tempers came up and apologized to the ref and to me. They told us they would be on better behavior today. Praise the Lord!

Another problem with the gang was the smoking, they had been smoking pot at different times in the tournament on Tuesday and after being told, still wouldn’t put it out. On Wednesday I stayed with the guys talking with them for most of the time and they didn’t light up except once (small victory).

I have loved this tournament as I am the camera man through it all and I am putting together a bunch of videos and photos we will show on the last day in the Trophy ceremony. This has provided a special opportunity to get close to a TON of the guys (something that doesn’t happen if I am refereeing…I wonder why…). So at one point, I went and sat down next to Danny, one of the gang leaders. He is about 17 years old (pictured above in the red jersey). This was our conversation:

“So Danny when are you going to come to our church?” I asked. Danny laughed, “I don’t think I am going to make it.” “Do you go to church now?” I replied.

“Yeah, the Catholic church, but I don’t go a lot,” he said.

“Do you think we are a cult?” I asked.

“No, I don’t think you guys are a cult rather you just have a different perspective than Roman Catholics.”

“Do you know the difference between Evangelicals and Catholics?”

“No, but what? Both believe in God right?”

“Yes we believe in God, but one of the main differences is that Roman Catholics hold that if you are a good person and do good things you will get to heaven. We, Evangelicals, believe that it is good to do good things but that doesn’t save you. We believe that someone perfect had to pay for everyone’s debt to God. And we believe one man did pay for all those debts.”

“So you think one person ended up paying for everyone. Who?”

“Jesus, when he died on the cross, he died for all my sin and all of yours. But the gift isn’t yours unless you accept it. (here we got a bit sidetracked) Just like when we hold the barbecue on Saturday you have to receive a hot dog in order to eat it. Salvation is also a gift that you need to receive for it to be yours.

“I don’t even know if I am going to the barbecue on Saturday, Manny.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, why don’t you come up to the house to eat dinner some night. Jamie is a great cook!”

“I don’t doubt that at all, I am sure she is good. But what am I going to do at your house, you don’t want me there.”

“You have to eat, do you always buy your food? Where do you get your money? Do you have a job?”

“No, I don’t have a job.”

“How do you get money? Doing stuff you don’t want to tell me about?”

He nodded.

“Danny, you know where that leads. Your going to end up in jail or worse.”

He nodded, “I know I have had a few scares recently but I am just too far deep into it.”

The conversation was drawing to a close because he was about to play so I told him, “Listen, I am going to call your cell phone and I want you to save my number in your phone. I want you to call me if you ever need any help and I will help you.”

He smiled at me and said, “Thank you for all you are doing for this town, we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t respect you guys.”

That was one of three conversations I have had with Danny. There were a couple others I had but we are praying for more tonight and Saturday. May God transform their lives!

If you would like to pray for some of these guys specifically here are the names I can remember of the gangs as well as a bunch of the other young people who are at the tournament: Danny, Urko, Javi, Daniel, Sergio, Jay, Miguel, Andrés, Sergio, José, David, Ricardo, Javi, and Ismael. There are at least 50 other guys there and their names escape me at the moment but please keep all these in prayer. Thank you!

First, I need to share with you about May because it was truly a milestone month…hmm I like that title…I digress.

The great highlight of this past month was the graduation of our largest group in our 21 year history! 17 students walked across the stage of the small (by America

n standards) church stage and received their diplomas. Some were in our two year programs and others in our more rigorous and demanding four year program. All however, are active in ministry and are heading into a life of more involved ministry.

I thought it was a tremendous blessing to see the church packed out with friends and family (many of whom are non-Christians) who came to see the celebration of what their loved ones have been working for these years. They heard the gospel clearly! Not only that but many came to the follow up banquet (which was by all accounts incredible in all of its 4 courses) and heard the gospel there! Suffice to say the graduation was a smashing success.

In other news, our church is transitioning into a new stage and the aggressiveness of what we are pursuing has already begun to yield great fruit. In the last several months we have been sharing the gospel but it has been just a few out on the streets and little else. We have begun in the last month to be out on the streets regularly promoting the church and as a church sharing the gospel with all who pass by. It has been a wonderful time and has brought the church closer together as we have done it. Not only that but it has attracted the attention of those who would like to be a part of the church as well and get more involved so that is a plus!

Ok, now on to this month of June. Tomorrow we fly out in the morning and if all goes well we will be in DFW tomorrow evening only to run to the store for a few things we need to get before heading to a week long camp with Pantego Bible Church early Monday morning. We will return Friday the 8th to DFW from the camp and then the 9th my family will be together for the first time in the last year and a half! Then the 10th, I will head to a second camp and Jamie will head to Cali to visit her family. I return from that second camp on the 14th and fly out to Cuba on the 16th where I will be teaching and preaching for two weeks. Jamie and I will return together to Spain on the 29th of June. Two days after getting here the first wave of mission trips starts! Busy summer? yep…can’t wait!

Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook if you want to see how the trips are going!

I was amazed how we had a group of people show up to help and we talked to a ton of people. It still amazes me how we have handed out thousands of flyers in the area and still most people don’t have a clue that our church exists. Not only that but the reception is good. So many people say they are interested in coming though most never do, I think they are just a few touches away from showing up at our doors.

We have just launched our new church website and so our flyers were to direct people there to see what we are about. You can see it too if you like though it is in Spanish of course: ibbarajas.com

The best news of all was a lady was running to the bus and got to it and she didn’t have the right change so the bus driver forced her to get off the bus. A minute later a few of the members of our team came up to her to share with her (not knowing what had happened). She told them the story and Jean Paul, one of our guys, said, do you believe there is a reason for everything? They shared the gospel with her and she accepted Christ!!

We are giving out water bottles to all passersby next Friday in front of the Subway to create opportunities to share the gospel. I CAN’T WAIT!!