Phillips Missions International | Ministry Blog

New Life Celebration Crusade This Week!

2010-05-10T12:53:00.001-05:00

This week we are traveling to San Luis Potosi for our crusade in Los Remedios. There is such a excitement in my heart to be a part of helping take the Gospel to this area. For nearly a month we had completely lost contact with the Pastor we're working with and nearly had to cancel the crusade. We had tried repeatedly to call him but with no response on the other end. In a last attempt effort to call the Pastor he picked up on the second ring! Just minutes before calling him, I had made a decision in my heart that I am not going to cancel this crusade. If I had to drive every bit of the way asking directions on how to get to Los Remedios, I was prepared to do it. Since I made that decision God has been putting things into place for us. Pastor Heriberto told me on my recent visit to see him, "you didn't know but I was about to call you and cancel the crusade the day you called. I was under such attack from people in this village and was so discouraged that I was ready to just quit!" I encouraged him and told him we were coming no matter what. We're not of those who draw back! I spoke on the phone with Pastor Heriberto yesterday and he is very excited about the crusade this week.

At this moment we are getting things ready to leave. God has given us an awesome team of people that are going to be going with us and help during this crusade. In addition we also have Pastor Hugo from Antiguo Morelos and several members of his congregation coming down to join us during this crusade. They want to come and share what the Lord has done in their town through our crusade there last year and encourage the people to believe for an outpouring of the Spirit of God in their village to take place. If you would like to financially invest into these people's lives you can still do so. We are still needing $1350 to cover our expenses for the crusade. We have no Plan B, we are people of Faith! We're going by whatever means we can get there. You can sow a seed by going to our website and giving online or by just clicking here. Thank you for your compassion and generosity! Your seed is going to help us reach the people in this village in Mexico with the life-giving Gospel and the Salvation that Jesus Christ purchased for them. Stay tuned, as in the coming days as we will be giving you a video report from the crusade on our website. We love you and thank you for your prayers for us!

Your Missionaries,

Ryan & Brenda Phillips

Latest Missions Update

2010-05-01T14:52:00.000-05:00

Training People for the Harvest!
We are excited to share with you a great opportunity that's opened up for us down here in Mexico. One Sunday a few weeks back after our city experienced a week of violence from the drug cartels, Pastor Bobby Crow was preaching a message and afterward asked of the 2,000 church members, who has a desire be prepared and sent out to the mission field? Hands went up everywhere throughout the building! Since then Brenda and I have been asked to oversee this ministry that will prepare men and women for the ministry and for going to the mission field. This is a great opportunity because it's a chance to duplicate ourselves in others or disciple others to reach the lost. I always look forward to these types of opportunities because this is where I believe we can really be more effective in reaching the world with the Gospel. This morning we had ministerial training for church members. We divided them up into, helps ministry, children's ministry, evangelism ministry and a class on how to effectively preach the Gospel. We're also going to be incorporating classes on praise & worship, drama and youth very soon. We have put together a team of people who've had years of experience in these different areas and can teach and impart what they've learned into others. This extension of our home church here on the mission field I believe is going to be a great success in winning the lost and sending laborers into the harvest.

Upcoming Crusade
In a week and a half we are traveling down South to do a crusade in a village where a Pastor from Palabra de Vida Bible School is starting a new church. I am full of excitement just thinking about this crusade because I know we are going see this whole village transformed by the "Power of God". Our budget is $1500 for this crusade it will cover all of our expenses and help us put on a quality evangelistic outreach for this area. We want to try and to attract as many as possible to come. We're so close to the deadline of this crusade and still have yet to meet our budget. To be honest we have no plan B. We are going no matter what! However we believe this is something worth investing into and want to encourage you to be a part of this as we "throw out the net" and preach the Gospel to these poor people. I believe souls have an eternal value! My heart stirs within me as I think about the opportunity to go and declare the Gospel to these people who very possibly have never had the Gospel proclaimed to them with "Power and Demonstration of the Holy Spirit". There is a cause here and we can do something about it! Will you join with us today and say YES, I will join you and pray and give towards reaching the lost in this crusade? You'll never have the chance in this life to see these people face to face but one day you will be taking them with you to Heaven because you made it possible for them to hear the Gospel and receive the eternal redemption that Jesus Christ purchased for them!

Your Missionaries,
Ryan & Brenda Phillips

Visit To Los Remedios

2010-04-21T19:49:00.000-05:00

I've just returned from preaching in Antiguo Morelos and visiting the village we're going to be having a crusade in next month. I wish you could have been with me to see what I saw. The people of this village are some of the kindest people you will ever meet. Pastor Heriberto (the Pastor we're helping and a recent graduate from Palabra de Vida Bible School) led me several miles down a muddy dirt road until we arrived at the village. We parked the vehicles, got out and started walking. The location of this village is situated between two mountain ranges (in the photo I am taking a picture from one mountainside looking over the valley to the other mountain). The people of Los Remedios live on a mountainside and use the valley to plant fields of sugar cane. We spent a few hours walking up the steep mountainside going from house to house visiting people. The people of this village are very poor. No one has electricity or even running water. They have to go down to the river to get the water they need to cook and drink. As we were walking Pastor Heriberto took us to pray for a lady named Maria Guadalupe. A few years ago she cut open the bottom of her foot on a sharp object. She was having so much pain that she had to walk on the side of her foot for a while. This ended up causing her ankle bone to deform which has made walking a difficult chore for her to do. My heart goes out to these people. Compassion flowed out of me as I spoke with these people and prayed for them. I believe with all my heart we are going to see a mighty move of God in this village next month. We are already assembling a team of people to go with us this next month. This is going to be an amazing opportunity to transform people's lives with the Gospel. The cost of this crusade will be $1500. We are asking for fellow believers like you to financially invest into the Kingdom of God and help us reach those who don't know Jesus Christ with the Gospel. Do you realize that if 20 people gave $75 this week the crusade would be paid in full! You can invest into this harvest of souls by going to our website or by clicking here and giving online. If you'd prefer to send a check by mail, you can send it to the address provided for you on this blog. Thank you for helping go and share the Love of Jesus Christ with the poor and the hopeless of Mexico. Please remember to pray for people's hearts to be open to receive the Gospel, the oppressed to be set free and the sick to be healed. Your Missionaries- Ryan & Brenda Phillips.

Traveling South To San Luis Potosi

2010-04-02T16:00:00.007-06:00

In a couple of weeks I am going to be heading to the state of San Luis Potosi to a village about 5 hours away from Victoria. The village is called Los Remedios and is the home of Pastor Heriberto, a recent graduate of Palabra de Vida Bible School. The region we're traveling to is known as "La Huasteca Potosina". I have gone through all my maps (even a local one I bought a few years ago from a street vendor when I was in Tamasopo) trying to find this village but with no success. It looks like I will just have to make it down as far as I can and get directions from the locals. The crusade is scheduled for the 14th-16th of May. I will be having a friend flying in from Missouri to join and minister with me at this crusade. Pastor Heriberto has told me the people in this particular area he's from in the past have been very hard to reach. So we're going to believe with him that God's going to do a work in people's hearts. As I've been conversing back and forth with Pastor Heriberto on the phone he said that he's already been taking what we've taught him in our evangelism classes and going out several days a week to witness to people. As a matter of fact, one day when I was on the phone with him he told me he was getting ready to head out the door to go witnessing. I was so happy to hear that! There's so many places in Mexico that still have yet to hear the Gospel proclaimed to them. Many of these people we go minister to are very poor and live in very rough conditions. Would you let love compel you to reach out and help us bring the Gospel to the people of this village by giving financially? We are needing $1500 to be able to cover the expenses of this "New Life Celebration" crusade. You can visit our "Sow a Seed" page on our website by clicking here and giving online. "Real people" are going to have an encounter with a "Real God". We'll keep you posted with updates and photos in the next coming weeks, so stay tuned. Have a great Easter weekend!

Salvation On The Streets of Mexico

2010-03-17T10:17:00.000-06:00

I just completed six weeks of evangelism training with 25 Bible School students here in Mexico at Palabra de Vida Bible Institute. God gave us a wonderful group of men and women with a great desire to reach the lost with the Gospel. We had been praying from the very beginning that each person in our class would receive a touch from God that would set their heart's ablaze to win souls and hear God's heart cry for the lost. God did more than we asked. During our last day of training we received testimonies from our students that God had "awakened" them to the Harvest. Others said they "never had been taught to work alongside the Holy Spirit when soulwinning". Over the course of about 10 combined hours on the streets during this session our students had over 225 people pray and ask Jesus to become their Lord and Savior. We had some students who were jumping on local public transportation buses and giving salvation alter calls to the passengers aboard. Some students did encounter those who rejected Jesus. However some prayed for those who's hearts were hardened and demonstrated God's love and power. Those they prayed for testified feeling the presence of God touch them, right there on the street curb of the busy main boulevard we were covering. This produced an undeniable acknowledgment that God's love for them is real and even tangible. The work of Holy Spirit along with our follow-up coaching on the streets gave each student the opportunity to learn how to "hear" and have "compassion" on those they were reaching. We taught the students to really put their hearts into everything they say and do, and they did. To see the transformation that took place in the countenance and the hearts of each student was priceless. What a blessing it is raising up a generation of men and women to be consumed with the burning call to reach the lost here in Mexico and other nations.

Bible Schools Students Burning With a Passion to Win The Lost.

2010-03-04T20:05:00.000-06:00

God's opened up a great ministry opportunity for us. For the past 5 weeks every Wednesday night we have been working with 25 Bible School students, teaching them how to evangelize. Most of them have never led someone to the Lord or even knew how to. Because of that it's kept them from sharing their faith with others. Brenda and I have been praying and believing for God to put a burden in each student for the lost and give them a passion for soulwinning. During our fourth week after going out to the streets we took some time together with the group to share testimonies of how God used them to reach the lost. After everyone shared the Holy Spirit started ministering to each of them as they wept for souls. I believe a mark was made in their hearts that night for reaching souls. Now we are in the fifth week with one more to go. Yesterday night when we went out I took a few minutes to challenge the students and encourage them. As we left the church the students were quiet until some started praying in tongues and then before you know it the whole group erupted praying in their heavenly language,calling souls into the Kingdom. As we prayed God showed me the students as a loaded gun ready to pierce the heart of the enemy. As we drove through the city being led by the Holy Spirit where to stop at we finally came to an area and parked. It was a main street with many pedestrians and traffic. It was a dark place lined with x-rated video stores, bars and shady characters. The Holy Spirit had brought us to the perfect place! As I walked up the street I came to this man named Jose who was 29 years old. You could tell he was well known on the streets by all the people honking and waving at him. As I questioned him about his eternal destiny he knew he wasn't saved. His eyes darted everywhere as I tried to keep his attention and not write me off as just another Christian who's trying to win religious points. Eventually a friend of his named Juan who had a long ponytail and looked very Native American in appearance showed up at his side just to check us out (so I thought) and make sure everything was ok. So after about 15 minutes we moved off the street sidewalk over to a quieter area. As me and a fellow Pastor were sharing with these two, you could tell God was moving on Juan. So I told my Pastor friend to pray with Juan. I turned to Jose and he was not as distracted and listened as I explained to him that he doesn't have to let sin keep him from knowing Jesus. I explained to him that Jesus took care of the sin issue and that he can come to God just as he is. So we prayed and Jose accepted the Lord. Juan on the other hand came back home after years of running away from God. That's why he was being touched so, is because he had an encounter with God when he was younger but turned away from him and became caught up in sin. As I made my way back to the bus I noticed all the Bible school students were speaking to people and going after the lost like it was an emergency. What joy that brought to my heart seeing that God was doing a work in these students. They were finally grasping hold of their authority in Christ and being bold to share the precious message of Salvation with others. You remember Juan? Well he told us the real reason why he came over wasn't to make sure everything was ok with his friend but instead he came over because he said, "I felt an urgency that I had to go over there and hear what you were saying to my friend Jose". So far we've had 161 people pray to receive Jesus here on the streets in Mexico. What an exciting time we live in to be demonstrators of the Power and the Love of God.

Breaking Ground For New Church in Antiguo Morelos

2010-03-03T16:11:00.003-06:00

This month we are taking a team with us to go and help a Pastor we've been working with break ground for his new church in Antiguo Morelos. At this moment he is finishing his last session of Bible School here at Palabra de Vida Bible Institute. When we get to his town our plan is to send teams out in the day to do street evangelism and in the night have an outreach for the youth. Antiguo Morelos has been very hard ground (spiritually speaking) for Pastor Hugo and his wife Mayra. However since our ministry had a crusade in his town several months ago, things began to change. Faces that were in the crowd at our crusade are now plugged into his church and are growing in the Lord. We're not saying there's not problems in their town. Latest news I received from Pastor Hugo is that one of the drug cartels called the "zetas has been threatening some of their church members with kidnapping but it's been the power of prayer that's kept them safe from harm. Each time I visit Pastor Hugo's church I feel such a love for his people. Their faces radiate with joy and expectation knowing that God is doing something fresh and new in their lives and among the people in their town. We want to ask you to pray for Brenda and I and our team as we go and encourage Pastor Hugo and break ground for his new church in Antiguo Morelos. Thank you for helping make a difference in people's lives.

Bible School Students Have a Constructive Week

2009-11-20T17:30:00.003-06:00

This week we worked with a group of 35 Bible School students from Colorado. They came as part of their 3rd year missions program at their school. They were a great blessing to the ministry here as they went outdoor-to-door witnessing and praying for people. Because of the size of this group they we able to be split into two groups and hold two seperate crusade in Victoria. People we encountered were touched by God's love as these students shared the Gospel with people on the streets, in their homes and in their businesses. One morning we ran into a group of about 20 youth that were busting up concrete just outside their school to make way a new sidewalk that was going to be built. We took a few minutes and shared what God had done for them and told them how He made a way for them to come to Jesus Christ and receive eternal life. Nearly every teen had no idea if they would go to heaven if they were to suddenly pass away. However after sharing the Gospel with them, over 12 of them prayed to receive to be saved. On another street the day before we had a particularly powerful encounter with 4 young men in their twenties who were hanging out just inside their garage. We shared the gospel, prayed with them and at the end all of them received the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Even during the crusades we had miracles take place. One lady in particular who had come to the first night of one of the crusades had an open wound on her leg that was infected and swollen. She was prayed for and the next day came excited because God had healed her leg. She lifted up her pant leg and you could see the wound had closed, swelling went away and she had no more pain, praise God! In addition to ministry these students also helped mix and pour 4 tons of concrete into a base for a new foundation for Palabra de Vida's new Youth ministry building. It's been a great week and a big blessing for this group to come and give of their time and effort to help evangelize, minister and work all for helping to reach the people of Mexico.The impact that this group has made this week has only just begun.