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“I told her that you were my mentor when I was younger and that you saved my life!”  These were the surprising words that Tasha shared with me at lunch. We had “accidentally” run into each other after more than 20 years in the Wal-Mart where she works. She was telling me how she explained my presence in her life to her supervisor at work. I was shocked to hear Tasha’s description of our relationship – especially since we had lost touch so long ago. At the same time, this encounter further encouraged me to keep pursuing our vision for mentoring at Juntos. 

Did you know? Seventy-five percent of American adults who had a mentor growing up say that this relationship was a major contributor to their success in life. Sixty-seven percent of young people say that they remember a time when they didn’t have a mentor and they needed one.  The statistics go on and on – we all need mentors to walk alongside us! (mentoring.org)

At Juntos we regularly have opportunities to mentor on all levels. High school kids mentor younger kids in their small groups at our regular Rally Nights by sharing and memorizing scripture, praying together and helping them navigate relationships and hard (or exciting!) situations. College kids and young adults mentor middle school and high school youth as they volunteer side by side, attend their sports or school events, read the Bible together and encourage and build one another up (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Adults mentor all ages of young people as they share not only their experiences, but all of the ways that the Lord has worked in their own lives.

Juntos is intentionally designed for these mentoring relationships to form, but we are seeing the importance and potential impact of a much more intentional mentoring program. Our goal is for our Juntos students to be rooted, built up and established in their faith (Colossians 2:6-7), especially in a world that is rapidly changing and presenting many challenges and opportunities. This next year we will be looking for more ways in which our young leaders can mentor the children from their own families and neighborhoods. Additionally, we are developing an official community-based mentoring program in partnership with an existing ministry from Denver. We will be asking Jesus-following adults from outside of Juntos to invest significant time into some of our children and young people. We trust that through these efforts children will be more deeply rooted in their relationship with the Lord, parents and family members will see the truth of the Gospel, and the Lord will be praised and glorified by many!

Laura Jenkins has been involved with Juntos since 2005 and currently serves as the director. Juntos offers weekly meetings, summer programs, leader training, small group Bible studies, tutoring, and mentoring for kids in the International District of Albuquerque. If you’d like more information about serving with Juntos, call the Mountain Christian Church office.

I recently traveled to South Asia to join Genesis of Hope for a day camp and women’s events. We visited three children’s centers serving some of the poorest communities in a large city. It was a great time to build relationships with our GOH partners and encourage believers in the community. 

Our first stop was Shahabhad, where MCC provides annual support for daily operations—paying teachers, maintaining the building, and serving nutritious meals for up to 80 students. Two years ago, MCC also gave a gift to repair a leaking ceiling and add a new upstairs room. This larger space now allows all the children to gather comfortably for programs.

We spent the morning singing songs the children had learned during summer camp (VBS). One song, written by staff, reminded them that being like Jesus is better than being a cricket or Bollywood star. We then shared a story about a king who lacked self-control, destroyed his city’s walls, and later sought wisdom and forgiveness from the King of Kings. The children made pop-up books to remember key points before we served lunch. GOH has also hired a music teacher at Shahabhad, which has greatly improved the atmosphere and attitudes of the children. Continue to pray for the staff and the children in each of the GOH centers. 

That evening we visited a church led by a GOH staff member. The women gathered for a Bible study on Romans 12. Many face deep challenges, including abuse for attending church. In South Asia, abuse of all kinds against women is widespread, underreported, and rarely prosecuted. Women often work tirelessly at home with few freedoms and many obstacles. It was a blessing to encourage and pray with these believers. Some have since begun meeting regularly together for prayer. Until now, women in this church have not met to lead other women to study the Bible or pray. Pray that they would continue to meet together and they would study the word of God. 

For three days we repeated this pattern—visiting children’s centers and women’s groups. One center works with Afghani refugees who face added challenges as outsiders. Women there live under strict cultural limits, often unable to work outside the home and required to wear burkas. At GOH they are learning tailoring skills and finding creative ways to help their families. Pray they come to know the love and freedom found in Christ.

At the end of our trip, we made tacos for a group of university students. Before the meal, Ravi (our partner with GOH) led a study on James 3. We met a young woman named Shambhavi, who joined us for sightseeing on our last day. We spent the day sharing the gospel and answering her many questions about the Bible. We left feeling as though we had known her much longer than two days. Pray she comes to believe that Jesus is the only way to the Father.

It is a privilege to support workers in South Asia and an even greater privilege to visit and work alongside of them. Please pray for Ravi and Caitlin, Ramesh and Gloria, and the entire staff of GOH. They are faithful workers serving in a country that is not amiable to the gospel. Pray for the believers in South Asia to continue in boldness; pray for their safety and for a deep understanding of the Lord and the word of God. I am encouraged and challenged every time I have been able to go serve alongside GOH. Pray that we would live with the same urgency to share our hope and faith with those in our circles.

Our own Abbie Bryant has joined CRU (formally Campus Crusade for Christ) in full-time ministry. Mountain Christian Church is partnering with her through our Missions strategies. 

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My earliest memories of knowing Jesus all revolve around Mountain Christian Church. As a little kid I remember singing as loud as I could to VBS songs, reading my Bible in the playground with my friends, and Mr. Mike teaching us Jesus is the only fix for sin. In youth group Sami discipled me and Marv challenged me to leadership. Sunday mornings I dug through theology with Luke and Frank, and long summer nights in the youth hall gave me a love for ministry.

Our little community… our little family… has created a solid foundation for knowing who Jesus is and His heart. 

Twenty-three years later and I am so excited to be entering ministry full-time. Everything I learned in our mountain church has bled into this desire that God has planted in my heart to share the gospel with the world. 

Last year I took my first position with the mission organization CRU and served on their Walt Disney World team where I got to share the gospel with cast members from every livable continent! And now I have just completed training for my full-time ministry position on the CRU digital strategies team. 

The average person spends seven hours a day on the internet. At CRU we think it’s very important to be where people are, so if people are on the internet we want to be there as a source of light and truth in a space that is traditionally dark and false. Our mission is to use the internet and technology as a tool to give every person in the world a chance to hear about Jesus.

My job is to make sure our digital presence invites people, and not only connects with them in a digital space but also finds local churches and CRU movements to get them plugged into a community. We’ve had an influx of people reaching out asking gospel questions - which is where I come in. With the Holy Spirit working through me, I personally respond to these people with responses that best inform and connect them with the gospel- not some AI generated response, but one from a real person sharing Jesus with them.

I am so excited to start this new journey God has set me on and as I build my ministry partner list and fundraise to be able to carry out this mission, it has been a joy to share with people what our church has poured into me and the big ways God moves over and over again.

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To learn a little bit more about what Abbie is doing, or if you're interesting in supporting her directly, check out her video here.

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. - 1 John 3:18

It’s an odd feeling, that first time in your life when you experience true loneliness. For me, and I suspect many others, that first experience of true loneliness came during college. A couple of weeks after my parents dropped me off, the newness and excitement wore off. I settled into a routine of classes and homework, only to be struck with the realization that I knew no one and my community was a long 8-hour drive from me. 

College is a time of learning, growing, and changing. The further one goes from home, the more pronounced that change can be. In 2024, international students made up 6% of college students here in America; this equates to roughly 1.1 million students. International Students Inc. (ISI) is a religious non-profit that seeks to reach these students with the love of Christ by meeting their needs while they are in college. Their mission is “to share Christ’s love with international students and to equip them for effective service in cooperation with the local church and others.” MCC partners with their branch at UNM campuses, where ISI offers a range of services that provide these students with community and other practical resources. Their welcome center is located just off the UNM campus, and is where students can have free lunches, get help locating housing, and sign-up for other services. Ultimately, these services are used to show the love of Christ.

One of the services ISI offers is to help students find community through joining a Home Group. These Home Groups consist of 20-30 international college students meeting weekly at a volunteer’s home for food, games, and discussion. Students can choose from a discussion about culture or the Bible. ISI will also pair students with volunteers who sign up to be Friendship Partners. These friendship partners are individuals or families who offer to share their lives and form a genuine friendship with a student. 

Beyond Home Groups and Friendship Partners, ISI volunteers pick up students from the airport, open their homes for temporary housing till a student can move into an apartment, donate furnishings for apartments, help with English language classes, and set up group activities like Bible studies. Through meeting the physical and emotional needs of students, ISI can build relationships with students from all over the world and open doors to share Christ. Their impact is felt not only in our local UNM community, but in communities around the world as these students return home bringing the Gospel with them. 

If you would like to volunteer with ISI, you can talk to a member of our Mission team or contact ISI ABQ directly through their website. Be praying for:

• Volunteers to set up a third home study group
• Students from the Middle East, as the current conflict intensifies 
• Current volunteers have opportunities for gospel conversations with students. 

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Recent news headlines reveal the next generation is confused, lonely, anxious, and spiritually hungry. This is why Gideons and Auxiliary are committed to sharing the hope of the Gospel with young people.

A 2023 report by Barna Research titled The Open Generation revealed that 75% of USA teens feel motivated to learn more about Jesus. Among committed Christian teens, nominal Christian teens, and all other teens, the Bible was the top trusted resource for learning about Jesus (with only “the family” tying as a top trusted source among nominal Christian teens).

While there are challenges with the ever-changing landscape of today’s cultural issues, God is still opening doors for members of The Gideons to share the Gospel. Gideons and Auxiliary aim to make God's Word available to students in fifth grade and above. This past year, we were able to reach over 65 million people worldwide with the hope of Jesus Christ, and nearly 70% of them were students in middle school, high school, or college. Youth receiving Testaments in the USA has now surpassed pre-pandemic totals (4.8 million in 2019 versus 5 million in 2024).

We know from the testimonies received over the years that an encouraging word of witness or a single Testament placed in a student’s hand can make an eternal difference. Here are a couple of examples:

A Gideon handed Gary a brand-new Testament one day and said, “This is for you.” Gary felt so proud to have that Testament.

Instead of reading it right away, he tucked it away in the top drawer of his bedroom chest. As a teen, Gary began skipping school and getting into trouble. “I needed something to help me with all the guilt and shame that weighed so heavy on me,” he remembers.

“Because of that Gideon who gave me a copy of God’s Word, I ultimately had somewhere to turn during a very dark time in my teenage life,” says Gary. He ended up on his knees beside his bed asking Christ to be the Lord of his life. Today, Gary is a pastor in Florida.

During a Scripture distribution at a large Texas university, a group of Gideons had memorable conversations with several students. One student shared that he had started heavily drinking with his newfound freedom as a freshman. Before the end of the semester, he realized that he had become an alcoholic. He had attended church with his family growing up but had only head knowledge of God. After one drunken binge, he cried out to God to deliver him. God answered, and he was born again. A Gideon prayed with him and asked Jesus to give him boldness to share his powerful testimony with other students.

This student was one of 9,000 others who received a Testament from Gideons that day. “We planted seeds and pray that it will bear fruit,” said one of the Gideons.

Gideons and Auxiliary worldwide play a significant part in giving students the lasting hope of Jesus Christ. Join us in praying for the Lord to continue moving in the hearts and lives of the next generation. Pray also for today’s youth to openly receive the only remedy that can change their life—the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Gideons. Reaching the Next Generation. September 20, 2024. David P. Kinkade and Kevin McIntosh. 

https://www.gideons.org/blog/reaching_next_generation