Michael and Bertha Chavez

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Edit page New page Hide edit links

Michael and Bertha Chavez-2

I am a third generation Hispanic from Mexico born in the United States. As a child I grew up in a broken home without a father, my grandmother taught me Spanish until she died, when I was 8 years old. My mom spoke mostly English in the home and I began losing my Spanish language. I was raised as a Catholic until the age of 15, when I began attending a Baptist church. I made a decision to become a Christian, and thought I was saved, but it took a crisis in my life to realize I had not repented nor had I made Jesus the Lord of my life. I  got married in the Baptist Church at the age of 22 years old, but shortly into our marriage we had problems which took us toward the process of divorce when God rescued me. I praise God for shining His grace on me and saving me in 1985, I then cried out to Him for my wife’s soul and our marriage. Bertha was saved in May 1985 and our marriage was made new with God’s love. From that time on my whole life’s desire has been to serve the Lord. We served in the bus ministry of Sagemont Baptist Church for two years before we took a trip to Mexico and heard the Lord’s calling me to go to Mexico and do full time ministry there..

After two months of seeking God’s direction on going to the field, my wife and I arrived in Allende, Nuevo Leon, Mexico on September 1, 1987. Allende is a small town 45 miles southeast of Monterrey, Mexico. Working with missionary J.W. Steele, we were put in charge of the Bible Institute students. With the students’ help we began evangelizing, and planted the church in Allende Iglesia Bautista El Tabernaculo. After 3 years on the mission field, the Lord blessed us with our first born son in 1990. We had been married 8 years and my wife had not been able to conceive a child until then. We are so grateful for the 8 children God has blessed us with and we pray the Lord will use our family for His glory.

Three years after we had been in Mexico as dorm parents, 10 Bible students graduated and God moved us to work with missionary Wayne Fleming and the Betel Baptist Bible Institute which was 20 miles away. During the 9 years we worked together, 8 churches were planted with the help of God’s people from the United States and as national pastors graduated they pastored the churches. We out grew our living quarters and had to move to the town of Allende to find a rental house for our large family. The Lord brought many people to our home to minister to. We began a Bible study class for children ages 5-12, which met every Saturday. We also began discipling many couples and teaching a parenting class. I began having church every Sunday in our home to help these new Christians grow in the Lord. We needed ministry funds to continue and had never done deputation to raise support, so the Lord made a way for us to come to the States.   God has been so good to our family.  We praise the Lord for being able to return to the mission field on August 1, 2013. We are currently serving in the Mexico City area.  Praying to plant a church in God’s timing.