I'm so thrilled to be sharing this very first report from Alliance Mexico about the progress we are making with the Guarajios tribe, deep in the mountains of Mexico. As many of you know, God has given us a wonderful opportunity to go after this unengaged, unreached people group by partnering with our extended Alliance family in Mexico - what a privilege it is, to be teamed for such a thing as this!

Thanks to your generous support and partnership from the CPD, in November one of our long-term dreams finally came true! For more than twenty years Pastor Tomas Bencomo, President of Alliance Mexico, has dreamed of reaching the Guarajio tribe. The Guarajio tribe is an ethnic group that exists between the border of three Mexican states: Chihuahua, Sonora, and Sinaloa. It is an unreached ethnic group where the gospel has never been preached. Finally, in mid-November, the day came when five of us got into a truck knowing where we wanted to go, but not knowing if we were coming back.

My wife, Elena, and I have been in church planting for 25 years. We recently attended the 25-year celebration of the first church we started. It was satisfying to reunite with old friends and see the congregation doing well. The attendees included some of our original team members and some of the church planters we had sent out from that first church. Elena and I stayed at that place of worship for eight years, during which time we sent out two other church-planting teams.

As we continue to look at the spiritual gift or manifestation of prophecy, we see that there are basically two applications. The first is reiteration (preaching) of the word of God and the second is revelation. Hopefully, as we hear the word of God preached, taught, and applied, we are also hearing the voice of God through that word. The people of God need to hear His voice, and one way is through reiteration. But I also believe revelation is at work today.

The year 2018 is almost over and many of us have had different experiences during the past year, but no matter what your experience was our God can make that experience better. If 2018 was not so good for you, God can make it better; if it was good, God can make it much better! He's the expert on that. I'm sure, for all of us in 2019, God will make a new beginning.

Christmas Eve was a historic day in Paradise, CA as they had the first large-scale public gathering since the Camp Fire with the theme, "I'll be Home for Christmas." Paradise Alliance Church received special permission to open up the church for the three services which ended up totaling about 4,000 people in attendance, with pastors from numerous churches in the community, all representing the whole "church" of Paradise. The water is still not potable, and PG&E brought in special gas tanks to heat the building, but the services went on as a tribute to the HOPE God is inspiring in Pastor Josh Gallagher and our church family there. 

Towards the end of a home remodel project, I was leaving a furniture store with a new table destined for the house Janet and I had been updating with my sister and brother-in-law. While driving out of the parking lot, I unexpectedly found some deep happiness coming forth, but not for any reason I would have previously thought. 

A.B. Simpson, the founder of this movement we call "The Alliance," said "God is preparing heroes, and when the opportunity comes, He can fit them into their places in a moment. And the world will wonder where they came from."

Occasionally, when I was pastoring, I would hear something like this: “Ray, I really believe that in our church God is saying to us that we need to move more and more toward prayer (or whatever). We’re beginning to move away from it and we need to move back towards it. 

Do you believe that God speaks through His church directly concerning needs like that? I believe he does. I also believe if a message like that is from God, it will be felt throughout the body. It’s something specific. God will speak to his church, and he will communicate that message through his people – that’s prophecy. That’s all it is – it’s not as spooky as we think.

While the news coming out of Paradise and Chico has slowed down, efforts to help our CPD churches here have only ramped up. Our C&MA family across the nation has mobilized prayer and resources on an unprecedented level. We're also seeing support from non-Alliance churches as God prompts them with this great need.  

While Neighborhood Church in Chico is no longer being used as an evacuation center, NC Chico is still housing our Paradise Alliance Church. Now that we're past some of the initial chaos, I thought it would be good for you to hear directly from Josh Gallagher, the new pastor at Paradise Alliance Church.   

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matthew 28:20

I read this today and it hit me. The last thing Jesus says in the book of Matthew is one of the most important things we need to recall to thrive in ministry today: “I am with you.”