Dear Friends in Christ,
According to the 2010 census there are over 186,000 Hispanics who live in Alabama. According to this census most of these people live within a 75-mile radius of Birmingham, AL. The majority of those living in or around Birmingham are illegal aliens who slipped in from Mexico. It continues to be a dramatic problem for our country because these people do not pay taxes and yet receive benefits in living here. Politicians argue about what to do about the influx of people across the Mexican border. Seemingly authorities do little or nothing these days to send back illegal immigrants unless someone is in a gang or causes trouble. There is not enough manpower to deal with this massive problem.
What appears as a problem to our country has become an opportunity sovereignly used by God. Regardless of our political view of this problem, these people have come to our country. For years we have sent missionaries to Mexico, Central America, and South America. Now we need missionaries here because God has orchestrated an opportunity to share the gospel with Hispanics right here in our state. For almost ten years now the Wales Goebel Ministry has been ministering to this people group. Octavio and Rosie Samper have worked with Hispanics in two venues over this time.
Octavio was called out of electrical engineering to work with our ministry in this area. He was born in Medellin, Colombia, but moved to the United States as a child. Rosie was born in New York into a Cuban family. Both speak fluent Spanish. Octavio has worked all these years with a church plant in Alabaster, an outreach of First Baptist. God also opened a soccer outreach on Sunday afternoons at Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church. Over five hundred Hispanics come each Sunday to play in an official soccer league. Each Sunday they also hear the gospel presented. There are Bible Studies set up during the week for those who are interested in learning more about the Lord.
Jim and Lula McVay worked in Mexico for over thirty years doing evangelism, discipleship and training of nationals. God brought them back to Birmingham and now they work with Wales Goebel Ministry helping Octavio and Rosie with the church in Alabaster, as well as the soccer outreach. Both Octavio and Jim have helped in the ministry in Colombia as well.
Octavio and Rosie recently spent countless hours translating training material into Spanish for the work in South America. Dr. Stephen Olford (who is now with the Lord) had a series of messages which equipped pastors in expository preaching. The family of Dr. Olford has set up a project to share these lectures with pastors all over the world. Our ministry entered into a mission partnership with this project to see the material translated into Spanish for use in Colombia and other Spanish speaking countries. There is still much work to be done for this project to be completed, so please pray for the Sampers as they continue the translation of this much needed material.
Joseph told his brothers in Genesis 50:20, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” The Wales Goebel Ministry has this same view of the Hispanic situation. Many of these people have evil in mind, but God brought them here to expose them to the gospel and bring many to life in Christ. Please pray for the Sampers and the McVays as they continue to evangelize and disciple Hispanics in the Birmingham area.
In Christ Our Life,
Jay Jackson
