Where Are They Now?
Saturday, August 12, 2006

(John 15:8)
“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye [prove to*] be my disciples.”

(John 15:16)
“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain…”

(2 Timothy 2:2)
“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”

The Definition of “Fruit”

These two Scriptures give us an injunction from Christ Himself to bring forth fruit. The fruit of which He speaks here is not so much the fruit of a holy life, meaning the “fruits of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23) but rather, He is referring to spiritual reproduction; bringing others to a saving encounter with Christ.

This, in no way, minimizes the importance of the evidences of the fruits of the Holy Spirit in our lives, but what is imperative for us to understand is that the fruit of the Spirit is not an end in and of itself. Apart from being evidence that the bearer of these fruits has been blessed with the gift of eternal life, it is a facilitator to the great and ultimate purpose of God for our lives here on Earth: reaching others and bringing them to Jesus Christ. This is what Christ called “bearing” or “bringing forth” fruit.

These two verses state three things that Jesus expected from our fruitfulness: (1) That it would glorify the Father, (2) That it would be the seal of our discipleship, and (3) That it would be permanent. * The understanding that this fruit would be the seal or proof of our being His disciples is found in the Greek word “ginomai ”, [G1096 - to be shown] is often translated “so shall ye be” in John 15:8.

Finally, in 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul affirmed that the true fruit of discipleship is generational. In other words, when your fruit bears fruit, your fruit was correctly discipled. Consider this, Luke, a convert and disciple of Paul, wrote the third and most complete synoptic Gospel. How many spiritual generations was he from the original 12?

Brothers and Sisters, we must understand that in the Bible, barrenness was considered a curse. Remember the fig tree? (Matthew 21:19-20; Mark 11:13-14 see also John 15:2)

“…and that your fruit should remain…”

One of the things that I really appreciated about the ministry of the late evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman, was the fact that she never published a testimony of a case of divine healing unless it was at least two years old. During her lifetime, when her books were published, many of the testimonies were already 20 years old. These people had documented evidence that they were dying or deathly ill, and 20 years later were still walking in divine health after experiencing the miracle of healing under her ministry!

It would be impossible for Gina and me to name or even mention all of those we have personally led to Christ and who are faithfully serving Him today, for they, very possibly, number in the thousands. Over the years Gina and I have received numerous phone calls, letters and emails from people that were saved in our ministry as children when we led their parents to Christ and now they are in full time ministry or on the mission field.

Mike Hernandez

In 35 years of ministry, I can go back 35 years to Monterey, California, and mention Mr. Michael Hernandez, one of the very first people I led to Christ in August of 1971 (Happy spiritual birthday, Mike!). Mike and his wife are members of Calvary Chapel Monterey and faithfully support our ministry with prayer and financial support to this day. Born and raised in Germany, Mike is, of course, fluent in German and has accompanied several of Calvary Chapel’s mission trips to Germany as a translator.

Christina Magellan

We can also go back 28 years to our brief 3 year ministry in Washington State and name many we led to Christ that are faithfully serving Him today: Like Christina Magellan, of Grandview, Washington, who along with her husband Alex and two children serve the Lord in a local church there. They also faithfully support our ministry.

My 12 Faithful Disciples

21 years ago, after 5 years of sowing the Word in Mexico, we planted a church in Tecpan de Galeana, Guerrero, Mexico. This church was planted on the basis of Christ’s plan to disciple 12 faithful converts in order to exponentially multiply the work of God through them. Those twelve inherited my spiritual DNA and have gone on to win many for Christ since then. (Those of you that have know me for 20 years or more know that I was talking this long before the moniker “G12” came about in 2002).

We had about 15 other young people that had been converted in other churches that we had planted in other parts of Mexico pass through our Discipleship Training in Tecpan also. We can give exciting testimonies of all of these young people that were our original 12, but right now I will just mention four: Teresa Salomé, Roberto & Julia Radilla and Eusebio Jaimes Islas.

Teresa (Tere) Salomé

Tere, was one of our first converts in our church in Tecpan. She comes from a family of career oriented professionals and was a high school student graduating with honors when I went and preached to her school in a school wide assembly in 1985. God deeply touched her life and she announced to her family that she had dedicated her life to Christ and was entering our discipleship and leadership school in the church.

We dedicated three years of our focus to disciple her along with the 11 other faithful young people. Afterwards we sent them all to Monterrey, Nuevo León; with a scholarship for three years of Bible school (Your financial support of our ministry helped us provide that Bible school scholarship.)

Today Tere is an ordained minister who has planted a thriving church in her home village under the auspices of our ministry in Mexico. She has been able to win her entire family for Christ as well as many, many others. Next month (September 26th) Tere will join us here in Spain for three months of ministry and discipleship.

Roberto & Julia Radilla

Roberto was not one of the first people we led to Christ in Tecpan, HE WAS THE VERY FIRST ONE!!! In 1985 he came to us bare foot, no shirt and in shorts wanting to know what we were all about… a true street urchin! He had come from a very rough family background and was being raised on the streets of that tropical village with the stray dogs. We took Roberto in, led him to Christ and began to disciple him.

Julia came in some time later when Gina led her to Christ. She also became one of our faithful 12. After three years of discipleship (that were very difficult for Roberto… he had never had any disciplines) Roberto also went on to graduate from Bible school. Today they serve the Lord together with their two daughters (who love the Lord dearly) in a church in Silver City, North Carolina.

Roberto is kind of like my middle man of communications to many of the other original 12 that are pastors and active in ministry in various parts of the world.

Eusebio (Chebo) Jaimes Islas

Chebo is indeed a dear son in the Lord. Being saved at 14 or 15 years old, in 1985 he was the youngest of the original 12. He is truly like my “Timothy”. Like the others, he went through discipleship and Bible school. He returned to serve in the church in Tecpan until I called him to work with us here in Spain for two years back in 1995. Later he went on to answer a Macedonian call to Liberia, West Africa. He was one of the first Mexican missionaries to Sub-Sahara, West Africa. (Since then the doors have opened for many Latin American missionaries to serve in several West African countries).

Chebo won the hearts of the Liberian people as he selflessly served them in the midst of a horribly bloody civil war. He suffered terrible cases of malaria and saw hundreds die violently. Yet he refused to leave and steadfastly ministered the Gospel to this precious but suffering people.

While serving in Liberia, Chebo met his wife Clarissa, a missionary from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. They now faithfully serve the Lord ministering as missionaries to the Spanish speaking immigrant population in Chambersburg and surrounding areas. They both feel that eventually they will continue their foreign missionary calling to both Africa and Mexico. Today Chebo and Clarissa have two beautiful children.


Our Deepest Desire

Our deepest and most sincere is to continue to bring for fruit for our beloved Lord and in this way see Him glorified!


Your prayerful and loving support is vital to the continued effective production of the fruit that glorifies our Father. Thank you very much.


H.M.S.,

Missionaries Prince & Gina Parker
Cáceres, Spain

posted by Prince and Gina Parker @ 1:54 PM, ,




A Day In The Life

(A Testimony)

Romans 8:37
"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."


Brothers & Sisters, I've got some stories I could tell about adventures in our life on the mission field that would make good action movies or outrageous comedies. Back in March of 1999 I made a trip to Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa, to spend quality time with one of my key disciples, Chebo. The resulting trip was one of those... but only one of countless many.


The following letter is one I wrote upon my return from that particular adventure.

-------------------------------------
Dear Brethren,

How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)

Mexican Missionary In Africa
Four days ago I returned from a ten day trip to Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa. As things were going, that in itself was quite an accomplishment! But I’m starting at the end of the story. I’ll get to that...

I was invited there to be one of the keynote speakers to minister in the seventh national annual conference of the African Christian Fellowship International (ACFI, an independent indigenous evangelical church fellowship).

I was honored to receive the invitation, but my principal motivation for going was to be able to spend quality time with Eusebio (or “Chebo” as he is affectionately known) and minister to his needs. As you know Chebo is my spiritual son and “Timothy” from the Tecpan, Guerrero, Mexico church.

After ten months he is now a resident of Liberia and is well on his way to becoming fluent in English. His has been an experience that every Christian should have. Being that he went there completely unable to communicate in English he just had to apply I Peter 3:1 and win people without words; live the Gospel and shine by being a servant and a true Christian. He has won the hearts of everyone who knows him. Now that he can minister in English, his word has the power of a “hammer that breaketh the rock into pieces” (Jeremiah 23:29).

Wherever I went with him throughout the city of Monrovia people would shout, “Chebo!” and wave to him. The impact of his testimony has since had an incredible effect on the church in all quarters of the country! I and all who are involved with him truly believe that Chebo will soon become God’s man for the hour for His work of evangelism and discipleship in that country.

If It’s Of God, There Will Be Opposition
The longer I serve the Lord the more I understand this fact: that the enemy will diametrically oppose everything that God proposes. This, however, should never be motive for discouragement, but rather encouragement because it means that we are on cue with God’s plan for our lives.

To begin with, my Liberian visa did not arrive until 9:00 p.m. the evening before my scheduled departure... I was to leave at 4:00 a.m. the next morning. I made it to the airport and American Airlines went on strike. Sooo, four days later I was finally able to fly out. But... just as I was about to check in on my new departure date, I discovered that my wallet was missing. Someone in the airport was walking around counting the money that I was to spend in Liberia. The shock of the loss lasted about two minutes. Before I even got on the plane American Airlines informed me that they think that my suit case was accidentally sent to Quito, Ecuador or who knows where on the globe! They had already lost it!

It really helps to have a Godly form of apathy when you’re a missionary. An attitude that says, “Man, life goes on so you’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do to get done what you’ve got to get done.” Because of this, my immediate conclusion was: “Now this is going to be an interesting adventure. I’ve got to travel around the world with absolutely NO money or extra clothing! Let’s see what God does on this trip, He’s got to have something really great in mind because the enemy has really been putting up a fight. Oh well, my stuff is gone and I can’t do anything about it right now. So let’s get on with it and go to Africa.” (Ephesians 6:12) Of course he’s fighting a futile battle because the more I see him fight, the more I get determined to see him smashed under my feet (Romans 16:20) and see what God’s going to do! I just love to see God work, I think it’s exciting! (Thank God my suit case turned up in New York under somebody else’s name. The wallet? Well, that was just counted as a casualty of war.)

I arrived in Monrovia and no one was waiting in the airport to pick me up. A real cute situation after you’ve been traveling for about thirty hours. If you’ve never been to some of these third world countries you don’t know what it’s like to have to fight off the government piranhas just to get into the country if you don’t have connections. In most of these countries the government is like unto the Lone Ranger... lawmen that wear masks! I had to fight for about 45 minutes just to get them to give me my laptop computer back! They said that I didn’t have a receipt for it so they would have to confiscate it. (For cryin’ out loud, the thing’s a dinosaur and I take it everywhere!).

After a few hours, the Liberian immigration agents finally took me under their wing and told me that for a modest fee of fifty US dollars they would take me to ACFI. (Remember my wallet?) “Why not. Sure, go ahead.” I told them. I was going to figure out the details later on. About twenty minutes into the trip at a military check point we encountered the ACFI van. I just got out of the vehicle and loaded my stuff the into the van and left Liberians to fight it out with the Liberians as to who was to pay what. You can bet that they didn’t pay $50.00! That very evening I was ministering.

Ministry In Liberia
Liberia is a very hot country. I’ve lived in tropical countries for years and am used to the heat, bugs and sweat and I know how to bathe out of a bucket. There is no electricity nor running water in the entire country because of the recent civil war fought there. (I should rather say uncivil war. What war is civil?) The mosquitoes were thick there so every night I tried to cover myself with a sheet and suffocate, throw the sheets off and get eaten by a thousand heard but unseen foes. After going through this all night, before I knew it the village crier is shouting and singing in the streets that it’s time to attend the 6:00 a.m. worship service. I would have thrown a shoe at the guy but I was scheduled to speak at the six a.m. service.

That was my schedule from then on out for we had services from 6:00 am until 11:00 p.m. for a solid week. My greatest blessing during this time was to experience a tremendous anointing over me and the congregation as I taught the Word of God. This is where God manifested Himself to me and showed my why the enemy had resisted the trip so. It’s all about God’s purposes in our lives.

I shared with the pastors a series of studies for leaders on the life of Moses, vision in the ministry and the difference between the fire of God and offering a strange fire as well as various themes during the general assemblies.

I praise God for the testimonies of those that were encouraged, instructed and edified as the Holy Spirit revealed Himself to us through His Word. Very few of the pastors have had the opportunity of a formal biblical education. So I’m thankful for having had the opportunity to edify these dedicated servants of God.

There were 42 churches present or represented at the convention. I ministered in specials sessions to the 110 pastors and workers as well as to the 2,042 registered delegates that were in the general services. I was the key speaker in the Sunday morning service with 2,500 in attendance and there was a tremendous response the Word. I also had the privilege to partake in the ordination service of 10 ministers. These ten were the first to be ordained since 1988, before the horrible civil war disrupted and shattered life as they had known it.

Brand X Airways
This last trip I got to fly with “the other guys” major western airlines are always talking about and comparing themselves to. I’ll be kind and not mention the company or the country of this particular airline, (No it wasn’t American Airlines) but man, it was really “Brand X”. Dirty, dilapidated terminal and aircraft, little to offer in food or service. A small example is that I was on seven flights (one to Liberia, Ghana, Guinea, La Cote d’ Ivoire, and Dakar, Senegal) with this airline on this trip and they never once had ice. The aircraft were old, rusted, broken up inside and smelled rank. It’s bad when you have to go to the restroom on an airplane and the toilet has time honored deposits because it won’t flush and you have to hold the door shut because it’s broken and swings open and you can see that things have obviously been that way for a while. I gotta’ admit though, it was the cheapest flight.

The zenith on this was that during one of the flights I saw something move in the aisle and thought is was a rat. It was dark so I looked hard. IT WAS A CRAB! It grabbed some dude’s shoe so I grabbed it from behind and then it tried to fight with me. The head steward came by told me to drop it and he stomped it to death. The dead animal was on the floor the rest of the entire flight!

The World’s Greatest Privilege
So many times well meaning people ask me if I enjoyed my trip. I fully understand what they mean and it’s very kind of them to ask, but bear with me on this; my goal is not necessarily to “enjoy my trip” but rather to do the will of God. In this my joy is fulfilled! Regardless of whether I enjoy it or not. More often than not on these trips I’m served with love and fine attention some kind of roast beast or some other strange species of plant or animal for dinner. In these cases I’ve learned to limit my culinary preferences to, “If it doesn’t try to walk off the plate after you serve it to me I’ll eat it. But in some places that can’t even be a requirement.

II Corinthians 4:1 says that we have received our ministry just as we have received mercy; that means that we don’t deserve it! I love the calling that God has given me to know and minister to the Body of Christ world wide. The rich diverse cultural expressions in worship, the colorful people, all the experiences that life can afford in varied and unanticipated situations all work together to make my understanding of God, man and life in general much more profound. They all contribute to make me a better servant of God useful for every good work. I praise God for this privilege to be able to serve Him in this capacity. There is nothing in the world for which I would give it in exchange.
Thank You!
This is where Gina and I both praise God for each one of you. You uphold us in your prayers, support us with your offerings and encourage us with your words and in many other ways. We are grateful both to God and to you for this and much more. You have sown into the harvest of the Kingdom, you shall reap an abundance of God’s favor and blessings. Each time that God uses us to encourage his church world wide He has used you. You have had a definite part in His work world wide because you helped to keep us on the field. Thank you. We pray that we will continue to be used of God as He wills. For this reason we live.

Once again, thank you very much and may God continue to bless you all!

H.M.S.,

Prince & Gina Parker

posted by Prince and Gina Parker @ 1:19 PM, ,




Mexican Missionary in Africa (2)

Our disciple served as a foreign missionary for two years in Liberia, West Africa, during the horrible Civil War. In thes two photos he is shown with a group of converts that he was discipling. (Photos 1 & 2)












(Photo3) Most Africans have never met a Latin American... much less a Mexican. So these young ladies were totally facinated with him.
(Photo 4) Waiting to minister the Word in the African Christian Fellowship Annual Conference with other ministers and elders.

posted by Prince and Gina Parker @ 1:09 PM, ,




Mexican Missionary in Africa (1)

Chebo is preaching to 2500 Liberian deligates. He had been ministering in English for a year but we thought that he would be able to minister with much more freedom if he could just go ahead and "let loose" in Spanish while I translated into English.

The Liberians we already in love with Chebo, but after hearing his heart flow in his native tongue, they could have carried him on their shoulders forever!

posted by Prince and Gina Parker @ 1:03 PM, ,




First Fruits

This is a recent photo of Roberto Radilla and his wife Julia were two of our original 12 disciples in Tecpan. Together with their two daughters they diligently serve the Lord in Silver City, NC.

I truly praise God for this faithful couple for they have served the Lord and have borne the heat of the day. They shall shine as the stars of the heavens.

Roberto is faithful to maintain comunication with me and the others on a consistent basis. He also raises financial support for those that are yet serving under difficult situations in Mexico as well as helps to pay Bible school expenses for some young people from the Tecpan church to this day.

posted by Prince and Gina Parker @ 12:47 PM, ,




Chebo and Clarissa Today

Today Chebo (on of my original 12 disciples) and his lovely wife Clarissa minister the gospel to the Spanish speaking people of Pennsylvania.

In this recent photo he is shown along with Clarissa and his two children.

posted by Prince and Gina Parker @ 12:35 PM, ,




Sowing By Faith

The young lady in this photo is María Elena Rendón Elías. She is shown, in a recent photo, with her husband, Pastor José Luis Figueroa, and her children.

María Elena is the youngest sister of Gregorio, one of our original 12 in our disciple. She is my daughter Genesis' age and Genesis ministered to her in Children's church ministry in Tecpan.

Today, she and her husband are in full time ministry in Mexico City and are in preparation for service in full time foreign missions.

posted by Prince and Gina Parker @ 12:20 PM, ,




Bush Whackin' Missionay Candidates

This motley crew of bush wackers was one of the many groups of missionaries sent to us from the USA in 1985 for special tropical and jungle training for the mission field.

They were a great group of troopers... not a complainer amongst them! Gina and I took them to minister in the jungles of Belize, Guratemala and Southern Mexico. While we took the gospel to remote villages and townships we trudged through knee deep mud, bathed in rivers and served as food to about 10,000,000,000 hungry female mosquitoes.

My children, Genesis, Jasmine and Jason were very small then, yet found it totally normal to be right along side of us through all of this and served as translators for the team members who spoke little or no Spanish.

A young man named Marc Pinneo is tucked away in this group (6th from the left).

posted by Prince and Gina Parker @ 12:10 PM, ,




From Other Flocks Also

This photo (1986) was from one of our months of mixed discipleship training that involved converts from works that were not ours and disciples that were not converted under our ministry.

Shown together with some of our permanent 12 are disciples from two different ministries: a Bible school from northern Mexico (we lived in the south) and missionary candidates from a missionary organization in the USA.

Here they are shown in preparation to go out and evangelize in the streets of Tecpan.

The tall young gent on the right is Mr. Marc Pinneo, who together with his wife serve the Lord in Santa Ana, California.

posted by Prince and Gina Parker @ 12:00 PM, ,




Discipleship Training Special Session

This photo taken of another mixed group training session in 1986-87.

posted by Prince and Gina Parker @ 11:57 AM, ,




Disciples From Our Other Works

This photo (1987) is from one of the sessions in which we brought in those in discipleship training from our other works to spend time with the original 12.

Sisters, front row left to right: Lourdes Olmos, Julia (Radilla), Mariela Mellín. 2nd row: Lolis Garcia, Isabel Orosco, Lourdes, Lalia,Teresa (Tere), Reina.

Brothers left to right: Amalio Garcia, Roberto Radilla, Hugo, Chebo, Gregorio (Goyo), Diego, Severiano, Vilma and daughter Zuri.

posted by Prince and Gina Parker @ 11:15 AM, ,




The Young Men of Our Original 12

Front row left to right: Roberto Radilla, Hugo Andrade, Amalio Garcia, Eusebio (Chebo) Jaimes, Gregorio Rendón. Back row left to right: Severiano Orosco, Diego Onofre.

When God put it on my heart to form my 12 back in 1981, I had no concept me just working with a of a group of young men and my wife just with women. I didn't see the brilliance of that method until it was revealed to Pastor Cesar Castellanos in 2002.

Yet I was working, what I understood to be, a vision of the 12, a discipleship training school that was not a parachurch organization [such as those fine missonary organization such as: YWAM or OM], but rather an organic part and natural function of the local church. God began to show me, among other revelations about true discipleship, that true leadership is not my ability to do the work of "seven" men... however willing I might be to do so... but was rather the ability to train up "seven" men to do the work!

So I bagan to seek out a call out those I saw most qualified for three intense discipleship training. I wanted to multiply my spiritual DNA (my spiritual burdens, visions, passions and knowledge) in them and in that way effectively multiply my ability to spread the work of God. These 12 disciples actually lived with us in the Discipleship Training Center for three years.

As I stated, we had 12 principal disciples from our Tecpan church, which I considered to be the mother church of all those we had planted in Mexico. But we had some marvelous young people that had been saved in our other works that I would bring in during various times of the year for times of discipleship training and personal ministry. We would then send them back home to continue to work in their home churches.

Upon graduation, the ones I considered to be the most able and willing to continue their ministerial preparation, Gina and I scholarshipped to study in a formal Bible school. These we called our first graduates. In the local church, this took nothing away from those who did not go on to Bible school, but could open wider doors of ministry for those that did.

posted by Prince and Gina Parker @ 10:25 AM, ,




First Discipleship Training Graduates

These are the first gratuates of our Disciple Training vision for the Tecpan de Galeana, Guerrero (Mexico) church back in 1987-88.

They we just part of our original 12 disciples for the Tecpan church. Frequently we joined together those young people who were in our discipleship training from our satelite churches or mission outreaches that we had planted.

They were our first converts in Tecpan in 1985 and all are serving the Lord faithfully today.

Girls, left to right: Isabel, Reina, Lourdes, Mariela, Teresa (Tere).

posted by Prince and Gina Parker @ 10:07 AM, ,