Category: Newsletter

Dear friends, mission partners, brothers and sisters in Christ,

Forgive the lengthiness of this update. As we draw to the end of one year and enter another, we reflect on everything that we have experienced, the good and the bad and we feel compelled to take the time to express our gratitude to those who the Lord has used to provide for our family and every ministry need met. We are extremely grateful for each and every person who has taken time out to pray for this ministry, for the church, for our family. Especially those who take the time to personally reach out to us on occasion for much needed encouragement.  For every person who has donated any amount throughout the year. Thank you, we love and appreciate your love for the Lord and the desire to be involved in mission work.

Anyone who has followed us for any length of time has probably read in a newsletter, or a post on social media, or maybe has heard me in person speaking somewhere say that, “Those who pray for and give to missions play a role just as important as the missionary on the field.”  I say it often, especially when doing some speaking back home or talking missions with anyone. I say it a lot because we really believe that. The church or person who gives any amout faithfully over time, or the grandmother who wakes up early every morning to pray for the missionaries that she has pictures of or names of on her fridge. Both play a crucial role in this long term partnership in the Gospel we call mission work.

When it comes to funding a missionary, some would say very simply that if it’s God’s will He will provide, and they take the position of not seeking to share needs or raise money. They firmly believe that in this way they are truly trusting the Lord. That’s fine, if it is their conviction, and I believe that if it’s God’s will then He will provide too. But to leave it so simplistic would really be to miss something important on the other side of the same coin. Something clearly revealed in the Scriptures that should not be avoided. We understand and believe that God has ordained all things, absolutely. But He has also ordained the means by which to reach those ends. One confession puts it well when speaking on the decree of God. It says that:

“God hath decreed in himself, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all things, whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin nor hath fellowship with any therein; nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established; in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things, and power and faithfulness in accomplishing his decree.”

And it wouldn’t take long reading through the epistles before you would start to notice a couple of things:

First, Paul absolutely depended on God and prayed expecting God to answer, and God often did.

At the same time we see other examples of Paul making his needs known to the churches. He also expected the brethren to help him with his needs and the needs of others. Both are true and they go together.

Yes, at times he worked with his hands out of a conviction and even necessity. In Philippians he writes that at one time “in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone.” (Philippians 4:15) This is incredibly astounding. Consider the great Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the gentiles, the great missionary. Now consider churches that he himself and perhaps others had planted, unwilling to give or help Paul so that the Gospel may go forth in other places?! If we lost all of our support, and only one (fairly young) church supported us, we would have to do the same. We too have had to do a little tent making  as of late until we acquire some new mission partners to help ease the burden of new needs and to prepare for future plans we have. But that hasn´t always been the case.

One realistic downside of bivocational missionaries to consider, is that it is easy to become overloaded and overwhelmed, and hence comes the possibility of becoming less effective and their longevity on the field may then soon be in play. Unless somehow, they had established in the past a business, or a high paying career before they moved to a foreign mission field, and they were able to somehow keep it going and make money for their family and ministry without sacrificing all of their time. But those are exceptions, and often bivocational missionaries usually end up spending less time working for the Lord (of course everything we do is unto the Lord, but I mean specifically mission work and ministry here) and more time working just to survive and make ends meet.

And as the Lord opens more doors, it also comes with more expenses and needs. In the past, I taught English at another school free of charge for almost two years. We still even recently have helped that school. But there are seasons of life and ministry when you just do what you gotta do. So I  was teaching at another school, but now I am working at the orphanage to make ends meet. I am willing to do it and even enjoy it in many ways. Sure it is a blessing and the opportunities to share the Gospel are many. But, family in that mix of a very demanding work load, both in ministry and secular work, and you will eventually have a recipe for burnout. Especially on the field where the needs are often much greater when working with the poor, and people aren´t so individualistic and private, but need and desire much more attention and time spent together with them. Often needing more time and resources than you have available, and need more than most Americans do. It is this way with ministry in many other cultures, it’s just different. And if we are honest, most people culturally as Americans just like thier privacy and in general are better off financially. And that’s ok. I say this to mean that just because something is common and or easily done in the States, it doesn’t mean it will be so in a different setting. And though bivocational ministry is always difficult, it proves to be even moreso where the people are poor, often sick and less educated. In those situations, things usually take much more time, energy and money.

But why do some missionaries seem to always need money? Well, first we would certainly agree that the most loving thing we can do for a person is to share the Gospel with them and point them to Christ. To this we say yes and amen. Yet at the same time, it would very unloving to preach the Gospel and ignore someones obvious urgent, basic needs, especially if we were in any position to help them. Of course we cannot help everyone, and the “poor will always be with us.” But this is no excuse for not being as generous as possible and we must remember that we were saved not just from something, but also for somethings,

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

Time and time again we see in Scripture the duty of the believer to compassionate, merciful and generous as we saw exemplified in the life of our Lord and the Apostles and the early church. When the other Apsotles extended the right hand of fellowship to Paul and Barnabas as they were getting ready to go off to proclaim the Gospel and make disciples of the gentiles, they reminded Paul of something that was important to them beacuse it was important to God..

“Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”  Galatians 2:10

In the book “Controversies in Missions,” a compilation of essays written on various controversial topics in missions, a chapter on Carl F. H. Henry’s regenerational model puts it this way:

“The particular eloquence of Henry’s position is this: one need not deny the important biblical commands regarding social justice in order to arrive at prioritism (the Gospel proclamation is the priority), and the way one does this is by understanding the full weight of the doctrine of revelation within Christian theology. When this is done, it becomes clear that there is a direct correlation between the doctrine of revelation and the priority of proclamation. However, such a prioritist position by no means renders what the Bible says about social justice as irrelevant or unimportant. In fact, the opposite is true. A high view of the doctrine of revelation, especially concerning Scripture, also gives rise to a robust social concern because the moral imperatives for God’s people are divinely revealed.”

This is in no way a “social gospel” as some understand it. But rather biblical ministry centered on God’s revelation and the ethical demmands put on those who are transformed by the very same Gospel proclamation. The latter (compassionate generosity) actually gives evidence to and establishes that the first and main thing, (Gospel proclamation and salvation) actually took place to begin with. One is a priority, yet both are necessary and biblical. The author offers a very helpful illustration from every day life to help us understand how both are necessary, while rightly keeping the main thing, namely Gospel proclamation, the main thing.

“I might say that I am going to go to the bank to make a deposit and then to the post office to mail some bills. I furthermore declare that the bank is my top priority because if I do not deposit my paycheck, then the bills cannot be paid. Clearly, one has here a case of priority in which both things remain necessary. I still must deposit my check and I still must pay my bills. Yet one of these takes priority because the second thing depends on the first thing having taken place. It is the same with evangelism and social concern. The gospel must first be preached before converts can be discipled and, indeed, the content of Christian discipleship remains mired in obscurity apart from the proclamational foundations of the apostles and prophets, which is divine revelation. Thus, the logical priority of evangelism does not render compassion as optional. It simply affirms the ultimate place of Scripture and the unequivocal role given to proclamation in the life of the church.”

Consider this text in James:

“If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.” James 2:15-17

But now back to my first point on the funding necessary in order to do both of these things:

So we have the Apostle Paul, who was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write and explain the mysteries of God being revealed, praying to the Sovereign Lord, and at the same time He makes his needs known to the churches and seemingly expected them to meet those needs. We see true dependence on God through prayer, AND communicating to the churches his own needs and the needs of others. Why? Because He understood that the means to reach the goal of the church, IS the church. Specifically, the emphasis in the NT is overwhelmingly on the local churches.

God´s people have a mission, to go and make disciples of all nations, baptize and to teach all that Christ has commanded. God´s people also have the real responsibility to be intentional in going, sending, praying for and providing for that mission and showing mercy and compassion to others in the process. There are ethical demmands that are put upon the beliver through the commands in the NT. It´s not rocket science, but for some at least, its hard to stay balanced. Many people error and fall off of one side of the horse or the other. It just isn’t as black and white as some would like. We live in a tension in this area. Consider the beautiful mystery of God’s Sovereignty and the will and responsibility that man has. His decrees and His means to reach His intended purpose.

Who´s mission is it?   God´s.

Who has He commanded to fulfill the mission?   God´s people.

Who´s doing the calling?   God.

Who´s Word are we preaching and teaching?   God´s.

Who did He choose and inspire to write and preserve it? God´s people.

Who is the one preaching and teaching?   God´s pèople.

Who is forgiving sins and doing the saving?   God.

Who is being saved and who is He using to proclaim the Gospel?   God´s people.

Who is opening the minds of people, illuminating them to understand the Scriptures? God is.

Who does He use to do this?   God´s people.

To Whom belongs the cattle on a thousand hills (and everything else in the universe)?   To God.

Who is doing the praying and who is doing the providing?   God´s people.

Who has He entrusted precious resources to, to be used for His glory?   God´s people.

At the same time, who is really doing the providing and Sovereignly answering specific individual prayers of provision for His people who are doing His will on His mission? God is.

I could go on and on, but hopefully you get the point by now. His plans will be accomplished and cannot be thwarted, no doubt about that. But He has revealed and commanded how it is to be done as well. And we are very much responsible for being about the will of God in the work of the church. He will do it, and He will do it through His people. Paul knew this. But many who lean too much in either direction fall into error and become unbalanced, inconsistent or worse, unbiblical.

To deny the real responsibility we have before Him would be somewhat foolish and would require the systematic focusing on some particular texts of Scripture, while at the same time ignoring of a lot of other texts. Or putting Scripture against Scripture versus putting the two things together. It would be akin to an error as in saying, God will provide for me but I refuse to work. Or that God will cause me grow in knowledge but I refuse to read or study. For the above mentioned reasons, we have come to the understanding that it is ok to ask for help and make needs known for us and for others. We simply say “these are the needs, pray about helping.” If the Lord puts in someone the desire to help, then praise the Lord! We have examples of it in the Scriptures and we simply accept it and live in the tension between the Sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. There is no need to even try to reconcile the two, we see both in the Bible and they do not oppose eachother in any way.

Why even address this? I feel the need to expalian this mainly because of our critics, who themselves are of an extreme position and choose not to communicate or share needs out of their conviction. Unfortunately, the same often suffer need more frequently and unnecessarily. God has blessed and given the specific gift of helping/giving to some. (1 Cor. 12:28)  People who desire to see the Gospel taken forth and to help the poor and others. There are people and churches somwhere, right now praying about which mission to give to. We could testify time and time again about how the Lord in His providence would bring such people across our path through their own prayers in seeking who to help, while at the same time answering our specific prayers for provision. Many of who we have never even met or had any prior contact or relationship with! The Lord really has provided and answered an innumerable amount of prayers like these. And He always did so through His people, whether a church as a whole or through individual brothers and sisters.

Having said all of that, we are extremely grateful to God and to our mission partners who pray and support. Especially those who have done so faithfully over time. Without your prayers and donations we just wouldn’t be able to do what we do for as long as we have done it. That’s a fact. Thank you and God bless you.

There really is so much more I can say on the topic, but I will leave it there for now.

In Christ,

Antonio Salgado Jr.

 

We do not use a sending agency that gets a percentage of the money donated, so you can be sure that your gift goes directly to the mission field.

If the Lord so lies on your heart to give back to Him by supporting this ministry:

You can  donate to this ministry online with Paypal. Click the donate button below and you can send support of any amount directly to the ministry. You can choose the option of doing a one-time donation and this is the fastest option to get funds to us. Click the link below for that option.

https://www.paypal.me/SalgadoDRMission

Also,

CENTRAL MISSIONARY CLEARINGHOUSE
P.O. Box 219228
Houston, Texas 77218-9228
1-800-CMC-PRAY (1-800-262-7729)
Office: 281-599-7411
Fax: 281-599-7511

The ministry of (CMC) serves hundreds of missionaries, but they ONLY receive the funds for us and in no way have control over how the funds are to be spent or what we are to do as a ministry, which gives room to be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading and the liberty in making needed adjustments.

You may begin sending your support to the BCMS (Antonio Salgado) at any time at the address above. (Checks should be made payable to Central Missionary Clearinghouse or C.M.C.)

You can also now give to the ministry here in the DR online through the new giving solution called “click and give” at the CMC website.

To get started you just need to click on the link below and register the first time. Just a simple click on the donate button on their page (see link below), and then click the “click and give icon/button”.

https://www.cmcmissions.org/donate

For tax exemption, you must send your donation through Central Missionary Clearinghouse (CMC) at the address above. But the Paypal option is the fastest way to get funds directly to the field.

We do not use a sending agency that gets a percentage of the money donated, so you can be sure that your gift goes directly to the mission field.

Whatever you decide, thank you so much for praying for us and helping this ministry. God Bless You!

Dear friends, mission partners, brothers and sisters in Christ,

Here we have ended  another year. By God’s grace, we survived many challenges in 2021. But even in difficulties, the Scriptures tell us to “give thanks in all circumstances.” That is easier said than done, but very possible by God’s grace. I am very thankful for the faithful few who have continued supporting until now. May God bless your intentions to help us, others in need and your faithfulness.

Things are going well at the orphanage. The work is tough, the days are long, but working with children who come from vulnerable situations is rewarding, and they have given me a lot of freedom to develop tools, activities and programs to apply to the logistics and training of the personnel to better care for the children. I am thankful that I can work in a place that allows me to use my experience and are open to changes and trying new things. Another positive thing about working here is that there is always an opportunity to share the Gospel, and I record and share a devotional every morning with over 120 employees. 

I keep in touch with Leonel in Haiti often. We actually spoke this morning as he was asking if Yeison has gotten better. Yeison was recently very sick with vomiting for a few days. He began to get better, then presented fever for two days. We had insurance in the past, but do not have it at the moment. After a very difficult day spent in the emergency room here, I decided to take him home and treat  him myself. The symptoms are gone now, and his COVID test came back negative, so thank God for that.

Hopefully in 2022 I can make it back to Haiti for a follow-up visit that is long overdue. Since the pandemic started, I haven’t been able to make it back, and unfortunately we’ve lost a few good brothers over there since my last visit. There is an urgent need over there, not just for him and his family, but for many others I personally know due to the instability of the country overall. He has needs, but as of now I am very, very limited in resources unless new mission partners come on board to help with these needs. Please pray for that.

I have a possible trip planned to Venezuela this year, Lord willing. We are helping some family and friends of  some brothers very close to us. We hope to even help a few people here (through some very helpful contacts) to offer them more opportunities and a better quality of life compared to the horrible state of their country right now. The situation is worse than most think, and many are suffering and struggling just to feed themselves. We have helped several Venezuelans in the past, and these are friends and family members of some people near and dear to us. Those are also long and costly processes. But I wish to help as much as possible with that. Any prayers and donations toward that is also very appreciated.

I am currently waiting on a donation of some large boxes of what is usually food and clothes to arrive, but the shipment is extremely delayed. Pray that they come soon so that the donation can be distributed to those who need it. We can always use donations. In fact, we need them desperately. Many I have relationships with here have asked for help who have benefited through BCMS or Salgado DR Mission in the past, but unfortunately, resources are becoming more scarce every month. 

There are tons of needs. A few weeks ago I had a car accident and the repairs on that alone will cost me at least $1000. I already got ripped off by one painter and had a difficult time getting the vehicle back. Thankfully, I  got it back this week. As far as Yeison´s needs with the  school, I have a sister who has pledged to help with 2/3 of the cost of the special assistant Yeison needs because of his attention issue, but I am still 100 USD short a month to cover that cost. The school keeps asking when I will begin to pay, and I have asked them to please be patient. There are plans for things I’d love to do here in this community near the orphanage or the other communities I have worked in. If the Lord leads anyone to help with any of these needs, it would be very appreciated and will truly be a blessing. 

In Christ,

Antonio Salgado

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,  because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. – Philippians 1:3-5

To donate to me personally, the work I do here in the DR and financial help for Yeison and I, you can donate at this link through PayPal.

https://www.paypal.me/SalgadoDRMission

To donate directly to Fundación Red de Misericordia to help with the needs of the children we work with, you can donate at this link:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=GKASFXK6R4EYC&source=url

 

Dear mission partners, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ,

Here we are, just like most of the world right now under quarantine. This is week four for us. Christen and I have had to go out several times, but the children have not gone much further than the yard. But we praise God that everyone in our family is pretty healthy right now, besides the underlying issues we already know of. God has been very kind and gracious to us.

The church here has also been forced to communicate online (those that can)as many others are,  or through a phone call. But the situation here is getting urgent pretty quickly. Although there have been deaths due to Covid-19 and cases near us, what has been worse than the virus itself has been the mandatory lockdown. The curfew here begins early, at 5pm, and many of even the essential places of business are closing early. That is causing all kinds of serious problems.

Seeing what was happening all around us, and speaking to brothers from other parts of the island, we realized how many people were already out of food and in need. Since we are plugged into a network of churches here, we are joining their efforts to help some poor and struggling Dominican and Haitian churches, many that are in difficult and isolated places. But we are also doing our part on the local level in the two communities (Hato Mayor, San Jose Las Minas) that we are working in. We hope to help other local churches we know of in and around Santiago, and in the next few days be able to send some help towards the national effort. Pray that the Lord would provide for us to do so and help as much as possible.

We are seeing many opportunities that the Lord is giving us through this difficult situation. Just a few days ago, I was able to purchase a large amount of basic food items. We also had a few boxes of soaps and shampoo that was donated to give away. So our family was able to put together some decent care packages for 40 families.

Pastor Victor and I loaded up the mission van the next morning to begin distribution. We covered a lot of ground and still were able to make it home before curfew. I went out again near our home, and again with Christen yesterday to some people who were a little farther away. Everyone received eggs, rice, beans, sugar, milk, oil, tomato paste, sardines, salami, corn flour, seasonings, soap, shampoo and a very good Gospel tract. We had several opportunities to share the Gospel with unbelievers. Please pray for those who heard the Gospel, and for those who read the tracts they received.

We definitely heard some heartbreaking stories along the way from several people who have families but don’t have anything to eat during this time and are stuck home unable to work. Many of these people live hand to mouth as it is, so this lockdown has been the hardest on them. Their homes are tiny, many in bad conditions, and it would be impossible for them to go out and stock up like many of us can. 

We can already see how God is using the quarantine in our personal lives too, as we spend more time together as a family. We have time to think and reflect on many things as we do some self-examination and refocusing. We are reminded of God’s grace, the work of the church to proclaim the Good News and to help the needy and all that we have to be thankful for.

In spite of all the bad news and suffering, we do see God being glorified. Some churches that do have some resources are reaching out to help smaller churches. Some are already are working together and seeking to help bring relief to their own people. A few Christians have taken to the streets, others the internet, proclaiming the Gospel and more involved in their communities than before. Others are being humbled as their worlds are now crumbling before their eyes, and they are forced to reconsider their priorities. This is making some people seemingly more receptive to the things of God.

Although we are distanced from each other for a time, we still  have opportunities to teach, encourage and bring comfort to the church here. I recently recorded message in Spanish that was shared to many people, and we have done bible studies with those able to connect. We stay updated daily as to how the church is doing, especially those who are at high risk and poor brothers and sisters.

Recently I had the privilege of sharing a message and update of the ministry with a church via video call. Lord willing, we will do the same with another church this coming Sunday. We’d be more than happy to take advantage of this time to do the same with other churches, families and friends who support us. Just email us at salgadodrmission@gmail.com, and we can arrange a date that works for both sides. We would love to connect and be able to update friends and mission partners this way.

We are still teaching English, although virtually now. Our kids are all finishing their school year online too. Many other plans have sadly been put on hold fro now, and I have also had difficulty communicating with Leonel in Haiti. This has us pretty concerned, although this has happened before when his phone broke or has had issues. But with the border closed, and now being unable to reach him at all, we ask that you please pray for Leonel, his family and the churches there. I hope to be able to speak with him soon.

Other prayer requests:

Pray that we would stay healthy. We aren’t good to anyone if we get sick. But we can’t just sit home when we are able to help people who really need it. We are taking all the necessary safety precautions possible.

Pray for Christen and Tonito and Yeison. Since the quarantine, their follow-up doctor appointments have been cancelled until further notice. They are fine for now, but we are a bit anxious to see if the medication have helped to shrink a growth on Christen’s thyroid. If not, she was supposed to get it biopsied. That has been put on hold for now.

Pray for Christen’s father (Ed) and a visa for Yeison. Christen’s father has end stage coronary heart disease and Lewy Body Dementia among other things. He also became sick recently with fever, and though he tested negative for Covid-19, he does has E. Coli, sepsis and some other infection. Back in February they gave him 3-6 months to live. Now we are concerned he may have less than that. Only God knows. But we made another appointment and requested an emergency visa for Yeison to travel with us. Pray that he will get approved this time.

Pray for me as I continue teaching and preaching online and in the streets. Pray that lost souls would turn from their sin and throw themselves upon the mercy of God in Christ and be saved. Pray for the saints to be edified, challenged, comforted and encouraged. Pray that this situation would cause others to rise up to serve as never before. The harvest is ripe and plentiful but the laborers are still few.

Pray that we will continue to be able to continue working as we have been. With the negative economic impact that the quarantine has had on so many, there is a real concern as to what our ministry may look like in the coming months. We live and work through the generous giving of the saints back home. We trust in the Lord and continue to work as much as possible, but we do ask that you pray.

Pray for the Lord to bring on new mission partners too. Pray that  He will move others to walk alongside of us in prayer and giving during this time. We will continue to do what we can for as long as we can, but we will need help and ask you to pray for us, and about partnering with us.

There is much more we could share, but to avoid this update from being too long, we will leave it at that for now. You can see more frequent updates and prayer requests for the ministry and our family at Salgado DR Mission on Facebook.  Thank you again for your faithful prayers and giving towards this ministry that allow us to do what we do, preach the Gospel and make disciples, to the glory of God. Those who pray for and give to missions, play a part just as important as the missionary on the field. Thank you and God bless.

In service to our Lord and King,

Antonio Salgado Jr.