In 2001 the elders of the First Baptist Church in Carmel, Indiana saw the growth of the Hispanic presence in their city, and began to ask God to send someone to the church who would be able to begin an outreach ministry to the Spanish speaking peoples around them.

My name is Tom Greenslade. My parents were missionaries on the Amazon River in Peru for all of my growing up years, which means that I am fluent in Spanish. On April 11, 2001 I was working at the computer in my office at the church when I got a head ache and my left foot went numb. I got up and went across the parking lot to the parsonage that was our home and took some Ibuprofen. The next day, I was at the computer again preparing to preach for the Easter Sunday Service, when a heavy pain settled on my head, neck, and shoulders and my whole right side went numb. It was not a stroke, but for a while it was just about as devastating. I lost the ability to fully control my legs and arms, and began to suffer severe neurological pain, numbness, and weakness. The doctors have never been able to definitely pin down a diagnosis, but suspect it is a painful kind of MS. After being crippled up in a wheelchair for a few months I began to partially recover my ability to use my legs and arms.

During the first couple of years of this we prayed and pondered what direction to go in the future. More and more it became evident that the Lord wanted us to make a change in ministry because of the illness. One day my assistant pastor mentioned God speaking to his heart with the question that God asked Moses, “What is that in your hand?”( Exodus 4:2 NIV) God hit me hard with that question. The answer that grew and wouldn’t go away was my ability to speak Spanish.

I eventually resigned my position of pastor and set out to work at a job to support my family as we looked into starting a Spanish Ministry. One of the things I was asking the Lord for was some way to improve my Spanish. It had been 30 years since I was in Peru, and I had forgotten a lot. Now, instead of speaking like a Peruvian I was clumsy and sounded like an American. Instead of helping me find a class to take, the Lord put me in a job working as a Spanish interpreter for doctors and patients at the St. Vincent Primary Care Clinic in Indianapolis. My Spanish began to improve by leaps and bounds. We began to attend first Baptist Church in Carmel where my wife, Kathy, had attended as a child and teenager. Pastor Joe Flatt had married Kathy and me and had been a friend and example throughout my 27 years of pastoring. After having some conversations with Joe and the Elders, the church enthusiastically took us on part time to start up a Spanish ministry as a part of the church. Looking back at how God worked out His will, I have teased the leaders of the church that my illness is their fault. God made me ill at the same time that they started praying for God to bring someone to them.

We have definitely had to depend on God for the progress of the ministry. The illness keeps me weak and struggling with pain so that I don’t have much strength and energy to pour into an aggressive outreach. Working a forty hour a week job limits the amount of time that I can devote to it. The progress that has been made has been God’s doing. My strategy was based on Romans 10:17 “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” We would simply expose Hispanics to the Word of God and depend on Him to save and change them. We began by offering English as a Second Language classes. For a Christian curriculum we used the “Passport to the World” materials by Literacy & Evangelism International. (http://literacyevangelism.org/) As part of the assignments the students would memorize some verses in English beginning with John 3:16. We have seen over and over again the truth of Isaiah 55:11 “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Soon one woman was saved and brought others out who have been saved as well. On Sundays we began with a couple of families who already were attending the English services. One woman invited out her sister and her family. They were saved and began to attend regularly. Others heard about the Spanish service from people in the church, or saw our sign out by the road, or heard about it from me at the clinic, and began to attend.

Right now we have 27 on our roll. They don’t all attend at once. Having to work on Sunday mornings is a problem for some, but whenever they are able to they come to worship with us. There are some in the ESL class who cannot come on Sunday at all so I have a Bible study time with them at the beginning of the class. If you are going to do this kind of ministry you need to understand that the attendance is God’s business. When He brings in a whole room full, it is great fun. If only one is able to come, it is a special opportunity to disciple that one. If none show up it is an opportunity for our ministry team to pray and talk about personal needs and ministry ideas.

I wanted our group to be an integral part of the church, not a separate church meeting in our church building. This would give the group a solid theological foundation, open up resources for the ministry, and give our English people an opportunity to be involved (even if they can’t speak Spanish). This also gives the Spanish group a sense of belonging to a larger fellowship. Our English church has the Sunday service first, at 9:30 a.m., followed by an hour of classes at 11:00. We have our Spanish service at 11:00, while the children from our Spanish families attend the English Sunday School classes. Generally the children already know English because of school, even though the parents do not know much English yet. The people who are involved have been a real encouragement to me as I see their interest, dedication, and love for the people they are ministering to. They are helping with music, mailings, teaching ESL, and preparing materials. Some come to the church service just to learn more Spanish and to fellowship with our Spanish people.

Our Spanish room is decorated with eight 3′X 5′ flags on the wall that represent each of the countries that our people come from. It is very colorful and encouraging as well. Rather than God sending us to the “mission field,” He has brought the “mission field” to us.

We have a mixture of legal and illegal immigrants in our group. The illegal immigration issue becomes very real as you minister to them and begin to love these Hispanic families. My heart goes out to them as they struggle with issues like getting a driver’s license so that they can drive to work. I think their illegal status is especially an issue as you lead them to the Lord and they get baptized and want to join the church membership. Different churches will have different standards and requirements in these cases. Just remember our perspective and attitude must be based on the entire Bible. Our attitude must be one of love for them. “The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”(Leviticus 19:34 NIV) No matter what legal action must be taken, love him as yourself. This is one of the two actions that sum up the whole of God’s Word according to our Lord Jesus. The other is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…”(Matthew 22:37-40 NIV) Jesus, in fact, spelled out a little of what He wants us to do for them: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”(Matthew 25:35-36, 40 NIV) A fascinating incidence that the Bible tells us may be a possible occurrence at times is this: “Do
not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”(Hebrews 13:2 NIV)

Here is something for you to remember no matter what your opinion is: In Indiana in 2004 there were approximately 229,200 foreign born people. 45,000 were illegals. 184,200 were legal. (http://www.protectindiana.com/Indiana-Extended-Impact.pdf – Federation for Immigrant Reform) That means that 80% of them are legal. But even if they are not legal, Jesus Christ died for them, and as long as they are here we have been handed the opportunity of sharing Jesus Christ with. He told His disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”(Mark 16:15 NIV)

I am an immigrant. I came from Canada, grew up in Peru, went to high school and college in the US, and married an American. First of all we ministered in Canada for 10 years. Now we have ministered here in the US for the last 21 years. I have US citizenship, but even more special and important than that, the Bible tells me that my “citizenship is in Heaven,” (Philippians 3:20 NIV) and that I am actually a stranger (foreigner) here. (1 Peter 1:17) I must see life first and foremost through those glasses. This makes even my adopted country and your birth country a foreign mission field, not just for me, but for you too. In some countries like Burma (Myanmar), the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), and Saudi Arabia, true Christians are illegal aliens. I hope that never becomes the case here.