This spring several CMBA teams traveled to Spain to work alongside IMB partners Steve and Salva Marlin and other missionaries who are serving there. The teams included members from Alice Drive, North Trenholm, Primera Iglesia Bautista, and Three Rivers, as well as two SC Baptist Convention staff who served and gathered media content during one of the trips.
Three Rivers Pastor Ryan Perz summarized his team’s experience perfectly – “Our team of eight, we called ourselves ‘Team Ocho,’ had a simple mission: to seek the lost and serve the church. I believe that God gave us many opportunities to do both.”
The trips were part of CMBA’s partnership with Spain which was created to involve more churches and individuals in international missions through team trips, intentional prayer, and other forms of support. Since the partnership began in October 2023, there has been an overwhelming response from CMBA churches through organized trips to several regions in Spain. Alice Drive Missions Pastor Travis Pruden says his church is committed to growing missional opportunities for its members and that CMBA’s partnership is a “great fit” to the vision God has given Alice Drive to reach the lost.
“It is evident through conversations and interactions with Spaniards that this is a country that doesn’t have a lack of physical or material blessings but has an overwhelming lack of the gospel of Jesus Christ,” Pruden says, adding that “with concerted and consistent efforts, I believe relationships can be built and the gospel can be shared more effectively, and then true discipleship will follow.”
Alice Drive team members had intentional conversations everywhere they traveled, including with shop workers, ride share drivers, and folks in the subway and cafes. These were just the sorts of interactions CeCe Thorne hoped to experience. As a member of Alice Drive’s missions leadership team, Thorne’s dual purpose was to serve during the trip and discover future mission opportunities for church members.
“My greatest experiences were with the team that I traveled with. I learned so much about the international mission field from [Associational Missions Strategist] Jamie Rogers and [SCBC Mission Partnership Director] Tim Rice, and the local pastor serving in Segovia,” Thorne reports. “It emphasized the great need that exists in Spain and just how difficult it is to reach people there with the gospel.”
Rice says it’s “exciting to see mission work first-hand. I think that’s what churches want – to be active in fulfilling the missionary task of entering another country and being a part of evangelism.” He shared that the Marlin’s Madrid church plant, Communidad Moncloa, has received financial support from SCBC’s 10×10 Plan for Strategic Priorities Funding and is in the process of planting another church, which underscores the value of partnership. “It’s a picture of cooperation – the IMB, state convention, association, and local churches all doing Kingdom work together.”
The Three Rivers team helped Communidad Moncloa hold English as a Second Language classes, make connections in the community, and create social media content through street interviews. The team engaged people of all ages in the local plazas and parks by filming their answers to spiritual questions like “What gives humans value,” “What do you believe about Jesus,” and “What one question would you ask God?” Sometimes the questions led to further conversation and each person received gospel literature. “The younger generation’s interest in spiritual dialogue was a particular highlight to us. Several wanted us to engage them with additional questions,” recalls Three Rivers Member Chelsea Amberg.
Thorne has experienced a variety of international missions but was struck by Spain’s people and culture. “I wondered how the mission field would be going into a country that is very modern and cosmopolitan. On some trips you feel the poverty and need when you step off the airplane, but I discovered that the need for Jesus crosses all of those boundaries. In fact, the need for Jesus in Spain seems to be even greater because their basic needs are being filled and glossed over with so many other things,” she notes.
Perz also spoke about the personal impact of experiencing international missions with his fellow church members. “God ordained countless conversations that ended up being opportunities to share the hope within us, and I was especially encouraged by how several of our teens took sharing Christ and loving people so very seriously.”
“One of the reasons we decided on our partnership with Spain was due to the fact that ever member of our churches – the young and the old – can take part in trips,” says Rogers. “The youth on our first team were able to interact better with people than the adults seemed to, and we think it was because adult Spaniards didn’t see them as threats. They handed out tracts at an amazing pace, which was fun to watch.”
To those considering a future partnership trip to Spain, Pruden recommends becoming familiar with the culture and language. In addition to increasing effectiveness, “it will also show those you are going to share with the level of care and respect you have for them, and it will open more doors for them to hear about Jesus.”
“There is something unique about international missions and how it helps you to see the world in a different way. It has helped me love all of God’s people with greater understanding,” Thorne says. “This world needs Jesus, and I look forward to CMBA’s partnership with Spain and how Alice Drive can help the gospel grow and expand through it.”