May 30, 2007, Chetumal, Quintana Roo
Dear Beloved Brethren Committed to His Eternal Glory,
“Thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every
kindred, and TONGUE, and people, and nation” (Revelation
5:9). The Great Commission given to the New Testament
church is a commission to preach the Gospel to many groups
of people with different tribal tongues. The redemption of
a people “out of every tongue” speaks of those autonomous,
ethnic groups within sovereign nations that speak another
native tongue. Such are the Kurds of Iraq and Turkey. Such
are the Chol of Chiapas and Tabasco. These precious souls,
though not overlooked by God in His eternal purpose of
salvation, must not be overlooked by our 21st century
Baptist churches in carrying out the Great Commission.
A New Evangelistic Outreach to the Chol Peoples of Chiapas
and Tabasco. The entering in amongst tribal, indigenous
peoples requires great patience and perseverance. Open
doors are difficult to find. The language is often a
barrier. Outsiders are greatly distrusted. A religion of
animism and shamanism typically reigns and dominates their
whole outlook on life. We believe the Lord has opened a
door of opportunity to preach the Gospel to the Chol people
through one of God’s called men who we have had the
privilege to train. Brother Narciso Martinez, now pastoring
in Chetumal, Quintana Roo, was born into a Chol home. His
father is a Chol from the State of Tabasco and his mother is
a Chol from the State of Chiapas. Though they moved away
from the Chol region before Narciso was born, to this day,
they speak Chol in their home as their principal language.
Brother Narciso already speaks Chol and understands much of
their culture and world-view. It has been in his heart for
years to one day evangelize his own people. Co-laboring
with him, we are going to begin in the principal Chol
village of Palenque, Chiapas, to declare the unsearchable
riches of Christ’s glorious grace and salvation. We plan to
do this two or three times per year as our finances permit
us to travel. The Lord-willing, we will be in Palenque,
Chiapas, during the month of June for our first evangelistic
outreach to this tribal people.
Who Are The Chols? The Chols are one of the five main
groups of Mayan Indians in Southeastern Mexico (mostly
Chiapas) and Guatemala. There are about 110,000 Chols.
Many of them are monolinguistic, only speaking the Chol
language.
Our Extended Stay in Chetumal at The Abounding Grace Baptist
Mission Has Been Profitable and Revealing. As I mentioned
in last month’s prayer letter, due to the petition of the
brethren, we continued to preach and instruct after the
Bible Conference for several more weeks in the City of
Chetumal. In our prolonged stay, we were able to discern
certain disorders in relation to the headship issue, among
both the men and the women. We had to address these issues
quite frankly from the pulpit in several corrective and
instructive messages. There was public confession of sin,
humility, and contrition before the Lord, and a general
spirit of repentance amongst God’s people. There were some
real notable changes in their lives before our departure
and, I trust that there will be many more in our absence.
This, I believe, was the main reason the Lord had us stay
for an extended period of time.
The Craft Family Departure From Chetumal to Oaxaca. Our
departure from the brethren will be more difficult this time
in that we have come to love and appreciate one another even
more. We have poured out our hearts in ministry and they
have striven to be a blessing to us. The Lord has given us
some fruit that remains for His glory in this part of the
world. In our return trip to Oaxaca, we will be having our
evangelistic campaign in Palenque, Chiapas, I will preaching
in the State of Tabasco, and then in two different
communities in Oaxaca before we actually return to our
home. Please pray for this thousand mile trip and for great
spiritual blessing.
Yours for God’s elect and His glory where Christ is not
named,
Bert Craft
