A Giant Awakening: Saltillo, Mexico Report
Rod and Sherry Boyd

Saltillo, Mexico, February 21-23, 2018… Nine hundred Bible School teachers gathered for the 2018 Pentecostal Renovation Workshop in the national superintendent’s church facilities in Saltillo, Mexico. This was a repeat of the same event held two years ago in the same location. Once again, the Spirit of God filled His people, empowering and encouraging us in our task to train harvest workers. The strong national leadership team invited many of our international training ministry leaders, including our staff, to participate in general sessions and workshops. This kind of passionate leadership and teamwork is something new for Mexico in training ministry.

This year we celebrate nine years serving as Directors of Educational Ministries for Christian Education Services. This Assemblies of God international ministry serves the 20 Spanish-speaking countries in the Latin America – Caribbean region. More recently, the 14 Hispanic Districts in the United States have become part of our large educational family. Services range from Sunday school and discipleship ministries, to Bible schools that train ministers, to master’s level studies through the Latin America Theological Seminary, as well as many other ministries.

We intentionally call ourselves a family. We have much in common… language, culture and history. We have found that we are better and stronger when we work together! Since each country is autonomous, our big family requires constant attention to maintain unity between member countries and programs. Even though there is growing participation, some countries have been difficult to get onboard! It requires time and patience, understanding and persistence.

Mexico was one of those countries. Prior to 2006, Mexico’s training program was fairly isolated. We consistently invited them to participate in events and a few did. Things seemed to change in 2006 when the new National Christian Education Director attended the Educators Summit in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. In 2007, he joined us for the International Educational Leaders Dialogue in Panama and has been a regular participant since then. He began to open up about their program in Mexico and encouraged a few others to attend the 2008 and 2010 Summits.

We had an extended conversation following the 2010 Summit in Managua, Nicaragua. He said, “We’d like to have an Educators Summit in Mexico.” We invited Mexico’s new national superintendent to participate in the 2012 Educators Summit in San Jose, Costa Rica. During the Summit the national director and national superintendent came to me and said, “We’d like to have an Educators Summit in Mexico in 2013.”

The 2013 Educators Summit in Cancun, Mexico was a rousing success! (See 2013 Mexico Educators Summit report.)  Our international leadership team joyfully participated, providing needed orientation to the 325 Mexicans that attended. The Summit introduced the Mexican pastors and leaders to the PROCEPA teacher certification program. There was so much excitement that 36 Mexicans attended the 2014 Summit in San Salvador, El Salvador, four times more than past Summits.

Mexican leadership decided to conduct their own version of the Educators Summit called the Pentecostal Renewal Workshop. They invited us to participate in the 2016 event and to organize the PROCEPA workshop program. They invited us back for this year’s workshop.

From minimal participation before 2013, to 308 after the 2013 Mexico Summit, to more than 1,000 after the 2016 Mexico Workshop, and now after the 2018 Workshop, Mexico now has 1,458 teachers registered in PROCEPA (teacher certification) and 244 who have completed basic certification, both the largest number of any country.

There are many other signs that Mexico, the most populated Spanish-speaking country in the world, is a giant that is awakening to the need to train and send harvest workers to unreached places in Mexico and around the world. Pray with us that God will raise up Mexico, now an active family member in the Spanish-speaking training family, as leaders in our efforts to raise up harvest workers who will make disciples in all nations.