WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
ln l943, Evangelist A. B. Ost heard Rev. Labastida of the West lndies Mission present the need for soul winners in the Spanish-speaking world. He responded to God and today CFU and La Comunion de Creyentes de Mexico help 68 full time and 206 lay Gospel workers minister in 68 self-supporting churches and missions throughout Mexico and in McAllen, Texas. ln addition, five mission agencies and numerous churches have "spun off" from CFU and dozens of missionaries and Gospel workers serve in them throughout Latin America and Europe. Only God could do this.
On June l, l945, A.B. Ost became the first General Director of CFU, and, accompanied by the Rev. and Mrs. Alford Bjurlin, led an automobile caravan from Minneapolis to the Red River Valley of Northern Minnesota. It was there, near Thief River Falls, that the CFU work began among Spanish-speaking migrant sugar beet laborers.
Timoteo Olabarrieta received Jesus as his Savior in Drayton, North Dakota that summer and asked Bro. Ost to bring the Gospel to his Mother in McAllen, Texas.
EVANGELISM AND CHURCH PLANTING
With that connection, CFU moved its center of activity to McAllen, on the Mexican Border, in March of 1946. Timoteo’s mother accepted the Lord, and her house became the first meeting place for what is now the McAllen Iglesia Biblica. Bro. Ost, with his helpers Daniel and Ruby Ost, Artemio Carranza and others set up missions in San Juan, Pharr, McAllen, Mission and Roma. Texas.
A.B. Ost traveled in Mexico looking for a Mexican partner who would assist him in evangelizing the Mexican people and establishing churches among them. ln I947, he found that man, Pastor Amando Cano. Together they pioneered a church in Monterrey, and from there, expanded quickly to Ciudad Mier, Reynosa, Madero, Mexico City and Chicavasco. Thus the CFU center of activity had moved into Mexico.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND OTHER PROJECTS
The principal vehicles for teaching throughout the first twenty-five years were frequent workers’ conferences (sometimes as many as three a year). Simultaneously, the need for intensively trained Gospel workers became evident. So the Bible Training Center was established in Bro. Cano’s home in the early l950's. In l956, it moved to the Bible Tabernacle in Mexico City, and in 1983 it moved to Reynosa, Tamps.
The Bible Training Program today is a flexible extension system with 8 locations (this varies from year to year) throughout Mexico headed by the Mexican pastors as well as a correspondence program where hundreds of workers have studied over the years.
John Ost joined CFU full time in l953 and became Pastor of La Iglesia Biblica in McAllen, Texas, while, at the same time, traveling and ministering extensively in Mexico. He served as CFU’s second General Director from 1966 - l986, during which time God used him to bring the Mexican Churches to financial independence from US funds, to bring the Mexican Board to full administrative autonomy, to start Bible Camps, women’s ministries, and music ministries in the Mexican churches. God also used John on exploratory visits in the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Colima and Jalisco. John Ost served as Pastor of Iglesia Biblica, in McAllen, Texas, while also speaking at conferences and special events at the invitation of pastors and leaders, until he went to be with Jesus in 2006.
Steve Johnson began ful| time ministry with CFU in 1968 and served as John’s assistant until I972, when he became pastor of Iglesia Biblica in McAllen, Texas. ln 1978 he became Director of the Bible Training Center in Mexico and served in that capacity until 1982.
From 1982 to 1986 he worked to develop lay leadership within the Mexican churches, and in 1986 he became the third General Director of CFU, and continues in that position to date.
Over the last eight years, Steve, along with his wife, Loraine, have spent several months a year helping to train Latin American missionaries in Spain.
Rob Johnson came to work with CFU in 1976. He serves effectively and faithfully training Mexican men and women for fruitful ministry. He both teaches and serves as a resource for Mexican pastors who have Bible Training pro rams in their own churches.
Now, with his home base in Leon, Guanajuato, Rob oversees new CFU missionaries Shane and Lia Bradley, and continues being a pastor to leaders.
MEXICAN MISSIONS TO MUSLIMS
ln 2000 CFU added a new dimension to our ministry. We joined in partnership with Vision EuroAfrica and Omar Selther, helping him bring Latin Americans as Gospel workers and representative of Jesus Christ to the Muslims of Spain and North Africa. This exiting new development sees missions coming full circle. Those who in the past were a mission field have now become a missions force.
The churches of Mexico are now using their resources to send their people to bring the Gospel to those who have never heard. Every year, we help host a training program for new missionaries called CETVEA, which is held in Southern Spain each fall to train new missionaries to adjust to a second culture and learn a second language. Each spring, another training session called COVEA is held in Mexico, to teach potential missionaries how to form their support teams.
It has been our joy to play a supporting role, encouraging our Mexican colleagues as they carry out the work of missions.
NEW MISSIONARIES
Two years ago, Shane and Lia Bradley joined the CFU team and moved to Leon, Guanajuato. Not only are they active in reaching people for Christ in the needy “Bajio” region of Mexico, but they are now starting a Missionary Training Center in Leon, which will teach potential missionaries the language and culture of Mexico, and give them hands-on experience on the mission field. How we praise the Lord for what He has done in these 58 years since that CFU caravan headed for the migrant workers of the Red River Valley in Minnesota.