Prince & Gina's Praise Report From Spain

August - October 2008

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Greetings in Jesus' Name!

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Baptizing New Believers

In September we were able to celebrate another baptismal service. We have no baptismal facilities in our church building so these celebrations take place in nearby rivers. Normally we baptize in a river with a gentle but fairly swift current – a nice experience. This year the river was wide, somewhat muddy and very slow moving and full of leaches! It was still nice; it’s just that no one lingered in the water to praise God – we did that on the shore.

Since we arrived in Cáceres we have baptised and discipled many new Believers. We are blessed to know that our fruit in these precious souls remains according to the command of our Lord in John 15:16.

Recently I received this beautiful note on our blogsite from a young man that we won to Christ and baptised many years ago. I have not seen him for about 15 years. This is a translation of his note: “Hi, Prince. I am so glad to have been able to find you once again. I just want to express my appreciation to you because you were the first [person] to tell me about the Gospel. I want you to know that I am still following the Lord and am involved in His work, especially in sharing with my neighbors. I left Daimiel some time ago and now live in Azuqueca de Henares (near Madrid), in Guadalajara - Victor”.

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Change of Our Spanish Residency Status

Gina and I have been on the mission field for well over three decades and have served in a number of countries. Years ago, when we served in Mexico, it was illegal to be a missionary there. It was also illegal to be a missionary when we first moved to Spain in the late 1980’s and the Evangelical church wasn’t legally recognized by the Spanish government. That all changed in 1992 with the new Spanish constitution.

Even though we were legally recognized as “Protestant” missionaries here, we were extremely restricted in the activities in which we could engage. The restrictions were such that if we engaged in activities that were not directly church related, we could have lost our residence status.

One of the conditions of our residence is that we have to pay Social Security here (between Gina and me about 400 euros a month – we also have to pay Social Security in the USA). Well, our financial situation has been so precarious that we haven’t been able to make Gina’s Social Security payments. So recently when we went to renew our residency permits, they rejected Gina’s permit because of our inability to pay her monthly Social Security taxes. We have appealed and are waiting for their answer.

Fortunately they changed a clause in the status of our residence now giving us permission to work and hold a regular job here in Spain as well as serve as recognized ministers of the Gospel. The government has decided that if the Catholic priests and nuns can do this (and they do) then so could we!

Tent Making

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Even though the Apostle Paul had the financial support of the Philippians (Philippians 4:10-19), he had to make tents to supplement his income (Acts 18:3). The economic crisis that has shaken the USA has also terribly shaken Spain. This has affected us to the point that we have found it necessary for Gina to take up a night job in order to supplement our income. Gina works from 10:00 p.m. until 9:30 a.m. taking care of an elderly couple. She is free to minister to the needs of the congregation and to have her cell meetings during the day and early evening.

We have also decided to supplement our income by opening up a small business here. We are opening up a Disney store & video club called “Bluster Videos”. This store is part of a franchise. The store will give us tremendous exposure in a community in which we are already very well known and liked.

We have been praying for an inroad to the youth of this city and there is a high school right across the street from us and three vocational schools (high school & junior college levels) within 300 yards of the store. Hundreds of young people pass by the store every day!

We took out some bank loans to open the store, so please pray for our success and prosperity – not just for our financial prosperity, but also for the power and presence of our Christian witness. For as we prosper, so too does the forwarding of the work of the Gospel here in Spain. Our grand opening will be December 4th.

Pray For Our Granddaughter Kaila

A little over a month ago we received the distressing news that our granddaughter, Kaila, our daughter Lupe’s oldest daughter, was diagnosed with leukemia. So please pray with us for her complete healing and the complete cancellation of this sickness. She is now in chemotherapy and the doctors are very positive that they were able to catch it at a good time and that she will completely recover. (Psalms 124:8) “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth”.

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Thank You

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Please know that we do thank you so much for all of your prayers and your loving support of our ministry and may God continue to bless you for your much needed generosity! As always, you are a matchless BLESSING to our lives and the lives of countless others that you help us to reach for Christ! We love and deeply value you all!


H.M.S.,


Dr. & Mrs. Prince M. Parker

Prince and Gina’s Praise Report from Spain

May - July 2008

Greetings in Jesus’ Name!

Apostolic Ministry in Mexico

In April I returned to Mexico to minister in a couple of the churches that we planted close to 25 years ago. At that time the region was virgin territory with no Evangelical witness for hundreds of kilometers in any direction. What an experience it was to return two decades later to see the entire region filled with the Gospel. I can now say, as did the Apostle Paul in Romans 15:19, “I have trailblazed a preaching of the Message of Jesus”, (The Message).

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I had the privilege to dedicate the brand new sanctuary of the mother church in Tecpan, and believers that we had led to Christ years ago traveled from every part of the region to be in the services – as a matter of fact, some came all the way from Mexico City.
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I not only ministered in the special services that week in Tecpan but taught in special leadership sessions both there and in Tetitlán at another one of the many churches that are fruit of our labor there. I can also say, like the Apostle John in 3 John 1:4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth”.

Fruit in Cáceres

Even though one of our greatest challenges has been consistent and effective consolidation of the new Believers, we have had many new converts in Cáceres that are starting to bring forth good fruit. Here are a couple of examples of the testimonies:

Gabriel and Sabina Watcher (Pictured here on the left) are a beautiful young, very well educated couple originally from Argentina that has come to Christ in the last few months and are now in discipleship along with several other precious new Believers that are beginning to bring forth fruit (Sabina is a lawyer).

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Cáceres is a university city and we have also had fruit in our student ministry. These students are not only from all over Spain, but from all over the world! Now ministering to these university students is like ministering on a military base, they come and go, but some of these have powerful experiences with Christ and return to their countries with totally transformed lives.

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A marvelous example is that of Emily Hawkins, an exchange student from the USA (Pictured below on the left with Max). She had come to the church a few times but just to check things out. Another student, Max Lees, from Cardiff, England, had been sharing the Gospel with her at school and brought her to my house one night so that I might answer a few questions that she had and share the Word more deeply with her. I spoke to her for about an hour and the Spirit of God manifested itself by totally breaking through to her and saving her with an absolutely astonishing experience!

In the photo below is a group of international youth after a special meeting in the church. In this photo are young people from: (Left to right) USA (Emily), Peru, Belgum, Norway, Germany, Rumania, Norway, Spain.

Ministry of Literature Evangelism

Some time back God brought Roberto and Lu, a precious young couple, to the church. Roberto is a graphic artist and printer and a natural evangelist. On his own, he began to print Gospel tracts and distribute them house to house in his neighborhood.

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Seeing his ardent desire and natural burden, we laid

hands on him and commissioned him as director of evangelism for the church. He and I got together and wrote three very colorful evangelistic tracts with short, but clear and concise salvation messages and information about the church.
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At the left is a sample copy of one of our tracts. Roberto has made a data base of over six thousand email addresses in Cáceres and every week he is sending out Gospel literature and invitations to the church. We have some of what we send out translated in Porguese, Frence and English.
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He has formed evangelistic teams that go out every Saturday to distribute these excellent tracts. Roberto had a map of our city made and displayed in the sanctuary with pins indicating all of the streets that have been covered.

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We plan on SATURATING the city with literature proclaiming the Gospel’s salvation message of hope and the love of God. It is encouraging to see the teams of people that gather to spread the Good News of Christ taking this literature house to house until every home has been reached… and then we will start all over again! We will see this city and Spain won to Christ!

Praying For Spain

Every Thursday evening we have a prayer meeting in the church. The last two months have seen this meeting grow into an exciting celebration and about 25 or more people show up to intercede for the needs and the needy. (Our average Sunday attendance is about 100). We are extremely encouraged by this and have taken it to be a sure sign of spiritual growth in these new Believers.

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One thing I must constantly remind Believers in America is that fact that Europe is largely unevangelized. Spain is still at the top of the list of countries with a Christian population of less than 1%. Even the population of confessing Catholics is shockingly very small here – practicing Catholics even smaller still.

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There are yet 13 million people that have NEVER heard the Gospel here in Spain and thousands of towns and villages have absolutely NO Gospel witness. The average healthy Evangelical church here has about 50 Believers present on Sunday mornings. PLEASE PRAY FOR SPAIN!

Grandparents Again

On May 6, our daughter Lupe and her husband Joan had their second child; a girl they named Karen Joana de Jesús Parker. She was our sixth grandchild. Tuesday, July 15, our daughter Jasmine and her husband Jeramy celebrated the birth of their third child. A healthy boy named Jordan Elijah Hampton; and that makes seven!

Rapidly Changing Situations

Someone said that inflation is the ability to cut money in half without damaging the paper. Well, that's certainly been true for us. I know that the present recession has hit us all very hard. Here on the mission field, due to the severe devaluation of the US dollar and the alarming inflation rate (for example: gasoline is now $9.45 a gallon) as well as other factors, our income has drastically been reduced.

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You, our faithful supporters, are doing and excellent job of helping to keep us effectively on the field. Unless God tells you something different, we can hardly ask more of you other than that you please continue your faithful support.

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But what we direly need now are new supporters. We are praying for ten NEW churches to receive us as their supported missionaries for at least $200 a month. If you know of other churches that would be open to our ministry, could please you pass our names to them?

Thank You

Please know that we do thank you so much for all of your prayers and loving support of our ministry and may God continue to bless you for your generosity! As always, you are a matchless BLESSING to our lives and the lives of countless others that you help us to reach for Christ! We love and deeply value you all!

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H.M.S.,

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Dr. & Mrs. Prince M. Parker

Ministry In Spain

Ministry In Spain

This is a little production our beloved sister, Christina Corson, did while she was here during her, all-too-brief stay with us to do her short term missionary training with us.

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You will have to turn off the worship and praise music we provide naturally on the blog to view the video because it has its own music. Enjoy!

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(Matthew 9:37-38) "Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; (38) Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest."

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We need people to come help us estblish our youth and children's ministries. Pray about your direct involvement in foreign missions by coming to serve Him in Spain.

January - April 2008 Praise Report

Prince and Gina’s Praise Report

from Spain
January - April 2008

Dear Prayer Partners,

We praise God for how the work has been growing numerically and in maturity this year. Slowly but surely we are seeing more consistence in the number of people coming to our weekly prayer meetings, Bible studies and Sunday morning services.

Prayer Team Visit

In February, Ambassadors Fellowship brought a small team of intercessors to spend an entire week in intercession and prayer for us, our congregation, the city of Cáceres and the nation of Spain! These teams have come almost every year now and the lingering results have always been awesome.

Romantic Outreach In February

Gina is one of the only people I know that has an anointed culinary ministry! God has used her so much in many different countries to reach souls through her gift of gastronomy! Her gifts are used just about every month in the church to raise funds that have rescued our congregation from several economically distressing challenges we’ve faced.

So in February, once again, we made use of her very important ministry gift and we had a coat and tie, romantic outreach dinner complete with live romantic serenades for couples. We used the sanctuary of the church for the site of the dinner and drew up and well designed invitation for this evangelistic occasion. Before we ended the evening I shared a fifteen minute meditation on the true [Biblical] meaning and example of romance, love and marriage.

We had about fifty five people in attendance and there were ten new people amongst them. Of those ten, two have since become active and faithful members of the congregation. Praise God!

Ministry in Japan

In March we, once again, received an invitation from fellow career missionary, Bishop James Whitaker, of Okinawa, Japan, to go and minister in their annual missions conference. We feel that it’s always a privilege to go anywhere in the world to minister the Gospel, but Gina and I have a special place in our hearts for the country of Japan. Many missionaries call Japan the Spain of the East because our spiritual conditions, number of Evangelical Believers and situations are so parallel.

Given that, this particular congregation in Okinawa consists primarily of Americans serving in the armed forces. We were blest to get the opportunity to encourage our men and women in uniform to continue to embrace and walk and grow in their faith in Christ. We have a profound love and appreciation for the Japanese Believers in that beautiful country, and to be able to minister to them (and with them) and to encourage them in Christ as well is just an awesome opportunity. Our time there was rewarded by seeing the ministry of The Holy Spirit in operation.

Visiting Ministries

A Vineyard church in Seville (about three hours away) has taken it upon themselves to cleave to us as a sister church. So several times they have visited us in our Sunday morning services with as many as 16 members of their congregation.

Recently they visited us with fourteen Vineyard Pastors from the east coast of the United States. They ministered the Word and shared testimonies and songs of worship and praise. Afterwards they prayed for members of our congregation ministering in healing and prophetic words.

City Wide Week Long Prayer Meeting

A few months ago I got together with the other pastors of the city together and arranged a week of prayer for the state of the family in our city. Also present at the meeting was my friend, Miguel Angel, the Catholic priest. We arranged for prayer to be held for one evening in each of the Evangelical churches as well as one evening in the Catholic church; a total of six nights of united prayer for the families of our city.

Miguel Angel informed the Catholic Bishop of the prayer meetings and the Bishop ordered him to make a full color brochure announcing the meetings. He had a featured photo of Gina and me in a prominent place on the flyer in representation of the Evangelical pastors. The Bishop then ordered that the flyers be distributed in all of the Catholic churches and promoted as a “must attend” event.

The Bishop came to one of the evenings of prayer and spent the entire time praying with Gina and me. We had about 150 gathered in our church for evening prayer and worship and praise and about a bit less than half of those in attendance were Catholics! Now what I want you to understand is, that this is something that we have never been seen in Spain before! Just a few years ago being an Evangelical pastor meant jail time!

Now, frequently when I walk down the street, older Spanish men and women warmly greet me and recognize me as the “Evangelical Pastor” that their priests approve of and recommend! What a blessing! Let me tell you, that even if you don’t fully agree with someone, it is FAR BETTER to have friends than enemies and it has really facilitated our effective Christian witness here! Just about my whole life has been dedicated to reaching Catholics for Christ and this is really helping me do it!

Tecpan de Galeana, Guerrero, Mexico

April 29th, I will be traveling back to Mexico for a week of ministry for the first time in many years. Our church there, “Centro de Nueva Vida”, is now 23 years old and has just finished the construction of a, sorely needed, new sanctuary. They have asked us, as the founding fathers and apostles of the work there, to come and dedicate and to give a series of leadership conferences.

Thank You

We also want to keep you aware that the declining health of the dollar has severely affected our financial support. It has gone down more than 35% since the beginning of the year and has presented quite a financial challenge for us. We really need the prayerful financial support that you, so lovingly, give to our ministry. We would also like to encourage those that have not given to our ministry before to please pray about financially supporting our efforts to reach Spain for Christ.

Please know that we do thank you so much for all of your prayers and loving support of our ministry and may God continue to bless you for your generosity! As always, you are a matchless BLESSING to our lives and the lives of countless others that you help us to reach for Christ! We love and deeply value you all!

H.M.S.,

Dr. & Mrs. Prince M. Parker

The Man That Did Not Come Back From the Dead

By Dr. Prince M. Parker

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Luke 16:16-31

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Introduction: Before you come to the wrong conclusion, please read the entire study. If you choose not to believe the Scriptures, you will believe anything but the truth. (II Tesalonicenses 2:7-12).

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“A man that stands for nothing will fall for anything!” (Malcolm X)

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I.) The entire Bible speaks emphatically of the great truth of the resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees, even though they claimed to believe Scripture, did not believe that the Torah spoke of the resurrection. But Christ rebuked them for their ignorance (Matthew 22:23-32) (Luke 20:37-38). (Matthew 22:29) "Jesus answered and said unto them, “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God”.”.

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A.) We can find mention of the resurrection in the Old Testament in Job 19:25-27.
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II.) Christ taught that He and His resurrection from the dead are found in all of the Scriptures (Luke 24:25-27).

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III.) Let’s observe the importance of the testimony of the rich man and Lazarus:
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A.) This particular begins in Luke 14:1; it is actually a conversation with a group of covetous Pharisees. Christ wanted to clearly manifest the difference between the priorities of God and the perverted priorities of man. This is His theme. He ended his sermon in Luke 17:10. Those that rejected His message simply proved their egotism and greed (Luke 16:14) “And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him”.

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1.) Luke 14:1-6; the sermon begins with: The healing of a man on the Sabbath… This shows us God’s priority.
2.) Luke 14:7-11; the first seats – It is more important that you know that God sees you before man does.
4.) Luke 14:12-14; Do not invite your friends and those that can pay you back – Do not seek the favor or recognition of men.
5.) Luke 14:15-24: Those that did not accept the call to the King’s banquet – Nothing is more important than what God has called us to do and any excuse is ridiculous and worthless.
6.) Luke 14:25-33: Self denial – Our own lives are not more important than what God desires of us.
7.) Luke 14:34-35: Salt and light – if we deviate from God’s purpose y priority for our lives we contaminate ourselves (the only way salt can lose its savor) and we obscure the light of God in us – in doing so we are stealing from God.

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a.) Deviation from God’s plan constitutes sin – missing the mark.
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B.) Luke 15:1-32: The priority of God – reaching the lost.
1.) Luke 15:1-2: Publicans and sinners – the lost – came to Christ.
2.) Luke 15:3-7: The lost sheep.
3.) Luke 15:8-10: The lost coin.
4.) Luke 15:11-32: The lost son.
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C.) Luke 16:1-31: The summary of His message, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).

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1.) Luke 16:1-13: The unfaithful steward – The true purpose of material goods and riches – win the lost for the kingdom of God.
2.) Luke 16:14-18: The Word of God shall never fail and its truth and purposes are eternal – it can never be annulled.
3.) Luke 16:16-31: The rich man and Lazarus – a sub point of the results of scued priorities and riches without Christ. His main point – If you choose not to believe the Scriptures, you will believe anything but the truth.

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IV.) The rich man and Lazarus: Luke 16:19-31.

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A.) Introduction: Before God, there is no difference between the two, they both had the same chance at life “(21) There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: (20) And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, (21) And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores”.

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B.) As it happened with them, it is appointed to all men (see Hebrews 9:27): “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;”
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C.) In the place of the dead there is consciousness and recognition – the most horrid torment “And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. (24) And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. (25) But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. (26) And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.”.

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D.) Even though he yet is ignorant of the absolute indispensability of believeing the Word of God, the rich man finally begins to understand and appreciate God’s purposes and priorities – thet we must reach the lost for, as Hebrews 9:27 says, there is coming a day of reckoning! (See John 5:21-29) (Luke 16:27-28) “Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: (28) For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment”.
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E.) Lazarus was not permitted to return from the dead, at that time, because they had enough evidence to believe. Christ was saying to the religious unbelievers that were before Him that the Scriptures testified of Him and if they did not relieve the Scriptures, how were they going to relieve Him? (See Juan 5:39) – (Luke 16: 29-31) “Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. (30) And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. (31) And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead”.

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1.) Here Christ is quoting Abraham when he says, basically, the same thing that He told His disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:25-27: “Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: (26) Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? (27) And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself”.

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Conclusion: Christ was saying that all of the Scriptures (Moses and the Prophets) spoke of Him and His resurrection from the dead to overcome the Devil and destroy the curses that reign of humanity. To do this His sacrifice and death was necessary – But He did not remain dead! Being the Spotless Lamb of God, death did not have dominion over Him. (Hebrews 9:14) “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?.”

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(1 Peter 1:18-19) “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (19) But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”.

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What is now required of every man is to Believe the Word of God as it says in Romans 10:5-11, “For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. (6) But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) (7) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) (8) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; (9) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (11) For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

Black History Month

Greetings from Spain!

Being that this is Black History Month I thought that I'd share a few informative links about prolific African Americans.

It's worth thinking about that out of a population of 35 million; I am almost one of the less than 200 career African American missionaries sent out from the USA. I've been somewhat of a pioneer in my field of calling and frequently I've been the first African American that many people have ever met - how many more times have I been the first African American missionary that people have met. This is true to such an extent that I've been asked more than once, "You mean to tell me that there are Black Christians in America?" It would be funny... if it wasn't true.

Anyway, I pray that these links are both informative and edifying.

May God continue to bless and encourage you in Christ Jesus, His risen Son!

H.M.S.,

Prince & Gina Parker
Missionaries To Spain

African American Firsts - MSN Encarta

African American Firsts - MSN Encarta

Black Military Heroes - MSN Encarta

Black Military Heroes - MSN Encarta

African American Inventors - MSN Encarta

African American Inventors - MSN Encarta