MISSIONARY PROFILE
Clint
& Rhonda
Rardin
Missionary Update 04/15/2016
Dear Praying Friends, I have been teaching soulwinning in Sunday School for several weeks now. We have been seeing more going out on Tuesdays and Saturdays, especially on Tuesday. The last two Tuesdays, we have had a dozen people going out to pass tracts out to the Jews as well as gentiles. Some of the new soulwinners have been the two majors that were married in our church last December: the army engineer and the army doctor; also, Lilia, the teen that was saved at the Teen Conference came out last night with her married sister to pass out tracts to the Jews. Her sister and and sister's husband, who were married last summer, had started going out with us the Tuesday before. This last Saturday, Rhonda and I visited a young unwed mother, Rebecca, that was saved and baptized last year; but who had been missing church for a couple of months. We were able to talk to her mother, a lieutenant in the army, about her teenage who had lately has been rebellious. We finished by witnessing to her, but before I invited her to make a decision, I asked her if she understood. He didn't fully understand, so we just invited her to come to church to hear more. The following day, I was surprised to see her and Rebecca and her brother there. At the end of the message, she raised her hand for salvation, and we were able to lead her to the Lord. Also, Teresa, a lady invited by Joel, the police chief, also made a decision for the Lord. Thank you for your prayers, Clint Rardin
Missionary Update 04/04/2016
Dear Praying Friends, Last week, we went to an annual youth conference. We took 12 boys and six girls. One of the girls, Mari Carmen, goes to our Christian school, but attends another church with her parents. She made a decision to accept Christ. Another girl, Lilia comes to our church with her parents who were reached through our military bus route on base. Her dad, Alejandro, still unsaved, works in the Presidential Guards. Her mom and older married sister are saved and also attend the church. I asked Lilia on Sunday why she wasn't signed up to go and offered to pay her way. She still wasn't sure about going being new and all. At midnight that night she all of a sudden told her mom she wanted to go and the next day at 8:30, she was waiting at the church. I am sure it was the Holy Spirit that moved her to go because, that week, she accepted Christ at the conference and publicly professed her new faith in the morning church service. Yesterday, in our Thursday night service, we unusually baptized a man, Adaberto, who had been attending for several months, but only on Thursday as he works all day Sunday. The week before we celebrated the Lord's Supper, and although saved, he couldn't participate on the account of not being baptized; but after church he asked to be baptized, so we did last night. Thank you for your prayers, Clint
Missionary Update 01/11/2016
Dear Praying Friends, We ended the year with another soul saved. Erika, the wife of Noe, who was saved the previous Sunday, trusted Christ. Both have been attending for several weeks and both want to be baptized. It was a great ending Sunday to a great year with more souls saved than ever before, the majority of them baptized and continuing in the Lord. This Sunday I preached in Salina Cruz, Oaxaca on the Pacific coast about 11 hours away... The pastor is the father of one of the women in our church. He took his church out of the convention a while ago. Pastor Enoch is 75 years old. His father was a pioneer Mexican missionary who started evangelizing the region in the 1930's. His father was the first to start a Baptist church in Salina Cruz. Back in those days, there were no bus lines. He would have to take a train and then walk the rest of the way to Salina Cruz. When I was in language school years ago, we would go on cultural outings. One time we went to a small city called Tlaxcala. There in the town square there was a Baptist church. That same Baptist church was pastored by Enoch's father years ago, -- small world. Salina Cruz was a nice place to go for January. With dry heat and a very strong ocean breeze, my family had a very pleasant stay there. We hope you all had a Happy Near Year. We are entering what will be our 20th year in Mexico next December. Thank you for your prayers, Clint Rardin
Missionary Update 12/18/2015
Dear Praying Friends, "I have no greater joy than . . . that my children walk in truth." (III John 4) It is a blessing to see the two military couples, Domingo and Manuela and Heriberto and Araceli, who were saved and baptized during the campaign, faithfully attending church. David, who also was saved and baptized, was in church this last Thursday. Ana Maria, who was saved and baptized this fall before the campaign, brought her daughter and two grandsons this Sunday; and Juan, who also was saved and baptized this fall before the campaign, brought his wife and daughter and was received into membership in the evening along with the orthodontist couple who I mentioned before, Daniel and Ana. This Sunday the auditorium was full again with extra chairs set up in the back. We had three baptized: Lucia, a bus mom that has been coming since June; Ernesto, a teenage son of one of the women in our church; and Jasmin, a teen from our bus route that has been coming on the route since she was a kid, but is moving to Nuevo Laredo and wanted to be baptized before she moved, We are looking for a church for her to go to there. We had a very good missionary that the church supports speak all day this Sunday. Miguel Triano and his wife, Nora, have been in Ghana for eight years and has a church that is six years old there that runs about 150. They have two graduates from their Bible Institute that is running the church in his absence, and they are finishing constructing a building there. As we are a mission ourselves, we do not support too many missionaries and the ones we do support are starting churches here in the republic. Miguel Triano is the only exception. Miguel comes from one of the best churches in Mexico and I have known him since he was a university student and a faithful soul winner even back then. This Saturday we have our first wedding in our church. Angy is a major in the Mexican army and one of the few military doctors in pediatric cancerology in Mexico. She has been attending our church on and off over 8 years as she has been transferred away twice in her career. With her new specialty, it is more likely that she will now stay here as the biggest military hospital in Mexico is only a few blocks away from us. Daniel, her fiancé, is also a major in the army and works in the center of army communications just blocks from our church. Daniel works daily with Brigadier General Contreras, Dafne's father. Dafne is a young lawyer in our church who has a burden to see her mom and dad saved. They used to call her a fanatic as she goes soulwinning on my bus route with Kelly and cleans the church. Lately, her father has been more open, and her mom is reading a Christian book that Dafne gave her. We pray that Daniel will be a good influence on Dafne's father. Please pray for our Christmas program that many bus parents come out to see their children in the program. We are especially praying for Efrain, a policeman married to Lucia, who was just baptized. Efrain came a couple of Sundays ago and told me he was touched by the message and wanted to talk to me the next time he came. We pray that this Sunday will be his day of salvation. Thank you for your prayers, Clint
Missionary Update 12/11/2015
Dear Praying Friends, This last Sunday, we were down some in attendance as the temperature went down briskly (here 50 degrees is cold) and many were sick with colds, including the pastor. The adult attendance went down more than the kid's attendance as we only had 102 adults. Thankfully, good things happened. We have had an army nurse named Teresa attending since our Public Service Appreciation Day. She is saved and attended a Baptist church in the state that she is from. This Sunday, she brought Jose, a friend of hers that is in the military police. Jose made a decision to accept Christ at the invitation. We also had a teenager named Ernesto; Lucia, a military wife who attends our bus route and whose husband talked to me after church last Sunday about his spiritual need; and Juan Martin, a soldier that was saved in last year's fall campaign, all make a decision to be baptized and we plan to baptize them next Sunday. Carlos, one of our bus captain's brothers, who was saved this campaign, also talked to me about baptism. He and Esmerelda, the woman he lives with and has a daughter by, both want to be baptized, but I have a policy that I only baptize couples that are married and not living in sin. I want to see fruits of repentance. It always turns out better that way in their Christian growth. The problem is that she separated from a man years ago by whom she also has a couple of children. There are some things they need to happen before I can baptize them with a good conscience. There are a couple of other ladies that attend our church that were saved in the last couple of years for whom I am waiting that they marry their men by whom they have children before I baptize them. Juan Martin's wife also made a decision this Sunday to join the church. Teresa, whom I mentioned above, also made a decision to join the church as well as a man named Arturo, who attended another Independant Baptist Bible Institute years ago, and has been away from God, but wants to be faithful again. Daniel and his wife, both orthodontists, (Daniel studied forensic orthodonture in the FBI school in Quantico) both also want to join the church. They have attended for years; in fact, Ana put on Kellie's braces and treated them the past two years all for free, except the material which here is less that $1,000. Last Sunday, I asked Joel, who heads up Mexico City's bank and industrial police force, if he was going to be doing security at the Boston Celtics/Sacramento Kings game that they were going to play on Thursday night at 9:00 p.m.in Mexico City. He is very hands on and when there is big sporting event like that, he usually accompanies his men. He said "No", that his men would not be doing security for that event, but if I was interested, he could get me free tickets; and since I did not know how to get there, he would have a motorcyclist on his force escort us there. This was before Sunday school. In a few minutes, he came back to me and said, "It's done." So, after church, Thursday night, we were police-escorted to the game and I got to watch my boyhood favorite basketball team, the Celtics, play for free. My family has a frequent saying here, "Only in Mexico City." This weekend, we also had a Bible Institute activity and got to see Mexico City's Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus play and sing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Kellie was surprised to see her former violin teacher playing among the first violins; and Dafne, a young lawyer in our church who accompanied us, was surprised to see her junior high schoolmate singing the solo soprano. Kellie and Dafne got to go backstage and talked to both of them. Like I always tell my family, we are so spoiled to have been called to Mexico City. Thank you for your prayers, Clint Rardin
Missionary Update 12/04/2015
Dear Praying Friends, We had a good first post-campaign Sunday with 190 in church. We maintained a good adult attendance with 138 and extra chairs put up, but the children's attendance went down to 52. It was good to see two military couples that were saved and baptized during the campaign still attending. A young lady who has been coming off and on to our church since she was a teenager, but has been more faithful lately, made a decision to be baptized next week. Also, Paula, a retired schoolteacher, who has been attending our church for years decided to be baptized as well. One of our bus dads, whose wife started coming this summer with her kids, saw me after the service and said he was really moved by the message and wanted to come again and talk to me. We are praying for his salvation. Since Oscar, one of our Bible Institute students has taken over that route this summer, several new families have started to attend. I am contemplating starting a mission out of that route in the future as it is the route furthest from our church and it is difficult for the families to get there for the mid-week service. It would be great for our church to reproduce another church out there some day. Thank you for your prayers. I hope you are enjoying the holiday season. For His Cause, Clint
Missionary Update 11/13/2015
Dear Praying Friends, We had a good Sunday with 231 in attendance including 100 children, with 120 on the buses. I was somewhat disappointed as no adult was saved (we had just four first-time adult visitors), although we had several adults who have started coming in the last three weeks. I was really preaching to Oscar's brother Carlos (Oscar is a bus captain and Institute student), who is very close to getting saved; but can't give up his sin of alcoholism. Oscar even gave a powerful testimony of his salvation out of drugs and alcoholism, and I preached a message on Noah, "The Party Ended When the Door was Shut", but still Carlos didn't budge. I do not believe in pulling people out to be witnessed to when they don't even raise their hand admitting their need to be saved. Besides, he knows the gospel. He just needs to take that step. Please pray that he be saved in this campaign. We did have two baptisms: Heriberto, the soldier who was saved last week and his wife, Araceli, who was saved the week before. In the evening, Jesus Albert, another soldier, and Erika, wis wife, joined the church. Erika was saved in last spring's campaign and Jesus Alberto was saved in his home a few weeks ago and was baptized the week before last. We had a very good time at the old folk's home last Saturday. We had more come out to hear the singing than ever and three residents made decisions as well as two workers. Rebecca, who one of our Bible Institute students, Daniel, brought out last spring and we saw saved and baptized, is now bringing out her cousins to church and came out to help us in the old folk's home. This coming Sunday is our anniversary service. Please pray that God's convicting power be present and that souls be genuinely saved. Thank you for your prayers, Clint
Missionary Update 10/16/2015
Dear Praying Friends, We received two military families as members of our church last Sunday night. Another military family asked in the morning if they could join the church. The husband, Jesus Alberto, was just saved the weekend before. I said he need to get baptized first, which he will do the week after this Sunday as he works this Sunday. He and his wife asked if they could still tithe in the meantime, even if they are not members yet. Of course, I said, "Yes." Two majors in the army; Angie, a military doctor, and Daniel, a military engineer, have gotten together again (they had a fall out last spring) and are going to get married in December; so she will move back here again and become a member again for the third (or fourth?) time (she has been transferred a lot), but this time for good as she has a new specialization in pediatric cancer, one of the few military doctors with this specialization, and she will be working at the largest military hospital in Mexico just blocks from the church . A young lawyer named Dafne, who has been coming to our church for about a year, but has trouble being stable in spite of her great soul winning zeal, has started to knock doors on our bus route with Kellie. Part of her instability has been because of the opposition of her father, a brigadier general, and her mother. They would have a conniption fit if they knew that she was knocking doors in the lower-class part of the city. I believe if she sticks with it she can be a great asset to bring out people and see people saved. Dafne also cleans in our church once a month. Attendance was down some again on Sunday due to some families on the routes missing, but I believe it will be on the upswing as the fall campaign begins on the 25th of this month. Please pray that souls be saved. Ana Mara, who was saved and baptized last month, continues to attend. Please pray for Public Servant Appreciation Day on November 22. We have never done anything like this, but we are inverting local politicians, police, firemen, military and medical professionals and will give them a special gift. Brother Joel, who is the director of the Bank and Industrial Police of Mexico City, will give a testimony and I'll be preaching a salvation message. Thank you for your prayers, Clint Rardin