ABWE
Mark and Diane Henzler
Apartado Postal J-45,
Managua, NICARAGUA
click here to email the Hentzlers
Association of Baptist for World Evangelism - Central America, Mexico, and Caribbean Region/Nicaragua
Ministry assignment:
1. Leadership Training as Regional Professor of Biblical Studies.
2. Assist in church planting
We are the Henzlers, serving over twenty years with ABWE in Peru, South America; Togo, West Africa; Chile, South America; and now in Managua, Nicaragua. In the first year that we have been here God has given us a very exciting ministry as we start a new church among the professional Nicaraguans. Our children, Andrew (11) and Suzanna (13) have happily adjusted to their new country.
Through the years, we have come to understand that while evangelism and church planting are the heart and soul of the Great Commission, an indispensable task to making this work long term is training national leadership. With this in mind, we try to balance a threefold ministry in building the Kingdom of God in as many countries as we can influence for Christ.
We have experienced the following blessings in our ministry during the past year:
- Seeing God at work in the new church plant, seeing people who are hungry for God’s Word receive it gladly. Seeing the networking of people who invite their friends and relatives to our work.
- Being able to build on Andy and Diane Large’s foundation of contacts for starting the work. They are excellent ministers of Christ, especially adept at evangelism, teaching, and hospitality ministries.
- The salvation of many people, but in this country where religion is relegated to the women, it is especially exciting to see men like Leonardo, Eduardo, Leonel, and Hegel come to Christ.
- Seeing former Roman Catholics fully making the break form the RC church.
- Partnering with the very dynamic and growing church in Colombia to do Bible Conference preaching and leadership training. It was a special blessing to have Diane accompany me for the first time in a trip like this. This was my 5 th trip to Colombia and so has been an important part of my life. Having her with me to see, counsel, sing, and meet my Colombian friends was extremely gratifying. Seeing Pastor Horacio Osorio again was also very special – I met Horacio on a MAP trip in 1978, when we worked with ABWE missionary Terry Armstrong in the young people’s ministry. It was thrilling to work with him again as he led the services and the choirs, and I preached at the Bible conference services where about 700 attended.
Updates:
June 2010
Hello Everybody!
We are in the midst of some exciting days here in Nicaragua with a teen ministry team here from First Baptist Church of DuBois, PA. They are a fantastic group of 16 teens and five leaders, well prepared with an excellent program, flexibility, and super attitudes, and we are taking them to several of our ICP church plant sites to evangelize.
This was all tested their first day of ministry here. Our church planter had previously arranged with the school director in the village to be able to use the school for the team. When we arrived Sunday morning, we found out that a group of Roman Catholics had told the director not to allow us to use the school, and fearing for his job, he cancelled the event. Knowing some of the background of this and recognizing that it was spiritual warfare, we prayed, and decided to go ahead and set up on either side of the road. The towns people brought chairs to help set up, and so right there, we sang, gave testimonies, presented dramas, gospel illusions and a gospel message, while 60 people sat on both sides of the road as well as their porches. Thanks to a good sound system, they were able to hear well, even as motorcycles, cars, trucks, bicycles, horses and dogs came passing through. The local priest even made a few passes through the event, wagging his finger at the young people as they shared the message of Christ’s love through the wordless book bracelet. We praise God for the joy, love, and truth that was evident, in spite of the difficulties. Please pray for church planters Luis and Damaris, who are regularly facing this type of persecution as they plant this new work, which is now regularly attended by 40+ children and 17+ adults.
Please pray for the team as they continue to minister in other church plants throughout this week. We are excited to see what God will do, and are so thankful for your participation with us! For all you facebookers out there, there are more pics on our page, “mark diane engle henzler”.
Thank you!
Mark & Diane, Suzanna and Andrew Henzler, along with the Dubois Team.
September, 2009
Greetings again from Nicaragua! We trust you are well and enjoying God’s good hand of blessing in your life. It is good to be back after our short furlough. We were able to see many of you while we were there. That was great! We expect to be able to visit the remaining churches we were not able to get to this next summer in June and July. It is good to be back into the swing of ministry here in Nicaragua again. Tomorrow we begin another 3 day training series through our Institute of Church Planters at the ABWE Ministry Center. Twenty-eight men have signed up to be there, representing the 16 church planting teams involved in the project. Please pray that the men will be able to arrive at the center, for myself and the pastors as we impart 3 days of instruction, and then for the teams as they return to their homes and places of ministry to implement the training, that God would raise up His church through these men. They are in all stages of church planting, some going well, and others facing challenges; some men are excited, others are discouraged. In this training series we will especially emphasize principles of biblical leadership, and specific problems that cell groups often face. We trust that God will use this time to meet the needs of each church planter. Also, Diane will be teaching on “family devotions” at a Feb. 28 meeting of the women of the association with whom we are working in the ICP. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s work in these women’s hearts and lives as wives and mothers.
Suzanna and Andrew are doing great—settled back into the school routine and glad to be with their friends here again. Andrew is a part of the Delta Group at school (High School students selected by the Director for leadership training and student/administration interface); Suzanna is preparing for AP exams and the college search is on – exciting times for all! We particularly want to thank the many teens at our churches who made Suzanna and Andrew a part of their youth groups and circle of friends while we were there. They really had a great time—Not always true for MK’s, but you guys made a difference!
Thank you for your prayers and encouragement as we begin our 6th year of ministry serving Christ in Nicaragua.
