GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - Pastor David Henry serves as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Gridley, serving international missions along the way. In turn, he is sharing the experience of mission service with his 13-year-old son, Lucas. Together, they spent a week in Chone, Ecuador, strengthening the discipleship of Christian believers and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

Pastor Henry has experienced several short-term missionary trips, most of them to developing nations. In 2018, Greg Ernsburger, a college friend and career missionary, asked him to travel to Sigchos, Ecuador and serve a church founded there. Sigchos sits at 9300 feet in elevation in the mountainous region of Ecuador. 

What Henry saw in Sigchos inspired him. Although the Sigchos congregation was new, it was well established, with an indigenous pastor. While in Ecuador, Henry and other foreign missionaries are aided by local interpreters. These local interpreters learned the story of the church and mission work.

Inez Zambrano, one of the interpreters, encouraged Ernsburger and other missionaries to organize a church in Chone, in the Ecuadorian lowlands, nearer the coast. Henry described Inez as a “person of peace,” like Lydia in the New Testament (Acts 16:13-15).

The Chone church now serves over 200 congregants. During his recent mission trip, Henry preached to the members. Henry focuses on two things. First is, “The relationship that you really can have with God. That’s a real thing.” Secondly, “You need to honor the Lord in a church that believes what the Bible says.” Henry describes Southern Baptists as “people of the book.”

Henry and Lucas also taught in the barrios of Chone, sitting in chairs under street lights and in community centers. They taught members how to share their faith and also made pastoral visits to their homes. Henry started street discussions by asking, “Are you a good person?” He then taught about how Jesus Christ saves them from sin.

The people of Chone are very poor, because there is little work. Those who work are taxi drivers or work in shops and restaurants. Henry said they are looking for hope and are open to the gospel, like Jesus, who “Came to the least of these, the widow, the orphan, the prisoner, the sick. They were listening to him.”

The Henrys have nine children, and all of them have accompanied Pastor Henry or Keisha Henry, his wife, on missions. Lucas served by telling his own faith story, sharing Bible stories, and participating with young people in activities such as soccer and crafts. Traveling down to Chone, a nearly two-day trip, involves flights to Los Angeles, then Miami, then Quito, with a four-hour bus ride to Chone. 

The Henrys fund their own mission trip expenses, with the help of generous members of the First Baptist Church in Gridley. The Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention, a national organization of churches heavily focused on international missionary work. 

In this work, Henry shares the message of the Garden of Eden, and the choice of Adam and Eve that brought sin into the world, Henry said, “God made this perfect world, and it all went haywire. He didn’t blow it up and start over again, he sent himself, Jesus, into the world, to give us grace. The blood of Jesus pays for all of our sin.”