Each week the missionaries and pastors from Arequipa met for a prayer meeting in a different missionary home. It was a delightful time. I learned from the other missionaries, who all had more experience than I did. The Peruvian missionary had become a good friend. I didn't yet have many friends as our ministry was starting.

Sometime in late 1988 or early 1989, the Peruvian missionary and I made a trip to Majes. At that time, Pedregal was just developing. There was irrigation water but no running water, electricity, and modern conveniences. We talked about getting in on the ground floor and buying a piece of property in Pedregal for a church we could start one day.

I thought it was a bit presumptive to believe that we should buy where nothing was happening, but a large lot only cost me about $900, and it was worth a shot to see if something would come of Pedregal. We ended up buying right in the center of what is now a prosperous town. God had orchestrated it all so there could be a church in the center of that town.

While we were in the missionary meetings, Don Bond, a mentor to me, returned from Lima. While in Lima, Don had seen several churches that were meeting in the early morning. Several pastors had thought it would be a good idea if people could go to church before they went to the market. The early morning church services might free them to come. It seemed to be working in Lima.

Don wanted to know if we missionaries would consider moving our services to 8 AM. I knew I couldn't do that. The church had started growing. We needed to find a place that was larger than our current meeting place. But I thought that if 8 AM could work, maybe, we could start a second church.

I got with my Peruvian missionary friend and asked him if we could start it together. He agreed. We could arrive at the new church at 8 AM and again at 4 PM without interrupting anything we were currently doing in our churches. 

A family from my Peruvian missionary friend's church lived in the area and wanted to be part of the new church plant. Together we started Mariano Melgar Baptist Church. God blessed. After about a year, I felt like I needed to leave the church. A new missionary had arrived, and it seemed to be a good fit. He took over the church. 

Today that church is pastored by a good friend who God saved through the ministry. God had given fruit in that second church.

I had learned that there was no set rule about when we could have church. Over the next year, we would start and work in more churches using wild and different hours. 

I loved living in a city that was large enough that we could start and work in churches that were reaching different parts of the city. In those days, there was virtually no traffic in the city. For that reason, I could preach at 8 AM leaving at 9 AM, and get to the next church by 9:15. Then I would arrive at Hunter church at 11. In the afternoons, we would preach at 4 PM, then 6 PM, and then at 7:30 PM, back at Hunter to finish our day.

Don had come back from Lima with a great idea. The idea that we could have church services as early as 8 AM radically changed our entire ministry. 

There was a church in Belaunde that a different Peruvian missionary had started. He had been a friend since meeting him. When he discovered that I had bought land in Majes, he wanted to know what I would do. At that time, Majes was a 1.5 to 2-hour drive from Arequipa. 

I need to tell you that all of 1988, I had searched for young men that might consider working with me. I wanted young men that I might train to be future pastors. I found no one in all of 1988 but at the end of the year and going into January, and God opened doors. Several young men started showing an interest. They started coming to my house on the other side of the city to study the Bible for 8 and 10 hours a day. 

So now, with my young friends and students, I was excited to see what else God might do. When I spoke with the Peruvian missionary, he said he could show me how to build a building out of grass mats on the land we had in Majes. That was a great idea.

We traveled to Majes. Those were the wildest, most fun times ever. We were in the high mountain desert. The sun beamed down hot. Everything was dry. There was no running water or electricity, but I felt the power of God at work in our lives. 

We got the first part of the grass mat building up. We decided to invite the neighbors. At night there was no light except the moon and stars and a few flickering candles and lanterns. 

We pumped up some bright lanterns, invited the neighbors, and about 70 people showed up. Of course, most weren't necessarily interested in Jesus or church but came to see what was happening. I have often said curiosity killed the cat and brought many Peruvians to church. 

I left Chris, our oldest son, and some other Peruvian young men in Majes. They slept on the ground, they ate at a little rustic restaurant, and I doubt they bathed except their face and hands for several days. Slowly a church was beginning to form.

The friend that had helped me with the grass mat building had started the church in Belaunde. He was doing an excellent job in the church, but one day he approached me about the possibility of swapping works. He would take the Majes church. His parents lived in Majes. It was hard for me to make the trip out every week with all my other responsibilities, and I could take the church he had started in Belaunde. 

He gave me the chairs and furniture he had, plus his rented building. I gave him the piece of property and whatever we had in chairs etc., in Majes. My friend is still pastoring there and doing a great job. They have now built a large and beautiful building. 

The church in Belaunde would later become Lighthouse Baptist Church. Several of my friends worked there, and eventually, our son Chris Gardner would become the pastor. Today God is using that church and our friend who pastors there. 

I think there are several things to consider as a missionary. 

Consideration 1

Learn all you can from the other missionaries of like faith and practice. There is so much to learn. So many have more experience than the new missionary. I challenge all missionaries to ask questions, listen, glean, and learn all you can from those with more experience. We are not in competition. We can learn from others and help others learn. We listen and learn not to compare or criticize but to see what might work in the ministry that God has given us. As someone said, let every man be my teacher. Be careful not to know because the more you know or think you do, the less you will learn from others.

Consideration 2

Watch how God uses your stumbling attempts to serve Him. He will take what you do and multiply it. Even if you choose the wrong property, God will continue to work through your mess-ups.

Consideration 3

Begin praying now for trainable young men. I prefer to train 15 to 25-year-olds. If you are in a closed country, consider 18 to 28-year-olds, but you get the point. I like to have men that do not come to me from another church background. I want to train and not retrain. I think that is what Jesus did when he chose fishermen instead of rabbis or rabbinical students.

Consideration 4

See if you can start more than one church at a time. Be so busy and needy that the nationals must step up and help you. If you are not very careful, you will let the ministry of pastoring drown you so much that you will not be able to start multiple churches. You can start churches far enough apart that they will not conflict, and you can make both in one AM or PM because of your vehicle. Get creative and think of starting more churches.

Consideration 5

You are on the field to see people saved, baptized, discipled, and trained and for them to do the work. You must always focus on your goal to be a multiple church planting leader trainer. Let it be the filter you use to determine what you will do. Be careful to be working with others. Get so much going that the national men will have to step in and help you.

God is doing great things all over the world. He has not quit. God is not leaving us here because He doesn't know how to rapture us out. He has left us here so we can do the work He has called us to do.

Don't be discouraged. Don't settle for less when God has more planned for you.