Mike Patterson was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1948. He felt his calling into the ministry in 1964 and his call to the mission field of Mexico in 1974. Brother Mike and his wife, Becky, have been serving together as missionaries in Mexico for forty-four years. (That doesn’t count the thirteen years that Becky spent growing up in Mexico and Costa Rica as the daughter of missionary Dr. Ralph McCoy.) Besides the work of church building and directing a children’s home, Mike has preached in many conferences in which more than four thousand people made full-time commitments to the ministry. He served as president and director and is now president emeritus of Mount Abarim Baptist Mission International which reaches into twenty countries. God has used these servants to truly impact the world.
When they began their ministry in Mexico, Mike and Becky held church services in their small living room. This church grew to be one of the largest and most influential Baptist churches in Mexico today, Mount Abarim Baptist Church. Mike chronicled his life stories of mission work in Mexico and published them in his book, My People. One heart-touching story is “Breaking Rocks.”
Mike watched as his friend, Rafael, continually swung a sledgehammer at a massive boulder. The purpose was to break the rock so that they could use the smaller pieces in a building project. The boulder did not crack under the pounding, but Rafael kept his pace steady. Then, all at once, the boulder burst into smaller, usable portions. Although nothing could be seen on the outside of the boulder, Rafael knew that he would soon crystallize the center. After the center was crystallized, the boulder could be crushed by a single blow of a twelve pound sledgehammer.
Brother Mike said that his work in Mexico was a lot like Rafael’s. “Much of the time we swing our hammer with little to show for it but a thud and little puff of dust.”
We Christians witness to non-believers and hope that we are getting through to them so that they can spend eternity in Heaven with God. Time and time again, nothing seems to change. Once again we talk to them, and they begin understanding a little. Then once more, and finally a breakthrough occurs; a lost soul comes to Christ. The question is: “Have you been letting God use you as his hammer to crystallize the souls of the lost?”
Mike’s book, My People, is available on Amazon and other outlets and would be a great devotional book for your family or church. As you read these short stories you will laugh and cry. And you will thank God that people like Mike and Becky go to the mission field.
Fall 2018