Ruben Ibanez graduated from the Center for Pioneer Church Planting in Los Fresnos, Texas, with the class of 2009. Responding to God’s call to full-time work among unreached tribes in Mexico, Ruben and Debbie are currently attending language school in Guadalajara, Mexico. Upon completion of language and culture training, they are planning to join a team of To Every Tribe missionaries who are serving in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Debbie and Ruben are convinced of God’s power through His gospel to call all of His children to Himself. They are motivated by their joy in Christ to follow His plan for their lives. Eager to share the wonders of our gracious God in Jesus Christ with others, the Ibanez’ invite you to know more about God’s redeeming love by reading their testimonies below. In addition, learn how to become a partner by clicking on this Help to Send link.Our Testimonies
Ruben and Debbie have two children together, Elizabeth (6) and David (4). Ruben also has two children from a previous marriage; Kendra (25) and Chad (21). The Ibanez’ were brought to God through Christ during adulthood. It is their desire to share each one’s personal testimony of God’s faithfulness and redemption.
Ruben
“I was saved when I was 26. I would have said I was a Christian before that time, but my life did not reflect that. After my Dad died, I began to question myself. While reading through the gospel of John, God spoke to my heart by his Holy Spirit and led me to repentance and belief in his son Jesus Christ.”
Debbie
“Until I met Jesus, at the age of 34 (1997), I lived a destructive lifestyle. However, life seemed unimportant and tedious and I wondered about the purpose of my life. Although I did not have any Christian friends at the time, I remembered being told about Jesus from childhood. I came to a crisis in my thinking when I recognized that I did not want anything and I had no focus to my life. I began to realize the vanity of life without God. Then the thought came to me that I should pray. This was itself a miracle! I thought I was being ungrateful in not liking my life and I wanted to ask for forgiveness. Instead, as I knelt to pray I was overwhelmed by the feeling that I really didn’t want my life as it was. I told God that if He wanted my life He could have it because I didn’t want it anymore. I know I met Jesus that day. It is a difficult thing to explain – but I felt I was at His feet and I began to be sorry for so much that I hadn’t even thought about for years. At once I knew I had been set free. If someone would have asked me that day; all I could have said, ‘I have met Jesus and I have been set free.’”
God began to give Ruben a desire for missions in Mexico a couple years after He saved him. Through many varied and difficult circumstances of life, Ruben patiently waited for God’s timing. The Lord brought Ruben and Debbie together in marriage in 2001 and in 2007 confirmed God’s call to missions for their family. Nor’Wood Bible Church in Colorado Springs is the Ibanez family’s home church. They have confirmed their call to missions and are helping to support them financially. (back to top)
The Ibanez Family Updates
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