On October 22, 2000 Maplelawn held a commissioning service for Antonio Navarrete. The Navarrete family, under mission agency ABWE are missionaries in Mexico City, Mexico.
    In 1991, Pastor Bill Stoner handed out fliers at a downtown festival announcing a Spanish-speaking ministry at Maplelawn. One of those fliers reached Antonio, and he brought his family, Diana, TJ and Aylssa to church. Their involvement in the Maplelawn Spanish ministry blossomed, and Antonio became a deacon. He then moved to Holland where he gained experience in broadcasting Spanish messages over the radio.
    God, in this way, has been preparing and equipping Antonio with skills that he can use in the ministry in Mexico City.
    Antonio is native to Mexico City (the largest city in the world) and has family there. It has been his dream to return to his native land as a full-time missionary to preach the gospel and reach the lost. His story is one of God working in his heart and life, teaching him and opening doors along the way.
    Many different churches have caught the exciting vision of sending an equipped native back to his homeland with God’s message of love and salvation.