Episode 72

On this episode of the Removing Barriers podcast, we are off to the mission field to hear from Missionary J. Loveday, missionary to Spain. Regarding a country with as rich a history as Spain’s, it will be exciting to hear about the people, culture, and religions that shape the spiritual landscape that he serves in every day. Though perhaps Catholicism comes to mind when we think of the dominant religion in Spain, it is fascinating to note that other religions play a huge role in erecting barriers between people and Christ. How does the missionary tackle these barriers? What is God doing today in the country of Spain? What can we do to be a part of it? Join us on this episode to answer these questions and more.

When I came to Spain, the most challenging thing that I saw was all the statues were of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Virgin Mary’s lap broken. I never have seen any aspect of the Lord Jesus Christ when I came to Spain being victorious. Don’t celebrate very much here. Resurrection Day. Everything is leading up. We have what’s called Samana Santa, which is Holy Week. And then we have Thursday, Friday, Saturday, the processions and everything else. But on Sunday we don’t talk about a resurrection Christ because many people believe that the Savior is for them is the Virgin Mary.Thank you for tuning in to the Removing Barriers Podcast. I’m Jay and I’m MCG, and we’re attempting to remove barriers so we can all have a clear view of the cross.

This is episode 72 of the Removing Barriers Podcast, and this is the fourth in the series of on the Mission Field. And in this episode we will be going on the mission field with missionary Jay Loveday to Spain.

Jay is a pleasure to have you and welcome to the Removing Barriers Podcast. Thank you very much. It is a joy to be here with you, to be able to share from Madrid, Spain, and hopefully we’ll be a blessing. Great. Thank you for placing us in your busy schedule.

All right. Tell us about yourself, Missionary Jay, your calling, your family, your Ministry, etc. For well, it all started. I guess when I was at the age of 16 years old, the Lord touched my heart. I grew up in the city of Detroit in the Southern Michigan Youth Fellowship meeting. The Lord spoke to my heart about volunteering and serving the Lord. And so I swear to my life. And a few weeks later I met with my pastor and he said, you need to go to Bible College to get some things straightened up. The best way to go is to find maybe a wife or find out what you want to really do. So in 1975, I enrolled in Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri, and from there I spent three years of Bible study preparing to be a missionary. And then, of course, met my wife and she was a missionary kid in Spain. And she came to Bible College in 1976, and we met just a year after we knew each other and my Esther married me and we’ve been serving the Lord together for the last 44 years, thanking the Lord that she had a missionary heart. Of what drew her to me was her desire to serve and my desire to serve. We just asked the Lord what the Lord would do for our lives. What happened was about eight months into our marriage. Her sister passed away and was Connie Albright. And at her funeral in January cold month of January in Springfield, Missouri, beside her coffin, I said, Well, who’s going to take her place? She can’t go to the Mission field. And I guess that was me. Oh, wow. Great. The Lord works in ways that we will never imagine. This is true.

You said 44 years of marriage. Tell us about that. That is a milestone. That’s something you got to work on every day when you think about the marriage in that long, of course, our commitment to the Lord. The basis when we got married was Christ. And so we knew we wanted to serve the Lord. And so ever since then, the word divorce has never entered in our relationship at all. We’re married for life. And I’m thankful for my wife, Joy. I have two children, Amanda, our oldest is a mission in Ethiopia. Sandy is here with us in Madrid, Spain. And so working with this wrong side with us. Oh, wow. I would imagine that at this point, you don’t need to say certain things. All you do is still have to see them because I’m only married, like, nine years. So you need to. You’re just a rookie. But you’ve got a beautiful family, beautiful wife. I’m sure Amen. Lord is good.

How long have you been on the mission field? We arrived 39 years ago in September, the 29th of my mom’s birthday. I remember very good in 1982. So we will have our 40th anniversary on the mission field. It took us 18 months of travels to raise our support. Way back then, it was easier to raise support, but we’re thankful we’re in 120 churches, 27 mission conferences, alerts, all fit to raise and all those churches, the money that we need to get to Spain.

Why is that? So why was it easier to raise support back then versus now? Well, one of the things like the name of your program is that’s in Spanish, removing aspects. Back then, you had a Sunday morning, a Sunday night and a Wednesday night, so you could literally schedule three services. Churches now have changed. There’s no Sunday night service Wednesday night. I haven’t scheduled a Wednesday night Church in probably five or six years because there’s so many different things that are going on. Iwanas and the whole congregation is not on Wednesday night. So that’s hard. So it stretches things out. Most missionaries take almost three years to raise their support now. Wow.

How long have you known the Lord? Two ladies on a Thursday night visitation came knocking on my door at the age of eight years old, they introduced me to the gospel, and I kneel beside my sofa in the living room floor and accept the Lord and my personal Savior. And at the age of 14, I wasn’t sure if that was a real commitment to the Lord. So at the age of 14 years old in the youth fellowship meetings, I came home one night and said, Well, Lord, I think I’m saved and I know I’ve made a commitment. I want to make sure. So I knew about my bed the age of 14 years old, and I really believe that’s when the Lord saved me and I’m thankful for people that were interested in sharing the gospel with me at that age, because when you get the gospel the age of eight, you don’t know everything. At the age of 14, I knew it was more than what was right and wrong. And so that was in March 1971. Oh, wow. That’s a long time.

Do you think that the way we evangelize in children? Do you see any changes needed in that? A lot of folks we talk to get saved at a young age, and a lot of them tend to doubt in their teenage years. I think in that aspect, no, I don’t think we need to change it. I think there’s knowledge at the age of eight and there’s knowledge at the age of 14. And so I wouldn’t change that aspect because we do the same thing with our youth camp Ministry here in Spain. We have a number of kids that have been saved younger and then doubted later on. I just want to get it right. I think that’s the most important thing is just to get it right. If it takes two times, then just get it right. I did. All right.

So tell us where in the world is Spain? For those that are geologically challenged, maybe like myself. Okay. Well, if you look where Europe is, everybody should know where Europe is and you go all the way south. We’re almost touching Africa, marwecos, I’m thinking in Spanish, Algerias. How do you say that in English? I’m not thinking too much in Spanish. Yes, it’s to the south. Gibraltar. Everybody knows Gibraltar. That’s in Spain. So the most Southern part of Europe is where Spain is. And we’re in the city of Madrid, right in the capital. Great.

Could you tell us more about Spain to tell us about the population, the people groups that are there, the religious breakdown. Tell us more about Madrid in particular, or perhaps Spain as a whole. But Madrid in particular. Okay. Spain, 45 million people live in the country of Spain. It’s the city of Madrid where I live there’s over four and a half million people, five and a half million in the capital, in the Metropolitan area. Roman Catholicism dominates the country of Spain. They say 85% to 90% of the population in Spain lives under the bondage of Roman Catholicism, as I say, and not offend anyone. It’s just that their traditions go back eight, 9000 years. And so we’re here to share the light of the gospel, our desires to be able to reach people, to have a true relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Many people on the street, they know who Jesus is, but they don’t have him as his personal savior. And so that’s our challenge. Today. We live in an agnostic society. People don’t go to Church. They know about Jesus, they know about the Virgin Mary. They know about the religion very religious country, but don’t have Jesus Christ as a personal savior. That’s the sad fact is, it not a personal relationship there. Yeah.

So Roman Catholic is dominant. What about other religions? Do you see any other religion popping up in Spain? The Muslim religion is one of the fast growing aspects here in the country of Spain. They come from our Wacos. They come from Algiers. They come from all over the area and from Africa. You were only 27 miles off the African Coast, and of course, all of our migrant workers come there. And so their influence in coming to Spain, they’re bringing their religion. They’re bringing Islam. Yes, definitely.

How does that affect or change in Ministry? I’m sure you have to reach those people as well. Muslims and Catholics, and they are reached probably differently. It’s a challenging thing because they’re not as easy to receive a gospel track. When you talk to a Muslim person, you would have to talk to them about God the supreme being. They don’t recognize who Jesus Christ is. They don’t recognize God, the Father, God, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They recognize there’s a beam. And you have to go from that aspect. And it’s very hard for them to break with tradition and family. I always tell people it’s like stepping on the American flag. If you accept the Lord, accept what it is, your personal savior. Even in Spain, it’s very difficult to make that choice because it’s a choice of just saying goodbye to family, friends and everything else and being totally isolated. So it is hard.

Could you tell us more about how the Lord worked in your life to first burden you about the souls in Spain? I visited Spain in 1980 and May of 1980. I took a survey trip. And so I saw what God wanted to do through us. We had originally wanted to go to Guadalajara and start a Church there. But my wife, after two and a half years, we were here. She got Hodgkins disease, lymph node cancer, and she was diagnosed in the third stage. So everything kind of stopped. So we stayed in Madrid close to doctors and really felt that the Ministry was just here in Madrid. And that’s one of the reasons why we stayed in the Madrid area. I just knew that we needed a Church here and for us to stay and for her health and everything else. But God’s blessed. We started the Bible Baptist Church here in Madrid 34 years ago, and so God has blessed. People have come. We’ve had many people saved. We had many people come to the Lord. Madrid is a transient area, too, with a lot of Latin American people in our congregations. So in that aspect, a lot of people in our Church are here two or three years and then they’re gone. So we have an opportunity to have an influence. We’ve got people in Ecuador, we have people in Honduras, we have people in many places where we still have contact with us for a number of years. And now they’re back in their own country, and we still have influence in their lives through different mediums talk, encouraging them and praying for them and helping them.

You mentioned that you were saved in the 70s, and just now you said you visited in the 80s in 1980s. Was the process of realizing that you were called to be a missionary long process, or was it just one day, Bam, the Lord called you and you knew? How did that happen? It probably was a process started when I was 14, went to Bible College, didn’t know what I really wanted to do. I signed up for the missions class for a pastor’s class my first year. And then I changed the missions after Lord spoke to me. Dr. Bob Hughes, missionary to the Philippine Islands, passed away at the age of 43 years old, had great Ministry there in the Philippine Islands, and he was preaching a mission conference, the High Street Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri. And I went forward there and dedicated my life and that’s from age 16 to 19. Yeah, there was a process. God had to use some things in my life, spoke to me about some things and of course, had to have a helpmate. And Dr. Hughes funeral. She was on one side of the aisle. I was on the other side. We both had dedicated our lives to take the gospel back to the country that we didn’t know really where we were going to go. But God spoke to me later on at my sister in law’s funeral that it was Spain.

So after 39 years, what are some things folks should keep in mind if they are called to serve the Lord in Spain, I’m sure you probably have a wealth of knowledge there. Spain is hard. Don’t come here if you’re not willing to spend the rest of your life to preach the gospel and make some sacrifices. It’s hard, but it’s easy when you serve the Lord because you’re in God’s will. I think you need to come with an open mind. I think we’ve had missionaries that come from Latin American countries, and they think Latin America and Spain is the same. It’s totally different. Catholicism dominates the mentality of people here, different aspects of life. They’re very family oriented. The people here, family is very important, but it’s a different type of family we tried to create in our Church, a family around Christ, around Jesus Christ and activities of the Church. And when they come, most of the people that come, of course, are way away from their families. And so we have a few other Spaniards, a number of Spaniards. They’ve come my preacher boy. His name is Jose Manuel. He came when he was eleven years old. And now after 18 years of being with me, he started a Church about nine years ago. He was a Spaniard, and God goes to him and he’s pastoring the Church on the other side of Madrid. It’s not easy, but God was in our time here. My wife thought that she wouldn’t make it past 26, 27 years old because of her cancer. God has given her many more years of service. There’s always a chance. My father in law told me, let me share this with you. My father in law told me that God will give you a toolbox to be able to reach people. My wife has cancer. I’ve had a heart attack. Those tools are useful in order to reach people. The Lord Jesus Christ.

You mentioned the word sacrifice and don’t come. If you’re not willing to sacrifice, tell us, what are some of those sacrifices that you’ve made? I’m sure you mentioned the health of your wife already. But what are some of the others that you have made for the souls in Spain? I think when you think about sacrifice, mine’s been very little family. I miss America. I mean, I lived there till I was 26 years old. But now with the Internet. I’m a big baseball fan. I worked at a baseball Stadium back in the 70s for five years, my very first job. And so that aspect. But I don’t really think now it’s Spain’s home. When we leave here, we want to come back. I don’t look at making big sacrifices for the Lord. I think he made the biggest sacrifice for us, given His life on Calvary’s Cross. And that’s little to me. I’m just thankful, Lord, if I can be used to the Lord and still have the health and the strength to be able to serve Lord here in Madrid, you mentioned that Spain is difficult, primarily because the culture there is dominated by the Roman Catholic religion.

Are there any other differences in culture in which makes Ministry in Spain difficult? And how do you handle those differences? The differences probably would be. I’ve lived here for 39 years and I’ve been accepted because of the years I’ve been here. They say you’ve been here 39 years. You’re almost like a Spaniard. People here don’t understand. People don’t understand why I’m here. I’m an American. I could live much better in America. Drive a nicer car, have a place of my own. I’ll see my family all the time. I’m here for a spiritual reason because Spain ain’t the gospel. There’s a great, great need. I’ve been taught to by many pastors in the States to go back and start a Spanish Ministry. God hasn’t finished with us here in Spain and joy and I have always desired to serve the Lord and do things as he allows us to. But sacrifices. And I think my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, are missionaries. They’ve been missionaries 62 years choice. Parents are still here in Spain. They came here in 1971 as missionaries and are 85 years old now serving Lord. Still not in good health, but still are here. Great.

I wonder because you said you have been there for 39 years. So I imagine that you raise your kids on the mission field as well. Tell us about the dynamics of that because you also mentioned you’re American. You Miss America at times. How was it raising your kids in a different culture in a different language? I’m sure you probably taught them English as well. Tell us about that. Well, in our home, we always spoke English. If it was easy to say it in Spanish, we’d say it in Spanish. But the moment that we left the door of our house and the door closed behind us, we spoke Spanish, and we involved ourselves in the Spanish culture. We tried not to speak English, and we didn’t have to obviously not offend anybody in the early days. Now everybody wants to speak English to me because they want to practice their English. English is the Internet. But in that aspect, both of my daughters got to go to Christian schools. Both of them graduated with honors. But you got to understand that our churches in Spain are very small. 20, 30, 40 people, maybe Max. A lot of people want to take their kids to a big Church where they can have 40 in the young people’s Department. That wasn’t the case when we went to youth camp and we had a youth camp involved in that. They love that because we were 80, 90 people. So that aspect, we tried to become and think and live like the Spaniards do, celebrating the Spanish holidays. The 6 January is Three Kings Day. No Thanksgiving here. Obviously, kids don’t get their presents on Christmas Day. They get it on Reyes. They get on Three Kings Day, which is the 6 January. So that’s something different. We took both aspects of it. We as a family, celebrated our holidays on the 25th. And so those parts, we just took a look. My kids have the benefit of two different cultures. They’re like a third culture, kids. And I think that’s helped Amanda and her living in Africa. She now is missionary in Ethiopia. They’ve been there for eleven years, and so that’s another aspect of her life.

Would you say the culture in Spain is more of Axe chapter two or ax strapped to 17 probably act 17. I’m sure there’s a little bit of everything I wish when we pray that we would have a revival like an act two, where thousands would come and we get baptized. But I always compare it to healing out of rock. You won a Spaniard to the Lord. Well, you made a friend. You have a friend for life. And when they make a commitment to the Lord, it’s forever. It only comes to you and far between. But one of my desires when I came to Spain was to win 1000 people to the Lord. I don’t think I’m going to do that, but you know what Lord did for me. He has allowed me to have a vision to win the man that will win 1000 people to the Lord. And that’s what my hope is that the Lord will give us the opportunity to reach some Spanish young fellow or a couple. Their lives would be touched and they’d win a thousand people to the Lord. I don’t think I have that possibility, but I’m praying that God will lead me to that man or that woman will have an influence in the country of Spain.

Amen, when you talk about your desire to lead 1000 people to the Lord, I know you realize that perhaps it won’t happen in your lifetime, but you are praying that you win the person that will win 1000 people to the Lord. Is there anything happening here in the US that would make that task more difficult? We spoke to a missionary recently and he lamented on how Christianity is here in the United States, and it makes it so difficult for him where he’s at in the world, because everyone in his part of the globe looks at America as the example of Christianity, and he has to undo all of that thinking, undo all of that assumption. Do you find the same thing in Spain as well, or what are some other difficulties that we are implementing? That is very true. Okay. When you think of what goes on in the United States, my news service here, if you look at the Spanish news, the first half an hour is about Spain, and then the last 15 minutes is about what goes on in America, the good and the bad and most generally the bad. It’s very difficult in that aspect because they know all. And every time someone runs into me, most of my neighbors, they want to tell me about the political aspect. If my President is doing a good job or doing a bad job or the economy or anything else that does make it difficult. But I think there are people that need to get their lives on Christ, hear the call of God. And I think God could do some great things here in the country in Spain. If people were willing to just surrender and willing to make the sacrifice willing to come, willing to have the Holy Spirit lead them. I think there’s a great opportunity. I think there’s a great future. I think there’s a lot of people that are searching. I don’t know if they’re searching the right areas they’re looking for what we have. What that is is Jesus Christ. That’s the answer to all of our problems. It’s our relationship with the Lord. And so I’m praying that God will send that man and that woman with that family to be able to reach many people for the Lord. I may not see it. My father in law thought he would see it in his generation 40 years ago. But we’ll see what we know the Lord is capable to do the impossible. So what we can’t do in our strength, God definitely can do so.

Tell us what are some needs that a field will make your task in sharing the gospel in Spain easier. First thing is prayer. We need lots of people praying for Spain for the aspect for the government. We’ve asked the Lord to send workers. We need a good Bible College. We don’t have an active Bible College in Spain to train most of the training that has gone on. I’ve trained six or seven men in our Bible College and we don’t have a physical place where we can go and send our boys to learn those aspects are very needy. Our camp Ministry now is a great opportunity. We’ve been having camp for 44 years. Summertime kids can come away from their families, make decisions for the Lord. This last summer we saw 19 people accept the Lord as a personal Savior. I think probably the biggest need is workers and for men to be called out and surrender and willing to make that sacrifice. I just on Saturday, I was in the ordination of a man that I have known for 30 years and he finally surrendered to the Lord after many years of struggle to pastor who started Church. And that’s not normal. 2025 year olds are not interested in serving the Lord. That’s sad because it’s such a rich way to serve the Lord, to be blessed and encouraged and see life change. Hey, it’s hard, sure, but God’s still the good.

You’re listening to the Removing Barriers podcast. We are sitting our missionary Jay to Spain and finding out all about his mission field. We’ll be right back.

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all right, missionary Jay, we want to go into a little bit of fungus section and find out some of your favorites. What is your favorite Scripture verse? My favorite verse. I brought my Bible here. This is the Bible that I got when I was 17 years old and I’m reading from it. It’s kind of torn. I use it when I was in Bible College. Philippians Four four is what the Lord used in my life. Many years. It’s been my life verse rejoice in the Lord forever and I say rejoice and everything. My joy is in serving the Lord and I’m just thankful for His call to the Ministry. I’m thankful for everything. I have every aspect of my life. I have rejoice in my family and my relationship, my Church, our camp Ministry, just knowing what God has done through the years. I’m just thankful that I can continue that my joy. It’s not happiness. It’s rejoice Amen in the Lord. Amen. Definitely.

What is your favorite biblical historical account in the Scriptures? That’s a hard question. If I had to just choose one person, probably. I’ve taught the book of Daniel. I’ve taught about Abraham. Probably David. Probably. David was the one that searched after the Lord. I could relate to David. I would love to sit down in heaven for 1000 years and sit down, talk to his struggles. That he had. David would probably be my number one. Job. I like Job. I know people don’t think that something popular, but Job was blessed to the Lord. John took it all away and then he gave it all back. Faithfulness and Job spot right there. Definitely. That’s right. Correct.

What would you say is the most convicting scripture verse or passage to you? Probably Romans, chapter number three. I think the whole chapter in that aspect. God used it for me when I was young. I preached from it a number of times in my life, and there is none righteous. No, not one. How the Lord had used in that aspect and being justified freely in His Grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That’s our hope in Christ Jesus. Without Him, there’s no hope. Yes. An amazing position in Christ. Amen in what scripture, verse or scripture passage do you find the most comfort? Probably. Psalms 23 I know. I’ll say it in Spanish and then I’ll translate it. She advised me, but I still bought it in English. I know it in Spanish so much. Oh, my goodness. Look at it. The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want. There’s nothing in my aspect of my life that I don’t have through him. And so that’s the idea is I know a lot of people quote that when you get close to death and everything else. But I know the Lord has been my shepherd all my life, and I’m thankful that he is taking care of me even through many valleys. Psalms 23 1st couple of verses. Great.

What about your favorite hymn of the fate? Probably amazing Grace. I think it says it all. That’s what God’s been able to do. Amazing Grace, sweetness out saved a wretch like me. I was a wretch and he found me, saved me and put my feet on a solid rock. Now this question is a little bit similar to asking what your favorite biblical historical account is. But who is your favorite giant of the faith from the Bible? Would you say that’s King David, or do you have someone else in mind? I would probably say Abraham because he left like a missionary. He left. He left his family and God sent him someplace else. I can probably relate to Abraham more than that, because that’s what missionaries do. We leave, we go someplace else. I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and now I’m in Spain. The funny thing about that aspect is I haven’t lived. Toledo, Ohio, is 45 minutes away, and I’m 45 minutes from the real Toledo. And so really, some of my aspects of my life hasn’t changed much.

Curious question, who is your favorite missionary of the past of the past? Probably David Livingston. Okay. Was a trailblazer. I’ve had the opportunity to speak in Africa a number of years ago when I went to visit my kids in 2010, and his life changed many thousands and thousands of lives. All right.

So what are some of the biggest barriers to the people in Spain to receive in the gospel? And how can those barriers be removed? Probably they don’t have enough information about who Jesus Christ is. They need to understand that he wants to have a relationship with them. When I came to Spain, the most challenging thing that I saw was all the statues were of Lord Jesus Christ in the Virgin Mary’s lap broken. I never have seen any aspect of the Lord Jesus Christ. When I came to Spain being victorious. They don’t celebrate very much here. Resurrection Day, everything is leading up. We have what’s called Samana Santa, which is Holy Week. And then we have Thursday, Friday, Saturday, the processions and everything else. But on Sunday, we don’t talk about a reservation price because many people believe that the Savior is for them is the Virgin Mary. Oh, wow.

And how do you combat that? How do you get around that and actually share the gospel? I use two different levels. When I talk to men, I can talk about sports. I’m a very sports nut. I know basketball, football, soccer. So that’s what I used to be able to talk with people about the gospel. We don’t talk politics. I usually talk about my family because they’re interested in their family. I talk about America, but I talk about the America where I’m from, what I do most generally, all my neighbors know where I’m from, so it’s challenging to be able to talk with people about the gospel. But it’s a lifelong thing. Somebody came up to me just the other day and said something I didn’t think I’d ever hear before. He said, oh, you’re one of those that believes in Grace. We, as Catholics, believe in works. I thought, wow, and that took me 20 years to talk to this man. He’s finally seeing the light, pray for him. His name is Javier, and I hope to continue to witness to him and give him the gospel and maybe see them saved. I don’t know. But that’s taken 20 years of a relationship where he has admitted to me, hey, I see you guys are different

missionary J Loveday. Thank you for joining us on the Moving Barriers podcast. Thank you very much. Enjoy being here with your Cher.

Thank you for listening to get a hold of us to support this podcast or to learn more about removing barriers. Go to removingbarriers.Net. This has been the Removing Barriers podcast. We attend to remove barriers so that we all can have a clear view of the cross.