Baptism Celebrated!

Things are moving along in our church plant. Iglesia Cristiana El Punto (The Point Christian Church), which we started six months ago, celebrated its second baptism Sunday afternoon. We had three people be baptized. Jhon, a medical student, and Israel Michell and Edwin who are two of our musicians. It is exciting to see the Lord moving in their lives.

Israel’s mother (who attends another great church here in Santiago) has been praying for his salvation for many years and was excited to witness this step of faith on his part after having received the Lord.

We encourage your prayers for our church as we are strategically situated across the street from Santiago’s 2nd largest university.

Jhon being baptized.

New Church Pre-Launched!

Sunday, February 10 was an historic day for us as we started our pre-launch monthly services for the new church we’re planting! (We move to weekly services on May 5.)

It is called Iglesia Cristiana El Punto (The Point Christian Church) and we’re aiming at university students and young professionals. We’ve found a great location in a plaza right across the street from our city’s 2nd largest university, which has more than 22,000 students at any given time (unfortunately, we didn’t have that number in our first service–but we can only go up!)

Our team is excited to reach this generation for the Lord!

You can be part of this!

1) You can pray as we plant this church!

2) You can give toward this work, we have both start-up and monthly expenses involved in planting this new church–your investment will impact eternity with every life that is reached for Jesus Christ!

 

The “Other” Election Results

Last week, one of the pastor’s associations here in Santiago held their elections for their board of directors. I was voted in as Secretary. I will serve along with the others on the board for the next two years.

The New Board of Directors

As the Lord brings it to mind, please pray that He will use us to bring community, unity and a spirit of cooperation to the pastors of Santiago as we work together to reach the lost for Christ.

Tales from the Jail

I’d like you to pray for “José” (name changed to protect identity). I’ve been sharing the Gospel with him for some time now. He also frequently attends the Bible studies/prayer meetings that his cellmates hold every other day. However, he has never put his faith in Christ as his Savior.

 

When I’ve asked him why he hasn’t given his life to the Lord, he has said it is due to some vices he hasn’t given up. However, it always seemed to not ring true.

Youth Prison “guest”

This past Thursday we were able to talk at length. José finally opened up. He has come to believe, as do many prisoners here, that God will not forgive someone who has committed murder. José has. So he feels hopeless as far as God is concerned. He is afraid if he comes to the Lord, God will reject him. José’s eyes teared up as he shared this fear.

So, I was able to share with him verses that speak of God’s forgiveness and our hope (as well as famous murderers in the Bible).

Pray that José and many others like him, can come to understand the great love and forgiveness God has for them, no matter how low they’ve sunk.

Healing Testimony

Marisol, the neighbor of one of our members was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

When she came to church about a month ago, frightened, and without Christ actively involved in her life, she had just found out that there was a new cyst in one breast to add to the tumor she already knew about in the other. 

She came forward for prayer at the end of the service, and we prayed for her–for God to do a work of healing in her life.

On Sunday Marisol gave her testimony–She had returned to her oncologist who ran new tests on her. To her doctor’s shock, the cyst had disappeared! They ran a second test which confirmed their lack of findings. They also were surprised to see that the tumor has started shrinking! 

I don’t know what you might be going through today, but we have a God who is actively involved in our life. Keep believing!

New Preacher in the Family!

This morning, Olivia preached her first sermon ever in church. Her message was, “Live for Him, because He died for you.” She encouraged us to not just be a believer, but to live like it–a challenge we need to all be reminded of. Olivia did a really good job, and we’re very proud of her! We love seeing young people developing their gifts and callings, and even more so when it is our own daughter!

Olivia preaching her first sermon! So proud of her!

Another well-guarded secret about Olivia is that she is a singer/songwriter. She’s written a number of songs and so far has recorded four. We’re encouraging her to make some videos of them to put on YouTube, so stay tuned! I’m sure you’ll like them as much as we do.

Here are some ways you can pray for us right now!

We’re asking for your prayers in a big way right now! Two big things are in the works.

1) In February, we installed Ariel as the lead pastor of the church we planted together several years ago. However, we’ve still been a big part of the church. At the end of this month, we are basically “giving them the keys.” We realized that though Ariel had the title, our continued presence is holding him back from the freedom he needs to lead the church as he feels. So, like proud parents whose kids are leaving home to make it in the big world, we’re so excited for them and praying for their continued blessing and success.

Carolina and Nestor

2) We are moving ahead with our plans to plant a new church! Stephanie and I spent the other weekend with Nestor and Carolina, a young couple that lives in La Romana here in the DR. They will be moving here to co-pastor with us. We spent a lot of time dreaming and planning this new church. We’re wanting to plant the church in a plaza right in front of the second largest university in Santiago. As this opportunity begins to pick up steam and momentum, we encourage you to pray with us. We need the Lord to give us His wisdom and vision, and open doors.