I would encourage each of you to get involved with the relief efforts for Concepcion, Chile. A massive 8.8 earthquake destroyed thousands of homes, buildings, and has injured/killed many people. The link below is Missionary Jason Holt’s blog, and will allow you to get involved right now! Don’t miss an opportunity to be a blessing to the people of Concepcion!
It is a privilege to be able to address you, to thank you for your prayers, knowing about your love towards the work for God.
Last month God blessed us with a lot of visitors in both churches Smyrna and Hunter. At Smyrna we had a special day on Sunday Feb. 14th in the morning for we had the Wedding Vows Renovation. We had 199 people, including 23 guests. At Hunter that same day we had 190 people attending at night. There were almost 40 couples in whole, the ones who renewed their Wedding Vows between Smyrna and Hunter Churches.
At Hunter we had the Summer Biblical School every Sunday, having close to 100 kids each week, we also had lots of visitors and many decisions towards salvation. I thank Pastor Miguel Mego for all his work, together with the teachers of the Sunday school.
Form the 8th to the 12th of February we had a youth camp at Ite, closet o the port of Ilo, 80 people attended, between Hunter and Smyrna Churches. There went two of our youngster’s Pastors: Alfredo Pari (Hunter) and Alan Chujutalli (Smyrna). They did a great job!
At mid February one of our College students (Richard Quecara) from Hunter came back from the capital Lima, who was helping a church in Surquillo. Lima. He needs to go throw many medical examinations. We ask for your prayers for his health.
On February 15th, a group of six people between students and former students of our college, including Alfredo Pari, Elio Hilares and Shirley Chavez, from Hunter Church .left to La Paz – Bolivia. They were a blessing those two weeks there, because Alfredo preached in many churches and Shirley helped teaching children, many of them accepted Jesus as their Savior.
On Friday, February 19th and Saturday 20th we had a retreat in Camana beach for the youngsters at Smyrna, where 27 of us attended. I was able to share with them some topics regarding team work and the difference between the children of the light and the children of the darkness besides, having a great time together.
On Sunday 28th we had our first service in the new church Berea, where a total of 22 attended . The services there will be at 3:00 pm, and in between the week on Tuesdays, at 7:00 pm.
We ask for your prayers for our plans for March:
- Official start of classes at our Christian School, March 1st.
- Classes for Pastor son March 2nd and 3rd, at our College
- Start of classes at the institute and College, on Monday March 15th and Tuesday 16th respectively.
- At Hunter we will talk about a” Contagious Church: The Thrill of sharing The Gospel”.
- At Smyrna we will talk about “Family over the Rock: Can I have a good family?”
- Our trip to Ayacucho, to preach at Baptist Church Libertad, from March 9th to March 11th.
I would also like to ask for your prayers for the mother of our co-pastor of Hunter, Brother Luis Navarro. She was detected Cancer at the cervical vertebrates and has started her treatment of radio-therapy. Please help us with a prayer for his family as well.
I thank God for the loyalty of each one of you. May God bless you and keep you well.
Miguel Murillo
My cousin, Kevin Hall, who is a missionary to South Africa put out a great post today on the Bible version of prosperity gospel.
Here is some prosperity gospel for you found in Hebrews 11:
1. They were stoned
2. They were sawn in asunder (sawn in two)
3. They were tempted
4. They were slain with the sword
5. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins
6. They were destitute, afflicted, and tormented.
That doesn’t sound like the perfect life Christians are promised today. In comparison to what these people went through for the faith we are all living the prosperous Christian life.
Click here to read more.
I just recently received a letter from a good friend of mine working in Morocco. He is one of the missionaries that our graduates from the Peru Baptist College are working with.
We desperately need to raise $500 as soon as possible to get at least one more family to the field. Please pray. We have the man power ready and waiting. We just need finances.
Here is the letter I received today:
Hey Mark,
Just wanted to touch base with you to keep you up to date on why we need more Latins here. We had a good weekend. 10 Moroccans in between the two meetings. 5 in Tanger and 5 in Casa. 3 unbelievers and 7 believers. Nine guys and one girl! One guy who is 17 and recently accepted Christ from Kenitra (halfway between here and there) was in the meeting in Casa. First time he had ever been to a Christian meeting. He is sharing Christ with some of his friends but afraid to with his family. (His dad is retired military) We are going to start meetings in his city this week and he’s going to bring some of his friends from the high school who are interested. I guess this will be our first youth group! It’s pretty crazy that a kid at 17 would become a believer in Christ having never met another believer and be willing to share that with his friends in school. What a challenge to American teens. I don’t think they’d be able to grasp it even if we told them cause I know I couldn’t have but… we can try. That will make three meetings a week each. One two hours away and one four hours. It’s really too far.
The guys are spending three days in two teams following up on contacts (from the MP3 project) in Casa. They’ll meet an average of one contact every hour between the two teams today from 10:30 am till 10:30 pm and then tomorrow too. That is only 1/4th of the contacts! And then we have to follow up with Bible studies for those who are interested which is a five lessons series about salvation. After five lessons if they are still open we only give them the option of coming to the church meetings because we don’t have time to continue on individual Bible studies with them since there is a waiting line for these. We are having to leave much of the harvest unharvested or I’d have no time to teach the guys. We’d just be harvesting a shallow group and headed toward burn out. Last week I spent over 20 hours with them in the Word myself. We are in desperate need of more long term laborers here.
If we only had the finances (for the Latins) they could be here now.
Thanks for your friendship and partnership in these things.
Aaron
Please be praying for some very close friends of Amy and me. They just received some bad news concerning the baby that is due the same time as ours.
Click here to read Mark Tolson’s latest blog post.
• Can you give a clear, confident testimony of your salvation based on the written Word of God?
• Can you express clearly and confidently your call to the ministry?
• Can others see the hand of God on your life and the proof of your calling?
• Has God made it clear to you where it is that He wants you to serve Him?
• Are you faithful to your local church, this means all regular services and also any special services?
• Do you participate in the soul winning ministry of your church?
• Have you ever led anyone to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ?
• What ministries do you participate in, in your local church?
• Have you ever built a Sunday School class so that your pastor and church can see you exercising your gifts and calling?
• Have you ever discipled anyone to the point that they came from nothing and nowhere spiritually to maturity in Christ?
• Can you stand alone spiritually or do you need to be pumped up and propped up spiritually?
• Have you had a problem finishing what you start?
• Have you finished your studies, Bible College, etc.?
• Can you explain how you determine the will of God for your life?
• How much pulpit experience have you had?
• What is your attitude about living around or working with other races of people?
• Are you in debt?
• How does your family make major decisions? Who has the final word in family decisions?
• Can you explain and defend your basic doctrinal beliefs?
by Dr. Hayward Armstrong, source
1. Ask the missionaries to describe their ministry to you (it helps them to clarify their thinking and renew their passion and it helps you to understand them and their work).
2. Ask them to name a few specific things or people that you can pray with them about (while you are there and after you come home).
3. Follow their leadership (they probably know more about the project than you).
4. Follow their leadership (they know the culture better than you).
5. Follow their leadership (they know the people and their needs better than you).
6. Graciously allow them to change your plans in midstream.
7. Let them infect you with a love for their adopted people.
8. Don’t show disgust for people, places, circumstances, food, etc. (be honest but don’t dwell on the negative).
9. Don’t give them advice about how to do their ministry (they know more about it than you do).
10. Tell them that while you are there you will do anything they need to support them or their ministry (and mean it).
Ouagadougou, February 4, 2010
Greetings in the name of our beloved Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We hope that God is working in your lives. Thank you so much for your support and prayers. It is a blessing to see how God is workingin Burkina Faso.
This month Pastor Austin Gardner from the US was visiting us with two other brothers. Thanks to God they were moments of blessing for the couples of the church. One of the couples were reconciled after a long time apart. They have decided to work on their marriage again!
We celebrated the fifth anniversary of the church in Tengandogo by the grace of God. We had 400 visitors and 4 accepted Christ as their personal Savior. Amen! I want to share with you a great material blessing that God has given us through a group of missionaries. They have given us a motorcyle which has made life so much easier for us here! Also, the two men who came with Pastor Gardner gave us cell phones. We are very thankful to them and our good God.
The Lord has allowed me to preach for a few minutes in French! For me it is a great blessing as I see His hand in my life and the life of my wife. She also taught the young ladies in French!
We are happy with what has happened this month of January. We love you all. Please recieve our warmest greetings and may the grace of God continue in your lives.
Prayer Requests:
For Bro. Keith Shumaker (the veteran missionary we work with) as he travels to the U.S.
For the anniversary of the Living Water Baptist Church this month on the 7th.
That God would continue helping us to learn French
For Bro. Alfonso and his marriage
That God would raise up more laborers
For those who have recently received Christ
That the families would practice what God sowed in their hearts
For the missionaries of the church: Pastor Salif, Mamdou, Tali, and Konate
Let’s be honest, traveling around the world is expensive. Airfare alone with all its hidden costs can easily break anyone’s budget. But what if you could see the world, without leaving the United States?
The world itself has gotten smaller. It was once normal that in order to taste authentic Indian food, you would need to travel to India. Or, if you had an interest in Somalia, it would be nearly impossible to get to Somalia to meet and converse with a Somalian. Those days, however, are over.
This summer in Atlanta, Georgia; high school and college age students can see the world in what is becoming one of the most culturally diverse cities in the nation. In the city of Atlanta, within one hour you can make it to either the largest Islamic mosque in the Southeastern United States or the largest Hindu temple within the entire country. There are an estimated 100,000 Chinese and 75,000 Muslims living in the Atlanta area. In addition to these people groups there are also Korean, Japanese, Indian, Pakistani, Vietnamese, Bosnian and many more ethnicities that are all found in the city.
This five day long camp is also unique in that it directs students towards the cause of world missions. Students will spend time on the street, in a mosque, at a Buddhist temple and visit many other places as they learn about cultures and religions from all over the world that need to hear the Gospel message. Not only will they be able to have experiences that many Americans have not had, but they will also be challenged by missionaries from around the world and spend time with them as well.
The camp takes place June 14-18. What is the cost? At only $125 ($25 registration fee and $100 camp fee), it is certainly cheaper than flying round trip to nearly any city within the USA. You can find out more information and register now by going to bcwe.org and clicking on events. You do not want to miss this camp, it is five days that can change the world.
What do people want to do because they hang around you?
Does it have anything to do with what will count for eternity?