Dear Pastor, Congregation and Friends,
On Easter Sunday, Jeremiah Stormont and I, started preaching through the book of Acts. We are now in chapter ten and the journey so far has been challenging and inspiring for the Colmenar church. We have learned that we have a mission, that we have the power for that mission, and that nothing can hinder the success of that mission. It’s exciting to see believers in Spain motivated to reach the world with the gospel. Already we are seeing greater evangelistic zeal in our church. Just three weeks ago we celebrated the eighth anniversary of our church and we had many first-time visitors invited by our members. For the first time we were able to fill up our new building. Again, we would like to thank everyone that gave generously for the new building remodel. We would not have been able to have that many guests in our old building. After the service we shared a special meal at the church, and we had plenty of room! The Lord is good.
Encouraged by what we are learning in Acts, we are gathering every Wednesday for prayer and training in evangelism. We want to give the believers here the tools to share the gospel with their friends, family and co-workers and people they meet along the way. We want them to go deep in their understanding of the gospel, so that they know how to evangelize every kind of person they encounter in every possible context. What we are praying for is a culture of evangelism, not just an evangelism program. Every time I get a text message from a member about an evangelistic encounter they have just had, I know that we are beginning to see the answer to that payer. Please pray for Maritza and her two daughters, who have been coming to our church, invited by Yanet. We believe that Maritza is very close to believing the gospel. Also pray for Houssam, my muslim friend and barber, who has agreed to visit our church once he returns from his summer vacation.
Not only do we seek to evangelize the lost, but we also seek to help believers become fruitful, mature and reproducing disciples of Christ. This means training disciple-makers in the church and raising up men for pastoral ministry. In the last letter I shared about Paco Prada’s ordination in the Parla church. In this letter, I would like to share how the Lord is using Flavius Tabardau. Flavius is a young man that I had the privilege of discipling and training for ministry. He is very close to being ordained. He has a huge desire to grow as a preacher and help others grow as well. Every two weeks he meets up with four other men from the Parla church and the focus of the meeting is training in preaching.
This same group meets up with me once a month. We work on the structure, context and emphasis of the biblical text. We help them find legitimate gospel connections from the text, how to craft an argument from the text, how to make faithful applications from the text to believers and unbelievers, and how to write a homiletical outline that is shaped by the emphasis of the text in its context. It’s hard work, but profitable! As I have learned from others that have freely given of their time and expertise to train me as a preacher, I wish to do the same with them. Nothing is more esencial to the advancement of the gospel here in Spain and abroad, than the ministry of the Word. Pray for Flavius who is encouraging these men, and for me to be a blessing to them in the area of preaching. Thank you once again for your faithful prayers and support! God bless.
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