MARACAY MESSENGER 

A QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER FROM MIKE AND JAN BENNETT

08/02/09

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VOLUNTEERS MAKE       VISION TRIP

A team of five people from the First Baptist Church in Burleson, Texas came to Maracay the end of April to investigate the possibility of entering into a three year partnership with the Good Shepherd Church in Maracay to plant churches in five areas of the city where there are no evangelical churches. 

The same week a team of three people came from the First Baptist Church of Academy, Texas to consider a similar partnership with the Good Shepherd Church in Caracas to plant a new church in a professional area. 

Volunteers from these churches are going to do prayer walks, VBS, True Love Waits conferences, street parties, social projects, and a host of other activities depending on the gifts of their members. 

There are numerous areas in Caracas and throughout the entire country of Venezuela where there is not a single evangelical church among thousands of people.  Most of the local churches are small and need the encouragement and participation of a church in the US who will work alongside them to plant a new work. Will you and your church consider this option?

Red Lane Baptist Church in Powhatan, Virginia sponsored Vacation Bible School Clinics for the Baptist churches in Aragua and Falcon.  They purchased 20 Spanish copies of “The Boomerang Express,” the 2009 edition of Lifeway VBS materials, and sent them to the Bennetts who taught teams from 20 different churches how to use the materials as an evangelistic outreach activity for the community around the church and a discipleship activity for their own children

  60^th BIRTHDAY

On May 12, Mike celebrated his sixtieth birthday surrounded by friends from the Walking With God Community Church in Punto Fijo who invited him there for a special celebration of Mexican food, games, gifts, and a birthday cake with his photo computerized into the icing on the cake.

BCM TEAM COMES TO GIRADOT
 

Baptist Collegiate Ministries of Pensacola, Florida spent 10 days in Maracay in May working with the Good Shepherd Church in Giradot.

The team, consisting of 11 students and their director, did outreach to the youth of the area.  Every afternoon they played soccer, basketball, and ultimate Frisbee with the teenagers, and in the evening they presented a skit depicting the struggles of youth and how Christ can help.

Over thirty teenagers came to know Christ during the week and four adults as well.  In addition, the team was received so well by the youth and their parents that the church has received many invitations to come back and repeat similar activities. 

CONFERENCES GALORE

 The last three months have been filed with a series of conferences as the Bennetts continue to train Venezuelans to carry on the work.    In May a marriage retreat was conducted for pastors and their wives from the state of Falcon.  In June the same retreat was repeated for pastors and their wives in the state of Aragua.  In June a youth retreat was held for the youth in churches in Coro and Punto Fijo, and in July the Bennetts went to Maracaibo to train volunteer missionaries how to be coordinators of strategy in a new area where work is beginning. 

Stateside Assignment

  In September Mike and Jan will complete their third term as missionaries of the IMB and will return to the US for stateside assignment.  They will stay in New Jersey with Jan’s mom during which time they will go to a debriefing conference in Richmond and attend an associational missions conference in Valdosta, GA., an On Mission Conference in West Virginia, and the state conventions of New England, New Jersey / Pennsylvania, and Maryland.  They will also speak in various churches that have invited them, visit the kids, and hope to get a little rest before returning to the field in May of 2010.

WE ARE MOVING!

When the Bennetts return from stateside assignment, they will move to Caracas.  Mike will serve as the associate cluster strategy leader for the Gran Colombia cluster (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia).  In addition, they will head up a new team to reach the people in Caracas.

 Caracas is a city of 6 million.  It is the least evangelized capital of Latin America.  There are only 18 Baptist churches in this city.  It is in great need! 

 Pray for the new team as it is formed that the members will work with one vision and in harmony.

  Pray that it would be very clear where God is working among the people and how we might join Him in the work. 

 Pray that the people of Caracas would genuinely desire to know the living Lord.

This is the last edition of Maracay Messenger. 

We will contact you again in May of 2010 with the first edition of the Caracas Chronicle.