MARACAY messenger           

12/07/07

Pedro, Winelia, Ticho, Delia, Vicente, Lorena

After a conference on conflict in the fall, two new evangelistic bible studies began. The Wednesday group consists of 6 young professionals.  Winelia, a member of our church is helping to facilitate the group. 

 The others came to the group eager to know how to enrich their spiritual life, and by year’s end each had received Christ as Savior and Lord.  They are now learning the disciplines of prayer and bible study.  Pray that each will mature in the faith and be baptized.

Mercedes, Maria, Yasqlet, Biana, Yelitza

The Tuesday group consists of 4 high school teachers and a housewife.  Yelitza, also a member of our church, facilitates the group. This group began on a delayed schedule and will be asked to make a commitment to the Lord around the first of February.  Pray that all of them will be willing to do this.  Pray that Mercedes will be more faithful to the group, that Maria will be open to new ideas and less dogmatic in her beliefs, and that two new ladies, Laureana and Lilian, who have attended once, will return to the group. 

We plan on starting more new groups in March.  On February 28 we will conduct a conference on “The Keys To Be Successful.”  We will talk about three important items: a winning attitude, overcoming failures, and having right priorities.  Much of the material comes from books written by John Maxwell, former pastor and president of INJOY. 

After the conference we will invite the participants to come to three weeks of seminars where we will study Dr. Harold Finch’s book, Three Keys That Open The Door To Success.  These three keys are having a vision for life, establishing goals to accomplish it, and being a person of integrity which comes from knowing one’s creator who grants us both the vision and the means to accomplish it. 

After the seminars we will invite participants to new formation groups. Pray that many will attend the conference on February 28 and will be committed to attend the follow-up seminars and new small groups.  Pray that the facilitators will be wise and sensitive and create a real sense of community.  Pray that these new groups, like the ones last fall, will lead to conversions and responsible followers

Opportunities Open At The Language College

 The Language College has a student enrollment of over 300 adults and 1200 children who are seeking to learn English as a second language.  Their faculty consists of over 50 individuals.  The director, Osphyl, is a believer who heard about us through a mutual friend.  We were invited to come and share with the faculty and students at Thanksgiving about the importance of this North American tradition.  Since that time Mike has had the opportunity to do in-service training with the teachers providing them some guidelines on how to work together as a team.  Just last week he was asked to serve as chaplain for the faculty.

 Pray that the Lord will open many doors to share with the faculty at the Language College, that we might be able to start weekly bible studies there, and that the teachers will find time to enhance the spiritual aspect of their lives. 

Youth In Falcon Grow

 Over 25 young people from the two churches we started in Falcon came together for a youth retreat the weekend of Thanksgiving.  The youth in Coro are now responsible for the praise time each Sunday and have added live instruments to the worship experience.  They have also formed a group of mime that entertained at the annual Christmas party. In Punto Fijo the youth are meeting weekly in their own small group under the direction of Eliezer and Elizabeth Hernandez from Coro, and the youth so appreciative of their leaders that they went to Coro in December to celebrate Eliezer’s birthday with him. Pray that these young people will remain faithful to the Lord, that they will not be sidetracked by the temptations of the world, and that they will share their faith with their friends

Ministry to Teachers Begins

Teachers at Special Needs School in Paya

  Paya is a small country town just northeast of Maracay.  Most of the people who live there are poor, and as a result many of the children have suffered birth defects due to malnutrition and inappropriate prenatal care. The government has established a special needs school there whose director is Milagros, the individual holding the balloon in the picture. 

 Milagros’ sister attends a Baptist church in Caracas which decided to adopt the school for the Christmas holidays and provide gifts to the needy children.  The pastor of the church contacted us, since we live nearby, and asked if we could deliver the gifts and provide a spiritual message at Christmas for the faculty and parents.

 17 of 18 teachers were present for the fiesta as well as over 25 parents.  Jan shared the Christmas story in a simplified manner to the children, and Mike shared from Matthew 7:11 telling the adults that if we, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more does how heavenly father want to give good gifts to us if we will provide him a place in our life