MARACAY MESSENGER 

A QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER FROM MIKE AND JAN BENNETT

04/02/09

MS Word file for printing       News letter Index

FIRST BAPTISM

Sunday, March 22, almost 3 years after starting the work in Maracay, our first disciple was willing to be baptized. 

Baptism is a major stumbling block for new believers in this culture. Although we have seen people come to know Christ and grow in his grace, they are reluctant to be baptized.  Why? 

Most say that they were baptized as children and don’t need to be baptized again.  The real reason is that baptism signifies a public repudiation of their former beliefs. It is contrary to the culture here and often results in the deprivation of family relations.

For this reason we are very thankful for the courage and obedience of Kelly Valverde, who was baptized in front of the members of our 3 small groups.  Pray for Kelly that she will continue to grow spiritually and that others will follow her example.

WORLDWIDE ECONOMIC CRISIS 

The worldwide economic crisis has arrived in Venezuela.  In February we offered a conference on “How To Survive The Crisis.” Pray that those who attended will realize that Christ is the only solid rock during these tumultuous times and that they will seek Him with all their heart.

MINISTRY BEGINS IN GIRADOT  WITH SOCIAL PROJECT

The First Baptist Church of Maracay has teamed with us to start a new ministry in a neighborhood called Giradot. The ministry began last fall with a series of prayer walks, and in January a group of church members (shown above) went to the area to clean up a playground.  The neighbors were astonished that people who didn’t know them would serve them this way.  Neighbors came out of their homes to bring water and ice tea to the team, and one lady said that she had been praying for 10 years that the Lord would send someone to start an evangelical church there. 

Pray for the work as it continues in the second stage – projecting films in the local plaza and doing a series of talks about conflict in the family.  In May a college team from Florida comes to do a sports clinic focusing on the youth of the area, and a church in Texas is sending a vision team in April to talk about a potential long-term partnership.

Pray for Mike’s health.

 In November he was diagnosed with Thrombocythemia, a rare blood disease that causes the body to produce too many platelets and creates the potential for blood clots.  He is presently taking a form of chemotherapy to kill off the platelets but the medicine also kills off good cells.  Pray that the medicine will be effective and that the Lord will put this condition in remission.

BABY DEDICATION

 Neila is a radio DJ, and Angel is a businessman. She attended a conference two years ago and was intrigued by the material.  She came to a small group and dragged Angel along.  Later Neila became pregnant out of wedlock.  The “good life” they had enjoyed suddenly came to an end, and they were facing a new responsibility. Normally in this culture a man will flee from such responsibility, but in this case the two began to evaluate what the Bible teaches and decided to commit their lives to Christ and create a Christian home for their son, Daniel Eduardo, whom they dedicated to the Lord last month. 

The dedication was a great opportunity to teach new believers why we do not baptize babies and the importance of creating a Christian community in which this child will grow in the grace and knowledge of God

How YOU Can Pray For Our Ministry 

1. Pray that members of our groups will invite friends and family to come and participate in the bible studies.

2. Pray that the members of our groups will be faithful in attending the monthly celebration service that we are starting in April..

3.  Pray for the baptism of those in our groups who have accepted the Lord.

4. Pray that the members of our groups will see themselves as a church family before we leave on stateside assignment in September.

5. Pray that students in our ESL classes will express more interest in spiritual things.

6. Pray that we will have no difficulty in renewing our visas in May.

IN MEMORY JULIO MONTENEGRO

We met Señor Julio in November of last year.  He was a retired university professor.  We visited his home and invited him to ours.  We talked about spiritual things and gave him a Bible and devotional guide, but we did not press for an immediate decision of faith, preferring to maintain a dialogue that would lead to a decision on his own, free of coercion. In February his daughter called to tell us that he had died of a heart attack the night before. It was too late to testify anymore.  The Bible says, “Today is the day of salvation.” May we remember that as we share.