Sunday, August 09, 2009

Family Fair in San Francisco de Marcoris

Bro. Erik and Holly Johnson in San Francisco de Marcoris (about an hour and half away) invited our church to help organize some of the activities for their first ever family fair. Our church (even as young as it is) took the most workers (pretty proud of that) and we all agreed that it went so well that we want to do one of our own next year. The church made a lot of contacts, Tyler and Jordan manned the dunking booth, Lilian stayed busy registering visitors (her specialty) and the rest of us took over different games and clean up chores. What a blessing it is to serve and be a part of helping another church get started here in the Dominican Republic. Please pray for Truth Baptist Church, Erik, Holly and Ashly as they labor in San Francisco de Marcoris.

Saturday, August 01, 2009

August 1st Interactive Missionary Letter

New Mission Begins In Don Pedro
At the beginning of the year, two Haitian men approached me expressing a desire to learn more about the Bible. I was hesitant at first because I did not know how to speak Creole or French but to my surprise both men spoke excellent Spanish. Weekly meetings were established on Tuesday’s to teach basic doctrine and Baptist Ecclesiology (study of the church) type classes. Using the Bible, we began writing the Articles of Faith in Creole. Things have now progressed and a Baptist mission has been established in Don Pedro. In addition to the mission, we have begun services in Creole Sunday nights in our church here in Tamboril. Over 30 Hatian’s have been saved over the last few months as a result of JuanDial and Gary’s work. They need property, which seems to be a pressing need everywhere, but thankfully we have been able to provide them a piano, guitars and a small portable inverter over the last few weeks.
Several months ago we began inviting boys from a boys home called Hogar Crea two blocks from our church. Several of the boys came to our inaugural services and nine of them were saved. It was an amazing answer to prayer but Alberto the director still was struggling with receiving Christ as his personal Savior. We knew this could be a problem so the church started praying. Believe it or not (with several of the boys present) Alberto came to church Sunday morning and boldly declared that if the boys could change their lives he could too and I had the privilege of leading him to the Lord that day. He has since begun discipleships, received a promotion, and we are working together on the other boys and staff members. Please pray we will be able to reach the staff and boys in the Lord’s perfect timing.
Our Facebook account has steadily grown over the last few months. Send us an e-mail and we will try and explain how it works if you desire to give it a whirl. All our photo albums on www.dr4christ.com will be moving to Facebook
soon. Our latest is about the construction happening at Congregacion Bautista Cristiana. Everyone was in awe to see how much work the men from Liberty Baptist Church in Saint Petersburg had done. I calculate that in four days they saved us 3 months of work. Professionals rookies -
it does make a difference. We learned a lot about construction and dry walling which is still a rarity here in the third world. Bro. Talley at 84 years of age was everywhere preaching, including at our new Haitian mission in Don Pedro. We had over 200 for a special film entitled "The Climb" Sunday night and everyone was blessed to hear Bro. Talley share his testimony.
We are blessed to have four great kids. This summer Tyler traveled to Costa Rica to be with his Grandma and Grandpa Barnes and help out in a couple of camps as a helper / counselor. He really enjoyed the trip and got to go to Nicaragua and visit his Uncle Brian and Aunt Rachael. He has now returned to his duties as Sunday School teacher here in Tamboril and is doing a great job. Please pray for all of our kids spiritual growth and most importantly that they will learn to love serving the Lord their whole life.