July 25, 2009

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade- kept in heaven for you. I Peter 1: 3, 4
This is a time of praise to our God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For a long time we have been asking many you to pray that God would raise up men in our churches here in Caracas. We are beginning to see this happen. Two men whose wives have been faithful believers have recently made public professions of their new birth in Christ. Another through a Father’s day gift from the church, a devotional book of “Our Daily Bread”, is reading his Bible and this book daily. Several other men through invitations of friends, ministries of our Christian Bookstore and the Conference men’s retreat are now attending church and beginning their journey with the Lord.

Last Saturday, our 3 churches had a combined baptismal service. Fifteen new believers were baptized! It was thrilling to hear their testimonies of what God is doing in their lives. One of those baptized was a man, who is the school bus driver for Pastor Armando’s children. Pastor Armando, a year ago invited Genaro to the Men’s Retreat. Genaro’s life was a mess, his marriage on the rocks and his health in bad shape with very high blood pressure and an irregular heart rate. He went to the retreat to just get away from everything but also a bit afraid of what he was getting himself into. That weekend he gave his heart to the Lord, his blood pressure has dropped to normal and he hasn’t had another irregular heart beat. God is strengthening his marriage and his wife has also accepted Christ as her Savior. They both were baptized this last week. The above picture on the left is Genaro about to be baptized by Pastor Armando.

Keep praying for God to raise up men who are willing to count the cost and that their faith which is worth more than gold may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus is revealed.

Lynn has been teaching the discipleship, baptismal class for the new believers who were baptized from the Macaracuay church. It has been so exciting to see their joy and eagerness to learn the things of the Lord. The above picture on the right is the group from Macaracuay who were baptized.