December Outreach

We've been through a tough few weeks lately with Satan trying to oppose us on every side. However, GOD received the victory and glory today!

This morning a sweet family (Adrian, Sarah, and their two little girls) visited the church for the first time. They attend another church, but after the wife began listening to BBN radio (Bible Broadcasting Network), she realized that they needed to find a church with similar doctrine and teaching. After the service, James sat down with the couple and realized the husband had never trusted Christ. After thoroughly explaining the Gospel to him, Adrian placed his trust in Christ!

This evening was our monthly evangelistic outreach. We try to do something a little different each month. Since it fell close to Christmas we put together a program of music and Scriptures called "From the Manger to the Cross," telling the story of Jesus' birth, death, burial and resurrection. Several played instruments, sang, or read Scripture. There was a total of 51 present, including our children's piano teacher, Marina. Please pray for her salvation.

We collected the Christmas love offering today, which will go toward fixing the floors in the church to make them uniform and installing the air conditioning. Praise the Lord our little church gave above and beyond our expectations! We look forward to completing these projects very soon!

December Prayer Letter

Tear Down That Wall!

With increasing attendance and new visitors every week, we couldn’t wait any longer to expand our auditorium. (A great problem to have, for sure!) We worked four full days to tear down the wall between the auditorium and the garage, giving us about 215 more square feet of usable space. Please pray for our church people to continue to give of their time and resources to cover the expenses of this work as well as finish the floors. We will take up a special Christmas offering for the project. Click here to see pictures of the renovations.

Countdown to Launch

Congratulations to the six candidates who completed the second round of new members’ class! These, as well as the group who completed the last session, will be able to sign the church constitution when we formally organize Iglesia Bautista Independiente March 21, 2010. Our first baptism service will follow two weeks later on Easter Sunday. There are currently eight baptism candidates for that date! There is much to do to get ready for this charter day—canvassing, advertising, and organizing.

Summer Camp

Last month we asked prayer for the children and teens who will be attending summer camp in January. We would like to offer a 50% scholarship to those who attend church faithfully. The cost for children’s camp is $32 and teen camp is $70 per camper. There are 4 children and 4 to 6 teens who are planning on going. Please pray that God will provide the funds to help send these kids to camp. If God would use you, your family, or your Sunday school class, please let us know.

Ministering to People

Services and activities are exciting and noteworthy, as well as easy to take pictures of. But most often the most intense and life-changing ministry takes place with people in private counseling situations, home visits, discipleship classes, and phone calls at all hours of the day and night. As God brings more and more people across our path, we have more of these types of opportunities to minister. Praise the Lord for His Word which has the answer to every need! Please pray for wisdom in each of these situations.

Christmas Greetings

“For unto us a child is born… and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Is. 9:6).

Thinking of counseling, we are reminded of Christ as “The Counsellor” as described in Isaiah 9:6. Our small sacrifice of service to Him in Argentina is nothing compared to His ultimate sacrifice on a cruel cross to pay for our sins. May we preach this Gospel to ourselves and to others daily!

Thank you for your prayers, encouragement, and financial support this past year. As times are tough for many, we realize your financial commitment is even more of a sacrifice than ever. Our prayer is that the Lord will find us faithful with the resources He has entrusted us with.

Prayer Requests

· Finish building renovations

· Preparations for Charter Sunday

· Summer camp in January

· Permanent pastor for the Pilar Centro church

Praises

· Work done to expand auditorium

· Six completed new members’ class

· New visitors every week!

· Wisdom from God’s Word to minister to people

· God’s work here in Pilar during 2009

Looking Ahead

· 12/11 – Youth Picnic

· 12/20 – Evangelistic Outreach

· 1/25-1/30 – Summer Camps

· February – begin publically promoting Charter Sunday

Update 11.22.09

Today was another great day at IBI Pilar Centro! It was a full house, with seven first time visitors! When James was acknowledging the visitors at the end of the service, one stood up and said he had never been to a church where the preaching and even the prayer seemed so “spiritual” and so profound. To God be the glory!

We were planning on waiting until January to knock down the wall between the auditorium and the garage, but it can’t wait. (Certainly a good problem to have!) So, we will be at the church most of this week to try to get the majority done before next Sunday’s service. Please pray that the work will go smoothly, with no surprises, and that we will have all the help we need.

Thank you for your prayers on our behalf. We have had a string of visitors and church people alike with all kinds of problems looking for help and counsel – marriages on the brink of divorce, couples living in adultery, a young guy addicted to drugs, an alleged child abuser, economic problems, and health issues. Praise the Lord God has given us His Word, which is sufficient for all our problems!

November Prayer Letter

Mother’s Day

The third Sunday of October is Mother’s Day in Argentina. It was a special time at IBI Pilar Centro as James preached on the Titus 2:3-5 woman and her role in the church. Our focus has been on the importance of teaching others, and this was a great day to carry that theme through. Pray that these women will be faithful “teachers of good things.”

Countdown to Launch

We kicked off our second round of new members’ class October 25 with eight in attendance. Those who complete this class, as well as the group who completed the last session, will be able to sign the church constitution when we formally organize Iglesia Bautista Independiente March 21, 2010. Our first baptism service will follow two weeks later on Easter Sunday. How exciting!

There is much to do to get ready for this charter day—more building renovations, canvassing, advertising, and organizing. We will take up a special Christmas offering at the church in order to fund the next stage of building renovations. We need to close in the garage, knock down the wall between the garage and auditorium, and make the floor between the three areas uniform.

God Provides!

God provided in three special ways recently. He used an individual to send us a large gift last month, which helped us get caught up from being under-supported for so long. The same person has also committed to take us on for support for $150 per month.

Also, we received a box of 3,700 tracts from the Faithful Witness Tract Society, a ministry of one of our supporting churches.

When a labor union came to the jobsite looking for a bribe, James told them he was a Christian and a pastor and did not give bribes. So, they made false accusations and filed a complaint with the ministry of labor. The Lord used a good friend’s lawyer to study the laws cited in the complaint and write a letter of response to defend his case. James is now in the clear! To God be the glory (1 Pet. 4:17). Praise the Lord for His provision in all three of these ways!

Summer Camp

Here, south of the equator, summer camp is just around the corner in January. Many of us can look back at important spiritual decisions we made at a Christian camp. James was saved just after coming back from the WILDS and then later called to the ministry at the same camp. We potentially have four teen and four junior campers going. Please pray for the Lord to begin softening their hearts even now.

Looking Ahead

· 10/25 – 11/29 – New members’ class (six weeks)

· 11/8 – Evangelistic Outreach

· 12/12 – Youth Picnic

· January – Building Renovations

· 1/25-30 – Summer Camps

October Prayer Letter

Highs and Lows
Life, as well as ministry, is full of highs and lows. It was exciting to see our attendance peak to 54 one Sunday this month. It is extremely rewarding to visit with new converts who are studying God’s Word and seeing Him work in their lives. It’s thrilling to see our church people remain faithful. However, sometimes our attendance isn’t that great; those we thought had strong potential get caught up in the things of this world; and the church got robbed for the third time. In it all and through it all, God is faithful!

Planning for the Future
We have been thinking, praying, discussing, and seeking counsel concerning the next step for this church plant in Pilar Centro. This Sunday had a church-wide picnic with a special meeting afterward to discuss church membership and when to constitute the church. Everyone there responded and indicated they would like to take their level of commitment to the next level. Please pray for follow-through as we organize service groups and study groups. We are working toward constituting the church on March 21, 2010 and the first baptism will be two weeks later on Easter Sunday.

A Special Visit
We enjoyed a two-week visit with James’ parents and sister. They helped with the house construction (laying block) as well as projects at the church building (welding security bars and raising a wall). It was wonderful to show them our home and church in Pilar for the first time. Their time with us was a blessing, though it’s always hard to say goodbye to family!

Construction Progress
Praise the Lord that the house construction is coming along! Almost all the exterior walls are up, and the foundation will be poured soon. God has blessed us with good workers and great prices on materials. Please pray this project will continue to go smoothly and quickly and that we will be a strong testimony in all the details.


Prayer Requests
· Protection from theft
· Salvation of P.’s wife
· Currently lack $500 per month in support
· Permanent pastor for the Pilar Centro church

Praises
· Permanent residency attained!
· Increased Sunday service attendance
· Visit with James’ family
· Discipleship classes

Looking Ahead
10/11 – Evangelistic outreach
10/18 – Mother’s Day in Argentina
10/25 – New member’s class (six weeks)

Sunday update

Wow! What a great worship service at IBI Pilar Centro today! You could almost call it “international day” since there were families from six different countries – Argentina, United States, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, and Bolivia.

There were FIVE new visitors today. Of course, we are happy to see all visitors, but one was a special answer to prayer because we’ve been praying for Carlos to come to church. One month ago, his wife and daughter came to church for the first time and got saved. Two weeks later, another daughter got saved. His wife, Edit, is being discipled and is growing in the Lord by leaps and bounds in this short time. We were overjoyed to see Carlos, Edit, and their three daughters show up at church this morning! After the service one of the men pulled Carlos aside to counsel him and he put his trust in Christ! Afterward he said, “I’ve always believed in God, but after I saw the change in my wife I knew I needed the kind of faith she has.” To God be the glory!

We not only rejoice in another soul saved, but also in that all four of these converts were counseled by our church people. They have been through intense evangelism training and are prepared to do exactly what every believer should be doing –- leading the lost to Christ! Praise the Lord for their faithfulness!

One important prayer request – we have an appointment this week to visit another recent convert and his wife. Please pray for his wife’s salvation. Thank you.

September Prayer Letter

Ministry of Music

The ministry in Pilar was privileged to benefit from a summer missions team from Maranatha Baptist Bible College as they visited several churches in Buenos Aires. They held three concerts in Pilar: one in a music school where our children attend, one in a private school where one of our church members teaches, and one in our church. We estimate among those three concerts about 400 people heard the Gospel and God-honoring music and testimonies. Pray that the seed would be watered that was planted in their hearts and that we would be able to follow up with those who visited the church.

Pilar Centro

With the three concerts and all their preparation, children’s day, a church work day, as well as the regular services, August proved to be a very busy month for us and our church people. We thank the Lord for the faithful families who sacrificed their time to help with these activities. Our goal is that our church calendar will not be full of activities for the sake of activities—but opportunities to evangelize the lost and disciple the saved.

The Lord has increased our numbers on Sunday mornings to an average of 33 instead of 23. Many visitors have come, and two new families are attending regularly.

Andrea Love, our summer intern, will be greatly missed. She helped in so many areas, including playing the piano. Our kids will be taking turns playing special music, but they have a while to go before they can accompany congregational music.

Nine people are now involved in small-group or one-on-one discipleship classes. Please pray for two new converts and that their spouses will come to know Christ as well.

A Place to Call Home

For the past 11½ years, we have moved eight different times in order to prepare for the mission field and, ultimately, to minister in this city. Now God has brought us to a place where we could spend five lifetimes planting churches and probably never reach every soul in Pilar and its surrounding communities. We prayed that God would enable us to build our own house in order to establish a permanent presence here and avoid paying more rent. The Lord has answered that prayer with a private loan.

The property is purchased; the plans are approved; and the construction has begun. Please pray that the building process will go quickly and smoothly and that our new house will bring honor and glory to our great God.

Prayer Requests

• Follow up on visitors
• Salvation of ESL students
• Current support – 95%
• Permanent pastor for the Pilar Centro church

Praises

• Ministry of MBBC mission team
• Increased Sunday service attendance
• Ministry of Andrea Love during the past eight weeks
• Discipleship classes

Looking Ahead

• 9/3 – Lauren’s 9th birthday
• 9/12-9/27 – James’ parents here to visit their grandchildren (and help with the house construction while they’re at it!)
• 9/13 – FOUR-year anniversary in Argentina
• 9/13 – Evangelistic outreach
• 10/4 – New members’ class (six weeks)
• 10/6-10/8 – Annual Fundamentalism Conference
• 10/12 ­– Break down the next wall to give more auditorium seating

Music School Concert

The Lord opened a tremendous opportunity for sharing the Gospel tonight through the Maranatha Baptist Bible College mission team. The music school where our children attend on Saturday mornings eagerly opened their doors to the mission team for a classical and sacred music concert. The music school took care of invitations, set-up, and even a reception afterward!

Members of the MBBC team did several classical numbers. Then, the second half of the program was sacred, with the Gospel interwoven in the presentation of each piece. We estimate that there were 75 people there who probably heard the Gospel for the first time! Many asked questions afterward. All received more literature at the door, with an invitation to our church and another concert this Friday evening.

At the end of the concert, the director of the school (I believe she's Catholic) stood up and shared her personal reflections from the concert. She said, "We are a secular institution here and there are many faiths represented. My personal opinion of this group of students is that they demonstrate love in the message of their music and in their facial expressions. There is definitely a difference in these young people, and I believe it's because of their faith." ...Wow! She could not have underscored the Gospel message any better!

Please pray that those who are interested would come to the concert this Friday night and the Holy Spirit would prick their hearts with the words they heard tonight.

August Prayer Letter

Pilar Centro

“The house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth” (1 Tim. 3:15) is the theme verse for our church in Pilar. We know that the church is not the building, but it is certainly nice to have an adequate “house” in which to worship! After a full month of renovating, the building is a much more suitable place to meet. Because of its central location, many have found us just from passing by, and there have been visitors every week. This past Sunday, a mother and teenage daughter who found the church through our Spanish website visited and both accepted Christ! Please pray as we follow up with Edit and Cecilia.

Praise the Lord for His protection one evening before the midweek service when we almost walked in on some thieves! They bent the metal bars on the porch enough to get in and steal a lawn mower, welding machine, and large extension cord. They left their jackets behind when they hurriedly escaped out the back. Thank the Lord they didn’t have time to do any more damage! (Maybe next time they should read the sign in the front with the service times so they don’t try to break in 30 minutes before the service starts!)

Looking Ahead

Please pray for wisdom as we make important decisions for the future of the church. The people are ready to formally organize the church. Therefore, we will offer another new members’ class starting in September. Shortly after that is the projected “charter day” to formally organize the church. This involves the signing of the church constitution, joining of charter members, and officially calling the pastor. After that, we can begin practicing the Lord’s Supper and baptisms. There are at least three who desire to be baptized! James is already meeting with Benjamin Leonov to prepare him to become the first deacon.

Fruit for our Labor

We stand amazed at how God continues to use the ministry of teaching English to reach others! Please continue to pray for the salvation of Amy’s students. The daughter of one of the students went with our family one day to visit a ranch. Lauren used that time to talk about Christ to her little friend, Luli, using tracts for children. We believe Luli put her trust in Christ that day. She said she wants to learn more about God and how to pray.

Patricio (the student who got saved last month) and his family have begun to attend church. Amy and his mom, Laura, began a Bible study together this week.

Thank you for praying!

Serving the King of Kings,

James and Amy

Inauguration of New Church Building

After three weeks of demolition, construction, and preparation, the Lord gave us a great first Sunday in the new building! The Lord sent the help we needed on Saturday in order to get everything in order. (There are still projects left to complete, but those can be done in time.) It was exciting to be in a larger facility a little more permanent (we'll at least be there for the next three years). The kids were excited to finally have their own classrom - and we didn't have to walk two blocks to get there!

One of the most exciting blessings of the morning, though, were the two new families who came. Both of the families had called the BBN radio station looking for a good church, and they "just so happened" to show up on this inauguration day! However, God knows best - if they had shown up prior to this day, they would have felt crowded. (Church planters say that when a building reaches 80% occupacy, people begin to feel uncomfortable and lose their desire to return to that church.)

You can see pictures by clicking here.

We had planned on spending Sunday evening doing evangelism and holding a special service. However, because of concerns regarding the H1N1 virus, the church voted to postpone those activities for now. Since the government is recommending not to meet in large groups and to limit contact outside of one's home, it would damage our testimony to do something against those recommendations. So, James was able to get "back to being a pastor" and had time to continue his marriage counseling with a couple in the church and Amy was able to go visit the parents of her English student who was recently saved. What a great day! What a great God we serve!

U.S. Embassy Message: H1N1 Influenza A

H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu) Update from the U.S. Embassy

July 2, 2009

“Argentina’s health ministry reported more than 1,500 confirmed cases of H1N1 Influenza, including 26 deaths, as of June 26, its last release of statistics.  Media reports place the number of deaths at 44 as of July 1, 2009, with higher numbers of confirmed cases as well.  [However, most are suspicious that the government has not been forthcoming in its statistics, especially after these drastic measures have been taken.]  Most school districts have extended school vacations, some to as long as a month.  Two of Argentina’s largest districts, the Province of Buenos Aires and the city of Buenos Aires, have declared administrative health emergencies and are recommending avoiding large congregations of people. Other measures instituted to control the spread of H1N1 include a requirement that travelers entering Argentina complete health cards with local contact information, don provided surgical masks when disembarking their flights, and pass in front of sensors that track body temperature in transportation terminals.  Some flights also may be disinfected with spray prior to landing.”

So, what does this mean for us?  Since they cancelled school for the rest of July and are recommending that the children stay at home, we decided to cancel our Winter Vacation Bible School.  It would be better to follow the government’s suggestions and not put our people or other people’s children at risk.  Two sister churches have decided to cancel all church activities for the rest of the month except for one Sunday service per week.  There are two big youth conferences scheduled the last week of July, and we have not yet heard if they will proceed with those or not.  If the number of cases do not decrease substantially, the schools will remain closed into the month of August.  This may put the MBBC mission team’s activities/concerts at risk.  We already have three concerts scheduled here in Pilar – one at a secular music school, one at our church, and one at a local private school.  Please pray for God’s will to be done.  Please pray for physical and spiritual healing in this land.

- James & Amy

Prayer Letter - July 1, 2009

Praise the Lord for answered prayer! We were finally able to rent the building we have been looking at for the past six months! It is in an ideal location in the heart of Pilar. It is a larger facility than what we had before with classroom space. We have been busy knocking down walls, cleaning, painting, and getting moved in. Click here to see pictures of the renovation progress.

Our first service is July 1, and then we’ll hold special services on Sunday, July 5. Please pray for the evangelistic outreach July 5, as we go out to the plaza to share the Gospel, pass out tracts, and invite people to church.

The Lord has given Amy amazing opportunities to share the Gospel through English classes in our home. The little boy pictured below, Patricio, is a beginner student this year. The Lord gave an open door, and Amy talked with him about his need for a Savior. Patricio put his faith in Christ that day! Please pray for his spiritual growth.

Another amazing witnessing opportunity was with Amy’s student Carola, a neonatal doctor. This week Amy talked with her for over an hour about Christ. She is one of the 80% of the disillusioned Catholics in this country. She said she would like to study about the Bible in our English class!

Andrea Love, our eight-week summer intern, arrived June 24 and has been a huge help already. She is helping with homeschool, teaching piano as well as English, playing piano for the church, leading a Bible study in English, and helping at the church building. We are privileged to have her with us! We would love to have a young lady here full time doing exactly what she is doing. Click here to see some highlights of her ministry here.

Prayer Requests

• Salvation of Carola
• Evangelistic outreaches this month
• Current support – 95%
• Permanent pastor for the work in the city center
• Wisdom and God’s power as we reach our neighborhood for Christ

Praises

• A larger meeting place with classroom space
• Salvation of Patricio
• Growing number of faithful men in the church
• Discipleship classes with Pablo, Fabio Alejandro, Virginia, Veronica, and Andrea
• God’s continual, miraculous provision

Progress!

Here is a photo album of the work that we have accomplished so far on the new building. This week we removed most of the wall and welded in a new beam so we can remove the rest (supporting section) of the wall. This will be the main auditorium area. Our summer intern, Andrea Love, painted two rooms. A painter in the church started painting the front of the building. All the kids took on the task of cleaning up the backyard - they love the demolition part!

Please pray that we will be able to at least get the auditorium ready for Sunday services. We are "officially" moving in to the new building July 1. This Sunday, July 5, we will have our normal Sunday service, and then a special evangelistic service Sunday evening.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!

These nine fathers shown here are nine of the ten men at Iglesia Bautista Independiente this Sunday. We are very much encouraged to have such a strong showing of men who desire to be a part of this new work.

Saturday was demoliton day at the new building. The men took out most of the wall to open the space. It's not nearly as easy as it looks on those home improvement shows on television. We found that out quickly when the man who's standing on the piece of wall in the back almost had a huge piece of the wood ceiling fall on top of him! Praise the Lord for His protection!

Please pray for us as we continue the work. We need to be out of the other building June 30 and will have our first service in the new building July 1. On Sunday, July 5 we are planning on our first big outreach.