Mission Surge Update

Here is the latest update on the work of Mission Surge.  Please be in prayer for the following.

Report from Wilfrido


Here is a report from one of our key church-planters in the Dominican Republic.

Las Ochocientas: Wilfrido is working with several groups in other places, especially training the leaders. I asked him what was being done to win the community around the church. A group of young men led by Daniel, Wilfrido’s brother, is doing house meetings with Dominicans on Monday nights. And a group of Haitian young men do house meetings with Haitians on Tuesday nights. They go to a home, invite the people around the area to the house, provide something to eat, visit, sing and have a Bible study. Wilfrido says the focus is on touching the lost and the church is growing through these efforts.

La Cuba: Vitalina and others from Las Ochocientas are leading 2 groups in La Cuba. Wilfrido visits the groups every other Friday night. He is looking for leaders from the community whom he can begin to train. Some of the people from La Cuba are also participating in the church services at Emmanuel in Las Ochocientas.

Santa Rosa: This group has 7 believers and others who are not yet believers. Danny and Arelis, a young couple, are being trained as leaders. Wilfrido shared a great testimony about this couple. Arelis could not have children, and the doctors told her she needed an operation to give her an opportunity to have children. They saved up some money for the surgery, but then Danny was convicted that they should give the money to the church. He asked Arelis if she trusted God. She said yes. He told her they should give the money for the surgery to the church and trust God to give them a child In His time. After prayer they were both in agreement. They did it. And today they have a child. Amazing testimony! Wilfrido is doing a study with this couple called “Quien es Jesus?” (Who is Jesus?) After this they will be studying the book of Acts preparing to organize the group into a church.

Mendoza: Wilfrido is training two young men who are brothers as leaders of this group. He tries to get to Invivienda weekly, but sometimes cannot for lack of resources for transportation. He always goes on the fourth Sunday of the month to celebrate the Lord’s Supper with the group and to train Peterson and his brother. They are also studying “Quien es Jesus?” and will be doing the book of Acts afterward. Wilfrido feels that this group is also almost ready to organize as a functioning church. The two brother’s sister is a widow with an 11 year old son and 8 year old daughter. They are struggling financially and have little to eat. The church in Las Ochocientas and the group in Mendoza are collecting money and food to minister to this widow and her children. There is also a widow in a similar situation in Santa Rosa they are helping. I am glad to hear that these groups are accepting personal responsibility to minister to those in need in their midst.

Jamaica: Wifrido is trying to meet with Junior and his wife for the same studies mentioned above once a week, but sometimes because of lack of resources for transportation and Junior’s work schedule the meeting doesn’t happen. However, Junior was on vacation last week and Wilfrido spent an entire afternoon with them. He says this work needs more time before organizing it as a church.

Rincon: Socio, the pastor in Rincon, has 8 children. According to Wilfrido, he has “given” four of his daughters to live with other families because he cannot take care of them. Wilfrido has one of them living with him. We really need to pray for Socio and Celeste. Socio works hard every day, but he does not make much money. Thankfully they grow a lot of their food in the country, but there is just not enough money for other costs such as school uniforms, etc. One reason he sent his daughters to live with others is so that they can attend school.

Transportation: I asked Wilfrido to send me a summary of his transportation costs to visit leaders in Santa Rosa, Mendoza, Jamaica, etc. once a week. I should get that soon. He continues to talk about a car, saying he would like to check on Socio in Rincon regularly (which would require a car), but I still think we should pray hard and long before doing anything like that. I prefer to wait and see what his weekly costs would be and go from there.

Summary: I am encouraged by this talk with Wilfrido. He mentioned a couple of times things, Kevin Ivy, Kevin Wade and I had discussed with him in December. He seems to have taken those things to heart and is following through. He still needs a regular income for his family, and a job for him or that his church will step up to care for the pastor is my constant prayer.

Please be in prayer for Wilfrido’s financial situation and the needs of his family in the midst of a very difficult financial situation in the DR. Pray that God would raise up financial support through Mission Surge to help minister to Wilfrido and his family’s material needs.

Report from Miguel


His Plans for this week: Tomorrow Miguel will leave early in the morning to walk to another barrio in San Crostobal called Maria Vieja to start a new group that he has been cultivating for some time. He will also work with a new group on Friday and his 3 groups on Saturday. I told him I want to spend a day with him in May to see where these works are located and to meet some of the members. He told me I need to get ready to do a lot of walking.

Plans for May training: Miguel wants to invite the two leaders he is already training and at least two other potential leaders. He remembered from our conversation last week that we will be focusing on the Gospel. He is very excited about it.

Please pray every day for the leaders in the Dominican and their places of ministry. If we can find 10 or 12 young leaders like Miguel seems to be we can raise up an army of young church planters in Santo Domingo to the glory of God. Please pray for God to continue to reveal these men to us and pray that, through our training in May, many of them will be better equipped to minister the Gospel in their families, churches, and communities of the glory of God. Also, please pray for the financial needs of our training in May to be met.

Report from Kenya

Our pastor training in Kenya will take place in June. Below is the latest report from pastor Jacob Lusweti, who is serving as our contact there.

Dear pastor Kevin,

I just wanted to let you know that we had a powerful Sunday service with two people giving their lives to Jesus. We have been praying and fasting for the coming conference with a team of pastors. We had a gathering in my church today of pastors and lay leaders who met for discussion concerning the coming conference. We had more than 100 pastors and Church leaders gathering in my church. They were very much excited to hear from the servant of God pastor Paul. Pastor paul sent us some commentary books. We agreed with our pastors and church leaders today that we are going to put those commentary books in our library so that anybody who is interested can go there and read so it will be a blessing to many pastors and church Leaders.

Blessings

Pastor.Jacob

Please be in prayer for this training of 400-500 pastors and lay-leaders from Kenya and Uganda in June of 2011. Pray that God would provide the resources necessary to fund this training and the purchase of the Swahili Bibles that are needed. Pray for Dr. Paul Young as he goes to teach that God would protect, energize, and empower him with a very busy schedule there. We are looking forward to being able to report to you what God is doing in Kenya.

As these trainings draw nearer, you will continue to receive updates and reports. Please keep these men and these events in your prayers. We are in desperate need of the persistent and fervent prayers of God’s people!


In Christ


Kevin

Why the Reformed Pastor?

I thought I might give some input on why I have titled my blog, The Reformed Pastor. The title was inspired by the Puritan pastor, Richard Baxter who ministered in 17th century England. God used Baxter to transform his parish of Kidderminster in a dramatic way. Baxter claimed that, when he first arrived in Kidderminster there was scarcely a family on a street that worshipped God. When he was ejected from the pastorate later however, he claimed that there was scarcely a family on a street that did not worship God. The whole parish had been transformed through his pastorate. Baxter wrote a book to encourage other pastors to follow his example of one on one disciple making ministry called "The Reformed Pastor." That is where the blog name comes from. I read the book and it was powerful! J.I. Packer described it this way: "The words of Baxter's Reformed Pastor have hands and feet. They climb all over you; they work their way into your heart and conscience and will not be dislodged." (J.I. Packer in A Quest for Godliness, Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1990. Page 13).


There is more to it than just that though. I am fully convinced that, if the church in America, is to thrive for another decade, there must be some serious reformations in the pastorate, pulpit, churches, and families. If these changes do not take place, and soon, America will be another country that has fallen to humanism and postmodernism. I believe there must be a reformation in the pastorate first. Pastors must stop looking to numbers for success. We have been entertaining and weakening the message of God's Word for over 30 years now in order to increase the numbers. Some churches have succeeded and usually the pastor publishes a book to show other pastors how to follow suit. We must stop looking for increased numbers and begin looking for increased fruit. Fruit is much harder to come by, takes more work, and is a lot less glamorous. You wont get elected president of the SBC or be interviewed by Larry King in most cases if you are not producing the big numbers, but God has called us to strive for real, authentic fruit, not just numbers and definitely not position. The reformation must begin with the pastors.


Next, the reformation must extend into the pulpit. We must stop preaching a halfway Gospel and spend our lives, our ministries, studying the doctrine of God and His Gospel. If we miss this, we have missed everything, and I am afraid that we have missed it! God has been reduced to nothing more than love (John 3:16) and the Gospel has been reduced to praying a prayer to accept Jesus into our hearts so that we don't have to go to hell when we die. Give me a break!!! The fault lies with lazy, numbers hungry, biblically ignorant pastors who need to spend more time studying the Word then they spend preaching it. The reformation has to move into the pulpits of this nation or there is little hope! This will likely result in a decrease in numbers, but praise be to God, there will be an increase in real lasting fruit. To hear more go to (www.clearybaptist.org/sermons?i=30) and listen to September 20, 2009 a.m., September 27, 2009 a.m., and October 4, 2009 a.m.


Next, the reformation must extend into our churches. Churches must re-institute church discipline. There is more accountability at the country club and more reconciliation in most bars than in our churches. What is church membership even worth anymore? Church membership has to mean something. Also, churches are going to have to take the Great Commission seriously and stop taking mission vacations where all they do is sight see, prayer walk, and meet a few people. We are called to proclaim the Gospel! We don't have 5 years to waste learning the in's and out's of every people group. The need is the same in every people and the Gospel is the same too. Deliver it in a culturally sensitive way, but deliver it accurately and urgently.


Finally, the reformation must extend to families. For too long families have expected the church staff and Sunday school teachers to disciple their children. Families attend church and re-enter the real world on Monday. Children see Jesus as a part of their parents' lives, but they don't see Jesus AS THEIR PARENTS' LIVES. There is a big difference. Parents need to fulfill their Deut 6 responsibility of discipling their kids and being what they should be as wives, husbands, mothers, and fathers. To hear more go to (http://clearybaptist.org/sermons?i=0) and listen to January 10, 2010 a.m., January 17, 2010 a.m., January 24, 2010 a.m., and January 31, 2010 a.m. The family must stop disintegrating if we are to see a change in the church in America. Richard Baxter wrote, in his Reformed Pastor, "You are not likely to see any general reformation until you procure family reformation. Some little religion there may be here and there, but as long as it is confined to single persons, and it is not promoted in families, it will not prosper, nor promise future increase." Let us turn off the filthy TV, put up the violent video games, shut down the computer screen, put up our cell phones, and get our face out of the text messages and into the text message of God's Word!


If there is not a serious increase in the number of reformed pastors, reformed pulpits, reformed churches, and reformed families there will be little to no hope of a reformation of the church in this nation and without a real, grass roots reformation, there will be no hope of a godly progeny and future. God, help us. God, stir us. God overwhelm us and burden us to pray like never before for revival, awakening, and reformation!