It is always such a joy to hear how God saved an individual and then to see them get baptized. This is exactly what we did immediately after yesterday’s worship service.

First, Pastor Jay came up and shared with us what water baptism is followed by a small explanation of Romans 6:1-7 which talks about our one-time spirit baptism, which is what our water baptism symbolizes.

…do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk innewness of life.

For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection…

This was followed up by the testimony of each person who was getting baptized, which was five people in all.

First Thomas shared:

Second was Jennifer (with her husband Billy by her side):

Third was Tim:

Fourth was Fabian:

Fifth was Ana:

This time was filled with emotions and great rejoicing in what God had done. After this each one was baptized:

“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’“

- Matthew 28:18-20

Well, this week we are pleased to announce that he will be our guest preacher this Sunday (June 20th).

Steve teaching us about Biblical counseling, Friday night - June 19, 2010

You can read his lastest newsletter here.

______________________________________________

June 21st UPDATE:

Here is the 4 minute introduction that Pastor Jay gave about Steve for those who missed it:

Download audio file (621101956160prev4.mp3)

The sermon that Steve preached on from 2 Timothy 2:2 can be listened to or downloaded below:

Chile highlighted in green

Some of you may or may not know that our church helps to support a missionary. His name is Steve Schneider and he serves in Chile. We are trying to get some more updates on what he is currently doing, but so far the most recent info I have is from a newsletter from Oct/Nov 2009.

To help introduce him, here are some of his ministry objectives:

• Teaching at the Facultad Teologica Biblica Bautista (seminary/institute) in the 4 year day program to prepare men for the pastorate, and to provide leadership training. Steve looks forward teaching in the areas of expository preaching, the biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek, Bible interpretation (hermeneutics), and theology.
• Teaching at one of the 2 year evening Bible training extension programs to develop leaders. There are currently 12 programs in place: 9 in local church settings in Santiago, 1 in Northern Chile, 1 in Ecuador, and 1 in Paraguay.
• Church planting.
• Equipping Chileno pastors:
  • to be expository preachers of God’s Word
  • with library resources to benefit their study of God’s Word
  • with solid teaching materials to disciple believers in their Christian walk.
• Conducting and teaching biblical counseling.
• Teach modular classes at other ABWE seminary/institutes in Spanish speaking South America, as opportunities permit.

From the most recent newsletter we have from them, they write:

Our Burden
Should the Lord tarry and it be His will, it is our desire to
help train the next generation of expository preachers in
Chile and other South American countries to advance His
Kingdom among the nations.
We are convinced of the great need to provide good seminary
training for pastors, so that they can be well equipped in
rightly dividing the Word of God; be effective expository
preachers; plant doctrinally strong churches; and, adequately
shepherd the flock of God in Chile. After this season of training,
we are humbled and excited for the opportunity to serve
our Lord Jesus Christ in this way. We humbly invite you to
prayerfully consider partnering with us as prayer and/or financial
partners, as we seek to advance the Lord’s kingdom in
Chile and Spanish-speaking South America. We thank the
Lord for your friendship, and we want you to know that it
would be a special privilege for us to co-labor with you in this
important ministry endeavor.

Download their newsletter for more.

Evangelism is back at Southlake Town Square every Saturday night @ 7pm except for this Saturday, April 10th it will be @ Main Street Arts Fest in downtown Fort Worth.

Men’s Breakfast will be canceled the day after Small Group Fellowship but will continue every Thursday as normal.

View the calendar for more details.

Dear Friends,

God has given me an incredible opportunity to share the gospel in Nepal…

We will be in eastern Nepal, a country immersed in Hinduism, Animism, and Atheism,  from September 15th to the 27th working with local believers going into unreached areas with the express purpose of sharing Jesus and planting churches…

I was very encouraged to see many praying with and for Mary on Sunday at church. While she is gone let’s continue to be in prayer for Mary. Here is how you can pray specifically for what she will be doing daily:

Sept. 16 – Arrive in Nepal; Travel to ministry area

Sept. 17 – In-country orientation & prayer; Meet with nationals and interpreters

Sept. 18 – Pray as the team prepares themselves spiritually

Sept. 19 – Worship with local believers

Sept. 20-21 – Training of pastors & church leaders; Evangelism & discipleship

Sept. 22-24 – Morning & afternoon evangelism & discipleship

Sept. 25 – Day off in Kathmandu; Debrief & re-entry training

Sept. 26-27 – Team begins traveling home to USA

As my team travels back to America, I will be traveling to Indonesia to spend time with my family, serving the Lord in that Muslim country and I will be there with them until mid-October.

You are special to me and your prayers would be such a blessing.

All for His glory,

Mary

This from Teri’s blog:

The mission team has been home a few weeks now from their February 2009 evangelism trip to Mérida, Mexico’s Carnaval. Dennis has been working hard on organizing the 1,383 photos taken by the missionaries and paring them down to just 380, then organizing and captioning them for your viewing pleasure. They have now been posted on line for viewing.

The photos serve as a diary of the trip and chronicle the events that took place over those 10 days…the little things, the big things, the funny things and the amazing things that happened…all events during which the presence of our Lord God and the prayers of his faithful people were felt.

To view the pictures of February’s trip, click here. To see pictures and read journals from other mission trips beginning in 2001, please visit our website http://www.dtcain.com/.

Thanks again to our financial and prayer supporters who helped make this successful trip possible. Please continue to pray for the lost souls of Mérida, many of whom now hold Gospel tracts in their hands, and for God’s people as they strive to continue the great work of evangelism in their city.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

Dennis and a translator, from Calvary Chapel, open air preach.

Way of the Master training session
at Calvary Chapel Mérida last Saturday.

A girl reads over her Million Dollar Gospel tract.

Dennis and a translator, from Calvary Chapel, open air preach.

Eduardo uses the “red and green” ice breaker tracts to
introduce these girls to the Gospel.

A note from Dennis: “The newspaper said that on the last day alone there were over 650,000 people watching the parade. Pastor Sam said he heard 700,000. This is for the last day alone. Approx. 200,000 for each of the other parades. Pastor Sam wants us to
come back next year to do this again.”

After a “day off” to rest up and enjoy the local culture, the rest of the trip will be spent helping Calvary Chapel in whatever way that they can. Opportunities abound…more street evangelism; possibly sharing, preaching and serving at the church mission in the rest home; visiting and sharing in the church school, and maybe more trips to one of the villages. Continue to keep Dennis, David, Fran, Ellen and Mary in your prayers. They will be arriving back home late Sunday evening.

For more pictures and updates see Teri’s original blog post here.

Yesterday morning, the team went to the village of Hocába… where God brought together a large crowd to hear the open air preaching. It was also reported that there were many good one-on-one witnessing encounters. Dennis is excited that the church evangelism team members are seeing so many examples of law and grace evangelism in action.  These are tools that they will be able to use over and over after our team returns home.

Dennis also reported that they had a good time at Carnaval last night where they evangelized in the crowds gathered for another of the parades. A group of about 15 came out from the church so along with our five mission team members, there was a good group. Our friend Eduardo is so eager and he is “a joy to watch”, Dennis said. Dennis and Eduardo did several “open air” preaching sessions with Eduardo translating. Dennis even did a Spanish version of the trivia game and gave away 20 pesos. Then he offered 50 pesos to someone willing to take the Good Person Test. A young man named Gabriel took the challenge, and Dennis reports that “he was in tears” at the end of the test. He and many others asked for the church address, and others asked for Bibles. Please remember Gabriel by name in your prayers, that God would continue to work in his life.

Today was the “big” parade – the final day of their “Mardi Gras”… Dennis tells me that their celebration has much the same connotation as the New Orleans tradition…”eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we start Lent.” But whatever the reason, the crowds today were much “harder”, he said. They were less willing to listen and less willing to take tracts of any kind. It was a tough day comparatively speaking. Dennis said that it was “unbelievable how many people were out there today.” He’ll be checking the newspaper tomorrow for an estimated total, but last year’s estimate for this final parade was over 500,000 people.

The team prays that tomorrow will be a more successful day, like those earlier in the week; please keep them in your prayers. They will be witnessing in the plaza square where many families gather on Sunday afternoons. They will also be talking with people as they exit from Mass in the Catholic Cathedral which has stood in the square since 1598, and is one of the oldest Cathedral’s in the world.
They are also planning to venture into the city market which should be interesting for everyone (Dennis took me there last November – if nothing else, it will be an adventure!). Dennis said in November that he couldn’t wait to get back to the market with an evangelism team to start witnessing. Tomorrow is the day! The market is always crowded and there will be ample opportunity to share with people as they wander about the huge marketplace.

Please continue to pray for the team.

It is a great joy in the Lord to see God moving in these people at CC Merida. Their excitment to evangelize is tremendous.

This night, I did a pseudo open air along the parade route to a group of people and gave away money for trivia. These people were sitting and waiting for the parade to pass their location (a captive audience). Gabriel took the good person test. He failed but still received the 50 pesos as a symbol of receiving unearned undeserved mercy and grace. Apparently God was convecting him of his sin as he was in tears at the end.

Please continue to pray for the missions team.

All is going well and the team remains excited and energized by all that God is doing. Dennis reported that they have had many good witnessing encounters throughout the parades. One man stood out in particular…he told his wife, who was anxious to leave, that he was staying to listen! The team was able to present the entire Gospel to him and it is their prayer that the encounter will produce fruit for the glory of God.

The seminar on Saturday was a great success. There were many positive reports and excited participants. Approximately 70 people (adults and youth) attended the day-long training session. About 30 of these are now serving with our mission team at the parades.

You may remember that we had asked prayer earlier for our friend Eduardo (pictured at right with Dennis and Eduardo’s friend Mar on our way to witness at the Yucátan State Fair last November)…Dennis is excited to report that not only did he attend the seminar, but he is taking what he learned to the maximum level! Dennis said, “watch out and just stay out of this guy’s way, because he is on fire!“

A special prayer request to report: Millie, Pastor Sam’s wife, is going into Cuba soon to lead an evangelism conference for 500 women, which is tremendous news about a country closed to the Gospel. She was furiously taking notes during the seminar; pray that Dennis would be granted permission by its producers to leave his Spanish language copy of the seminar DVDs with her to take into Cuba. We do not know if this is a possibility or not considering that it hasn’t been released yet. We consider it a gift from God that he was even able to use it in Mérida, and he will certainly freely accept God’s answer regarding this, but keep this and the Cuba conference in your prayers…

We also asked prayer for Pillin (pronounced “Pee-shing”) the professional clown. Dennis actually ran into him downtown during one of the parades!… Continue to pray for Pillin’s salvation and another chance to share the Gospel with him.

The team plans to go into the village of Hocába tomorrow (Monday) morning to share the Gospel of law and grace. The church has a mission there where they teach, preach and reach out to this small community of people living in huts tucked away in the jungle. They are working on providing a system of running water for the church neighborhood there, as well as other basic physical necessities.

Pray that the team will have successful encounters for God’s glory both in Hocába as well as later in the day back at the parade in Mérida. It will be a busy day tomorrow.

I also spoke briefly with Fran (Dennis’ Mom) and Mary. I could hear the excitement in Mary’s voice about all that God is doing. She also reported making many new friends and how sweet and wonderful the church members have been to the team. She said that she can see why Dennis and I (Teri) love them all so much.

Fran reported that they can’t hand out tracts fast enough…especially the million dollar tracts. She said hands come at them from every where – so many and so fast that it reminds her of the hungry begging for bread. And on the back of that “novelty” million dollar tract IS The Bread of Life: the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Dennis hopes that Tuesday or Wednesday their schedule will allow for some “down time” and that he will be able to find a computer to borrow (one with an English keyboard on it!) so that he can send more reports and some pictures. In the meantime, I will continue to report anything that I hear, but hopefully I will be able to post a more detailed report later in the week…

Please continue to be in prayer for the team.