Since it has been a while since I wrote my last prayer letter, let me bring me up to date on recent developments. I am now teaching and preaching quite a bit more than I did the first year. On Sunday mornings, I am continuing to preach from 1 Peter (we have just started to look at the Christian´s role in relation to the governing authorities–1 Peter 2:13-17). On Sunday evenings, a group of us from the church (mostly parents with small children) have resumed our meetings at the home of José and Bea in Mijas Costa to study together Tedd Tripp´s book “Shepherding a Child’s Heart.”
We are hoping to start a second home group in Málaga in the near future for those who cannot make the trip to Mijas Costa on Sunday evenings, but so far, that has not yet materialized. Those of us attending the Sunday evening study in Mijas are finding it to be a wonderful time of fellowship and discussion of themes that are so very important to us as parents who share a common desire for our children to know the Lord and walk in fellowship with Him.
In addition to preaching and teaching on Sundays, I have also begun to teach an overview of Bible doctrine on Thursday evenings at church. We are following the order of chapters in the London Confession of Faith as our basic outline for studying the different truths revealed by God in Scripture. We spent four weeks studying the first chapter (“Of the Holy Scriptures”), and three weeks on the second chapter (“Of God, and of the Holy Trinity”); but I am hoping to pick up the pace of our study in the future, to cover the whole scope of Bible doctrine in a reasonable length of time. My natural tendency is to examine a subject very thoroughly, so as to leave leave out nothing important that needs to be said. But at the same time, I realize that I need to combine my passion for thoroughness with an equal passion for conciseness! One can sometimes communicate God´s truth more effectively and memorably using an economy of words. Please pray for wisdom in this respect. I am encouraged by how the study is going; people seem very attentive, eager to attend, and hungry for the truth of God´s word.
In recent weeks, we have been getting a number of regular visitors to the church. Pray that God will pour out his grace in abundance on these visitors. There is also a family coming regularly to our Sunday meetings from a town called Loja about an hour away in the province of Granada, and the oldest of their three daughters has been a Christian for seven years and has been wanting to be baptized for a very long time. So it looks like we may soon have a baptismal service at church! She is studying right now through a manual of Christian doctrine and discipleship that the church has prepared for new disciples who are preparing for baptism and church membership. Please pray for her as she prepares to take this step of Christian discipleship and for the entire family as well, since they have been going through financial struggles since Antonio lost his job owing to a physical injury he suffered.
In recent months, I have also had the opportunity to preach at two weekend church gatherings, both held at the Manantiales de Vida campsite outside of Málaga, and during a recent nationwide conference held in Madrid, with nearly 500 persons in attendance from all over Spain and several other countries. I had the privilege of participating in a panel discussion on the subject of evangelism led by my good friend and fellow elder in the church of Málaga, Juan Pablo Gonzalez of the church in Málaga. Here is a picture that was taken of that discussion with (from left to right) myself, Sugél Michelén (a pastor of the Dominican Republic who was the guest speaker at the conference), Larry Thornburg (an American missionary in Madrid) and Juan Pablo Gonzalez (the moderator):
Paola is continuing to develop her own ministry in the church. She is currently helping with the children´s ministry in the church by teaching Sunday school on a rotational basis with three other women. She also is ministering to various women in the church by encouraging them in their Christian walk, and she does an excellent job serving as a hostess when we invite various members of our church over to our house for fellowship.
Recently, I had a banner designed and made for use in evangelistic outreach when I set up a book table in the open air market. Thus far, I have set up my book table on the sidewalk in front of our church building, since no special permit is needed to do that. But I want to do more in the coming months in terms of going to the open air market where many people are gathered, distributing gospel literature, talking with people who stop by the book table, even preaching in the open air, as the occasion permits. Pray that God will fill me with wisdom and boldness and a submissive spirit in pursuing these various activities in accordance with His will and under His direction.
Thanks to all of your for your prayers and your interest in the ministry of Spain.