Meeting the Special Needs of Our Community

Happy New Year! This year we set out afresh to proclaim the Good News to all people and train others up to do the same. We continue to be broken for the things that break God’s heart and step-up and out to be ambassadors in this dangerous and wicked foreign territory. 

We dearly love the people at our church and, most of all, love worshipping God together with them and giving thanks to Him for all that He has done for us at the church and in the city. Thank you for being part of this ministry; you are an important part of it, and without your prayers it would be hard for us to go on. Thank you for all of your support for those of you who give generously. We are challenged and blessed with the opportunity to continue to give to the Lord what He has given to us – meeting unmet needs and serving others that have been forgotten or ignored. 

Our church is growing in numbers and also growing closer to Jesus.  Fabiola oversees and trains all the other teachers and helpers in the children’s and babies classes.  It is such a joy to teach about God.  What a privilege to show them how to love Him and watch them experience the reality of such an amazing love. The little kids love to pray for their families, for their food, and for any other simple things.  Over the last year, we have been learning how to integrate children with special needs into our various classes as well. 

Last summer, World Impact and Joni and Friends teamed up to have a special camp for families who have children with special needs. One of the families we were able to take up to camp was a single mother from our neighborhood. We had invited Julieta and her two sons to church a couple months before camp and they had been attending faithfully.  We have become much more intentional about making families with special needs children feel comfortable and welcome at church.  Both Julieta and her youngest son came to know Christ at camp and she was one of the ladies that was baptized in September at our family camp. 

Our daughter Rebecca with one of the special needs joys of our church at a Thanksgiving dinner.

Julieta has been on fire for God and has been a great ambassador – sharing Jesus and inviting her friends and others she knows with children with special needs out to church. One of these mothers – also a single mother (with four children) – was sharing recently about how much God has done in restoring her heart and bringing her to a real faith.  She has had to leave a heavy life of sin behind her, which initially wasn’t easy, but now she is serving God with a glad and light heart.  Three of her four children are also learning about God and serving Him along side of her.  

As we launch into this new year, please pray for us as we learn as a church how to work with special needs children and their families…and continue to move towards reaching all people for the Glory of God!