“Those
who have a passion for Jesus, who are continuing to learn about Him, drawing
closer to Him, are the most contagious people in the world –they will infect
everyone they touch with a passion for God, including their children.” (Rick Joyner)
We
want to be a family that has a passion for Jesus and His Kingdom. A family that is infectious and impacts not
just our own children, but our grand children and great grand children. This is not just a vision or value we talk
about, but something we live and are instilling into those that we have the
privilege to minister to and train.
Updates
Youth Winter Camp
One
of the highlights of last month’s Youth Winter Camp was when Alex, our oldest
high schooler, took on more of a leadership role for the group. This was especially evident during the flag
football competition where our church group was looking like the underdogs and
Alex lead the boys and the girls to work together and get organized. There was some spiritual growth that took
place as well during the cabin times after the night sessions. The nine youth really grew closer as a group
during that weekend.
Fuente Youth Group at Winter Camp 2013
Alex took great leadership both on and off the field.
A few of the youth took advantage of the skate park at the camp.
There was great fellowship and fun – especially during the meals.
A group of our youth at the teaching session.
During free time the youth painted special pottery.
Church youth groups competed in a mud-filled obstacle course, the flag football tournament, as well as paintballing and a graffiti competition.
The whole group went on a night hike the
last night hiking up to a large cross at the top of the hill.
Keep
the youth in your prayers as they are now back in their schools and homes with
all the old challenges. We have had a
larger group come out for Friday night youth group lately…pray that this growth
will remain and lead to more salvations and baptisms.
Mexico
Our
family went to Puebla, Mexico for a very special week. Fabiola’s home church celebrated its 23rd
anniversary and the senior pastor handed the church over to his son, so that he
can dedicate himself to overseeing other churches and church plants. It was beautiful to see the investment of the
father into this church and his son and the respect the son had for his
father. What a great example of
fruitful, healthy generational ministry!
We
were involved in a lot of ministry during our time there, but were also able to
visit with Fabiola’s family. The
highlight was being able to worship God with 3,000 other people and be a part
of such a beautiful church transition.
We were able to learn a lot during some pastoral sessions and be in rich
fellowship. We returned refreshed in
Spirit and renewed in vision and passion for evangelism, church planting and
training-up leaders.
Fabiola leading a prayer meeting at one of the churches in Puebla. We had prayer meetings every morning from 6:30-9:00am and then another meeting in the evening from 7-9pm.
The Sunday service was something special. It was held at the government building at the site of the forts where the battle of Cinco de Mayo was fought – symbolic of the Spiritual victory in Christ we are walking into.
We were able to lead and enjoy wonderful times of fellowship, prayer, counseling and encouragement as we visited with family and friends.
The four of us enjoying a new corner of downtown Puebla.
Promoting the Family
As
we mentioned, a core value we have is the family. We desire to live and model as well as help
others achieve godly, whole, blessed families.
One simple thing we have started doing every 4-6 weeks is putting
together some type of family activity. In
the city, families do not spend a lot of time together. We have engaged the youth in planning out and
inviting their families to events or activities. This month a group from our church got
discount tickets and went to a Hollywood theater to see Peter Pan (see pictures below). Families were able to enjoy one another and
interact with other families building great memories that will last.
Worship
Another
exciting development is that of a greater interest and initiative being taken
in the area of worship. We have a group
of five of us meeting every week to rehearse and learn more about the musical
and spiritual elements to leading and participating in worship. We also had another special music workshop
where more people were able to get a taste or improve upon an instrument they
are interested in learning.
During our music workshop classes were offered in acoustic and electric guitar,...
...keyboard,...
...percussion: drum set (above) and Cajon (below)...
...and electric bass.
Sunday Worship Service
We
enjoyed a special visit by Pastors Phil and Judy Jaquith from Mexico. They are currently working on the second
edition of their book on the family and they shared a special teaching time
about God’s plan for the family – touching on the youth, marriage and many
other very relevant topics. Couples and individuals were deeply moved and
received prayer and even asked for counsel.
Please pray that they would continue to press
into God’s plan for their lives…there are so many broken families and broken
individuals that desperately need Jesus.
We continue to creatively
look for ways to make the most out of what seems to be again limited space in
the building we meet in…and we pray that God would continue to draw hungry
hearts to be filled by Him.
Teaching and Training the Children
We
had a great turn out of parents, grandparents and youth for a mini-conference (see pictures below) on how to teach children. There is a
greater interest and willingness to take more ownership in the children’s
ministry. We learned some skills on how to
teach different ages, a bunch of new songs, and some fun activities. Most importantly we heard the heart and
caught the vision of what teaching children is all about. We want to minister to these children and
share the Gospel with them in a way that they can understand and embrace.
Please Pray with Us…
Transitions
and Church Planting
-Our missionary teammates will be transitioning out of
our church plant by the end of the school year.
-This will create a lot of new needs that we are hoping the congregation
will be able to take over.
-Please pray that this will be a smooth and healthy
transition.
-We also have it on our heart in the near future to
see another church birthed. We don’t
know yet what this could look like, but appreciate your prayer as we believe
this church we are planting will plant 12 churches in the next 10 years.
Preparations
for Easter
-Our church is buzzing busily preparing for our Easter
service and the week leading up to it with an outreach in the park and other
special events.
-Pray that we would take advantage of these
opportunities to effectively train-up ministers within our church and win more
people for Christ from the community.
Family
-Please pray with us for protection, health and
quality times together.
-Pray that our children might sleep through the night
without any bad dreams.
THANK YOU for your PRAYERS
and LOVE…..together we can reach
those lost in the shadows of darkness and despair.
May
our passion and love for Christ be forever contagious,
Chad, Fabiola,
Rebecca and Justice
