Pure and undefiled religion

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. James 1:27

Orphans and widows are people who can't give you anything in return. Serving those who can't repay you is the heart behind this Scripture. Our Lord is teaching our church to serve, to love one another without expecting anything in return. Many people came to Jesus in Biblical times for the miracles and healings. We are learning that we should not come to Jesus for what we can receive, for the bread and fish. We should seek Him for Him, for who He is. For what He has already done. He saved us. He has freed us from sin, from death. "We love Him because He first loved us."

Our brothers and sisters are visiting each other when they are sick. The youth check on each other when someone hasn't been to youth group in a while or if they notice someone slipping away. A group of men from our church have started visiting a local drug and alcohol rehabilitation center and now are giving a weekly Bible study there.

Our core youth group in Discipleship class.

The second part of James 1:27 is very important: "Keep oneself unspotted from the world". If we want to grow as a church, if we want to be effective witnesses, if we want to shine as lights in this dark world, we MUST "lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us" and we MUST seek to be pure, holy, spotless.

This is our prayer for our church body. We trust that as we move forward as a church, as we draw closer to Jesus, He will be faithful to convict, to challenge, to change each one of us. It's not something Jared and I can do. It must be a work of the Holy Spirit. If we want to see a powerful and amazing work of God in our community, we must be close to the Source of Life, our Lord and Savior.

Our sanctuary ready to receive the Church.

We find great comfort in Isaiah 55:11and Hebrews 4:12.

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Johan teaching Sunday school.

As Jared continues to just simply teach God's Word, we can rest in the fact that God's Word is alive and powerful and it will accomplish His purpose.

Please continue to pray for our church body. Pray that the Word will take root in our hearts and that each one of us would be sold out for Jesus, holding nothing back, leaving behind every temptation to sin, serving Him with everything we have.

I know this post is very different from our usual updates, but this is what the Lord is doing in our church and is what He put on our hearts to share with you, the ones who participate with us in the ministry here by continuing to faithfully pray. Thank you! God bless!

Summer Growth

As we shared in our last blog post we were gearing up for a busy season of teams this summer. The last team left August 5. Now that we have had time to reflect on all the Lord did, we wanted to share with you as much about our summer as possible in our little blog.

The first team was the youth group of Calvary Chapel of Delta. The Lord put it on Pastor Doug's heart to include our youth group from Capilla del Calvario de Barahona as part of their mission team. So, our youth went on their first missions trip, right in their own neighborhood. It was amazing. Each American teenager was paired up with a Dominican teenager. They spent the week with their partner in discipleship classes, community work projects, cleaning the ministry house, preparing meals and evangelizing.

The work project was digging trenches for pipes to connect homes to our well to deliver water directly to the homes in the community. We connected 8 homes to the well. It was a joy for our kids to help their community. 

The discipleship course went over all the basic truths of the Bible: Creation, Sin, Jesus, Salvation. 

Evangelism was the activity that stretched our kids the most. They did not have much experience and were nervous. But by the end of the week, they were looking forward to it. It really grows your faith when you stand before a stranger and have to put into words why you believe in Jesus and what He has done for you. 

It was great for our kids to spend time with the American teens. They were interested to know our kids and everyone became quick friends. The whole week forced our kids to step out of their comfort zones, to push themselves, to rely on the Lord and to do things they had never done before. They worked hard, they played hard and served Jesus together. 

Here is a short video of the week put together by one of the team members from CC Delta, Ben Otte.

 

The following week came the youth of Calvary Chapel Central Bucks. They are a large group of almost 40 people. We did work projects in the community. They put in several floors and bathrooms in various homes on the mountain. 

They also held a two day purity conference for all the teenagers of the sponsorship program and of our church. That is something that is so desperately needed. The kids need to hear God's heart for sex and purity and marriage. The culture here, much like in the States, has it all wrong. It was a powerful two days. There were at least 30 young ladies and 30 young men in attendance both days. Please pray that the truth that was shared those two days will take root in their hearts and their lives and that each of those teens will make the decision to remain pure and to glorify Jesus with their lives and their bodies.

Our youth drama group teamed up with the drama group from CC Central Bucks and performed together at a community outreach in the village Don Bosco. A large number of kids from the community came out and the two youth groups presented dramas, puppets, Bible stories and music.  

CC Central Bucks also offered an evangelism workshop to our youth group kids. They brought some evangelism tools with them and helped the kids mark some key verses in their Bibles to make it easier to locate when sharing with someone. Our youth appreciated the workshop and were able to use the things they learned when the third group arrived, Calvary Chapel York

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CC York focused a lot on evangelism. Our youth were invited each day to go out with the team and share in the community. Many people received the Lord. Many people heard the truth. Many seeds were planted. It was exciting to see our youth kids show up each day to go share the truth in their community. These are their neighbors, their friends, their family.

As we look back over the month, its amazing to see how the Lord wove everything together. He put a specific purpose on the hearts of each team from the US and it all fit together. The Lord used this summer to stretch, strengthen, challenge and change the teens of our church. We pray that as they prepare to return to school this week that they will hold fast to the things the Lord has spoken to their hearts this summer. We pray they remain strong in their faith, that they take a stand for Jesus in their schools and among their unbelieving friends and family.

We are so thankful for each team that came this summer. Thank you for your hard work, your planning, your sacrifice, your heart for the ministry and the people. Thank you for serving Jesus and our community. Thank you for loving our teens and for encouraging them, discipling them, teaching them, motivating them. Please continue to pray for them. The battle is real for their lives. Their souls are secure in Jesus, but Satan is still trying to ruin their lives. He knows the mighty work God can do through them to change this entire community. He wants to stop it, but Jesus is stronger. 

Thank you Ben Otte, Jeremy Damiano and Chrissie Hastoglis for allowing us to use your pictures! We appreciate it!

Exceedingly Abundantly

We are all settled back in here in Barahona. We were in the States for 4 weeks May into June, as most of you already know. I meant to post so much sooner and now that I am looking at the calendar I realize that we have already been back in the Dominican Republic over three weeks now. It's true what they say, time flies when you're having fun! We have been very busy since we got back. Summer is a good opportunity to spend more time with the youth group kids as they are off school, so that is exactly what we have been doing with Bible studies, drama practices, hang out time... We are also gearing up for a busy summer season of teams.

But, in this blog post we wanted to share what the Lord did while we were in the States, I guess its something the Lord has been doing for years now. One year ago this month, Jared was placed by the overseers of our sending church, Calvary Chapel of Delta as the leader and teacher of the local church plant, Capilla del Calvario de Barahona. They prayed about it and felt that the Lord had gifted Jared for the role. When Pastor Doug told Jared how they felt the Lord directing them Pastor Doug told him that men do not make pastors, God makes pastors.

So, Jared began teaching and leading and we all watched to see what the Lord would do. Over the past year, the Lord has grown His church in the truth. The Lord has blessed us with sweet times of fellowship. The congregation feels more and more like a family. These aren't things that Jared did, but God. The Lord is the one to mature the believers, He is the reason for our love one for another. But, over the past year, the church body has embraced Jared as their pastor. The Lord is speaking though Jared to equip and edify this body of believers. Pastor Doug and the overseers also see the Lord's anointing on Jared, that He has a pastoral calling and that the Lord has called him to shepherd this flock. While we were in the States, they officially commissioned him to the church here.

We truly appreciate how our overseers handled things. Over the past year we were able to see the Lord confirm Jared's calling, to watch the Lord make Jared the pastor of CCB. When I first met Jared in Bible college in 2002, he felt called to be a pastor. He waited and sought the Lord for many years. When the Lord opened the door to move to Barahona, pastoring the church here was not what we thought we were coming for. But God knew. It is amazing how God works. The Apostle Paul said it best in Ephesians 3:20:

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

Another exciting thing that has happened this month is that we were going through the process to become officially affiliated with Calvary Chapel, and the paperwork was approved last week! We appreciate the model Calvary Chapel has implemented and how they simply teach the Word, so we are excited to be officially associated.

We are really excited to see what the Lord has in store for this summer and the rest of this next year with the church. Please continue to pray for our church! Pray that we as a congregation would reach out to our community around us. Please also pray for the teams we will have this summer. The Lord has put some exciting ideas on their hearts and we are looking forward to the impact it will have on our youth group kids, our church and our community as a whole.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

Matthew 28:19

In March Jared had a new believer, Violet, approach him about being baptized. This prompted him to open up the invitation to anyone in the church who would like to be baptized. Three of our youth group kids, Jose, Julieta and Rosa, came forward and also decided to be baptized. So, at the end of March, Jared had the sweet privilege of performing his first baptisms. 

On Sunday, March 30th after church we opened up the invitation for anyone in the church who would like to go to the local beach with us and support those being baptized. We had over 20 of our church attenders go to witness and support those who decided to make a public profession of their faith in Jesus Christ. At our Sunday morning service, another lady of our congregation and her two daughters also decided to be baptized. 

William, Vicente, Violet and Jared

Julieta

There were a total of 8 people who were baptized that day. It was a great moment for our church. Our newer believers taking a public stand for Jesus and our seasoned believers coming around them, encouraging and supporting them. 

Jose

Rosa

In the van ride to the beach, Spanish, English and Creole were spoken. There were Dominicans, Americans, and Haitians. We could see our church walking in the Lord's great commission that day to "go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Although our church attenders come from different nations, different backgrounds, different cultures and many of us speak different languages, we are one body in Christ. He has brought us together and we have unity in Him. 

You can see more pictures of the baptisms on our church's Facebook page, Capilla del Calvario de Barahona: Click Here!

A week or two after that precious day, Jared announced a need that we have in the church for help with Sunday school. After church, those same three youth group kids who were baptized, came forward and volunteered to help. It is awesome to see how the Lord is working in them. They received Jesus into their hearts and lives, they professed Him before others and now they have the desire to serve Him. 

When you see the transformation of an individual before your eyes, the miracle of a soul changed over from death to life, you cannot help but confess that you are not the one doing the work. It is all God. The changes we see in the members of our church have nothing to do with us. I can't make someone follow Jesus. It is His sweet love and powerful presence and their willingness to allow Him all of who they are. 

I can't wait to see where the Lord will take our church from here. 

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)." 

Ephesians 2:4-5

Approved!

Thank you for praying. Our visas were approved. It was such a whirlwind. Jared and I went to the capitol  last week to request some paperwork needed for the visas. We expected to have to come back the following week to pick up the paperwork and begin to submit our renewal request. Instead, the documents were ready in about an hour, so then we headed over to the Migration office to ask for them to review our paperwork to make sure we had everything in order before we submit it. Instead, they started processing it right before our eyes. Two hours later, we walked out of the Migration office with our new residency cards in hand. We are still a bit in shock. Last year it took months to process and many trips to the capitol. God is good. It is a great reminder that the Lord has called us here and we can rest that He will take care of all of the details, small and great, to keep us in the center of His will. 

Children Full of the Love of Christ, the name of Wilkyns Chal's school in Batey Central

The first of the two eyeglass clinic teams from Calvary Chapel of Fredericksburg, VA came at the beginning of this month. They were a huge blessing. They provided four days of eyeglass clinics to Batey Central. Our friend, Wilkyns Chal, opened up his school and church building to us. The team examined over 500 individuals in Wilkyns' community. There were some pretty amazing moments. There was one woman, probably in her 50's or 60's who had problems with her vision for many, many years and never had a pair of lenses. Kim Nolasco from the team brought her a pair of lenses which matched the woman's prescription. She put them on and immediately began to cry and thank the Lord that she can now see clearly. It truly was a work of God that we had matching prescriptions for the hundreds of people who needed them in the boxes of pre-made lenses that the team brought with them. 

Kim Nolasco of CC Fredericksburg with the sweet woman with her new glasses.

       

This team also put on a children's program in Batey Central. They did dramas, puppets, stories and activities with the kids. The kids loved it!

Wilkyns is the man in the window with the red Philly's hat and the huge smile.

Many of these kids are Wilkyn's students and church attenders.

This team also blessed our church, Capilla del Calvario de Barahona, with dramas and children's programs at our regular weekly services on Sunday and Thursday. We have a young boy named Abel who attends our church. He is deaf. He isn't able to understand much of our services, but we try our best to communicate the love of Jesus with him.  Kim, from CC Fredericksburg, knows sign language. So, Sunday and Thursday Kim translated the Bible stories for Abel. For the first time, he was able to understand the whole service! He was so blessed by it and so were we. 

Carlos and Samuel, two of our youth group boys. 

Thursday afternoon children's program in English, Spanish and Sign language! Abel is the boy in the maroon shirt and white tennis shoes. 

Dresses, visas, coffee and family!

Jared and I were really blessed to have Jared's parents and brother Mark come visit us this month. They were here for a week. It was such a refreshing time to be together. They also spent time helping us and our ministry team with measuring out the rice and beans for the monthly distribution. 

They came loaded with suitcases full of homemade dresses for the girls in the sponsorship program. As well as shorts and t-shirts for the boys. The dresses were made by the ladies of their church, Liberty Chapel. This is the church Jared grew up in. We started distribution after they left and have been giving out the clothing. The kids have been so excited and we have already seen some of the kids wearing their new clothes. 

Jared has been trying to foster fellowship among our church members and we all know the best way to do that is to offer coffee! We have offered coffee the last several weeks before and after our Sunday morning service and so far it has been a great way to encourage our brothers and sisters to stay a little longer and have a conversation with one another. 

One big prayer request we have right now is for our residency visas. We have started working on our annual renewal. We have to submit all the paperwork in March. Please pray for us in this process. Please pray it goes smoothly, that we have everything we need, and that we are approved. We are thankful that the Lord promises that when He opens a door, no man can shut it. We will rest in Him, but we still ask that you pray.

In upcoming events we have two eyeglass teams coming. The first one arrives on Saturday, March 1. The second is to come in April. They will be offering eye exams to the people. The first team will be giving the exams in Batey Central at the Christian school and church of our friend, Wilkyns. Batey Central is another poor community similar to the one in which we live. The second team will be here on the mountain. We are excited for this opportunity for the people. Many of them have never had an eye exam and wouldn't be able to afford glasses. Please keep these teams in prayer. May this be another way to share the love of Jesus with lost souls.