Where has 2012 Gone?

Greetings! I feel like I need to re-introduce myself since it has been such a long time between posts. I offer my apology but no excuses. I simply have not been diligent in this area. Hopefully you have been kept up-to-date by my twitter feed with which I am a little more disciplined.

The year has gone by so quickly. I last reported to you in December concerning the outstanding revival we had with Pastor Ed Gutierrez. We have not had a set of revival meetings since that time but we have had revival. God has been steadily building His church here in Libreville.

We followed the revival in December with a season of fasting and prayer in January, praying for God to continue to give us breakthrough in this nation. That same month we started a New Convert's Class and by the end of February graduated eight people. We took time at the end of February to celebrate the four year anniversary of the church here in Libreville. 

In January and February, the nation of Gabon hosted the African Cup of Nations which is the continent’s premiere soccer event. Many people flooded into the capitol which presented us with extra evangelism opportunities. 

March was a special time for me and my wife as we celebrated fifteen wonderful years of marriage. I’m so grateful for a wonderful wife that is willing to lay down her life for the will of God. She has been far beyond what I could have ever dreamed for and I cherish her with all my heart. 

In April we began to prepare our hearts as a congregation for the Tucson Conference that was coming in June. We started a season of prayer and fasting every Friday night. These times of prayer were powerful for the congregation as we gathered together to seek His face and direction for our lives. Each week we had between thirty to forty people participating in the fasting and evening prayer meeting.

It was in late March that the owner of our building approached us about moving to one of his other buildings that was much larger. He saw that the building we were in was getting small for us and offered for us to look at the other one.  The new building was three times larger but would require a lot of work. We were able to negotiate a price that would be a step of faith for our congregation but which was also a generous offer from the owner.

In partnership with the Tucson congregation we were able to put down the required amount to secure the building and we began work. It was a lot of work!!! We had to put down a subfloor, build a bathroom, paint, put up lights and electrical outlets, build a stage and a storage room. We finished most of the work by the end of April and had our first service on the 29th. It was a glorious time! Over the ensuing weeks, God began to bring increase to each of our services.

In June we left for the Tucson Conference and it was AWESOME! We were able to see all of our family and friends and were refreshed by the word of God. We had two people from our church here in Gabon join us for the conference. They paid their own way, had a great time and I believe that their lives will never be the same. They have returned recharged with a fresh vision and insight to what God is doing in the world. 

We returned to Gabon to a rather pleasant surprise; the church had grown while we were gone. The Sunday we returned was our largest attendance ever with 131. Since then  we have not had a Sunday morning service with less than a hundred people in attendance. The disciples not only did a wonderful job running the church but also in evangelizing and locking people into the church. The church feels different since we returned; things happen now, with or without us. God is moving and the people have taken ownership of the church. 

Since January, we have prayed with more than 150 people in our services and on our outreaches. We have baptized 22 in that same time and God is building His church, one soul at a time. 

We started a New Convert’s Class when we returned and are set to graduate 19 by the end of August. Please pray for us as we are planning our first revival of the year in September with Pastor Set-son from Namibia. The paperwork is in process and once his visa is approved we will be looking forward to a powerful time in the Lord. 

Thanks for your patience with the blog and in reading this posting. I pray that it blesses and encourages you to continue praying for us and seeking the will of God for your life. 

Drama...and Revival!!!

This has been a wild and busy couple months of ministry for us here in Libreville.

We began in November with our French version of the drama, "The Judgment". We had done it once before in the beginning of 2010. At that time we had to rent a facility but this time we were able to do it in our own building. We put on the drama for three nights and had a great turn out each night with 49 people making a decision to repent of their sins and turn to Jesus for salvation.

On the second night of the drama we arrived at the building to find that it had been marked for demolition as part of a greater project to 'clean up' Libreville before the African Cup of Nations that will be hosted here in January. We immediately set the saints to pray with calls to the Tucson church and others to join with us.

On the Sunday morning after the building was marked, a man came in and gave his life to Jesus. He had seen the drama the night before and was so moved that he was awake all night thinking about it. While talking with him at the final night of the drama I realized that he was not only a police man but that he also ran the tractors that demolish the buildings. He informed me that he would do his best to steer clear of our area till the final moment. Here are some pictures of the 'clean up' around town.

The next couple weeks were difficult for our church not knowing what would happen with our building. We thank God that after a couple of weeks, the government decided to suspend further demolition until after the tournament. I would like to thank those of you who prayed for us during that time and sent notes of encouragement. Your prayers made all the difference in the circumstances here.

Before we began the drama, I received a surprise phone call from a good friend of mine; Pastor Ed Gutierrez. He informed me that in December he would be preaching the Harvester's in Cameroon and that he and his wife Julie realized how close it was to Gabon. As they began looking deeper into it they realized that the price of the ticket would be the same if he stopped here in Gabon first. I was over-joyed. It had been a couple months since our last revival and I knew it would be after March before we could schedule another one. The timing was perfect, especially to follow up with the new converts we were expecting from the upcoming drama.

When Pastor Ed arrived, the timing could not have been better for us and for the church. As many of you already know, Sara and I owe much who & where we are today to Pastor Ed and his wife Julie. They were the Youth pastors in Tucson while we were in our teenage years. If it were not for my relationship with Pastor Ed at that critical time in my life, I know for a fact that we would not be here in Gabon, and may not even be preaching the gospel. His stay here was refreshing to my spiritual life and edifying for my family, which was a bonus, because he really came to minister to the church.

Pastor Ed brought such a maturity of ministry during his week here. He is a great man of God and a tremendous preacher of the gospel. The last fifteen years he has been building a powerful work for God in Fairfield, California. Each and every sermon was directly from God and perfectly timed for our church. He connected immediately with the congregation, even having most names memorized by the third night. The people were excited and grateful and the revival built momentum with each night. By the end of the week, we had seventeen people saved and fifteen filled with the Holy Spirit.

I would just like to take a moment to thank the faithful members of the Fairfield congregation, many of whom I know well, for your investment in sending your Pastor to Africa. You have no idea how much impact he has made on our congregation and in this nation. I would like to encourage you to continue. Continue your giving. Continue sending your Pastor to bless the nations of the world. Continue your monthly support of the church in Cameroon. Continue being a blessing to your Pastor and his wife. It is only in eternity that we will truly see the impact we are making now. May the Lord bless you to continue...

Intertwined in all of these events going on we were able to have a couple water baptisms; one before the revival and one after. We baptized eleven people in all and have seen a great increase in our church. The disciples are growing and taking new converts under their wings and God is being glorified. Please continue to pray for these new converts.

All of this must be said with the deepest gratitude towards the saints of the Tucson congregation who faithfully support us with their notes/calls of encouragement, prayers and finances. Without you, none of this would be possible. Thank you.