Spring Break Zac 2013

Sembradores de Cristo Spring Break 2013 “And that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Tim 3:15) Our weary team had a final team devotional in which we encouraged Shalom, Nehemias, and Hadassah to follow Jesus all their lives, that He’s the best way. My children are always with us going up and down those treacherous mtn roads, having service when no one shows up, sharing the gospel in new places with new faces, helping their Mom with children’s ministry. We encouraged them that the adventures they are having now are exciting, few experience the adventures they do as children on the mission field, as tiring as it may be. We then spent time praying for the children of Zacatecas and in the world that they may make the decision at an early age to come to faith in Jesus. I thank God for my family that works so hard for the kingdom and I thank Him for always sending us servants to accompany us and encourage us. This past week Brother Gary of New York and Sister Joan of Dallas/Taiwan accompanied us to the new heart. Gary has a passion for children and a heart to serve. Joan has a passion for prayer and flows in the prophetic anointing. We are also now working hand-in-hand with Todas las Naciones church and Jerry Chen. The Garcia family in Palmas also accompanied us to various villages and encouraged us during our times of devotional and fellowship. I was able to send mini updates from Palmas Altas as they now have internet-not the village-just their house. This was a great unexpected blessing. When we are there we will no longer have to wait until we go through Jerez to send updates. We sent the update about our tire malfunction. Only God protected us my friends, only God. That whole tire tread had peeled off like an orange. I don’t know how long I had been driving on basically just the tube. With all the traffic near the city and lack of highway shoulders to turn off on a blow-out could have been pretty devastating. Thank you body of Christ for your prayers all week. Plan de Carrillo village “Christ is the head of the church.” (Eph 5:23) I was invited to preach and facilitate a meeting at the church in Plan de Carrillo. “El Plan” is like an oasis in the desert. It is the only village in the area that never had a Catholic church or a store that sells “cerveza.” Over the years we would pass through and encourage the local pastor, even when he wasn’t having services. One of the main ministries & spiritual gifts God has given me is the gift of encouragement. I love encouraging others in the faith. When we started visiting this summer, another church had started in this small community of 100 or so. A member of the community invited us to facilitate a meeting between the members of the new church and the former, local pastor to promote unity among the believers. Dissension amongst these precious believers had entered the body of Christ. I preached on unity in Christ, reminded them that Christ is the head of the church. My friend, the former pastor, did not want to attend but decided to at the last moment-praise God! He confessed that he did not feel capable to lead the church anymore and that despite the hurts he had experienced in the church, in time he would be willing to help out with the music and/or other areas. Rocio from Palmas went with us and did a class with the children, something that had never happened in the history of the church in that village. We do not know if the Lord will have us continue in any role in that church in the future. This community of believers is passionate about their relationship with the Lord and has great potential to reach out to the outlying villages and establish mission churches of their own. Some sow and others reap. I would love to see these folks go into Villa Hermosa and Monte de los Garcia villages to church plant and disciple the folks we have poured into for years now. It’s not about Sembradores de Cristo; we don’t have to have our name on the church-it’s His church-all about Cristo! Kingdom mentality! Villa Hermosa village “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.” (2 Cor. 10:4) Speaking of Villa Hermosa……Oh how times have changed. I shared with Gary and Joan the exciting moments we had had in the past with the area catechist trying to drive us away from preaching there and the local catechist trying to turn people against us, even using witchcraft to cast spells on us. Those strongholds the enemy once had here have been torn down and cast out in the name of Jesus! In fact, the children in the church saw us while we set up for a mini kids carnival and when the new, young catechist was finished with them she sent them over and even came herself to hear the Word of God. I thank God for the many prayers His people have poured out over the years over this place. The strongholds have been broken and there is freedom to speak in His name. We had 46 present, most there because it was volleyball/chatter time, gathered with us for a service of praise songs and preaching of God’s Word after the carnival. Joan shared her testimony to a group of some 20 women and one man. Most of them do not know or fear the Lord and did not pay much attention to her intense testimony of liberation from demonic possession. However, a few of them were keyed in on what she was saying. The Lord is opening their eyes to see the truth, that behind all of their saint idols are demonic forces that do not want them to believe in Jesus. Another positive outcome of our visit was a conversation I had with our local contact, a believer named Daniel. I encouraged Daniel to be willing to offer an area of his property for the construction of a church, that God has called him to be an active participant of the furtherance of the kingdom. He was very open and positive about the idea. May the Lord speak to Him and give him vision concerning His plans. Monte de los Garcia “Behold, darkness and sorrow; and the light is darkened by the clouds.” (Is 5:30) The Lord revealed to Joan that a great light had penetrated through the darkness covering Monte de los Garcia but that the people did not receive it and the light had thus been reflected by the darkness. Our one young faithful attendee there has been through quite a bit. Her mother has an altar to the saint of death in the home to which she worships. Mari had been allowed to attend our gatherings yet always returned to a home dedicated to demonic worship. We begin at the court by praying for her and doing spiritual warfare at the court. Word came to us that a local family had a blind family member present. Therefore, we did a service at their house and prayed for the blind man. He was not healed then physically. We encouraged to him to put his faith in Christ as did the blind man of John 9. I believe that he was not healed that day due to his lack of faith. We will continue believing for his healing. Those present included a mother and daughter who had at one point faithfully attended the services. God is working on their hearts and in their families. Back in “El Plan” they have a sister who is on-fire for God. These two had gotten very angry with me when I invited them to be baptized 5 years ago. Unfortunately our former point of contact of the village and family were not present that day but were out partying. You may recall that they refused to submit to obedience to God in baptism this July. It is apparent that they continue to love the ways of the world. God’s got to get a hold of them, but He’s a gentleman and does not force His will on anyone. Please join me in weekly prayer for them and young Mari of Monte. Tepetongo “My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land.” (Ps. 63:1) 7 years of working in the black heart/new heart and for the first time ever I saw a group of believers, in a community that has no church, actually hungry for God. When my friend Jerry Chen told me about the new work in Tepetongo starting last Saturday my heart leaped in me. Jerry and Pastor Ruben described a people hungry for God, even weeping in the presence of the Lord during the first service. Since Delia and Fransisca were not in Parral to do a service it opened up an opportunity for us to go there on Tuesday. Every time we drove through Tepetongo on the way to Mt. Escobedo we felt God had something special for that place. We had a powerful service on Tuesday. Despite me losing my voice, I was able to sing and invite the presence of the Lord into that place. Many were ministered to during worship and preaching. Unsaved visitors felt the presence of the Lord as they walked in the house. Here a lady and other believers had been praying for years that someone would come and do services. Her house is adequate and spacious for a house church. 5 adults and 4 children received Christ! Pray for Todas las Naciones church as they continue working there weekly. Monte Escobedo “But Jesus said, Let the children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 19:14) Todas las Naciones church continues making the journey through a road full of pot holes and dangerous curves to do a service every Sunday. On the avg. there have only been about 3 people come a week. The folks in Tepetongo shared with me how Tepetongo had once been hard to the gospel but now the people are receptive. Monte Escobedo is tough folks, really hard soil to preach in. It’s going to be prayer like in Villa Hermosa that is going to break the strongholds the enemy has in place. On Sunday, a believer named Sabino approached me that he wanted to be baptized. We went early on Thursday to pay the rent, utilities and decorate/pray over the church-thanks to you who adopted a month. I had been expecting Sabino to show up early to take him to be baptized before service. He got there about 30 min before service so I quickly got together a group and we went to a nearby lake. Even unsaved kids already at the church wanted to go with us. I found a perfect place with a big rock for the kids to sit on and view what was taking place. You will enjoy the pictures when you see them. You could see that the Lord was giving understanding of His Word to the children as I shared from Acts 8. Some of the older children appeared to be eager for the opportunity to be baptized themselves when I made the invitation for anyone else present to come forward. On this Thursday service we had some 50 people come, most being children. We want to see all those folks show up on Sunday mornings! May God bring them to Him just as He did in Matt 19. May they know Him at this young age and be molded like clay by Potter Jesus. Please pray that their unsaved parents will allow them to attend on Sunday mornings. We and Todas las Naciones church would love to disciple them in the ways of the Lord. I know it’s a lot to read, God did a lot of great things this past week-like He always does! On Wednesday night we had a special service at Jerry’s mother-in-law’s house in El Cargadero and there Joan shared her whole testimony of liberation from demon possession. Nacho, who got saved this New Year’s Eve brought his wife who got saved after Joan’s testimony. The host family had been through many struggles and was reunited once again in Christ. Many were liberated from various chains of depression, bitterness, and anger. Joan encouraged them that forgiveness was their ticket to freedom. I again want to thank you all who prayed for us this trip and for those who invested in the church at Monte Escobedo. We will soon be doing a monthly support-a-thon like we did with the church so we can go full-time this summer. Love ya’ll, Bro Ben & Sembradores de Cristo family Tax-exempt giving % Sembradores de Cristo Esperanza Del Rio Community Church 603 E. 17th St. Del Rio, TX 78840 www.sembradoresdecristo.com Phone: (830) 719-9731