Dear Brethren,

I thank God for another month full of blessings of which you are a part of  by way of your prayers and faithful support.

From the 5^th until the 12^th of March, I was able to preach in the Mount Nebo Baptist Church in Maracay, Venezuela, where Pastor Gabriel Villahermosa, a former student from the Macedonia Baptist Seminary, works.  We spoke on the topic the Attributes of God as well as teaching the young people in his church that are preparing to serve the Lord in the ministry.

Hunter Baptist Church

This year there are ten brethren from our church that are preparing themselves in the ministry, as well as two young ladies that are taking extension classes.  I ask you to pray for each of them.  Additionally, the youth pastor, Alfredo Pari held a retreat with them in Sogay the 23 and 24^th of March with 40 people in attendance.

On the 23^rd of March, we held our marriage retreat with 20 people in attendance.  Many of them were young people both in age and in the faith.  I thank God for Pastor Luis Navarro who teaches and disciples this special group.

I thank God for our generous brethren as the grand total of faith promise exceeded 65% of our monthly payouts.  We continue to encourage the brethren to try and help more and more missionaries.

For Holy Week, we had an evangelistic program from the 5^th until the 8^th of April.  We saw many visitors.  Also, Pastor Alfredo Pari and the young people will hold a service in Sicuani, a city in Cusco on the 27^th, 28^th and 29^th of April where last time 100 people attended, half of which were adults.  We hope that God can open doors and in the future open a new work in this place.

Christian School

We began classes on Monday, the 5th of March with more than 100 students enrolled this year.  We were able to begin repairs to the second floor and on Monday the 26^th we held our first parents’ meeting.  Do not forget to pray for the teachers who faithfully serve in this ministry.

Macedonia Baptist Seminary

On Tuesday the 20^th, we begin our semester with 37 students, 16 of which are in their first year.  This year students came from different departments in our country–San Martin, Lima, Puno, Moquegua and of course, Arequipa.  I thank God for the help of each teacher and pastor who is 100% given to the work.

Esmirna Baptist Church

Last month, we held a baptism and in April we celebrated our 6 year anniversary.  It was on the same week as Holy Week.  These are days we have taken advantage of for evangelism, finishing on Sunday the 7^th with a time of fellowship with all of the brethren as well as some baptisms.

We held a marriage retreat on Friday the 30^th to which many people came who had recently placed their trust in Christ.  Additionally, the young people began an internet radio station on Friday nights in which we spoke about topics of interest to many of their friends.

Berea Baptist Church

We began the week with a family campaign with many visitors in attendance.  I ask you to pray for our midweek services as they will no longer be held on Tuesdays but on Wednesdays at 7 PM.  This will permit us to evangelize on Tuesday nights.  Brother Luis Ramirez was able to return from his trip to Argentina after almost two months.

I ask your prayers for:

Our Pastor’s Fellowship.

The visit that I made to New Hope Baptist Church with Pastor Roger Puma to teach on the topic of missions.

The possibility of opening meetings in Tacna, a city six hours from Arequipa, on the weekends in a place donated by a family of the Open Door Baptist Church in Moquegua.

The wire mesh fence that we hope to place around the seminary.  There are various pastors and missionaries and former students that are giving free will offerings for this need.

God bless you,

Miguel Murillo

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Dear Brethren,

First of all, we would like to bring you some belated Christmas Greetings and wish you a Happy New Year full of blessings and service to the Lord.  We thank God for his faithfulness and generosity with us, especially in the past year.

BEREA BAPTIST CHURCH

On Friday, December 23^rd, we held a Christmas party with 50 people in attendance and another on Saturday the 24^th in another sector with almost 100 in attendance.  A “Chocolatada” (passing out hot chocolate with milk and paneton to the children as well as some toys), permitted us to present the gospel to those in attendance as well as to be able to work as a team.  It was a great work with pastor Edgar Aragon and his wife, as well as Jorge Nunez, a brother who is very faithful in the church.

Also, Brother Luis Ramirez was of great help.  He will be travelling for two months to Argentina, to help missionary Manuel Caceres.  He will be going to Lima around the 11^th of January, and I ask your prayers for him.  His absence will leave us with a great vacancy, but we know that he will be of great blessing there!  We finished the year with a lunch with all of the brethren on Sunday, January 1, during which we had several visitors and an attendance of 38 people.  This month, we will be emphasizing spiritual maturity.

HUTNER BAPTIST CHURCH

The young people in our church took a mission trip to the city of Cusco, Sicuani.  The youth pastor and the group that went with him was able to have a meeting with 100 people, half of which were adults, and they held a Sunday service on Sunday, December 11^th.  We hope to be able to initiate meetings in the future (at least one per month) to be able to continue discipleship with them.

The young ladies in our church held a year-end banquet.  They work very hard in prayer, hospital visitation, and discipleship.  They also prepared Christmas letters for various missionaries and pastors of the church.  I could not imagine the church without them.

Later, we held a Christmas party for the children in our district on Friday the 23^rd.   Four hundred and fifty people came, among which were children and their parents.  I was able to present the gospel to them and to take down their contact information.  I thank each of the brethren who made the event posible, giving gifts and providing food as well as the children’s pastor, Miguel Mego.  On Sunday, January 1, 2012, we will recognize the children who were most dedicated in their respective Sunday School Classes.

ESMIRNA BAPTIST CHURCH

The young people of our church visited Peniel Baptist Church in Ilo and helped with their Christmas party, which saw 150 children in attendance.  We thank Pastor Samuel Huaman for his time and his hospitality.

Also, a sister in our church, Mela Mendoza, along with the supervisor at her work, organized a Christmas party for a group of children in Tica Tica, Cusco on Saturday December 17^th.  Fifty children came, and I thank God for the generosity of our church to send an offering as well as for the time dedicated by the ladies.

The ladies held a very special banquet for them as well as for the leaders of the church.  It was an opportunity to express gratitude for a year of work and service.

MACEDONIA BAPTIST SEMINARY

We finished the year with a graduation ceremony on Friday, December 2.  There were six brethren this year that won the Jonathon Edwards Award.  I hope that God greatly uses these servants.  We are now preparing for the beginning of classes for this coming March.

Additionally, we sent three young people (members of Hunter Baptist Church) that were still studying to complete an internship in three different cities.  They are Joel Huisa and Luis Huisa who are in Pucallpa and La Paz respectively, as well as Alvaro Huarsaya who will be going to Callao on Tuesday, January 3^rd.  I believe that the preparation of our young people goes much further than the classroom, and these months outside of their church will help them greatly  learn and share what they have learned.  I ask for your prayers for them.

CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

This year, seven young people graduated on Monday, December 26th, among which was my daughter, Liz Andrea.  We are already preparing for next year, and I would like to say a special thank you for the way in which pastors Luis Navarro and Miguel Mego worked during this present year.

We always remember you in prayer

Miguel Murillo

The post Miguel Murillo’s January 2012 Prayer Letter appeared first on Vision Baptist Church of South Forsyth.

Preaching to the Chickens: This past month our sister church in Cobija Bolivia celebrated it’s 6th anniversary. I was invited to travel up with our assistant Isaac to participate in their anniversary conference for three days. We arrived on Friday and the conference started that same night. There were special activities each night with the young people singing and doing evangelistic skits. On Saturday night Isaac preached on “It’s still not the time” about how often we make excuses saying “now is not the time but later I will surrender and serve the Lord”. We had great services each night with several salvation decisions and many others for service to the Lord. On Sunday morning a group of 40 or more loaded into a bus and we traveled for almost two hours on dirt roads to get to a small town in the jungle called Buyuyo. Some time ago two of the men from the church in Cobija moved to this area for work and when they couldn’t find a church to go to they started Bible studies with some of the teenagers and people from the town. The Bible study began to grow and more people kept getting saved until they are now having full service in the house of a family that attends. It was amazing to see close to 80 people packed into this simple structure that was their house. It was made from wood planks and had a thatch roof and you could even see the chickens running under the house through the cracks. We praise the Lord for the work that the Laura family is doing in the northern part of Bolivia and ask that you pray for them and the two works that they have. The church in Cobija is in the second phase of their building project and in need of funds to put the floor/roof on the two rooms they have built. The floor will be made of rebar and concrete and will const roughly $2500 to finish. If you would like to help with this project please let us know.kwhite@mwbm.org. On the Lookout for Pastors: At the end of our trip to Cobija we flew back to the capital city of La Paz where we met up with two other guys from the church, Pablo and Bismark. From there we headed towards the border with Peru and traveled until late that night to the city of Arequipa, arriving at around 11:00 pm. We were able to be part of the Pastor’s Conference at the Macedonia Baptist Bible College where we did our language studies before coming to Bolivia. We had classes during the day and service in the afternoon and night. It was truly a great time to see many pastors with the same heart to reach the world with the gospel. It was also a great experience for the guys that traveled with us and I think truly put in their hearts a desire to do more for the Lord and his work. Our desire is always to prepare men and women for the ministry that God has called them to. One of the greatest needs that we can see here in South America and especially in Bolivia is to train up national leadership. That is what Christ did for three and a half years and the rest we know as church history. Our desire is to do the same. Train up leaders that will impact this world with the gospel. Building for the Lord: We know that many of you have been praying for our building project here in Bolivia and many have given sacrificially towards this need. This coming month we will be starting several campaigns here at the church to try and reach our goal to buy land. Each family in the church will receive a small wooden house as a piggy bank and at the end of each month they will bring the money to the church for the project. Our goal is to raise several thousand dollars towards the land. This is a large task understanding that the average wage here is around $100 a month. Please pray for our church and people. Prayer Requests: 1. Pray that we can find land near where we are and for a reasonable price. 2. Pray as we prepare our Bible Institute to train our leaders for the ministry. 3. Pray for the funds needed for the second phase of building in Cobija. 4. Pray that the Lord will call men and women into the ministry.

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We have now been on deputation for 1 year and are at 51% of our support, but counting promised support, we are closer to 65%, so we are looking forward to getting there soon and praying that the momentum of the past year’s work will allow us to finish very quickly!

Family – Our First Baby on the Way!
We found out this month that we are expecting our first baby! I am excited about being a Father and looking forward to raising a child for the glory of God!

On August 29th, Lori and I also celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary, and a few days later, on the 6th, I turned 29. I am blown away by how the Lord has blessed me and allows me to serve Him as a missionary and preacher with my incredible wife.

Thailand Update
This past month, we have learned about opportunities to be able to preach the gospel even in public schools in Thailand. There are far more schools available than there are laborers right now to teach English, and we are praying that more will be raised before the schools are filled with cults and other religions fill those places. Would you ask the Lord how you may be able to be used?! The job is far bigger than we can accomplish alone.

Relocation and Setup Fund
Now that we are on the second half of deputation, we will soon be in Thailand (!) and are trying to plan in advance for the costs of relocating there permanently. Tickets, shipping costs, and housing setup make this a big expense to plan for, but we are trusting the Lord to provide.

If you would like to give toward this need, you may send it to Vision Baptist Missions and memo “Setup Fund”. Thank you for praying about this and we look forward to that day!

VisionTour Thailand 2012
June 4-15, 2012 will be Lori’s first time in Thailand, a more involved survey trip for us, and a chance for you to come with us and see the field!

More information is online at http://projectthailand.net/trip where you can find the application, schedule, financial information, and other ideas to help you be able to join us.

Our Generation Summit
This December 29-31, we will be at the Summit – a missions oriented winter retreat in Pigeon Forge, TN that we promise that you will not regret. We would like to encourage and you to consider being a part.

For more information visit www.bcwe.org.

Yours for the Gospel in Thailand,
Philip and Lori Bassham

The post One Year Deputation Update appeared first on Vision Baptist Church of South Forsyth.

God has been really blessing over the last couple weeks. We continue to have first-time visitors and visitors that are returning, so we are excited that the Lord is growing the church.

Also, on this past Sunday, we had a man named James join the church. James has been coming since January, and it was exciting to see him take this step of faith.

Teri and Grant have been quite sick, but thankfully they is doing much better as of last night. The weather here wreaks havock with people’s sinuses, so this time of year it can be quite annoying. Grant actually had to spend Monday night in the hospital due to a serious lung infection.

This past Thursday, we started our Bible institute, and the Lord blessed with eleven people coming out for the classes. The institute takes place from 6:30-9:30 PM, and we are teaching “Bible Doctrines,” “Baptist Distinctives,” and “Methods of Bible Study.” Tonight, is our second class of the Institute, and we are excited about even more students planning to come out.

God has opened a door to reach out to the young people at our local university. We are helping a group called the Christian Union at Magee University to reach out to the students. On Monday night, Sam and James helped give out tea and coffee and witness to the students. We are also having the leaders present their ministry to our church on Sunday, 9 October.

Please pray about a Creation meeting that we are helping to host on Tuesday, 4 October. We have a guest preacher from Creation Ministries International coming to talk about creation science, the Biblical account of creation, and some common scientific objections to the Christian faith. We are working in conjunction with some other churches in our city, and we are expecting about 100 people to come out to the meeting.

Below are a few praises and prayer requests. Thank you so much for all you do.

PRAISES

The recent visitors who have come out to the church.
The good attendance at the Bible institute.
James joining the church.
The Lord helping Teri to feel better physically.
The good Harvest Service on 18 September.

PRAYER REQUESTS

Pray for God to bless this Sunday as we have the Lord’s Supper.
Pray for me to finish strong as I have three weeks left of my masters course.
Pray for our World Evangelism conference that is coming up on 23-25 October.

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Dear Praying Friends,

I just finished writing “thank-you” notes to churches and individuals from the past few weeks, and two thoughts crossed my mind: “Is that pain carpal tunnel syndrome?”, and, “WOW. God and His people have truly been good to us.” It’s definitely a good problem to have to write so many thank you’s! We have not been home for this past month at all, but so many churches and families have made us feel like we were.

Here are some highlights of the month:

Ordained to the Gospel Ministry! This was not just a highlight of the month, but of my life. Grateful for my family and my church family letting us know they believe in God’s hand on me.
Crazy Math: 12 Meetings in 8 states, 4 Missions Conferences, 2 new supporters, 3000 miles driven, and my personal favorite number: 1 soul saved!
New mini Fig Newton! We found out just a week ago that Melissa is expecting our second child, praise God!
Two new contacts in Barcelona! We were contacted via the internet with a request for Bibles from some Christians who we hope to meet soon. Love how God works before we ever land!

One of the most encouraging things has been to go to friends homes and supporting churches and see our prayer card displayed, and hear how we are being lifted up before the throne regularly. I can’t thank you all enough for that.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

Melissa’s pregnancy: About 6 weeks in. Pray he/she looks like mommy!
Safety on the road (we will be in FL, TX, OH, and all points in between this next month)
Support Level: Staying steady at about 43%, though have had many good churches commit to take us on this month if Faith Promise level is high enough. God’s economy is doing just fine, pray I’ll remember that and just trust Him when I don’t see the number climb every month. Would love to see that 57% come in before September next year, but I know God has our support and will get us there in exactly the right time.

Thanks again for your continued support, love, and prayer!

Scott, Melissa, Elena, and name-to-be-determined Newton

The post Newton September Update appeared first on Vision Baptist Church of South Forsyth.

While on furlough we are raising funds for three areas of ministry. Maybe God would have you to partner with us in one of the following areas:

1. Personal monthly support – In the last two years, we have lost 18% of our personal support due in large part to the financial downturn in the States. While traveling for the past 3 months of our furlough, God has led several churches to partner with us. We are now up to 86% of what we need to return to Chile in February 2012. If God leads you to invest in our monthly support, note “Jason Holt” in the memo of your gift and send it to the support address at the bottom of the page.

2. Chile Baptist College monthly support – We are at 14% of the needed 2011-2012 budget! Our total budget is $900 a month. Pray about giving a one time or monthly gift to this vital ministry. Include “Chile Baptist College” in the memo of your gift for this ministry.

3. Land for our second church – God has already given us about $26,000 towards the land for our second church plant!! We are so excited to see how He is providing. We still need $43,000 to meet the goal. Pray about giving to help us with this project! Include “Holt Church Building” in the memo of your gift.

Visit us on the mission field in 2012
Nothing will help you to understand missions and gain a passion for God’s work around the world like visiting the mission field! If you would like to see our ministry in Chile during 2012, contact us today. We would love to host a teen, college, or family group. If you are a college student looking for intensive internship opportunity in 2012, contact us soon! Write us today for more information – holt@biblicalmissions.com.

Thank you for all you do each month for our family!
The Holt Family

The post Three ways to invest in Chile appeared first on Vision Baptist Church of South Forsyth.

These past few weeks have been really exciting at Iglesia Bautista Omega. Two Sundays, ago we were able to see three men saved! Last Sunday, we had an awesome service and afterwards a church potluck, with 126 in attendance! We had more than 20 first time visitors last month, and one young couple joined our membership. God is so good! We are so grateful that God allows us to have a small part.

God is also answering another prayer request. One of our annual goals was for the church to be self-supporting by the end of this year. For the past two months, the church has met budget and more! On their own, they are currently paying two assistant pastors, while paying $715 a month for rent, all utilities, and supporting four different missions projects totally $230 monthly. I am absolutely blown away by how God is working in their hearts!

Classes continue at the Peru Bible College. This semester I am teaching a class on personal finances. I have carried this study over to our Thursday night Bible study at Omega. It is an incredible study of Biblical stewardship and how the Lord has blessed us to be a blessing.

We ask you to pray with us as we are starting to prepare for this year’s drama “Revelation.” It will be taking place in November, spread out over three weekends. We are excited about having the team from Faith Baptist Church, in Lagrange, GA come down again this year to help out. The Lord blessed last year with over 2,300 in attendance. This year we are praying for 5,000! Please begin to pray with us that many will be saved and Jesus’ name will be lifted up!

Make plans now to attend this year’s “OG Summit” in Pigeon Forge, TN. The dates are December 29-31, 2011. This is a great opportunity for adults and young people to learn about missions first hand from missionaries currently serving around the world. Bekah and I will be coming in this year to participate. For more information go to www.bcwe.org. Hope to see you there!

As always, we thank every one of you so much for your prayers and support of this ministry. We ask you to please continue praying for our family and ministry as we seek to serve the Lord here in Peru.

God Bless,
Jeremy, Rebekah, Brayden, Olivia and Jackson Hall

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