Feb 2020 Update: Arbol de Vida EFC Sanctuary Construction, Sunesis Bible Course Week, NOW Weekend and more!
Hola!
We hope that 2020 has started out wonderful for you! Let us share a little family news to start out…
2019 ended with an incredible amount of celebration as a family! Our daughter Annelise was engaged to be married to Devir Gonzalez on December 21st, then there was Christmas, my (Greg’s) birthday (26th), our 25th wedding anniversary (31st), New Years and Shelli’s birthday (Jan 3)! We had the joy of having the Gonzalez family stay with us for all these festivities!
2020 is looking exciting with Caleb’s high school graduation, our move back to Hermosillo in August, a fall wedding (October 10) and the 25th anniversary of the Arbol de Vida EFC church (October 16-18) to mention a few major events. We will also be speaking in several churches and hosting some ministry teams in Mexico! If you’d like us to speak in your church, please get in touch with us!
Arbol de Vida EFC Sanctuary Construction Update!
The sanctuary of the Arbol de Vida Church is coming along great!We want to thank all of you that got in on the “double double†donations toward this project in December!Over $17,000 came in which will be doubled by our generous anonymous donor! These funds will go a long way towards putting the roof on!
In the photos you can see above and below, the walls are going up and the steel roof trusses are being welded into place!Â
We are organizing a team to help with preparing and pouring the floor of the sanctuary from March 18th to March 28th. All trades are welcome and so are people with basic skills in construction and a heart to serve. Please contact us for more info: email – agentgst@yahoo.com or on Greg’s cellphone – 403-586-5871.
Celebrating 10 years of “Súnesis – Undertanding the Bible†Biblical Theology courses!
This year was another success with 115 students (29 pastors, many leaders and lay people and even some people with no church affiliation that just wanted to know how to understand the Bible) attending the approximately 24 hours of classes. Most of the participants are pictured below.Â
This year we studied Hermeneutics (Bible Interpretation) in the morning classes with a new teacher that came from Guatemala – Dr. Nelson Morales. He is an expert in Greek and New Testament and was a great addition to the teaching team.  Dr. August Konkel (Old Testament Professor at McMaster Divinity College and President Emeritus of Providence Theological Seminary) and Jack Vogt (EFCCM Missionary) taught the Pentateuch in the weekday evening and Saturday classes. I did the publishing of the posters and publicity material and then recorded and edited video of the whole course which is being made available for free on the Súnesis Youtube channel. We had 3 graduates that had completed 10 credits (approximately 5 years of Súnesis courses). I am with graduate Noé González in the photo below.
You can pray for a man named Gabriel that I sat with during the course. He had just started seeking God not long before the Súnesis course and he said that people kept telling him that he needed to read the Bible. But he said, “I had no idea how or where to start and how to understand the Bible.â€Â  So he saw an advertisement for our course on Facebook the day before it started and showed up for the first day! As the week went on he felt God had definitely brought him to the right place!
No Ordinary Weekend!Â
Shelli and I were invited to lead the children’s ministry at the 3rd annual N.O.W. weekend at Camp Caroline over the Family Day weekend. We (along with Annelise and Devir) taught the 28 children (ages 4-10) for 10 hours over the 3 days in the “Creation to Christ†format that GoodSeed Ministries has developed to help people understand the message of the whole Bible.  It was exciting to see many of the children understand the Gospel and pray to receive Christ! It was also encouraging to talk with their parents and other adults that had their understanding of the Bible transform their lives!
We would appreciate your prayer for the following things:
Personal support level – we are currently looking for new monthly financial team members.  We are very thankful for some new team members that have joined recently! Â
The Lord’s wisdom, vision and guidance as we soon move back to Mexico looking to start a new community centre-based church plant partnering with young adults that we have discipled over the years that are sensing God’s call to pastoring.
God’s continued provision for the funding needed as we partner with the Arbol de Vida EFC in the construction of the new sanctuary.
