We worshipped Him in Song, and Hymns, and Spiritual Songs!
I have to say I am so consistently amazed at how the Lord meets us in worship…. Why am I always so surprised? I guess it is because the Lord always is doing something new, something refreshing, and something so awe inspiring that it takes my breath away! I am referring to how he inhabited the praises of His children during our Christmas outreach! Although there was a lot of noise in the back of the basketball court, as you will always have those that are more interested in the fishes and the loaves than in hearing Jesus, He was working! We don’t have a great sound system and I suppose next year we will work on that so we can capture those in the back, but I have to say that what the Holy Spirit was doing on the set, with the kids choir, the youth, and those that were sitting up close was marvelous!
The pre-school and kinder class kicked off the night by reciting Psalm 121 and sang two songs which their teachers Roberto and Lulu taught them. What a testimony it is for the people to hear these tiny little kids speaking for a whole chapter of God’s Word! We thank the Lord for our teachers and helpers! Our visiting team from Calvary Las Vegas along with Estie, Micah, and Abby presented a moving modern version of the hope Jesus can give to struggling teens who are tempted with drugs, alcohol, vanity, un-godly relationships, and suicide. It was a very powerful message and I am sure he used it to speak to the teens in the crowd! Then the youth from Calvary PV did a wonderful black-light and white glove presentation to the song “I Am Yours” which was a beautiful message of how the Lord picks us up when we fall and how He makes us His own! He moved through the music that the kids presented in spite a few technical difficulties…which caused our timing to be a bit off with the timing of the drama that was taking place. It goes to show that the Lord blesses availability more than ability. But with that being said, the kids are definitely improving in their musical skills and acting abilities.
There were several trees in the drama…Sarahi, Haniel, and Fabiola that represented the things we want out of this life that don’t seem to be in line with what the Lord wants. In the drama the Nativity story was interwoven as the trees reflected on how God used them for greater things than they imagined. Even if they were things that in the world’s eyes were not that splendid. One was used as a rustic manger; another was a small boat that carried the King of the universe who calmed a great storm, and another a Rustic Cross that would remain a reminder of His resurrection. This drama the youth presented gave a wonderful representation of the gospel story while the Kid’s choir was added to sing “The little drummer boy” in Spanish and English. If you could have only heard Luis Angel doing the solo part of the song it would have moved you to tears. The beautiful thing was as I was preparing the music God had put it on my heart for him to do that solo. When we started to practice the music I asked for a volunteer and guess who raised his hand? Luis Angel! God is so awesome! He is a talented young man who has told his mother who is unsaved that he wants to be a pastor like Pastor Bill! Isn’t wonderful to see what the Lord can do through His word! Other wonderful praise and worship songs were added to give the special touch to our Christmas program.
One of the beautiful testimonies of how the Lord worked in the Christmas outreach was given by our friends Pastor Roberto and Paloma. Paloma’s father who is a retired military officer came to the outreach. Paloma and Roberto had been praying for his salvation but had a very difficult time sharing with him due to the many things the couple went through before they were saved. Her father and his wife both came to the outreach and in spite of all the things we felt we could have done better his comment was this: “I thought for sure when the lights went out for that black light drama the crowd of 600 was going to be out of control! I was so amazed how their attention was captured and how everyone followed instruction so well! I have not seen anything that well organized since I left the military! I am truly touched by how all of you have reached out to the people in my country with such a lovely message of God’s love!” He and his wife both gave their lives to the Lord! What an answer to prayer for Roberto and Paloma! Then we had our little prayer warrior Litzy of 9 years old come up to me during the second altar call for the youth to tell me she had a message and prayer to share with the youth. We gave her the microphone and she began to pray for the kids to stop falling in temptation to drugs, alcohol, and other things that drive them away from God. She prayed for their repentance and salvation. It brought us all to tears! Many, many teens came up that we had ministered to in the past as little children to make a re-commitment to the Lord or to accept Him for the first time! The Lord is mighty to save!
When the ministry part of the outreach was completed we started the gift distribution. It brought many smiles to many faces and it gave us an opportunity to pray for the parents of these children who are so grateful for the love the Lord shares with their kids through this ministry. We were so blessed to have the team from Calvary Las Vegas NM headed up by Pastor Robby and his wife Felicia make themselves available from dawn to dusk to wrap presents, clean the church, organize the presents and then serve tirelessly at the outreach! Before they got here the Lord sent a team of wrappers from our church and from other places to help us get the 500 gifts ready for the outreach. We thank the Lord for constantly provided his warriors to come alongside of our Gideon size army! The Lord is the winner of every battle! We thank Him for moving so mightily amongst us and for giving us all the support through you prayer warriors and generous donors to make these outreaches possible.
We were also blessed by the Las Vegas team with the monthly food packets for the kids at the school much to our surprise! Thank you Lord for making life a little bit easier for those who need your help not only in a spiritual way but also in a physical one! We Love your faithfulness!
Well we began the New Year with a service and a shared meal on New Year’s Eve. At 7:00 pm we were only 3 families and we thought “well it will be nice for us to share time together even if it is only us…” By 7:30 as we were in the middle of worship and the church filled up! It was a beautiful time of worship, testimonies and thanksgiving for everything the Lord has been doing in our lives in the Body of Christ. Sunday morning we shared communion after the message. It was really awesome to see folks in the body come forward for prayer for this coming New Year! Every service the Lord meets us! Glory to His name alone!
We had a team join us from Calvary Chapel Bachiniva, Chihuahua headed up by Pastor Luis Vargas and his wife Kim and their four children. They brought 24 people from their congregation to enjoy a vacation and work at the CCMS. They helped work on the shower and prepared a slab for the bathroom area and mostly enjoyed leaving the cold of Northern Mexico behind. The night before they left we were able to join our youth group with their youth group for a time of games and fellowship in a park. It was a blessing to see our kids making new friends with the young people from CC Bachiniva and from CC Las Vegas NM. It is such an encouragement for our youth to see that they are not the only kids who have chosen a different lifestyle than the majority of the youth in our community. It is always such and blessing for our children as well to meet other missionary kids and those who love Jesus from other places! We thank the Lord for youth pastor Jose Nieves from Bachiniva for his commitment to help the kids under his care to grow in service to the Lord. We have invited them to come down for our youth camp in the spring if it is God’s will. Please pray for that event and for the youth group to have creativity to know how to raise funds for it. Last year’s camp was such a important part of their spiritual growth and we pray this year’s will be also!
As far as what is to come….we will wait on the Lord to show us. We will start school up again at CCMS and we pray the Lord will continue to strengthen the team of leaders out there. We have several repeated visitors that will come down to help come alongside to serve the kids but we still would like more permanent teachers so we can have more opportunity to accept more children at the school. Please pray for that for us. Pray if you think of anyone in your fellowship who would like to serve on a short-term or long-term basis in our church and the school. We have had college and career aged young people come and serve for a few months at a time which has been a blessing to us and to the kids. If someone has been laid on your heart to serve in this way please let us know.