Wednesday, April 23, 2008

What's Happening?

A lot! Of course the work of the Venezuelan pastors and churches continues every day. These remarkable faithful Christians are a shining example to all who know them. The Americans who have been privileged to meet Bishop Perez and pastors Yolanda, Cheo, Thoby, Raul, Carlos and so many others will never forget these wonderful brothers and sisters!

Also, the Seminario Wesleyano de Venezuela prepares for its next session in June and its FIRST GRADUATION in August. How faithful God has been! About 100 students call the seminary home. What a privilege it is to be able to better equip them for the work of the ministry and to partner together for the cause of Christ.

We have secured a house to accommodate US Mission Teams. This will save them a great deal of cost and put them in a safe and comfortable environment. We are also in the process of acquiring a second house being purchased by a Venezuelan which can house visiting faculty coming to the seminary and other friends of the work in Venezuela.

Of course, one of the greatest steps will be the acquisition of a site for the seminary. We are trusting the resources for this will come through the special mission/love offering for Bishop Lindsey and Jennifer Davis at this year's North Georgia Conference of the UMC. We have retained an attorney in Venezuela who is working out all the details of this acquisition for the seminary as soon as the resources are available.

Many more wonderful things are happening about which I have no time to write. However, I do ask you to keep this work in your prayers. There is an enemy of Christ, but we trust in the Lion of Judah! He will prevail! Praise the Name of Jesus!

Friday, April 04, 2008

The Herrins to Move to Mexico

Missionaries Jon and Jeannie Herrin have just announced that they will be moving their family to Mexico where Jon will be teaching at the Juan Wesley Seminary. We wish them the very best and thank them for their work in Venezuela for the last three years. They made a great commitment to be the first United Methodist Missionaries to go to Venezuela and live there. For that we are forever grateful.

We will continue the work in Venezuela, especially with the Seminario Wesleyano de Venezuela, the Institute of Church Planting, the United Methodist Church of Venezuela and the other projects currently in process. Samuel Rojas, our Venezuelan ministry assistant is well known to many US Churches and will continue to work with Mission Teams who travel to Venezuela. David and Carol Cosby, career missionaries, will also continue to serve in Venezuela overseeing all our work there.

We hope to close very soon on the purchase of the site to house the Seminary. As soon as that is done, we will make an appeal for Mission Teams to come and work with construction projects at the seminary. We are also working on being able to provide more affordable housing for mission teams which will make recruiting easier for the churches in the US.

Please keep the Herrins in your prayers as they move on to Mexico in May. Also, please pray for God's continued blessing on the work in Venezuela.