Exciting News:
I just learned of a church pastored
by a Student in the Seminary which had a mass baptism of many new followers of
Jesus Christ. This would not be news in
some places, but it is of great significance in Venezuela. It is the most secular
country in Latin America. It is a country where 40% of the communities have NO
church and many more have no effective congregation. It is a country where 60% of the people live
in what we could call “Shanty Towns.”
It is in
this world the ministry of the Seminario Wesleyano de Venezuela is making an
eternal difference by training pastors to be effective in ministry to this
nation. That is resulting people coming to Christ, new churches being planted,
the sick visited, prison ministries, media ministries, medical ministries, food
ministries and so much more.
Next week
Drs. Jim Powell and Jim Seaton, UMC pastors in California, will be teaching “Pastoral
Counseling and Congregational Care” at the Seminario Wesleyano de Venezuela. The students will be blessed to learn from
these effective pastors. They will be
teaching during the day classes on the Campus in Cabudare, La Piedad.
At night,
alumnus Pastor Victor Ramirez will be teaching a course on “The Life of
Christ.” We are excited for “Thoby” will
be teaching. He is an effective pastoral leader in the Methodist Church in the
eastern part of Venezuela, Puerto Ordaz.
He is also the founding pastor of the Methodist Campmeeting which meets
each year during Holy Week and has been responsible many new followers of
Jesus. Thoby is one of the capable pastor/teachers we are raising up to teach
in the Bachelor’s program in the Seminary. Thoby will be teaching in the night
classes for the next two weeks.
On June 2,
Dr. David Cosby, Dean of Students, will be teaching the first part of the “Disciple”
course at our extension program in Nirgua. Then June 4-8 David will be teaching
“Holiness in the New Testament” at our main campus.
All of these
are great courses and will be of tremendous help to the pastors and students in
the Seminary and will result in many more people coming to Christ, the hearts
of the students changed and the sick healed.
Thank you
for your giving. As we pray and prepare
for our August Graduation events we are much encouraged. Not only will 12-14 students receive their
Bachelor of Sacred Theology Degree, but we will celebrate the 10th
Anniversary of the Seminary and break ground on the new Medical Clinic we are
going to build on the Campus.
Now we need
$12,000 for the August classes, the Graduation Events, including diplomas,
medals, dinner, and other events; the celebration of the 10th
anniversary and a significant capital project for the event, and the
festivities of the Groundbreaking.
Would you
like to give a special one-time gift for one of these causes? Simply make your check to Venezuela Now, Inc.
and mail to PO Box 1655, Duluth, GA
30096 or you can give through PayPal* (see instructions below).
May God
richly bless you for blessing the world through your prayers and giving to the
work of Christ in Venezuela.
In Christ,
Warren
Lathem
*To give via PayPal:
2.
Enter your user-id and password (or
set up a PayPal account, specifying what credit card you wish to use)
3.
Click the “send money” tab
5.
Enter amount of your donation in the
“amount” box
6.
Click the “personal” tab under amount
7.
Click “gift”.
I just wanted to share we have received our first large gift for the Medical Clinic in Venezuela! Please pray for our trip to the Kentucky Annual Conference in June where I will preach and receive an offering for the clinic. We are praying for an offering large enough to construct the first phase of the clinic and get it operational on the Campus of the Seminaro Wesleyano de Venezla.
