Celebrating the Season!

Every year at IBV we try to think of new ways in which we can celebrate Christmas and still place Jesus Christ first and foremost. We recently had a Family Christmas Night during which we explained the meaning of many of our Christmas traditions. We made special ornaments, played some fun games, and enjoyed Dominican Christmas food!  What an exciting time teaching about the miraculous birth of our Lord!
We are also planning a Christmas Candle Light Service when we will be reaching out to many of the lost in our community.  There are few times better than the Christmas season to share the wondrous news of salvation. Please pray for this special service that many would come and hear the good news that Jesus Christ, our King who was born in that humble stable, became sin for us and provided us life eternal! Merry CHRIST-mas!!

Requests

Our baby boy due Jan. 29
Christmas outreaches

Faithful Men

  II Timothy 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
This verse serves as a great reminder to all missionaries and pastors of our goal in the ministry — to train faithful men. Recently I had a man in our church approach me about training him for the ministry. That same week another young man explained to me that God was also calling him into the ministry. What a joy it has been to start the Instituto Bíblico Bautista de San Francisco! I have also begun teaching at another Bible institute 30 minutes away for a fellow BIMI missionary. Our young men have also been able to participate in those classes. It has been amazing to see God using this Bible training to excite not only our students, but the people in the church who see God working in the lives of their fellow church members!

Reaping the fruit…
We have recently begun an evangelistic training program on Wednesday nights.  We have had messages on soul winning, reviewed witnessing scenarios, and watched some useful DVD’s that teach methods of sharing the Gospel.  Henry, a gardener by trade, was recently invited to one of our Wednesday night services and learned about the great harvest field of lost souls. Through this biblical teaching, Henry realized he was one of those lost souls.  We had the joy of reaping the spiritual fruit as he bowed his head and accepted Christ as his Savior!
Please pray for: More souls saved, the discipleship of new believers, our new baby boy due January 29th, and our 4 week Oct-Nov furlough.

Sensational Summer!

Summertime back in the US can be a wonderful time filled with ball games, BBQ’s, and ice cold lemonade!  We also have had a wonderful summer serving our Lord here in the DR.  We are happy to report to you many highlights of the summer: our Sunday School ministry has grown numerically and spiritually; six people were baptized demonstrating their faith in Christ;  our VBS attendance doubled this year, and we saw many young people make a profession of faith;  a church group from WV came and helped us prepare for our anniversary service through tract distribution and children’s ministry; and praise the Lord, we even had our first young man surrender to preach!  So much is happening here, and we wanted to share it with you.  We would like to thank you for partnering with us to bring the light of the Gospel here to the Dominican.  Hope you have had a sensational summer too!

2 years of blessings..
It’s hard to believe that Iglesia Bautista La Verdad is already two years old! On August 7th we celebrated our anniversary with our largest adult crowd.  Pastor Pedro da Cunha, a Baptist pastor from the capital, came and gave a stirring Gospel message. We praise the Lord for many first time visitors, and many who showed interest in the church. Please pray for Milagros, a lady visitor who is very interested in the Gospel, but has yet to make a decision for Christ. We believe God has much more in store for IBV and we look forward to many more wonderful years

Please pray for:  souls saved and discipled, our new baby due January 29th, Bible Institute plans, and a short October furlough.

Needy families!
When we moved to a third world country we expected to find poor health care, inadequate education, and poverty.  However, the one prevalent need that clearly stands out no matter the socio-economic position is the need for strong Christ-honoring families.  Therefore, we plan time yearly to uplift and encourage our families.  In May we held our second annual “Family Conference” and invited the Josh Wesson family, fellow BIMI missionaries from the capital, to minister to us in song and preaching.  The Wesson family did an exceptional job connecting with the people through their powerful testimony and Christ-like spirit.  Each night we saw an increase in attendance as well as many first time visitors.  Many of the church members mentioned how special these conferences have been to them, and it has been exciting to see their spiritual growth.

Terrific Testimony
We met Alex as a result of the baseball clinic we hosted here in our city with Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera.  Alex was like most Dominican boys, dreaming of a chance to play in the major leagues and receive a major league contract.  However, after hearing the Gospel, this young man received something much more valuable, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Now, Alex has become a faithful member, and has begun inviting his family and friends to our church.  Recently Alex told me that he is so grateful to the Lord that we shared the Good News with him because his life has been changed!  We have been so excited to see his faithfulness and personal growth in the Lord. Thank you, friends and family, for your faithfulness to us!

Prayer Requests:
-Family health and safety
-VBS 2011 (July 4-6)
-2nd anniversary service (8/7

Increased Faith!
“And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.”
-Luke 17:5
This March, again, we asked God to increase our faith as we focused as a church on world missions.  Last year our church made their first Faith Promise commitment of $120 per month, a commitment that we were able to keep.  This enabled us to take on our first missionaries, whom we have now supported financially and prayerfully for one year.  After 4 weeks of hearing messages about the heart, methods, and goals of missions, Iglesia Bautista La Verdad increased their faith by 100%. We were overwhelmed by this tremendous demonstration of faith, and we look forward to seeing the impact and fruit of this commitment.  Thank you for YOUR commitment to us, and the opportunity to bear fruit to your account.

Leadership Lessons
Frequently we are asked, “What is the biggest problem you face?”  The answer that always seems to come to mind is lack of male leadership.  Because of this we planned and hosted our first annual “Faithful Men’s Conference.” We invited 9 other Independent Baptist churches from around the country.  Dr. Pat Creed, our BIMI director, was our keynote speaker.  Two other Dominican pastors also gave stirring messages about leadership, God’s calling, and faithfulness. We were so encouraged to see over 90 in attendance. Please pray for the future leaders of the Dominican that they would allow God to guide them!

Prayer Requests:
-Continued growth of church
(spiritual and numerical)
-Family Conference
(May 11-13)

New Friends!

Proverbs 18:24 -A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly…
Since the inception of our church we have consistently strived to have a friendly church where all types of people feel welcome. For this year’s “Friend Day” we encouraged the people to invite adult friends, neighbors, and relatives who were unbelievers.  The church responded tremendously with over 20 first time visitors, with a majority of those being adults.  After the service we had a time of fellowship which we used to get better acquainted with many of the visitors.  The most exciting part for us was the enthusiasm of the church members as they saw the wonderful fruit of their labor.  Please pray for those visitors that they would return to the preaching of God’s Word and be saved from their sins!

Extraordinary Women

Have you ever considered what it means to be extraordinary?  Holly has been studying the extraordinary women of the Bible with the ladies of IBV during their monthly ladies’ meetings.  The ladies meet in our home for a time of prayer, fellowship, Bible study, refreshments, and sometimes a craft or recipe.  (If they don’t talk too long!) J These informal gatherings encourage the women to share burdens and joys, as they strive to be extraordinary women in the eyes of the Lord.

¡¡¡ Gracias !!!
Thanks for all the cards we received for our birthdays and Christmas.  We are so blessed to have you as our support and prayer team!

Prayer Requests:
-Missions Conf. – March 4-6
-Holly’s ladies’ Bible study
-Growth of discipleship class

Bring them in!

Luke 14:23- “And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”
For many months now we have been seeking to purchase a van for the church.  Many of those who attend are very poor and paying for a taxi to travel across town is very expensive.   Also, we needed a van for hosting groups from the US during the summers.  A number of months back we received about 2/3 of the needed funds from an extremely generous man from the States.   After 6 months of investigating and saving, the church was able to purchase a 15 passenger 2006 Ford van.  In just one short month it has been amazing to see how God has already blessed the bus route.  We have seen not only a boost in attendance but an increased enthusiasm with the other church members as we seek to reach more for Christ.

Notes from Navidad

The Christmas holidays are always a special time of year for us here in the DR.  This year we had a beautiful banquet, in which over 75 people attended.  Many of these were first time visitors who came and heard Erik give a message entitled “The Greatest Gift for Christmas, Jesus.”  Also, we had a children’s nativity drama which was directed by Holly.  The kids dressed up as Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angels, 2 sheep and a donkey!  They delivered a wonderful performance!  This drama allowed us the opportunity to share the Gospel with unsaved parents who do not regularly attend our church.  Please pray for fruit from these outreaches.

Prayer Requests:
-Growth of the bus route
-Family health and safety
-Discipleship classes

Happy New Year!!!

One of the mens prayer groups meeting on Wednesday night

 

Growing in Truth

I Peter 2:2 – As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

In the first year of our ministry we saw great numerical growth in Truth Baptist Church of San Francisco de Macorís;  however, our goal has always been the spiritual growth of the people. One way that we have sought to develop this growth is through our Wednesday night discipleship classes.  Most of the people who attend our church have either been saved for less than a year or have been saved and have never grown in the Lord. This class is providing them the opportunity to learn many key doctrines such as the deity of Christ, the inerrancy of Scripture, the security of the believer, etc… Through this study we have seen a core group emerge that is truly seeking and hungering after the truth!  Please pray for our church as we continue to grow in the truth!

Heart Exam

When was your last heart exam?  Have you ever even had one??  Even more so than our physical, our spiritual heart requires routine check-ups.   One reason for our recent first annual revival service was to examine the spiritual condition of our heart.  Bro. Steve Sidler, a veteran missionary, preached three stirring messages; and many great decisions were made.  We ask you to pray for the “heart” of Iglesia Bautista La Verdad.

Follow us on the web:
Don’t forget you can follow us on the web via our website www.johnsons2dr.org or via our twitter feeds at etjohnson1

Prayer Requests:
-Souls saved / lives changed
-Upcoming family month
-Discipleship class
-Holly’s ladies’ Bible study

Fun in the Sun

Crystal blue water and white sandy beaches — the tourists’ idea of fun in the sun.  However, the three groups we hosted this summer experienced a different kind of fun!  During the scorching summer heat we passed out over 15,000 tracts and Romans with the help of groups from KY, IN and PA.  What a blessing these folks were to our church and especially to us!!  Also this summer we conducted our first VBS. The most thrilling part of our summer was that a number of young people prayed to accept the Lord as their Savior (José Miguel and Camila are shown here).  After teaching these children for almost a year, Holly was excited to see Isaiah 55:11 coming to fruition in these young lives.  The Word of God will not return void!  Certainly, it was a summer of FUN!

First Anniversary

On August 8, we celebrated our first anniversary of the Iglesia Bautista La Verdad!  With the help of many people from the church, we prepared for this special day. We were overwhelmed when over 90 people showed up to our little church which can barely hold 70!  We enjoyed a very special service which included a slide show of the first year of the church, special music, and a terrific Gospel message from Missionary Tom Franklin. It has been amazing to look back and see what God has done in our city in just 12 short months of ministry.  Yet, none of this would be possible without your faithful prayers and financial support! Thank you!

Requests

-Souls saved / lives changed
-Health and safety of family
-New discipleship class
-Leaders to be developed

Friend Day 2010

Family Friends

The last few months of ministry here have been absolutely amazing!  Thanks to all who prayed for our “Friend Day” and “Family Conference.”  Both were tremendously fruitful.
Our first annual, “Friend Day” was exciting as we filled up our church for the first time! We had 63 in attendance, with 39 visitors, and 4 professions of faith.  It is thrilling to see God work in the hearts of the people in the church as well as in the surrounding community.  Many of the visitors have returned and are faithful to our services. We were able to lead one couple to the Lord that we had been inviting to our church for almost one year!  They have been coming faithfully to church and desire to be discipled.  Our hearts rejoice that on “Friend Day” they were able to meet their best Friend, Jesus Christ!

A few weeks later we were blessed to have the Chris Phillips family, Hispanic church planters to Charleston, SC, and former DR missionaries, as our “Family Conference” guests.  We saw many families touched by the preaching and teaching of God’s Word, as well as many positive decisions made.  The entire Phillips family played and sang many uplifting, Christ-honoring songs which greatly encouraged the church. Our church would like to thank the Phillips family for having a great impact in the lives of many here at Iglesia Bautista La Verdad, and we would like to thank you for faithfully praying and giving to our ministry!

Prayer Requests

-Souls saved / lives changed
-Health and safety of family
-Upcoming summer events
- 1st VBS – July 12-14
- Hosting 3 missions teams
- 1st Anniversary Service