March 2011 – June 2011 Praise Report

Prince and Gina's Praise Report from Spain

March 2011 – June 2011

 

Dear Prayer Partners,

 

First Things First

The first thing that I must do before I share what God has been doing here is to apologize for getting this Praise Report out a bit late. The truth is that I actually lost track of time and was under the impression that with this Praise report I would be on schedule – I was clearly quite mistaken.

New Believers

We are grateful to God that we can say that since our last Praise Report that several new Believers have been added to the congregation.

 

A few months back a young couple (Arturo & Daniela) came to the church after our Thursday night prayer meeting wanting to know about the church. A few nights before the Lord had manifested Himself to Arturo through a dream. God had spoken to him so clearly through this dream – whatever it was – that it has totally changed their lives (he has yet to tell me specifically about the dream but it has had great reconciliatory value).

 

They are faithfully feeding their new found faith with the Word of God, are an active part of a cell group and are amongst the first to arrive at all of our regular church services. Daniela has even begun to bring her sister (Lorena) and her nephew with her to the services.

 

Also saved in the last few months is an ex-addict named José (he is 53 years old). José has been sentenced to two years of prison and he is now serving his time there for his past crimes. We have made arrangements for him to be able to attend the services that a ministry specifically dedicated to reaching drug addicts for Christ hold in the penitentiary. He has been joyously faithful to the services and we are making the necessary preparations for us to be able to hold our own worship services there.

 

Before José went to serve his time, he brought his 80 year old mother to the church. Doña Ana has been beautifully touched by God and has been progressing right on target with her newly found faith in the Risen Christ (as opposed to her former faith in religious relics and saints).

 

Many of her relatives immediately have tried to convince her not to have anything to do with us – saying that we are some kind of "cult" (a very common accusation against evangelicals in predominantly or traditionally "Catholic" countries); but Doña Ana has proven to be quite feisty in the defense of her new found faith.  

 

She has been telling her family and testifying in the Bible studies that her new found faith and relationship with Christ and our congregation is the most beautiful thing that she has ever experienced in her life and that nothing or no one can separate her from it.

Theological Seminaries

I recently finished teaching another semester in the Assemblies of God extension theological seminary here in Extremadura (one of three with which I collaborate) – I taught a course on "Methods of Bibliographical Investigation", in our efforts to raise the general academic level of our students and potential future ministers and pastors here in Spain (fun for me – hard on the students).

 

The Assemblies of God of Spain have once again approached me with the petition that I become a full member of the staff of professors. They are in a desperate need for more teachers with doctoral degrees on staff in order to get government accreditation. Even though I don't desire to be on permanent staff I have consented for them to put my name on their register of professors to present before the government because I do want the seminary to prosper and in this way, the work of the Gospel and the future extension of the Kingdom here in Spain will flourish.

 

Another note along this vein; In April, I was invited by the director of the Catholic seminary to share in a summit of all of the seminarians and Catholic seminary rectors in our region. They wanted me to share on the role and importance of the Bible as the absolute authority in the life of the true Believer as opposed to the Catholic stance on the authority of the traditions of the church; more fun!  

 

Some of the priests and seminarians got a tad bit ruffled by the frank Biblical truth that I shared, but I simply told them, "Don't get miffed by what I share. You invited me so that you could hear what Evangelicals believe about the Bible – so this is what I am doing". Surprisingly enough, I have been invited to return.

Visits from Abroad

Also in April we had a group of 13 students (middle school age) from the Christian school at the Washington Christian Center in, Washington DC., for and educational and inspirational tour of Spain, Portugal and Morocco. It proved to be quite an educational and spiritually rousing event for these fine young people.

 

In March, we were blest to receive one of the most powerful ministerial visits we've had to date; Pastors Hugo & Yolanda Martinez, pastors of the Comunidad Cristiana Zoe de Rialto. What a tremendous blessing they were! Their three weeks of ministry here have left a definite positive mark in the progress of our congregation.

 

The highlight of their visit was the commanding youth encounter we had over the Resurrection Weekend. We saw the Hand of God in deliverance in a way that we had not yet seen here. Many young people were transformed, blest and deeply touched. Pastors Martinez – THANK YOU!

Thank You & Please Keep Us in Your Prayers

We want to thank every one of you that so faithfully pray for us and support us financially every month. But what Gina and I are praying for is for ten new churches to pick us up and support us for $100 a month. We need at least this much increase in our support in order to consistently make ends meet every month and to reach specific ministry goals. You are a matchless BLESSING to our lives and the lives of countless others that you help us to reach for Christ! We love and deeply appreciate you all!

      

H.M.S., 

 

Your Missionaries in Spain

Dr. & Mrs. Prince M. Parker