Nuevos Creyentes

 Arturo y Daniela (above and below) are a big blessing to the congregation and contribute tremendously to the edification of their cell group and the congregation in general

Photos

Doña Ana with Sister Yesenia. The entire congregation has lovingly taken Doña Aña under their wings!

Every third Sunday of the month, the youth lead in worship and have a more proactive participation in the Sunday services.

Pastors Hugo & Yolanda Martines of Zoe Christian Fellowship of Rialto - California (Spanish congregation). Pastors Hugo and Yolanda were an incredible blessing both to Gina and I personally as well as to our entire congregation.

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

Just a few of the young people from our youth ministry. God has been blessing the church with a great and refreshing flow of teens and university age young people.

Members of the congregation together with the YWAM team from London.

Brother Jorge preparing "whole burnt offerings" for a youth retreat that we held in our church with a YWAM team from the England.

Ashley is a university student and is part of our youth ministry and worship team

November 2010 – February 2011

Prince and Gina's Praise Report from Spain

November 2010 – February 2011

 

Dear Prayer Partners,

 

The Desperate Need To Reach Spain for Christ

I was cuddled up in my warm bed as the sub-zero wind howled outside when the phone rang. It was Madeleine, a French speaking convert in our church. She had been witnessing to a French speaking Muslim from Casablanca (Morocco) for several weeks now and told me that he was now in a desperate strait. It turns out that he had nowhere to stay the night and was preparing to take his chance and sleep on a park bench (he would, no doubt, not have survived the night!).

 

So out of my warm bed and into my van to go down to the plaza to seek this young man. I found him; a handsome and very intelligent man who speaks several languages with an ease that is found in many in this part of the world. I brought him home with me and made a great effort to warm him up and set him up in a bedroom with clean sheets and towels, fed him and gave him warm tea to drink.

 

With tears in his eyes, he asked me why I would do such a thing for him. This opened up the doors for me to share Christ freely with him. My new Muslim friend was amazed that Jesus would speak to him and touch him in such a profound way. This was a moment that broke through his intellect, and Jesus touched his heart.

 

After sharing with him for about an hour he retired to his room and slept late the next morning. When he awoke the next morning he was full of questions about Jesus. After a hearty breakfast I brought him to my basement office and gave him an "Ingil" (Arabic New Testament) and showed him several DVDs of testimonies (in Arabic) of Muslims that have experienced Christ in a powerful way and are now faithful and diligent Believers.

 

Nearing the end of our marvelous time together, he said to me in the simple, open way that Arabs and other Middle Eastern people have, that I had totally changed his way of thinking. He said that he was now very confused and would have to reassess his whole life and the entire way he viewed the world – especially in respects to Jesus the Christ! That he was now beginning to believe that He really could be the "Son of God"; an incredible confession for a Muslim to make!

 

Europe is now seriously over-run (quite intentionally, I might add) with Muslims intent on turn this into a Muslim continent. Spain is number one on the list and in a very real danger of ceasing to exist as we have known it and returning to the Islamic Caliphate that it once was 550 years ago. The only thing truly standing in the way of that happening is the aggressive efforts of those of us that are here on the front lines announcing the truly liberating Gospel of Jesus to "whosoever will".

New Believers

We have been blest to see many new converts in the last few months both young and… more experienced – that all are newly born in Christ.

 

As well as the many teenagers, there are a number of young adults have come to Christ in the last six months. Among them is a young man named Vlademir; an engineer and former military officer married to an influential lawyer. One of my elders shared the Gospel with him and invited him to church. He walked in alone on a Wednesday night and after the study I spent time ministering to him. He has since had a marvelous encounter with Christ! Though his 15 year old son has begun to come to our services, we continue to pray for his wife and teenage children.

 

Another wonderful testimony is that of Doña Vicenta. This beautiful sister is a widow who lost both her husband and her 38 year old son within one month – both died in her arms. This brought her to begin to seek God as she never had before. Having been a normal Catholic all of her life she had never really heard the truth of the Gospel before coming to one of our services. That was a year ago. Recently, she told me that she is now 77 years old and is just now learning everything new – and who Jesus really is! What a joy to see her worship God with her hands raised and tears in her eyes during the services.

 

She is also full of wit and good humor. When we took these photos she looked up at me and said, "Pastor, come down here!" I stooped down to hear her say, "With you standing by my side we look like 'Lee'"! "Lee?" I asked. She said, "Yeah, you're the "L" and I'm the "i". I laughed so hard that I was no good for the rest of the afternoon!

 

Please keep these and the many other new converts in your prayers. Though we have had many marvelous victories, there have also been some great oppositions and struggles against the church in the last few months and we have been faced with some serious problems. In spite of these trials, all have gone to strengthen and unify this young congregation even more!

Theological Seminary

I am finishing up another semester of teaching with the seminary in the Canary Islands and have begun to teach an additional class for a semester in the extension of the Assemblies of God seminary here in Extremadura (the region of Spain in which we live).  

 

The AG seminary has asked me, several times to become a docent member of their permanent staff – which, though I am honoured, I have been extremely reluctant to do. I deeply enjoy teaching in the extensions but I don't want to move to Cordoba. I do believe that God has most definitely sent us here to Cáceres and that there are still many years of ministry for us, many souls to reach and so much work to be done so that this church should be firmly planted right here in Cáceres!

 

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

Meet Some of the New Believers

Three of the new men who have been coming to our services: (L to R) (1) Vlademir, a former military officer and engineer who has been marvelously saved - he has now begun his discipleship; (2) Diego, a fellow engineer who has been bringing his wife and children - he is yet in consolidation. (3) Christian, a medical doctor who has also been wonderfully saved and is now beginning his discipleship.

Doña Vicenta, a precious new Believer that has been coming to our services for just over a year now.

We look like "Li" standing together, she told me. "Li"? I replied. "Yeah, you're the "L" and I'm the "i".