Desert Streams Ministries

Note: A printable PDF version of this newsletter is available here.

Dear Friends and Family,

Thanksgiving month has arrived and there are so many things to be thankful for! We are thankful for each and every one of you who stands behind us, lifts us up in prayer and supports us. Thank you so much!

I would like to give you a brief update on us and our ministry activities over the past few months.

Bible School

We started our Bible School semester in August with around 150 students from all across Mexico. In September, the students did their first partial exams. Most of them are doing very well in their studies. Our course facilitators are doing a great job of keeping in touch with them, answering their questions, grading their assignments and keeping them on track to finish the semester well.

We have many pastors and local church leaders involved taking classes. This makes the whole experience so worthwhile, because many of them take the material they are receiving and then teach it to their own leaders and local churches. We encourage them to freely give of everything they receive. It is so wonderful to see many of our students flourish in life and ministry, and then use the tools they receive to train others.

We have also heard good reports from members of our local congregation who are taking courses in the Bible School. Just last Saturday, I heard a comment from a young woman who has been so encouraged by the classes. Then, on Sunday, another person commented on how much the course is helping her to understand the Bible.

We believe that God has ordained this Bible School to make a difference here in Mexico and in other countries of Latin America. Please continue to pray with us for the Lord’s provision to grow the school. Please especially pray for the finances to invest in new courses and the connections with others of a like-minded vision. Together we can train thousands of pastors and leaders and change the destiny of families, communities, and nations!

Local Church

We have been pleased to see our local church growing again in terms of Sunday attendance. As you may know, we meet outside in a tent on our church’s property. This has been a wonderful experience for the most part, but we have had some Sundays with rain, wind, and temperatures in the 40’s. It can be a bit chilly out there! However, even on those Sundays, there is always a good group of people who come. When the weather is sunny and warm, attendance tends to be better, of course, but on average, we are seeing numeric growth again. We recently purchased material to cover a couple of the sides of the tent, which should help reduce the effects of the wind and rain coming in.

Sara has been leading the women in monthly meetings over the last year, and this has been a blessing to many of them. During these last months, they have been focusing on some of the basics – Bible reading and memorization, prayer, fellowship, and growing in their personal relationship with the Lord.

My Trip to Michigan and Canada

During the first couple of weeks of October, I went to Michigan to see my parents. It had been two years since I had last been up there, and I also wanted to visit the local church I grew up in, Fellowship Christian Reformed Church, in Grandville. I had the privilege of attending the 50th anniversary celebration of the church, and then, the following Sunday, I was invited to preach to the congregation. I shared a message on Jehdeiah, an obscure Biblical character known as “The Keeper of the Donkeys”. I hope many will remember the message, focused on the importance of being a servant for the King, and the value of humble service.

I also had the opportunity to visit my pastor and spiritual mentor, Bill Brown, with his wife, Barbara, near Toronto, Ontario. I hadn’t personally seen Bill since before the pandemic, although we often meet on FaceTime and Zoom. It was so nice to be able to spend several hours with Bill and Barbara! I took my parents to meet them, and we had a great dinner together on a Wednesday night. The following morning, I went to the apartment complex where Bill and Barbara live to meet with Bill again, and some of their neighbors at a coffee time they have each morning. Thanks so much, Bill and Barbara, for your fine hospitality!

Looking Forward

During the next couple of months, my focus will be on the Advanced School of Ministry conference. I will soon be dedicating much time to the creation of the conference workbook, implementing online registration for the event, and preparing all the other details for the conference, which will be held at the end of January. This conference usually attracts 700-1000 pastors and leaders from all over Mexico and God has used it to inspire, train and edify thousands of them in their ministries.

Prayer requests

• Please pray for the Advanced School of Ministry conference.
• We will be finishing our fall Bible School semester in December. Please pray that our students will finish strong!
• About a week ago I (David) slipped in the mud on the ground outside the house, fell, and dislocated my shoulder. I am doing well, but please pray for a full recovery.
• Please pray for the Lord’s provision and protection, both for us, and for the ministries we are involved in.

Thanks!

With love,

David and Sara Lont with Anna

Note: There is a PDF version of this update located HERE.

Dear Friends and Family,

It’s September, and fall is rapidly approaching. It has been raining very regularly for the past couple of months, and things are so beautiful and green here in our area. We have had more rain than usual, and this is a good thing for us! The mountains that were brown, dry and sometimes burning during the hot arid spring are now a lush green, full of life. On our mountain, the wild plants, vines and grass are taller and thicker than we’ve seen them in many years.

This reminds me of how the rain of the visitation of the Holy Spirit can take a dry and weary people, and renew them with God’s supernatural life! We pray for revival in our city and nation. May the Lord visit us with both the former and the latter rains, restoring souls and igniting a renewed passion for His Word, His church and His presence. As the psalmist said, “He restores my soul and makes me lie down in green pastures…”.

Bible School

One of our main focuses over the past several months has been our online Bible School. We finished our spring semester the middle of June and then worked hard on getting a few new courses developed and recorded. I also did some work on our LMS (learning management system) to integrate some new AI features and update software.

We have been developing three courses – Evangelism, Prayer and Bible Study, and The Local Church and Its Place Within God’s Plan. The first two have been completed, recorded, and students are now participating in them. The third has been mostly developed, but is not quite complete. We plan on offering the Local Church course in 2025.

We started our fall semester in August with just over 150 students enrolled. We also added a couple of new course facilitators – Gabriel and Paloma, from Morelia, Michoacán. I met Gabriel and his wife, Paloma, by phone just over a year ago. They wanted to have information about the online school. Since starting, they both have been studying full time and are on track to getting their bachelor’s degree in theology in 2026. They have both been excellent students, and now we get to have their help facilitating a couple of groups, even as they continue to study.

Sara and I have actually known Paloma Plata and her family since the early 1990’s, when she was a little girl. I had met her parents, both of whom were medical doctors and pastors, at the Advanced School of Ministry, the first year we attended. It just so happened that I got very sick during that first conference, and Paloma’s mom (the doctor), gave me an injection in the church parking lot. I will never forget the pain of the injection, but also the questions she suddenly began to ask me. “Had I ever done drugs?” “Was Sara the only person I had ever been married to?” Then, several others. Well, poor Doctor Plata somehow accidentally stuck herself with the needle right after injecting me!! She was quite worried that I may have had some dreadful disease that I could pass along to her. Thankfully, I wasn’t carrying any strange diseases in my blood, so she was going to be just fine.

Anyway, as you can see, our relationship with her family goes way back, and we even shared a bit of the family blood!

In July, we hosted another one of our course facilitators who is also a gifted Bible teacher. Mireya and her husband, Homero, traveled by bus from Veracruz to spend a week with us so that she could teach and record the Evangelism course. Anna and I had set everything up for a beautiful studio atmosphere for the recording, and when Homero and Mireya arrived, we were able to record 24 lessons in just three days. Mireya is very capable and taught each of the sessions with a natural flow.

We all enjoyed spending the week together with Mireya and Homero. They were very pleasant company.

It has been beautiful to see how some of our students are not only preparing to serve in their own local churches, but a few even become leaders within our school for a season. We are very thankful for this!

Travel and More Recording

At the beginning of August, Sara went to visit our son, David Jeremiah, in Texas. David was moving from one apartment to another one a few blocks away and invited Sara to come and help him get the new apartment cleaned and ready. Of course, Sara jumped at the opportunity to see him!

While Sara was gone, Anna and I took advantage of the time to record another course titled “Prayer and Bible Study“. I had previously asked Anna to prepare to teach this course. She studied the material and additional books related to the theme in July, so when the time came, she was more than ready.

For those of you who don’t know her, teaching comes second-nature to Anna. She has been teaching since she was about 7 or 8 years old. When she was 14, she took over a session of our church’s ladies meeting one day when Sara was suddenly scheduled for surgery. When she was 15, she taught in churches in Africa. She regularly teaches classes in our local congregation and often participates on Sundays.

Anna did a wonderful job not only teaching the course, but also developing activities which help the students put the concepts into practice in very practical ways.

Her new course is also online now and is the most popular course this semester, with over 45 students participating in it. We are very thankful to have Anna as part of our ministry team, both for church and for the school.

Radio Program

I recently had an interesting opportunity to participate in a radio talk program on a Mexico City FM station. Pastor Raymundo Gómez and his wife, Karla, have an hour-long program Monday-Friday. They often discuss Christian values, family matters, and more during their time slot. On this particular show, they wanted to interview me about the topic “Christians and Artificial Intelligence”. AI has been one of many things I have been fascinated with over the last couple of years. Anna and I had done a podcast episode on the topic last year. Pastor Ray heard our podcast and thought we should talk about this with the general public in Mexico City on his radio show.

It was a challenge, but at the same time, quite a privilege to speak to a live audience of probably several hundreds of thousands of people on the air. I’m thankful for the experience and pray the things that I said may have resonated with those who heard it. I also pray that Christians, in particular, may learn to use this technology for good and not fall into all the traps that it potentially will create.

Our Church Family

Sara and I continue to pastor the church we started some years ago in Tulancingo. We are in a new season and we believe the Lord has good things in store for our church family. Over the past several weeks, I’ve been teaching on the authority, value and importance of the Word of God. It’s our measuring stick to determine what truth is. It’s our final authority to judge all spiritual matters. It is the verbal embodiment of Jesus Christ Himself, for “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.“

These last several months have been a time of peace and rest for our congregation, and we have enjoyed the unity of Spirit. We’ve had wonderful times of worship, refreshing teaching in the Word and unity as we’ve enjoyed fellowship meals together. However, we also know that there is much work to do going forward. We have been called to be light, salt, and living water for our city. There are many lost who need to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and we are called to reach them.

Thanks!

We’d like to thank all who have been supporting us with your prayers and giving. We need you now more than ever before! May the Lord richly bless and use each of you for the extension of His Kingdom.

Help Wanted

If you know of someone who would be interested in supporting us as missionaries, please share this newsletter with them. We are currently in need of new supporters to be able to reach our monthly economic goals.

The work is great – a church in Tulancingo, a Bible School training pastors and leaders across the entire nation, and the Advanced School of Ministry, which trains over 800 pastors annually. We have much to do! In order to have the resources to continue, we depend on you. Thank you so much!

With love,

David and Sara Lont
with Anna