Desert Streams Ministries

Note: A printable PDF version of this update is available here: september-2023.pdf

Hello, Friends, Family, and Supporters.

Summer is almost over, and autumn is coming! This summer has been a good time for us as a family. We’ve made progress with our church, our Bible School, podcasts, and the Advanced School of Ministry.

Youth Ministry

Anna, who is in charge of our youth group, took a group of our young people to a youth conference in Puebla in July. Although we had done several camps and other events with the young people, this is the first youth conference they have attended since the pandemic. Although it was a challenge for her to organize this outing, it was good for our kids.

Our group has also had many other great meetings over the last several months. The event of the biggest impact has been our camp (which we did in May), and so many of the kids have been blessed by it.

Podcasts

We have continued to produce podcasts on an almost weekly basis. Anna and I have been doing these together most of the time, with Sara participating from time to time. We have also had several guests, including some of the young people of our church, other pastors, and our special guest Bill Brown. It was a delight to have him share about some of his many life experiences and testimonies of God’s provision and care on his many missionary journeys.

Most recently, Sara and I shared together on a couple of episodes where we talk about training up our children. We called it “Keepers of the Inheritance, Parents of Influence.” There are so many young families who desire to see their children grow up with the influence of Godly parents, but with all the social pressures from governments and public education, some of them just don’t know what to do with their kids. Now that our own children are all adults, we can see the many things we did right, and also a few that we did wrong. As we teach Biblical parenting principles, we draw from the Word of God and illustrate the concepts from our own experiences. Our hope and prayer are that these moms and dads will follow Biblical principles for educating and disciplining their children to follow the Lord and His righteous ways.

Women’s Meetings

Our monthly women’s meetings are going very well. Sara has done an excellent job creating a team of women to plan and execute some of the best women’s meetings I have ever seen. The decorations and details they have invested in for their meetings have been incredible! The worship and ministry times have been very good, definitely not boring. Titled “Conversations”, Sara and her group of ladies have been focusing on Biblical teaching for women in a conversational style, often with two, three, or more women sharing together about the theme. They have also done crafts and always have something delicious to eat after the meetings. These meetings have been very attractive to guests who may hear about Jesus for the first time.

Our Sunday Church Meetings

I know that I’ve been focusing on many of our church activities in this newsletter, but we’re excited about what God is doing in the midst of us. The pandemic hit most churches very hard, dispersing people, causing a change in priorities and Sunday morning habits, and causing people to reevaluate their faith and Christian practice. Economically, we needed to make a move during the pandemic, since we were paying thousands of dollars in rent to be in the center of our city and could no longer afford that. During 2021-2022, we began work on a piece of land we already owned to make it into a garden and a meeting place for our church. We’ve been meeting there weekly since December 2022, and little by little, God has prospered His people.

We have seen some good fruit over the last several months, including over a dozen baptisms, young people giving their lives to Jesus, great teaching and intimate worship times, as well as more and more people becoming more constant in attending Sunday meetings. The Spirit of God is in our midst. We are “Desert Streams Church” of Tulancingo, and we have the mission to take streams of living water to our city, to manifest the Kingdom of God in every aspect of society, and to produce disciples of Jesus Christ.

We are innovating a bit in terms of how our services are done. We are outside, under a tent, without a platform. Our worship team leads from the center of the tent, with the people gathered around on all four sides, and I usually preach from the center as well. The words for the songs are not projected on a screen but rather sent to each person’s cell phone, so they can see them if needed. Once each month we have a meal together after the service “potluck” style. The children often take a soccer ball to church so they can play there in our garden after the service. Our focus is on worship, the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, personal ministry, and fellowship. God is blessing us.

Bible School

While Sara and Anna were at the youth conference in Puebla at the end of July, I was able to get an entire course ready for production online. Called “Discover Your Destiny”, this course is especially helpful for young people who are looking to fulfill the purpose God has for their lives. I had Anna teach it, and we were able to complete the recording of the 12 sessions in three days. Anna is such an incredible teacher! She connects so well with the students, both in person and online.

We started our fall semester on August 16. We have around 130 students, several of whom are from our own local church. However, most of the students are pastors and leaders from churches across Mexico. Many of them are working toward their bachelor’s degree in theology. This semester, we are offering nine different courses, including Old and New Testament studies, Victorious Christianity, The Person and Ministry of the Holy Spirit, The Acts of the Apostles, and Social Roles and Relationships.

I am also currently working on transforming the Advanced School of Ministry’s degree program so that it will be available totally online in conjunction with the Bible School program.

Our Family

One exciting piece of news (at least for us) is that our entire family is planning on being together for Christmas this year. David has plans to come here from Texas A&M, where he is doing his doctorate degree, and Daniel and Elisa have tickets to come from Washington. So for the first time since Daniel and Elisa are married, we’ll have all of the family together!

Thanks

Sara and I would like to express our most sincere thanks to each of you who pray for us, write to us, and support us economically. We really appreciate your help. We definitely couldn’t do what we do without your help! It is such a blessing to be able to count on each of you. Thank you so very much. May the Lord bless you abundantly!

With love,

David and Sara Lont with Anna

Note: This update is available as a printable PDF here.

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters,

We pray that you have been having a great summer. Ours has been going well, including hosting a youth camp, building some kitchen cabinets, conducting women’s meetings, finishing our spring Bible school semester, and hosting our Advanced School of Ministry team meeting. Let’s talk about it!

Youth Camp

In the month of May, we hosted a youth camp here on our property. You may know that Anna is serving as our youth leader, and she helped to organize this camp. We had a group of young people here for two nights and three days. The boys stayed in tents, while the girls slept upstairs in the loft of our lodge.

Besides all the fun activities and campfires that are typical at camps, we also had some wonderful ministry and worship times. Titled “The Awakening,” we explored themes such as identity, emotional health, living your dream, the gender crisis, and more. Our group of kids had a great time, and many were impressed by how they experienced God’s movement in their lives during our time together.

We pray that “The Awakening” will continue to have an impact on every aspect of these young people’s lives.

Women’s meetings

In June, Sara began a series of meetings for the women of our church and community called “Conversations.” Instead of just preaching to them, the idea has been to present themes as a panel of four people and simply have a conversation around the topic. On June 3, we hosted a ladies’ breakfast with catering service. With the theme “Abiding in Christ,” Sara, Anna, Adriana, and Zabdi discussed different aspects of how to remain connected to the Lord throughout our day and week.

At the end of the meeting, Anna and some of the other young girls ministered to the women individually in prayer. It was amazing to see how the Lord touched several of them, bringing them into a new place of relationship and freedom.

Bible School

Our spring semester concluded on June 19, with a special meeting in which Bill Brown ministered the Word to our students. We had about 120 students successfully complete their courses as many of them work toward a bachelor’s degree in theology.

Also, in May, we completed the recording of the second part of our Genesis course with Enrique Borja, our Bible teacher from Puebla. We recorded 24 classes in two days. That was an incredible marathon! After recording, I began developing the quizzes, exams, and forum discussions for the course. We’ll be offering the course in our fall semester, which will begin in August.

Advanced School of Ministry

We were privileged to host the Advanced School of Ministry team meeting here at our house. We had the entire team stay with us for three days of meetings and strategic planning.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this letter, Sara thought it would be best to have the kitchen in our lodge in order before the meeting, so I spent a couple of weeks in June building and installing the cabinets.

Most of our leadership group arrived on Wednesday morning and stayed through Friday evening. We hosted some of the team members, while others stayed in our neighbors’ cabins. We did the meetings and meals in our lodge, which was the perfect type of room for a planning meeting. A couple from our church did all the cooking and catering. What delicious and beautifully decorated plates of food they served!

We spent our time casting vision for the future of this ministry, working on team-building activities, and planning for the upcoming conferences. We had a good meeting!

Thanks for your support!

While there is much more to share, these are the highlights of the last couple of months. We really appreciate your prayers and financial support. You are our partners in ministry, and we’re thankful for you!

With love,

David and Sara Lont
with Anna