Note: A downloadable PDF version of this update is available here.

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters,

We hope all of you have had a wonderful summer. We have had a very good summer and took advantage of this year’s rainy season to plant another 550 trees. July and August are the months where things tend to grow the most, at least in our area. The trees, grass, and even weeds just thrive with long summer days and abundant moisture. This reminds me of how we all must take advantage of the “times of refreshing” in the presence of the Lord, as Acts 3:19 calls them, to put down spiritual roots and grow in our faith.

Now, as the fall season rapidly approaches, the lush green fields begin turning a golden yellow as the wheat and barley harvest nears. The latter autumn rains prepare the fields for harvest, and we see this both naturally and spiritually. Jesus told us to lift up our eyes and look toward the spiritual fields which are ready to be reaped. For us, this is the heart of our daily work with the Bible School, the church, and the Advanced School of Ministry.

Bible School

We spent much of June and July working on the Bible School while we were between semesters. We were able to correct, edit, and update several courses. I also added many features to our online software, including a complete theological library consisting mostly of public-domain theological works. The library includes Greek and Hebrew dictionaries and lexicons, commentaries by Matthew Henry, John Calvin, and several others, along with many other resources, including the complete notes of over 35 years of the Advanced School of Ministry teaching.

For years, I have seen a problem. There are literally thousands of free public domain resources available for English-speaking Bible students. Anyone can freely download and study all the classical Bible commentaries, encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc. Copyright law is generally limited to 100 years, and all of these resources are much older than that. However, the moment a publisher decides to translate those works into another language (Spanish in our case), the translation now becomes copyrighted and is no longer freely available.

I decided to do something about that, at least for our students. I decided to use the freely available English public domain resources, build a small system which allows them to be fully searched by large language AI models, and then return the text the student is researching in Spanish. It took several days of work, but I was able to set this up in such a way as to keep the answers completely faithful to the original sources, with links back to the actual English passage in any of these books. In this way, a student who knows a bit of English and wants to dig into the original English sources can do so. However, those who know only Spanish now have direct access to books that had previously been beyond their reach.

The fall semester has now begun. We are offering a total of 15 courses and have welcomed a group of both our full-time and part-time program students, as well as many who are taking individual courses or returning to finish a diploma program. Organizing everything has been a rewarding challenge and it is all coming together well.

Church

Our local church is doing well, and several of our members are also studying online through the Bible School. We are happy to report that both Karla and her father, Javier, are doing well after the kidney transplant and complications that followed in June and July. Karla had to deal with several infections and was hospitalized in Mexico City a couple of times during June and July, but she is gaining strength and has returned to college. Thanks for praying for them.

Family

Sara, Anna, and I traveled to College Station, Texas, from August 7-10 to be with our son, David, for his doctoral graduation and hooding ceremony at Texas A&M. It was a tremendous blessing to see him reach this important milestone and to tour his university campus. After many years of study, he is now officially Doctor David Jeremiah Lont.

Our second son Daniel and his wife Elisa are expecting their second baby in mid-September. Little Ella will soon have a baby brother. We continue to pray for them as the date approaches, that all will go well. It is exciting to be grandparents!

Anna continues to work with us in our church leading worship, teaching, doing Bible studies with the youth, and faithfully serving in any area where we need help. She works daily in our Bible School, writing and recording courses, creating quizzes, slide presentations, and handling administrative tasks. She is also a course facilitator. Finally, she continues to serve with Bethel Church online, leading a small group on Zoom each week. In the afternoons she practices her writing and takes classes in the Young Writers Workshop.

At the end of this newsletter, I am attaching a recent article Anna wrote, for those who are interested.

Prayer Requests

This time, I would also like to ask you to pray for me. A few weeks ago, I suddenly lost some hearing in my left ear. I saw a doctor immediately and am receiving treatment. It seems to be related to what doctors said was probably Meniere’s disease that began in my right ear about eleven years ago. We are praying that the treatment will be effective and that I will be able to recover at least some of the hearing in my left ear. In the meantime, I am trying to adapt.

Please pray for Bill Brown, who has been our spiritual father and mentor for most of our adult lives. He is 92 and recently had a stroke. It seems he is almost ready to go home with Jesus. Please pray for his family and especially his wife during this time.

Please also pray for our Bible School students, as they begin the year. We have a group of right around 150 again, and we pray that those who begin the semester will be strengthened, grow, and leave better prepared for the ministry they do in their local churches.

Thanks so much! We deeply appreciate your love and support. We especially thank those who give, and the many more who pray regularly for us.

With love,

David and Sara Lont
With Anna

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I Grew Up In Ministry and Here’s How I Turned Out

On hard lessons and big blessings that came from growing up as a pastor’s kid

Anna Lont

I’ve recently seen many young people entering Bible school with a burning desire to serve God and love the Church. And I’ve asked myself: what madness has possessed them? To which I can only answer: the same madness that has possessed me. It took a hold of me early in life, since I practically lived in church where my dad pastored. It grew when I discovered a love for teaching the Bible. It practically took over when God confirmed my calling at the age of fourteen during a leaders’ conference.

And so I did what I see many do: I went to Bible school! But I did it online while living in my hometown, serving my local church, and getting a front row seat to ministry life and the beauty and dysfunction behind the scenes. I still show up every Sunday, serve, and even spend hours pouring into online Bible school students during the week. I can confidently say that I have 23 years of ministry experience. (Yes, I’m counting my childhood taking naps in my dad’s office as ministry experience.)

In those 23 years, I’ve seen things; the good, the bad, the hope, and beauty. I wanted to share some of the things I’ve learned as a ministry kid and as a church volunteer. Because while there are many hard lessons, there is also proof of God’s faithfulness through it all. If you’re dreaming of going into ministry, or if you already are in ministry, then I pray this encourages you.

Three Hard Lessons

It’s true that the most difficult things in life are what make us better and equip us. With this in mind, I will begin with three hard (but valuable) lessons I’ve learned over the years. 

There Will Be Misplaced Expectations

One of the most common things I have seen in churches is misplaced expectations of leaders. As someone who lives in the pastor’s house (hey dad!), I get an insider’s perspective. I have heard people ask my dad for prayer, saying things like “since you’re closer to God.” I have seen people with marital problems call my parents at unearthly hours because they desperately need counseling.

I believe prayer and counseling are part of a pastor’s responsibility, but to a certain extent. Where I grow concerned is when people take leaders and expect them to be God in their lives. They expect their leader or pastor to replace the voice of the Holy Spirit and be the one that spoon-feeds them their spiritual nourishment.

I believe pastors should feed the sheep, care for them, counsel them, pray for them, and support them in their spiritual journey. This is biblical. But we can’t make disciples who are co-dependent on us as leaders. We need to teach people to pray, to ask God for guidance, and to read the Word on their own. Responsibility goes both ways. And pastors are just as human as any other church member. We can’t be Jesus to people, but we can point them to Him.

You’ll Have to Learn to Forgive Often

Another hard lesson I have learned is the importance of learning to forgive others and never hold on tightly to things. Unfortunately, I have seen many leaders compete against each other instead of partnering together, all out of insecurity, jealousy, or a need for approval. I have seen church members refuse to extend forgiveness, thus causing conflict, tension, and pain in churches. I’ve seen people leave one church after another because they won’t put in the work of remaining through a conflict.

But here’s the thing: church was meant to be a family. And healthy families stick together through thick and thin. Healthy families learn to deal with conflict and resolve it. Healthy families celebrate each other’s strengths and find a way to cover each other’s weaknesses. As long as we are imperfect humans, we will never be able to have perfect churches. But through the power of the Holy Spirit, I believe that healthy churches are possible. As ministers, we have to learn to let go of jealousy and learn to forgive quickly. Every church struggles. But let’s make each other stronger through our struggles and not weaker.

You’ll Have to Realize Effort Doesn’t Equal Worth

The third thing I have seen in many churches is the tendency to mistake effort for ministry. And I am guilty of doing this myself. There is a belief in the world that if we do more, then we are more successful. If we have more programs, events, conferences, Bible studies, worship nights, prayer meetings, evangelistic campaigns… then we’ll be truly successful in ministry.

But performance was never the way forward. Yes, all these things can be good. But when we focus on performance, we miss that God’s heart is found through surrender. We are saved by grace, not by works.

We need to create places where people encounter God and are encouraged by other believers. But if our focus becomes how much we can perform, then we will miss that God is seeking after genuine hearts and not just external effort.

The Beauty

I’ve never left the church. I was pretty much born in it. I have seen the dark side of ministry firsthand, and yet, I’m still here. Because underneath all the flaws, there is so much beauty to be found. I’m not getting divorced from the church because I have fallen deeply in love with Jesus, the lover of the church. I have been incredibly blessed by it and by my life as a pastor’s kid.

I want to share three things I’m incredibly grateful for.

Deep Knowledge of Scripture

I grew up listening to my dad preach every Sunday, and sometimes during the week. I grew up visiting other churches where I heard more sermons. I went to kids church, I read my Bible at home, and I had to memorize Bible verses for school. Eventually I began teaching Bible stories to my friends while we waited for our parents to finish their Bible school classes.

This is one of the biggest gifts I have been given. I love the Bible. And through it, I have come to love the Lord more deeply. Now, when people ask me questions, I am confident in what to say because of the continuous exposure to the Word. I don’t think I would have learned so much if it hadn’t been for my life in ministry.

Grace For Imperfect People

Time and time again, I wonder why I still want to serve in church. After all, I’ve been hurt, I’ve had people gossip about me and my family, and I’ve been offended. But then I remember that Jesus died for imperfect people. That is the foundation of the Gospel we preach. And if He did that, how could I offer less?

I’ve learned to forgive even when it’s hard. I have learned to let offense fade away and to love people even when I’d rather not. This is something that carries value into every area of my life, and I am so grateful for my church and my imperfectly beautiful community. It hasn’t always been easy to keep showing up, but I have learned what Jesus’s unconditional love looks like.

A Taste of Genuine, Healthy Community

While in ministry school, I got a glimpse of what the church can look like. I connected deeply with people through Zoom. I experienced wild and radical worship, I saw a new side of intercession, and I found that community like we see in the Bible is actually possible.

This made me wonder: what if this is possible in my local church? What if I could replicate it? What if the community I experienced in school could become the norm in every church? That is what we are called to do. Jesus gave us a mandate to go and make disciples, and it is possible.

This glimpse of genuine community is what fuels my hope for the church. It’s also what makes ministry so hard when things don’t quite measure up. But God has called us to pour into the church just as He constantly does. How could we do any less?

A Final Thought

And so, dear reader. If you are already in ministry, or if you are about to enter into ministry, go! Go with passion, with enthusiasm, and with your eyes wide open. You will be challenged, but you will also be blessed by loving what God loves.

To those entering ministry, you will encounter brokenness in every church. You will encounter conflict and challenge. But the world needs more people who will love the church just as He loves it: unconditionally and without reserve. Learn to build healthy community. Learn to set boundaries. Don’t measure your success by how much you can perform in order to win God’s approval or the approval of others.

And to all my fellow people who grew up in the church, you’re allowed to see it clearly and still love it. Let us determine in our hearts not to become critics of the church, but advocates who invest in it and call it higher out of a place of love. May we learn to love as He loved us.

Thanks for reading!
Anna

P.S. If you are interested in reading other articles by Anna, you can have a look at her blog: https://www.grapevineblog.org/

Note: A downloadable PDF version of this update is available here.

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters:

Summer is one of my favorite times of the year. I guess it always has been. As a kid, we always looked forward to getting out of school in June and having about three months of vacation. Since my dad was an elementary school teacher, he also had a summer break similar to ours. Summer was always family fun – camping trips, bike rides, and swimming. But it was also sometimes a bit of work – cutting the lawn, painting, and working in the garden.

Our Bible School is on summer break right now, but for us, it is the time we use to record new courses, create new course content, write material, and update our Learning Management System (it’s best to do this when there aren’t any students, just in case something breaks in the process). It’s time to prepare for the next season.

Summer here is always cooler than spring. The days are often cloudy and it rains most afternoons. The grass and wild plants turn a beautiful deep green. People often complain about the rain, but rain is just what we need during these months. It replenishes the aquifers, waters fields and the forest, helps bring the fall harvest, and makes the trees grow. The summer rains prepare the land for the winter and spring, which in our area are the dry seasons.

In much the same way, our lives need the summer rains of the Holy Spirit and times of refreshing in His presence. These “spiritual rains” prepare us for times when we don’t feel His presence, dry seasons of trials and difficulties. But just as the summer rains soak the earth and provide water for the deepest roots of the trees of the forest, so too, are our lives watered by the Word and the Spirit. And just as the tall trees have deep root systems to sustain them during dry spells, so too should our lives have deep roots in the principles of the Word of God. This is exactly what makes our lives fruitful and stable!

The Psalmist says it like this:

“He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.” (Psalms 1:3, NKJV)

Bible School

As I mentioned, we use the second half of June and all of July to work on the development of our Bible School material and the online platform. Anna has been writing a couple of new courses. One of them is our academic orientation course, a simple course to help the students get acquainted with our online system and the way we work. A second course she is developing is on the topic of worship and praise. It has been wonderful to watch her write the lessons, often referencing the same books and teachings that impacted my own life over 35 years ago.

Anna and I started out with a conversation about what should be covered in the course. And now, as she writes each lesson, I review it and find droves of Biblical treasures. She is outlining many of the concepts that I would often teach when we did worship seminars in various churches back in the 1990’s. How the new generations need this same teaching today!

It seems that in many Christian circles (especially here in Mexico), modern worship has turned into more of a “performance” done by a select few on a stage, instead of the experience of the entire congregation participating as a kingdom of priests. How we need to get back to teaching on the priesthood of all believers, and the fact that all of us (even those who aren’t very good singers!) need to join together in worship as the body of Christ. God never intended for worship to be entertainment! Lights, sound systems, and special effects are NOT the essence of worship. Rather, worship is the offering of the broken and contrite hearts of the entire congregation before the person of Jesus.

The third weekend of June we hosted Gabriel and Paloma Ramírez from Morelia, so they could teach a new course on camera. Titled “Ministering to the Needs of People”, this course, written by Bill Scheidler, a former teacher at Portland Bible College, focuses on how to minister and pray for people during key moments in their lives. It is very practical. Gabriel and Paloma, who recently graduated from the Advanced School of Ministry degree program, have been working with us over the last couple of years. They are both excellent Bible teachers and great course facilitators. We will be offering this new course in the month of August.

We will probably be recording a couple of more courses over the next several months, as these will fill in the gaps for our full-time program, which also opens in August.

On the technical side of things, I have been developing all the functionality needed to enroll full-time and part-time students. I needed to make several additions to our home-grown learning management system to be able to track enrollment applications, set up payment plans, send and retrieve personal and pastoral references, and auto-enroll students in the courses they should be taking each semester. I have also been revamping several other details of the software.

Soon we will be receiving our students again for a new semester. Please pray especially for those who may be considering studying in our full-time or part-time certificate programs.

Family

I’d also like to inform you about our family. We now officially have a doctor in the family. Our son David Jeremiah has finished his doctorate degree in aerospace engineering and will be graduating on August 8. Sara was able to attend in-person his doctoral defense in College Station, Texas, at the beginning of June. Anna and I watched live on Zoom from home. We are looking forward to being at his graduation in August.

Our son Daniel, with his wife Elisa, will be having a baby boy in September. This will be their second child. We see Ella, who is 1½ years old, on FaceTime a few times a week. She is so cute! However, we often need an interpreter, because she speaks three languages: English, Spanish, and Japanese. We don’t have a problem with her English or Spanish, but she has been teaching us several words in Japanese. It’s amazing how all of this is just totally natural for a baby.

Sara continues to teach English at two elementary schools in the community. She has been enjoying this very much, and has also had the opportunity to substitute-teach at one of them. She also continues her studies, and is getting closer and closer to receiving a university degree in Christian Counseling.

Our Church

In the month of May, I had the privilege of baptizing about a dozen believers in our church. Among them were many young people, as well as some who are older, but just recently committed their lives to Christ. It is wonderful to see how the Holy Spirit works in their lives.

Also, in June we celebrated all those in our church who successfully completed Bible School courses online. We had a good group that accepted the challenge and stuck with the weekly course work during the entire semester. It was especially neat to see one young man, Emiliano, take on six courses at once (a full-time workload) and complete all of them.

You may also remember that in the last newsletter, we had been asking for prayers for Karla, who needed a kidney transplant. The transplant was successfully done in the month of May, and both Karla and her father, Javier, are recovering. Karla still needs prayer. She has been in and out of the hospital over the last several weeks, battling a couple of different infections. In order to receive the transplanted organ, the immune system must be medically suppressed, and this opens up the body to developing
infections very easily. Please continue to pray for her.

Thanks!

Sara and I would like to thank all of you for your prayers and support. We are very grateful for each of you who remembers us, gives, and prays for the ministry we are doing. Mexico needs Jesus! And we aim to be vessels of honor to carry His name to the nation.

With love,

David and Sara Lont
with Anna