Desert Streams Ministries

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

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Happy New Year to all of you! May the Lord bless and prosper you as we begin 2025. Here’s a little update from us.

Church Christmas Celebration

In December, we had a simple Christmas celebration with our local church in Tulancingo, remembering the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. We worshiped and sang together, and then our team shared about Christ as the One who divides history. The birth of Jesus has divided the calendar used by most of the world today into B.C. and A.D. Jesus divided the Bible, as he came to bring the Old Testament to fulfillment and usher in the era of the New Testament. But perhaps the most important fact of all is that on the individual level, Jesus comes to divide our lives into two sections: “before Christ” and “after salvation”. Many in our congregation weren’t born into Christian families, but rather came to know Christ later in life. Just as the early Christians, we can see a marked difference in the life experiences before becoming disciples of Jesus and after.

After the service, we had a meal together and spent some time doing Christmas crafts and playing games. Fellowship was a big part of the lives of the first Christians in the book of Acts, and we believe it continues to play a crucial role in the local church today.

Family Time

The last couple of weeks of December were mostly for family time. Our son, David Jeremiah, came to visit us, as he has done each Christmas since he moved away to school. It’s been almost eight years already!

Also, Sara and I are now officially grandparents! Ella Lynn was born to Daniel and Elisa (in Vancouver, Washington) on November 20, 2024. We are so thankful for a healthy baby girl!

Bible School

We finished our fall semester in our Bible School at the beginning of the month of December. What a joy to see so many students receive the life-giving Word of God with a deeper understanding! Several commented on how they had begun to understand certain aspects of the Bible for the first time in their lives. Claudia, a sister who attends our church and recently started taking classes in the school, commented on how the Lord had used the course to help her understand many thing in the Old Testament for the first time, even after many years of being a Christian.

We have several students who are participating in the degree program with the Advanced School of Ministry and are making good progress toward their graduation, which is scheduled for January 2026. We plan on offering several different tracks or programs within our academic program and continue to work on several of the options.

Two new courses were available this past semester: Personal Prayer and Bible Study, and Evangelism. Both of these courses were very well received. We had especially great feedback on the course about prayer and Bible study. Anna taught this course and made it both very practical and personal. She really challenged the students to dive deeper into their relationship with God. There were many positive comments, confirming the spiritual growth this brought to our students.

We concluded with a special ministry time on Zoom with Mark Simpson. Thanks, Pastor Mark, for sharing with us about how to become useful in ministry. Your message was a true inspiration for all of us!

Advanced School of Ministry

In October, I began to rewrite the online registration system for the Advanced School of Ministry. I wrote the original software back in 2013 and then updated it in 2015. But another 9 years have gone by, so I decided it was time to do an entire rewrite. It now handles student registration by SMS and Email, automatic processing of payments by bank transfer, and provides a basic platform for transmitting the seminar live.

After this programming work, the teaching material started coming in, so I started on the seminar notebook in the month of November. This year’s student version is just under 150 pages, and I was finally able to send it for publishing on January 3, almost 2 full months after beginning this project. Although publishing a book each year is a lot of work and a big expense, it has long stood as one of the key goals of our annual conference. We want to put good teaching material into the hands of key pastors and leaders so that they can use it in their own local congregations.

Now, we are looking forward to the conference at the end of the month. There is still much work to do, but it will be a great joy to see the hundreds of pastors and leaders who gather each year in Cuernavaca for the seminar. We truly believe that the Advanced School of Ministry serves the purpose of building up pastors and leaders, who, in turn, build up local churches all over Mexico and beyond.

Thanks again for everything!

Once again, we are very thankful to those who pray for us and support us financially. Please continue to pray for the conference (January 27-30, 2025), for our church in Tulancingo, for our family, and for finances to expand the Bible School.

With love,

David and Sara Lont
with Anna

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