Desert Streams Ministries

You may know that we have been working on putting together an online Bible School program. This program is designed to allow students in any location to study Bible classes in an online group setting. The program includes video presentations, written notes, quizzes, forums, and other tools to help the students learn the material.

After doing several test runs with our local congregation, we have now officially opened the classes on a broader level. We currently have about 60 students, most of whom are from Mexico, with a few hispanics living in the U.S.  Several of our students are pastors, worship leaders and youth leaders. I am teaching “Old Testament Survey” online with the help of several “facilitators” who help grade student work.

We hope to continue expanding the program and reach out to more students, perhaps someday throughout Latin America or even beyond, with a broad range of Bible courses. We pray that these courses will equip our students to do the work of the ministry.

April 30 is known as “Children’s Day” in Mexico. As a church, we did a couple of special events for Children’s Day this year.

First of all, we began a mission in a poor community up on the hills above Tulancingo several months ago. One of our leaders, Gabriel, and his wife, Silvana, are in charge of this outreach. They organized a game day for all the children of the area, with activities such as rallies, a movie theater in a tent with a Christian cartoon, marble games, and several others.  Our church also gave away kites and other toys to the children.

After the kids played, we had a few minutes of worship, and then I spoke briefly to them and the parents who were present about the need to open their hearts to Jesus Christ.

After the message, all were invited to eat together. A team of ladies had prepared food for everyone.

The following Sunday, we had our church’s local celebration of Children’s Day with pizzas, race cars, and inflatables.

Lk. 18:16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (NIV)

We are investing in the lives of children, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Our church is working on a new children’s facility which is only three buildings from the building where we hold are services for the adults, and soon we will have children’s services in the new children’s center. There are many young couples with children in our church, and some of the kids do not attend children’s church, since our current children’s building is several block away. We look forward to soon having a better place for them to worship, learn about God’s Word, and give their lives to the Lord.

During the month of April, we had several opportunities to minister, including an invitation to preach in the “Spring of Life” church in Pachuca. We had met the pastor a few years ago, while ministering in another church. He and his wife expressed an interest in the Advanced School of Ministry seminars in Cuernavaca, and they have been attending for the past two years.

It was the church’s twenty-first anniversary celebration, and I was the guest speaker for the Sunday service. After the service, we all ate a meal together in the church’s dining area. Pastor Onésimo Torres and his wife were very hospitable and we enjoyed being with them and their church.

 

We had a very interesting ministry visit to Real del Monte, the village where Sara was born. Pastor Cirilo invited me to preach to their young church on Sunday evening, March 20, for a special service in which they were celebrating the second year anniversary of their worship team. A couple of months before this, we had visited him and his wife to invite them to the Advanced School of Ministry conference in Cuernavaca. At that time, they had told us that they were meeting outside of town on a rustic property that used to be a chicken farm. We headed to the service believing we would probably be meeting outside under a tent or in a barn or something similar. What a surprise when we arrived and found a beautifully finished church building!

Pastor Cirilo was very touched by the teaching at the Advanced School of Ministry conference and felt the Lord speaking to his heart about their church building. When he returned, he got the people together, raised money, and had the old chicken farm completely remodeled and converted into a nice church building in just over a month.

The night was filled with music, both modern praise and worship songs as well as some of the old classic Mexican praise songs. Two traditional Mariachi groups also participated in the service, which was almost full to capacity. I preached about the importance of praise and worship, and then the congregation praised and sang for another hour. After the five-hour service, we all had a late fellowship dinner together. It was a real blessing to see the unity and great atmosphere in this little church in Real del Monte.

On the weekend of March 18 and 19, we hosted a mini youth camp. Over thirty young people from our church came to spend a night in tents here in the woods. After setting up the tents at dusk, we started the evening with fun activities, an outdoor movie, and hamburgers, hotdogs and chicken wings. Later, everyone sat around the campfire and sang worship songs together.

The next morning, David Jeremiah guided the group on a walk up the mountain and back. It took the group almost an hour and a half to get to the top and back, as there are areas that are very steep to climb. While the group was out, we helped to prepare breakfast, which was ready when they all returned.

I preached to the group after breakfast, challenging them to have a big vision for what God could do through them and in them. Several of the newer kids in the group gave their lives to Jesus Christ in prayer that morning, and we also prayed for several of the other young people, ministering to their needs.

Our youth group is in the process of a transition in this moment. We have brought in Ricardo as a new youth leader for the group, after another couple, Fernando and Adriana, had been in charge for several years. Ricardo has grown up in our church and youth group, and was a part of it until he got married several years ago. He is now coming back to the group as the leader, together with another couple, Israel and Jessica. This was the youth group’s first event with Ricardo in charge.

We would like to encourage you to pray for Ricardo and his family, and also Israel and Jessica, as they take on these new responsibilities. Please also pray for the youth, that they would grow in their relationship with the Lord and be challenged to do great things for the Kingdom of God.