Download this as a printable PDF: update-september-2018

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters,

Happy Autumn! Summer has gone by so fast for us, as we were preparing for our trip to Africa during July, we left in August, and we returned in September. Perhaps you also have the same feeling. Life goes by so quickly, and we must take advantage of every moment the Lord has given us to live life to its fullest and make good use of our time, especially for the purposes the Lord has given to us. It is good to have time off, to relax, to enjoy life; but it is also good to have a purpose in life and work every day toward that purpose, setting goals and accomplishing the tasks that bring us closer to the fulfillment of our God-given dreams, visions and purposes.

Bill Brown Visits Us In Our Church

A real highlight of our summer was to have Bill Brown with us here in Tulancingo for a Saturday evening and Sunday services in July. It was such a blessing to us personally, but also for the church. Bill and his wife, Gerda, have been our “mentors” for many years in the ministry, and their lives and unwavering faithfulness have been a living testimony to us of the goodness of God. Their lives and service have literally changed nations, and the abundant fruit that continues to this day is an incredible inspiration. It is just amazing what God can do when a young person says “Yes!” to God and His plans. Bill and Gerda answered the call of the Lord to ministry in their youth, and now, almost 70 years later, they are still going strong!

Several years had passed since the last time they were with us personally, although they have also taught and preached in our church via Skype and FaceTime. What a blessing it is to have technology that allows us to connect with others virtually. But it is even a great blessing to have Bill with us personally this past July.

Online Bible School

We continue to work on our online Bible School. In August, we began our Fall semester with just under 150 students. This is the most students we have had up to the moment. The students who have been studying with us during the past semesters have been telling others how much they are learning, growing, and enjoying the classes; as a result, we have seen the numbers increase.

We are currently teaching Old Testament Survey, New Testament Survey and Systematic Theology. We will soon be recording courses on the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit, and the Life of Christ. We are excited about the future of this program, as many pastors, leaders and others involved in ministry are taking our courses and growing in their faith. We believe that this program will have a positive impact on many churches throughout the nation. When pastors and leaders take the courses, they in turn teach many of the concepts they learn to their churches.

Trip to Africa

The biggest ministry focus we have had during the last month was our trip to Africa. For us, this was our first trip and it was full of unknowns. We were sent by Bill Brown to minister to the group of churches he and Gerda originally helped to plant in Uganda back in the 1960’s. From very small beginnings in Kampala and then other towns and villages, the group has now grown to around 1,800 churches. Many of the pastors of these churches were in Kampala for the conference in which Sara and I taught.

We left Mexico on August 22, and didn’t get back home until September 16, so we were out for quite a long time. We felt a bit bad leaving our church for so many Sundays, but we were blessed to come back and see that things had gone well in our absence.

It was quite a trip, full of adventure! I enjoyed trying all the different Ugandan foods and attempting to understand the Ugandan way of thinking. It was fun to worship with the churches and participate in the services. We had the opportunity to preach about 32 times total. I think the most difficult subject for us was teaching in marriage seminars, as the cultural differences are so great. In Uganda, a man can legally have many wives, and women are often treated as objects. From what I understand, a man will traditionally “sell” his daughters (the concept is really a dowry), although things are changing, especially in the church. In all, the conferences went very well, and we were able to share many Biblical concepts on the subject of marriage.

It was also a challenge to communicate. Although many people speak English, their accent is so different that we often had to listen very carefully to understand what they were saying. During the conferences, we had an interpreter who translated into Luganda, the main language spoken in the area, and in the pastor’s conference, their was another interpreter on the balcony who translated into a third language for the pastors who were seated up there.

Anna had the opportunity to share six times. She did a great job! She ministered together with Sara and me at the Makerere church, at the Nsambya church to young people and children, and by herself at a youth camp. We are “humbly grateful” (as my grandfather would say) for our daughter. She’s only fifteen years old and has already preached in Africa!

Sara finished our ministry time in Uganda with her participation in a women’s conference. She also did an excellent job, and I believe that she really connected with the women during her ministry time with them. We then had a day to rest before starting our 61 hour trip back home.

While in Uganda, we had a chance to see some of the animals at Murchison Falls National Park. I celebrated my birthday there with dinner next to the Nile River. It definitely was a trip we will never forget!

We believe that God used us to sow some good seeds of His Word into the hearts of the African people. We pray that the church in Uganda will continue to be strengthened and become a blessing for many generations.

Thanks for your prayers!

Thanks so much for praying for us. We were all healthy and well during our trip. God was good to us and protected us from all harm.

Now we ask for your prayers as we continue ministry here in Mexico. We are beginning another very busy season, getting ready for the Advanced School of Ministry conference, translating books, recording for the online Bible School, editing new material, pushing forward with our local church leadership and more. Thanks!

God bless you,

David and Sara Lont and Family

Dear friends, family and supporters,

Happy 4th of July! We hope you are having an excellent holiday today. We’d also like to give you a short update on our family and ministry activities.

Children’s Day celebrations

Since our last update, we have celebrated “Children’s Day” here in Mexico. This is a special day designated to celebrate all the children in the country, and many churches take advantage of this day to organize celebrations and evangelistic events to attract young children and their parents.

We participated in two events this year. The first was held in the city of Tula, Hidalgo, in a church we have ministered in several times. Our children’s praise and worship group participated, and Anna and David shared a short message with the group.

The second event was at our own church. Our children’s church leaders organized this celebration, and as you can see, the children had a really good time with all the games and activities.

Bible School and Local Church

During the months of May and June, we have spent much of our energy and focus on the online Bible School and the activities in our local church. During Sara’s time resting after surgery, I took over her Bible School group for a while. I also continued working on the online software, developing the modules that have to do with accounting, receiving payments, transferring funds, etc. As we look to expand the school, this is going to be a big help, as I had been doing everything manually up to this point.

In June, our group of about 120 students finished their first semester. They are now on a short break before starting classes again August 15.

We have also been focusing on our local church. We’ve been having meetings and study times with some of our leaders, worship practices each week and time to study and prepare for each service. For me it has been especially rewarding seeing Anna grow and mature in ministry. She even preached with me in May about reaching the next generation with the Gospel. My only regret is that Sara wasn’t able to be at that service because of the surgery.

Our Family

As you probably know, our two oldest children, David and Daniel, are both in the U.S. to study. David finished his first year at Western Michigan University and is spending his summer working at a local Starbucks Coffee shop and also helping prepare presentations for the online Bible School. Daniel finished his first year at Portland Bible College and is staying on campus during the summer to work a custodial job at the church and the school. We sure would love to have them here for the summer, but they need to work in the U.S. in order to pay for their upcoming fall tuition bills. Both of them are doing well, and we see them almost weekly via Facetime.

Anna recently finished 9th grade and is spending her summer reading many books, studying some French, and translating one of Pastor Frank Damazio’s books on leadership from English into Spanish.

Sara and I recently celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary. We went out to the town of San Miguel de Allende to celebrate.

Getting ready for Africa

Sara and I will be going to Africa with Anna toward the end of August. We will be involved in a large women’s conference and a pastor’s conference. Anna will be doing some children’s ministry as well. We went to Mexico City a couple of weeks ago to get some of the “hard to find” vaccines that are needed in order to visit Uganda. I ended up getting a slight fever as a reaction to one of the vaccines, but am doing better now.

We are also working on getting together our teaching sessions for the conference.

Please pray for us especially as we prepare for this upcoming trip.

• For health and protection from illnesses and other dangers
• For an exact word from the Lord for the pastors and the ladies who will attend the two conferences
• For a good and blessed trip there and back

Thanks! We appreciate each one of you and pray that the Lord will abundantly bless you and your families. We’ll be in touch again soon. Have a blessed summer.

In Christ,

David and Sara Lont

Dear friends, supporters and family,

Greetings from Mexico. We pray all is well with you and that you’re enjoying this spring season. It is a joy for us to be in contact once again via our newsletter to let you know what we have been doing during the last couple of months.

Ministry in Veracruz

At the beginning of the month of March we took a trip to the city of Veracruz and also Huatusco where we ministered to a group of leaders of the Centro Cristiano Church there. We spent the first day with the pastors, Gama and Paty, at the hotel where the leadership conference would be held during the next couple of days. There we enjoyed spending some time with them during the afternoon and evening Thursday. On Friday morning, the leaders began arriving around breakfast time. I opened the meetings with the first conference, and both Sara and I shared several times during the Friday-Saturday meetings.

It was very interesting to get to know some of the leaders and see how Pastor Gama and Paty work with them. The weekend was filled with different activities such as meals together, teaching sessions, workshops and games designed to teach people how to work together. We also had prayer, worship, and ministry times.

The following Sunday I preached to the church in the morning. They have a large and solid congregation, and I enjoyed ministering to them once again. We had been there before, in 2016, and on that occasion I had ministered in a men’s conference, and then Sara, in a women’s conference. It was very nice for both of us to minister together this time to leaders. We believe God is building up a solid leadership team for this church.

Online Bible School

We started our online Bible School classes in the month of February, and this semester we have around 125 students from three countries. We are building a team of facilitators and course developers to continue to build the school. I have hired a couple of people (including our son, David) to help develop visual presentations that run alongside of the video and audio. We are also making decisions about new courses, developing the software, building/developing more courses, among other things.

Sara has surgery

Sara had a complete hysterectomy on April 10. This has put her pretty much “out of service” for the last several weeks, as she is recovering. Her recovery is going well but she has been advised by the doctor to slow down and recover completely before picking up the normal pace of life, so as to avoid future complications.

Radical – Anna Starts Our Church’s Preteen Group

Anna started a youth group of preteen girls who meet each week on Friday evenings. She is teaching these young girls who are in the transition phase between children and teenagers. We have found throughout the years that many of the children who grow out of our children’s ministry have had a hard time adjusting to the regular youth ministry, which has focused on older teens. God has gifted Anna to minister to this younger age group and we are seeing very good results. We hope to soon open a second group for the boys as well.

We are also excited to see Anna grow and develop in the area of teaching and ministry. She is a gifted teacher and a great speaker. She even took charge of our church’s women’s meeting while her mother was in the hospital!

Local Church

Our local church is going through several transitions in different areas at the moment. I (David) have found the need to become directly involved in the worship ministry again. After sowing part of our worship team last August in the new church plant, our music ministry began to feel the loss. I stepped in during the month of February, then more directly beginning in April.

During the last year I had worked with some of the “younger generation” that had previously been involved in our children’s worship team. I have invited them to be a part of the main worship group, and we are seeing progress! Our daughter, Anna, is now part of the team, and it’s really fun to work with everyone again. I felt impressed by the Lord to train up a new generation in leading worship, and the opportunity has come.

Please pray that the team will continue to consolidate and that soon we’ll be able to get them to a level where I’m not quite as “needed” as I currently am. I would love to continue to be involved, but we also need to get the team working by themselves for the times when I need to be out ministering in other churches on Sundays. This isn’t all that often, but we really need things to run smoothly even if we are away.

Prayer requests

You can always help us by praying for us! Here are a few areas of need:

• Please pray for our leadership team, that God would give us more strong leaders with a heart and vision for the Lord and His church.
• Please pray for our preteen and youth ministries, that the Lord would allow us to restructure these key areas. We believe that a strong ministry to children and youth is vital for the long-term success of the church.
• Please pray for the online Bible School, as we plan to expand this project during the next few years. Please pray for our students, that they would learn and grow in God’s Word.
• Please pray for us as we prepare for a trip to Africa to minister in a large pastor’s conference. Sara will be doing women’s ministry, and Anna has also been invited to do children’s ministry during the conference.

Dear family, friends and supporters,

After a great Christmas with our whole family, we took David Jeremiah to the airport, since he was only able to spend about 10 days with us. Daniel stayed a bit longer, until January 11. We had a very nice Christmas and New Years, and we hope you did, also.

Getting ready for the seminar

Throughout the Christmas season and into January, we worked on getting some details ready for the Advanced School of ministry conference. I finished this year’s student notebook just before Christmas, and Anna also finished translating Pastor Dick Iverson’s book Maintaining Balance When Winds of Doctrine Blow.  This is her second translation, and our team has already asked her to translate another book for next year’s seminar.

We also took care of online registration for the conference as well as signing people up for lodging accommodations in homes of the families of the local church in Cuernavaca.

Appreciation dinner

Our church had our annual Christmas dinner with many families attending. But this year, we also did an appreciation dinner in January to show our gratitude to all those who so faithfully serve in many areas of our church.

Advanced School of Ministry Seminar

The Advanced School of Ministry seminar was again a huge blessing to many pastors and leaders. Nearly 1,000 people from all over Mexico and even some from the U.S. gathered in Cuernavaca for four days of teaching, worship and times of prayer. Our theme this year was “The Wind Blows Again”, and throughout the 17 sessions, we studied Scriptures that relate to the four winds mentioned in the Bible. There are winds which bring refreshing, winds of change and challenge, winds that cleanse, winds that reverse the curse of sin, and winds of the sovereignty of God. The Bible mentions the north, south, east and west winds, and each direction points to certain theological truths that we, as Christians, experience throughout our lives.

The seminar ended with a graduation for some of the students who have completed the Bachelor’s Degree in Theology program offered through the Advanced School of Ministry and Christian International College.

Sara did a wonderful job sharing about the west wind, which comes to “reverse the curse” caused by sin. I taught on the north wind, which is often a cold wind of trials, but the Lord uses it to purify our lives and allows us to see His hand upon our lives more clearly. Also, this year I was asked to be the speaker on graduation night, which was truly an honor.

Online Bible School

The online Bible School program is continuing to progress and grow. For our first semester of 2018, we have around 125 students enrolled. We are currently offering Old Testament Survey, New Testament Survey and Systematic Theology courses via our online certificate program. Each student who successfully concludes the program receives a certificate of completion.

Our plan is to move the school to the “next level” by integrating all the necessary courses to offer a complete two-year Bible School training program. For this to happen, we will need to accelerate the production of our courses and form a team to do the work involved. Please pray with us that the Lord would help us to gather together a talented like-minded team and organize all the details.

Thanks!

Thank you so much for praying for us and giving to our ministry. We really appreciate each of you who is praying daily for us. We also thank those who sacrificially give. You are investing in the Kingdom of God and will receive your reward!

In Christ,

David and Sara Lont
and family

 

Dear family, friends and supporters,

What a wonderful privilege it is to send our greetings to you and your families during this Christmas season. Joy to the world! We pray you will be having a blessed Christmas and New Year.

Advanced School of Ministry in Tijuana

In the month of October, we had the joy of ministering together with Pastor Homero from Monterrey and Pastor Marjorie from Cuernavaca at the Advanced School of Ministry in Tijuana. Our theme in this school was “Covenant Families”, and we taught on many themes that have to do with the family. God loves families, and He established the family as the social foundation of the Church, the ministry, and society.

A group of about 70 students from the general area as well as a small group from Mexico City attended this school. We enjoyed four days of teaching, worship, prayer, and fellowship in the building of a local Bible School. This school was built by a group of Korean missionaries, and the couple in charge are Isaac and Rebeca. Groups from Korean churches came daily to donate their time and money to cook and feed the group, so we also had the experience of trying some Korean meals during the conference.

Marriage Seminar in Mérida

A few weeks ago, we spent several days in Mérida at the Centro Cristiano Church, doing a marriage seminar together with the local pastors. We have know this couple for many years, but had never visited their church. Pastor Oscar and his wife, Paula, have worked very hard on the Yucatan Peninsula evangelizing and raising up churches during the past 20 years. We only ministered at the Mérida church, but they also have churches in several other cities across the state and the neighboring state of Quintana Roo.

A group of about 35 couples dedicated two full days to strengthening their marriages through teaching, workshops and other group activities. Sara and I shared during several sessions, and Pastor Oscar and Paula also ministered. Sara and I enjoyed doing some “team teaching”, where both of us shared our distinct perspectives on areas of marriage, family, and Biblical principles for a healthy home.

At the end of the second day, we celebrated a collective wedding for seven of the couples who had been living together but never taken the step of formalizing a marriage covenant in the presence of the Lord. Most of them had come to know Christ recently and desired to received God’s blessing upon their relationship by putting their marriages in order. It was a joy to participate in the ceremony.

Getting Ready for the Advance School of Ministry Seminar

These last few weeks have been a busy time of the year for us as we have been working on the notes for the seminar. Containing almost complete notes for 17 hours of teaching, the book that we produce each year is usually around 150 pages in length. It is my job to take all the notes, edit them and then do the layout and formatting for the final book.

Anna has also been helping us with the translation of Pastor Dick Iverson’s book called Maintaining Balance. She sends me her translation, and I continue to work on it from there, editing as needed to make the phrases flow as best as possible in Spanish. We hope to have this book ready by New Year’s Day and have it printed the first couple of weeks of January so it will be ready for the students at the seminar.

Christmas Plans

We are excited that both of our boys will be coming home from college to spend Christmas with us. David will be with us during two weeks, and Daniel will spend almost a month with us before going back to school. It will be great to have Christmas with the whole family!

Thanks!

We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to each of you who have been praying for us and supporting us financially. It is so much easier to do ministry with a solid financial and prayer backing. May the Lord richly bless you and your family this Christmas and New Year.

With love,

David and Sara Lont
and family