The late bible teacher J. Vernon McGee stated, “There is a brotherhood within the body of believers, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the common denominator. Friendship and fellowship are the legal tender among believers.”

Carlos Pimentel recently returned invigorated from spending time with church leaders in Nicaragua, noting their passion for Christ, hunger for His Word, and their desire to be equipped for greater biblical fidelity and effective ministry.

The Apostle Paul challenged the church in Thessalonica to edify one another:

“For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing.” (1 Thess. 5:9-11)

As we enter the year-end giving season and mark Giving Tuesday today, thank you for your support, which enables our ministry to encourage and edify Christ’s global Church.

As we prepare to celebrate the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, let me encourage you to reflect on the words of Psalm 95.  In his book “Your God is Too Small,” theologian J.B. Phillips submits that, while there are many reasons for the deterioration of Christianity, the chief cause is the worship of an inadequate god of our own making.

Conversely, Psalm 95 summons us to the true God, worthy of our humble and obedient worship, by highlighting the What, Why, Way, and When of worship*.

The What of Worship (vs. 1–2): The psalmist calls for God’s people to sing and shout to the Lord.
Oh come, let us sing for joy to Yahweh,
Let us make a loud shout to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving,
Let us make a loud shout to Him with songs of praise.

The Why of Worship (vs. 3–5): Believers should worship God, who is the great King over all.

For Yahweh is a great God
And a great King above all gods,
In whose hand are the depths of the earth,
The peaks of the mountains are His also.
The sea is His, for it was He who made it,
And His hands formed the dry land.

The Way to Worship (vs. 6–7b): Believers should humble themselves before God in worship.
Come, let us worship and bow down,
Let us kneel before Yahweh our Maker.
For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.

The When of Worship (vs. 7c-11): The psalmist calls for God to be worshipped now—today!
Today, if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
As in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
“When your fathers tried Me,
They tested Me, though they had seen My work.
For forty years I loathed that generation,
And said they are a people who wander in their heart,
And they do not know My ways.
Therefore I swore in My anger,
They shall never enter into My rest.”

Commenting on the closing warning to those who reject God (vs. 7b–11), commentator Derek Kidner states, “By ending on this note the psalm sacrifices literary grace to moral urgency. If this is a psalm about worship, it could give no blunter indication that the heart of the matter is severely practical: nothing less than a bending of wills and a renewal of pilgrimage.”

Accordingly, this Thanksgiving, let us renew our pilgrimage to humble, obedient, and warranted worship of God.

* Source:
Lawson, S., & Anders, M. (2004). Holman Old Testament Commentary – Psalms. B & H Publishing Group.

Here is a brief update regarding the impact of Hurricane Melissa on our ministry partners in the Caribbean. Churches in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti were largely spared the brunt of the storm.

However, we are working to assist our regional coordinators in Cuba in providing much-needed assistance to their communities.

Please continue to keep praying for our church leaders and their families during this difficult time as they seek to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2).

As we witnessed during the pandemic, the Lord in His sovereignty and providence has a way of redeeming such situations for our good and His glory. And He has proven gracious in using our programs for both short-term relief and long-term community transformation through the local Church, by the power of His Word.

Writing to encourage Christians living amongst persecution in the Roman Empire, the Apostle Peter urged that they “like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2).

F.B. Meyer recognized that the absence of the desire for or faithful provision of biblical truth is the cause of many problems in individual Christian lives and in congregations:

“The sickly condition of so many Christians sets forth a lamentable complaint of the food with which they are supplied. To say nothing of strong meat, they do not even get milk. Hence the church of God too much resembles the wards of a children’s hospital.”

In contrast, I am pleased to report that during his recent visit to Nicaragua to launch the K2:42 program, Raydel was overwhelmed by the participants’ hunger for Scripture. We praise the Lord for the 30 churches EA is now ministering to through our local church partners, and pray that they too may “may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2).

Thank you for your faithful ongoing prayer and financial partnership with us.

[In my best Moses impression and courtesy of AI], “Now is the time to give!”

Not because there is a tax-deductible end-of-year deadline, or an opportunity for a matching gift, but because there is a critical need at this moment in EA’s 13-year history.  Which brings us to Moses…

Years ago, I was directed to Exodus 35-36, where God gives instructions at Mt. Sinai for the tabernacle to be built, via a free-will offering from the people:

“And the people came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the Lord’s contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments.” (Ex. 35:20-21)

The phrase, “whose heart was stirred,” literally means whose affections were set on the work.

“And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning.” (Ex. 36:3)

The detail that they continued bringing to Moses freewill offerings every morning, reinforces the fact that even willing hearts need to be told, “Now is the time to give!” Moses let them know, and the people responded.

“[The craftsman] said to Moses, ‘The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.’ So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, ‘Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary.’ So the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more.” (Ex. 36:4-7)

The late theologian G. Campbell Morgan commented on this passage, “When the heart is truly stirred, and the spirit makes willing, giving ceases to be calculating. Nothing is too precious to be given; no amount is too great.”

So, as you are able and your heart is stirred, please consider partnering with us financially in order that EA might have the resources “sufficient to do all the work, and more.”

My eldest daughter, Audrey, came on her first trip to the Dominican Republic at the age of 7. Over the years, she’s visited many times. Most recently, she returned this summer as a senior in college. As she leveraged her forthcoming degree in Communications and Spanish, accompanying me on various meetings and site visits, I was reminded again and again of her growth and the ministry’s growth over the years.

One moment in particular captured God’s grace in her life and the development of EA over time. As I watched Audrey interact with a visiting Nicaraguan pastor being trained that week to return to his country and facilitate our Church Network Development Program, I was reminded of the Apostle Paul’s statement, “…neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.” (1 Cor. 3:6-7)

Over the week, I reflected on God’s grace in Audrey’s maturation from that little girl to a young godly woman, and EA’s development to a ministry serving Christ’s Church in numerous countries, in both reach and depth that would have been unthinkable 13 years ago.

Thank you for your continued financial partnership.

Please keep in your prayers Pastor William, having returned to his country and implementing his training below.

Also, please pray for Audrey (and now our freshman Molly), as they return to Geneva College this week…and for our Emma, left behind with mom and dad.

At the request of our ministry partner, Phil Jeske of International Christian Ministries – Canada, Carlos Pimentel recently traveled to Magdeburg, Germany, to meet with ministry leaders from Russia, Germany, Poland, and Central Asia to encourage and speak to the remarkable impact of the Christian Leadership Academy curriculum within EA’s Church Network Development Program.

I am reminded of the Apostle Paul’s declaration in Romans 15:

“Therefore in Christ Jesus I have reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. For I will not be bold to speak of anything except what Christ has brought about through me, leading to the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and all around as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.” (Rom. 15:17-19)

Theologian Henry Morris commented,

“Paul will glory ONLY in what Christ has done THROUGH him. He is sure that Christ has done great things through him, and he is glad that he can draw attention to those things. But he is NOT trying to ATTRACT ADULATION. It is what CHRIST HAS DONE that is his theme.”

May that ever be true of EA’s ministry, and our personal lives as well: “…that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thess. 1:12)

Some of my fondest memories as a child involve our yearly treks to the beach. I would spend hours in the ocean. Often, when the surf was rough, over time, I would unknowingly be swept down the shore, prompting my parents to feverishly motion to me to return in front of them. Normally, the pull of the current would necessitate that I get out of the surf and walk along the beach.

Sadly, this is a fitting picture for many evangelical ministries today, having been “tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Eph. 4:14). Willingly or, more often, unknowingly, the cultural tide with its redefined unbiblical definition of Christian love, and deceptive, interpretive gymnastics has washed them away from biblical orthodoxy, having been taken “captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8).

The solution for these ministries is three-fold. First, recognize how adrift you have become by heeding the impassioned calls for your return. Second, remove yourself from the current by assessing which siren calls of authors, associations, and admonitions have sent you awash. And finally, renew your commitment “to examine all things; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil” (2 Thess. 5:21-22). According to Francis Schaeffer, the result will be reformation, which is a return to the sound doctrine of the Bible, and revival, which is the practice of that sound doctrine under the power of the Holy Spirit.

Please continue to pray that EA would itself remain firmly anchored in Scripture and serve as an instrument of reformation and revival for God’s glory and the advancement of Christ’s Church.

And thank you for your continued prayer and financial partnership in this endeavor!

We are excited to have several visiting teams joining us in the coming months to both be a blessing, as they partner with the churches in the Dominican Republic, and be blessed, as they witness Christ’s Church at work, and co-labor with their global brothers and sisters in Christ.

• June 5-8        TruLife Church, FL
• June 21-27   Sterling Park Baptist Church, VA
• July 7-14        Apex Baptist Church, NC
• July 28-04     Immanuel Bible Church, VA
• Sept 25-28   Apex Baptist Church, NC

One of the gifts these trips afford Empowering Action is the ability to glorify the Lord by having individuals witness firsthand how God has graciously grown our ministry in the past 13 years. We can tell you how EA now serves Christ’s church in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and the Latino church in Ocala, Florida. However, interacting with ministry partners and participants in person is far more compelling and reflective of God’s mercy on our ministry.

Acts 15:12 describes how Barnabas and Paul conveyed to the early Church leadership what “God had done through them.”

One theologian noted, “It was a report not of their successes but of how God had acted.”

In other instances in Acts, the same phrase refers to what “God had done with them” (Acts 14:27; Acts 15:4).  However, in Acts 14:3, the description includes the phrase “with reliance on the Lord,” emphasizing that these missionaries were not superhuman but mere men, pliable, willing instruments in the hand of the Almighty God.

Pray that EA remains similarly pliable, willing instruments in the hand of Almighty God to serve Christ’s Church.

As you feel led and are able, please consider partnering with us financially during these most critical months of our financial year.

For the believer it is impossible to exaggerate the importance this day represents.

“It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection is the assurance that He is the Son of God. It is the assurance that He is the Messiah. The resurrection is the assurance that He will come again to judge and to reign. The resurrection is the assurance that our sins are forgiven and that all who are in Christ will be raised with Him.” (Zuber, 2021).

Today we celebrate that “He is risen…risen indeed!”

Reference:

Zuber, K. D. (2021). The Essential Scriptures. Moody Publishers.