Requests for prayer: 24 October 2009

As you pray for your own services tomorrow, please remember several other things:

Evangelistic services at Iglesia Bautista Nuevo Amanecer (Greenville, SC) (with Roberto Nieto), which end tomorrow morning. We will have opportunity to present the work in Uruguay as well.

The morning service at Iglesia Bautista Monte Calvario (Greenville, SC).

Services at Windward Bible Church (Carriacou, Grenada).

Services at Iglesia Bíblica Maranatha (Pando, Canelones, Uruguay).

Elections are held tomorrow (Sunday, 25 October) in Uruguay. The Latin American trend to the left may continue, but all authority in heaven and earth will remain with Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:18). Please pray for the furtherance of His kingdom as a result of Uruguay’s elections.

Our nephew Jonatán is in the hospital this weekend for his next round of chemotherapy.

Request for prayer: Felipe

Felipe and María are a Guatemalan couple who have often come to Iglesia Bautista Monte Calvario (our church’s Sunday morning Spanish service). Felipe and a companion were shot when two men attempted to rob them this past weekend. We understand that Felipe is stable but has lost an eye. He is fortunate to be alive. Please pray that the Lord would continue to use this to expand the preaching of His Word. We don’t know whether Felipe and María have fully understood the gospel.

A picnic planned for this coming Saturday evening (17 October) will undoubtedly give opportunity for conversation with many.

Ohio and Indiana

I don’t know how large the church in Antioch was, although I suspect it outgrew any home in which it may have met. I do know, though, that the church in North America is quite large and rather spread out—which makes more difficult our part in imitating the Acts 13 model! We are very thankful for the encouraging time spent with the Lord’s people in Ohio and Indiana during the past week or two. We were genuinely blessed and strengthened by our time with them. I trust that, as we attempt to serve among local churches, God will make clear to them His calling and leading in our lives—in a way that echoes His words in Antioch: “Set them apart for the work to which I have called them!”

My grandmother is now with Jesus. She no longer needs her wheelchair, and my dad crushed her pills to powder. In a mere breath we won’t need ours. Nor will we be able to return to seize the precious opportunities that now abound around us. A small plaque that used to hang in Grandpa’s and Grandma’s bedroom quotes David Livingstone and Paul:

“Only one life—
’Twill soon be past,
Only what’s done
For Christ will last.
‘To me to live is Christ.’”

And having been there ten days (“bright shining as the sun”!), Grandma would certainly add, with Paul, that “to die is gain.”

Assisting Uruguayan Churches in Evangelism and Ministry Training

Thank you for your interest in the work of the Kingdom in Uruguay! There is a wide door of opportunity open for us there, and we are excited about the privilege of serving Jesus Christ in this part of His harvest field.

Our goal is to assist and strengthen the Uruguayan churches in some of the following ways:

Ministry training: This will take place first within EMU’s F.V. DABOLD BIBLE INSTITUTE. We then expect to partner with Uruguayan pastors and leaders in the long-term development of a BIBLE COLLEGE PROGRAM, for those desiring training beyond the institute level. We view this as the major focal point of our ministry.

Gabriel Gómez, director of the Bible institute, has written the following to me: “My concern is that after a student finishes the Bible institute . . . he then has no other possibility of continuing to study and to deepen his knowledge. . . . This is my own personal burden; I myself desire to be able to continue studying, and I believe that all of us here would benefit greatly.”

Evangelism and discipleship: We desire to strengthen churches and church planting efforts, with the goal of equipping believers and promoting mature, trained national leadership. Two immediate needs include Iglesia Bautista Fundamental Siloé (Siloam Fundamental Baptist Church), an EMU church currently without a pastor, and Iglesia Bíblica Maranatha (Maranatha Bible Church) in Pando, a church being planted by Deborah's father, Don Garwood (of Maranatha Bible Missions). Opportunities include preaching, Sunday school teaching, neighborhood visitation, and youth ministry. Finally, we look forward to involvement in Camp Emmanuel during Uruguay's summer (January and February).

By serving in the local churches and camp ministry, we hope to strengthen these works by equipping and encouraging believers to take their place in the ministry. This will also provide opportunity to evangelize and will give us valuable experience in the ministry.

We are prepared to begin work immediately upon arrival in Uruguay: the Lord has given us knowledge of Uruguayan culture and experience with the Spanish language. Please pray that the Lord would use us to further His purposes both here in the United States and Canada, and in the future in South America!

East Tennessee

We have begun a more active travel schedule as we prepare for work in Uruguay. Sunday’s visit to Boones Creek Bible Church in Johnson City, Tennessee, was an encouragement to us. We were shown kind hospitality and were given opportunity in the evening service to say a few words about our plans. We anticipate a lengthier meeting with them in April of next year.

On the way down the mountain, a stop at a 24-hour restaurant for a cup of coffee and a bite to eat lasted almost two hours. The kid who cleaned the tables appeared to prefer doing it a little bit at a time. A middle-aged waitress apparently had been there for many, many hours. Another girl left work crying, her father dying in the hospital. A young waitress (Elizabeth in 15 to 20 years) worked while a she-could-have-done-better-than-that guy smoked a cigarette outside, waiting for her to finish. The customers in the seats and booths with their haircuts and body piercing filled in the poignant picture of humanity. I am hopeful that the Lord will give us opportunity both to challenge churches to reach their cities, and to have a part in doing so ourselves as we travel. In Asheville we had an hour left to drive, and the gas station attendant had another seven to work—time enough to read a gospel tract.

Pity the nations, O our God, constrain the earth to come;
Send thy victorious word abroad, and bring the strangers home.
(Isaac Watts)

Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd . . .
(Mark 6:34)

Summer Report 2009

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your prayers for us during this past summer! We are conscious of our need for God’s work to continue both in our own hearts and in the hearts of those with whom we have contact. We are aware of our inadequacy and of God’s unlimited power to answer our prayers and to meet each need. Please pray that we would seek the Lord alone, with a heart that is completely devoted to Him (2 Chron. 14-16). And if you have never sought God—trusting His Son alone for forgiveness and discarding all other idols in favor of Him—please come to Him now!

We are thankful for a good Neighborhood Bible School this past summer and for much seed that was sown during that week. We know of one sixth-grade girl (in Deborah’s class) who professed faith in Christ. Please pray for God’s continued working in these young lives.

Another recent encouragement has come from a young Guatemalan family that we have known for many years. This summer they began coming to Mount Calvary Baptist Church’s Sunday morning Spanish service. Please pray for continued interest and for the salvation of this family.

We continue to make contact with churches and will be visiting a number of them this fall, especially during September and October. Our desire as we visit is that the Lord would confirm our calling in the hearts of His people (Acts 13:2-4; Rom. 10:15) and that many would labor with us in prayer. We will need the Lord’s help in ministry and protection in travel during this time of preparation for work in Uruguay. Two other prayer requests include profitable devotional time and opportunities for witness, specifically in our current places of work.

In June our good friends Matías and Kristine Espinel were accepted by EMU International to serve alongside us and the churches in Uruguay. Their focus, like ours, will be the training of Uruguayan workers. Our desire is to see the development of a college-level program to serve the faithful churches and pastors in Uruguay. The Espinels have begun sharing this burden in churches and have a busy schedule of meetings planned. Please pray for them as you pray for us!

Some of you are aware of our nephew Jonatán Torres’ battle with aggressive osteosarcoma cancer. We are praying for his complete healing and for God’s glory. Jonatán lives in Greenville, SC, and his father pastors Iglesia Bautista Calvario (in Greer). But as a grandson of a long-time Uruguayan pastor (on his father’s side) and of a long-time church-planting missionary (on his mother’s side), Jonatán’s situation affects many of the people with whom we look forward to serving in Uruguay. Please contact us if you would like specific information on how to pray for Jonatán.

Thank you for your prayer and support. May we be faithful with the short time that remains to us!

John Mark, Deborah, and Elizabeth Steel

Spring Report 2009

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your prayers! We are thankful to the Lord for His goodness to us. Since the beginning of the year we have continued working our jobs in Greenville – at the Reynolds Company and The Kidder Group – while beginning to schedule meetings in churches to share the work we anticipate in Uruguay. The Lord has given opportunity for periodic preaching in the Greenville Rescue Mission and for song leading and occasional preaching in Iglesia Bautista Monte Calvario, our church’s neighborhood Spanish outreach. For fourteen weeks I also had the privilege of teaching a church music course in the small Bible college at Iglesia Bautista de la Fe, a Spanish church here in Greenville.

We expect this summer’s activities to include neighborhood evangelism, preparation for meetings this fall (including preparing information to share), and continuing to establish relationships with churches. To date we have meetings scheduled in Ohio, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia.

During these last months Deborah has tutored several students in Spanish, a job which led to her helping set up a trip to Uruguay for one of her students. Her student Matthew is currently in Uruguay visiting several missionaries and churches there, taking advantage of opportunities to improve his Spanish and to serve. He will be in Pando with Deborah’s parents for part of this time.

We would appreciate your prayers for the following requests this summer:

• The Lord’s working in and through Matthew during his visit to Uruguay through the end of June.

• Effective ministry in Mount Calvary Baptist Church’s annual Neighborhood Bible School here in Greenville, SC, the week of July 13 through 17; we will both be teaching. Please pray especially for the salvation of lost children who come.

• Genuine understanding, conversion, and growth in the lives of many who attend the weekly neighborhood Spanish service.

• The Lord’s guidance in the establishing of relationships with churches during this period of deputation.

May the Lord bless your service to Him!

John Mark, Deborah, and Elizabeth Steel