Good News In Action

April 2008

UPDATE FROM OUR HOME CHURCH (VIDA NUEVA)

Our home church in San Salvador is the key for everything God has led us to do in Good News In Action and MetroAmérica 020. In 2007, we invested a lot of our time and resources in the missions in El Salvador and MetroAmérica 020 . It was a fantastic year as we were able to start a new work in Aguilares, El Salvador and Guatemala City, Guatemala and strengthen our missions and daughter churches in El Salvador and Nicaragua. Unbelievably, over 10,000 people made professions of faith in our evangelistic outreaches!!

At the same time, we paid a price by not being as aggressive in evangelism and discipleship in our home church, Vida Nueva. Because of that, in August of last year, God led Julio and I to make a conscious effort to raise the bar again in evangelism and discipleship in Vida Nueva. Whenever we have had to make decisions to better focus the church, we have likened it to turning a large ship—it may take a lot of time, but once God does it, it is a mighty force that He can use for His Glory. The decision to refocus in evangelism and discipleship was really a decision to refocus on the basics. When we started Vida Nueva 17 years ago, we decided to emphasize 2 things equally—evangelism and discipleship.

We started our refocus on evangelism by going to 3 services on Sunday mornings in October and inviting Dr. Ron Herrod, our pastor when Pam and I lived in the states, to preach an evangelistic campaign on prophecy at our church. God really used him in a mighty way as the church was packed

In February, we had another presentation of the Judgment House using a script written by our drama ministry team. It was a very Salvadorian story focusing on the serious homicide problem in the country. Many people were touched by the story and the presentation of the Gospel. Unbelievably, 807 people made professions of faith in Christ and 193 rededicated their lives to Christ for a total of 1,000 decisions! Julio and I were continually moved as we saw many people weep as they prayed to receive Christ. It was especially moving to see many of the new Christians return with friends and neighbors because they were so concerned about their eternal destiny.

It truly has been a tremendous turnaround in our church as hundreds of people have made professions of faith in the last 3 months and many people have visited. Now comes the hard part—the follow-up and discipleship of so many new people. We are excited that over a hundred people have already visited the church from the Judgment House.

807 people made professions of faith in Christ and 193 rededicated their lives to Christ for a total of 1,0000 decisions during the Judgment House!

Please pray for the continued follow-up of the many people who have made professions of faith in the last 3 months. Also pray for our new discipleship emphasis. We have decided to simplify the process emphasizing 3 phases in discipleship: Being a Follower of Christ, a Servant of Christ, and a Sacrifice for Christ. The idea is to move our members through the 3 phases to the point where they are willing to take up their cross: “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:27. Please read Julio's article on page 3 about our new discipleship emphasis

It was such a joy to have our ex-pastor, Dr. Ron Herrod, preaching at Vida Nueva in November. God really used him.

out every service and many people made professions of faith as our members invited many of their friends and neighbors. We were so excited that we invited him to come back in April to preach an outdoor crusade in the eastern part of the country.

In December, we continued our evangelistic focus through VBS and saw many children come to Christ as there was standing room only for the 450 children who came.

Dozens of them made professions of faith and Candace Carr, our Sunday School Director, did an outstanding job.

In January, Valley Baptist in Bakersfield, and Faith Baptist in North Carolina helped us to reach out in the Greater San Salvador area. The results were phenomenal as over 600 people made professions of faith. We were especially excited about the outreach through our small groups. Koky López, our director of evangelism, did a great job not only in coordinating the effort but also with the follow-up. We're excited that the church is now going out every Monday night to evangelize and visit new contacts.

In 2007, over 10,000 people made professions of faith in the evangelistic outreaches in El Salvador,Nicaragua, and Guatemala and a new church was started in Aguilares, El Salvador and in Guatemala City!