To serve our God is to live in continuous multiple adventures!
The Spirit moves everywhere at once! Are you ready for some multitasking?
Let me take you, for the next few moments, to Spain . . .
Leading up to our seminary commencement activities, a group arrived from Stockton, California, led by their pastor, Dr. Marc, who came to teach a Bible conference about the life and ministry of the apostle Paul; our Spanish students attended the conference, as well as nine Portuguese guests.
Led by missions pastor Grant Hawes, a volunteer work group, including three elders who happen to be highly accomplished handymen, joined the group.
Committed to making necessary improvements to our campus, the work group arrived with a goal of completing three projects. When the team saw firsthand the scope of the projects, they knew this workload wouldn’t keep them busy even for one full day.
So we walked the campus, reviewing various needs, and added to their job list. Two days later, they were already wrapping it all up. So we added to the list—and they kept working! By the time they departed, this amazing team had completed 32 major projects! (The Spaniards, seeing these volunteers at work, were stunned. If Spanish workers worked like this, they said, the nation’s economy would more than double!)
Then came the graduation exercises—about 20 graduates joyfully engaged in a happy celebration . . .
- First, came the preparations and rehearsal for the ceremony. At 11 a.m., the event began with music accompanying the faculty and graduating students into the facility.
- Then came the invocation by a tenured professor, followed by greetings. The programs and professors were introduced.
- A graduating student shared a farewell message of gratitude . . . of the joys of the truths learned . . . of the impact that so many faculty members have made on the students’ lives.
- Then we heard from an alumnus who has engaged in 20 years of ministry—currently overseeing seven churches and serving as Field Director for a British mission board; he spoke about the great equipping he received in this seminary, and how it has sustained him in ministry and helped him to thrive and multiply!
- Then came the actual graduation. Each precious name was called, each student was given the certificates and degrees they’ve earned. There was special music. There were prayers of dedication.
- And then there was the all-important administration to the new graduates of a solemn oath for biblical ethical conduct in ministry, derived from 1 Timothy 3.
- Afterward, the exit march was played. There were lots of hugs, lots of laughter, lots of tears—lots of picture-taking!
- And finally, a five-course European banquet, which took most of the afternoon!
When I got back home and showed our U.S. staff the scores of photographs from the events, they immediately thought of you—This would have been perfect for our generous friends to attend!, they said. So true! Your prayers and giving made it all happen!
In fact, committed friends like you have been making it happen all along, for years. Our graduates now number some 2,500—for a seminary in Spain, this number is huge.
Yet even then, the weekend’s ministry wasn’t over . . .
That same weekend, 90 people came to the campus—new converts to Christianity, eager to learn about the basic disciplines of being a Christian! (Some of this teaching made our longtime believers feel like they needed a refresher course!)
These 90 were so profoundly moved by this experience, they have already signed up to come back in October! Meanwhile, another big group will arrive in less than three weeks: an entire church congregation from San Sebastian, on the northern border with France. They’re thrilled to visit a Christian campus in the beautiful mountain region in the heart of Spain.
Other groups are due over the course of the summer: one from Atlanta, another from Tennessee. A Christian academy’s junior high students loved their previous visit so much, they’ve already scheduled their entire student body to visit this fall!
Look what God has done, and continues to do, through your generosity! The campus you helped us to acquire is booming . . . being used in a far broader way than we ever dreamed! What a joy to report to you on the fruit of your investments!
And your giving is multiplying nationwide. Ministry in Spain is on the march, in a much bigger way than we have ever seen before. We are witnessing a major breakthrough, one we have prayed, dreamed, and hoped for, for a very long time.
What can you and I say today? Only this: it has been worth it to keep working, to stay in the fight all these years. This will be a harvest for eternity! It is victory for you and our entire ministry family, together!
Now let me take you to Ukraine . . .
Under that nation’s laws, our banking accords must be renewed every three years. It’s time—and the law doesn’t wait for war. It will take two flights to Warsaw, then a train ride to Kiev, followed by three days of meetings with notary lawyers, bank officers, and church leaders.
This is such a complicated mission field. Our Ukrainian field director has been drafted into the army. He secured a six-month postponement, and he hopes to be granted an even longer delay so that he can keep serving at the seminary and planting churches. Other seminary officers have also been drafted into the army; they’re already serving. Meanwhile, our field director’s family has already left Ukraine; they’re refugees, living in Canada. We are praying for him and hoping to see him again.
Pray with them—and for our team, as we travel in a dangerous region. Pray also for divine guidance in all the legalities our ministry there requires. And most of all, pray for an end to the war, and a lasting peace.
Next stop: Kenya . . .
I am thrilled to report that we will partner with First Baptist Dallas to launch 200 churches in Kenya over the next two years! Nearly a year ago, I went to Kenya to look for the seven factors of our Accelerated Church Planting model. Today, the factors are alive and well!
The backstory is remarkable: about a decade ago, we helped another ministry begin work in Cuba—we gave them a basic force of church-planter “reservists” to get them started. This group had also been serving in Kenya—they’ve been there for some 40 years. Now, they’re returning that long-ago favor: transferring to us a reserve force of church planters.
We’re on the verge of launching a huge church-planting operation in Kenya. It will begin before the end of July.
It’s such a vast harvest field, we would love to plant 300 churches—but it would take 99 workers instead of 66. The monthly stipend for a single worker planting three churches is only $100 a month, but this means we’d need $3,300 per month beyond the First Baptist Dallas commitment.
Maybe the Lord will speak to your heart about helping to reach multitudes more in Kenya, by pledging some monthly gift?
Whatever we do, we must do quickly. We know the Lord is coming back soon.
I see many believers, all over the world, excited about Christ’s return, joyful in the idea of getting “snatched up” just in the nick of time, before the perilous events of the tribulation. But the problem with all this glee is that it ignores grim—the heartbreaking plight of millions who would be lost in the agonies of the tribulation.
How does this square with our calling to love our neighbors as ourselves? We need to reach out more than ever as the times draw to a dangerous end!
I think of the Titanic colliding with that mountain of ice 20 minutes before midnight on
April 14, 1912, and the incredible response of John Harper. He was a Scottish Baptist pastor and widower traveling with his six-year-old daughter to Chicago, where he was scheduled to preach a three-month series at the Moody Church.
It took 2 hours and 40 minutes for the ship to go down. During that time, Harper placed his daughter safely in lifeboat #11, then refused a seat for himself, choosing instead to help others. He began preaching the gospel on deck, expounding on Acts 2:21: And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
As the ship sank, Harper went in the water, swimming to others and urging them to believe in Christ before they died of hypothermia. Multiple witnesses said he gave his own lifejacket to man who was struggling. “You need this more than I do,” he said; “I’m saved.”
If we must choose between our own life or the life of a non-Christian, we must save the one in need of salvation. This was the driving conviction that took us to Liberia at the height of the Ebola crisis. There was no Ebola vaccine back then—but I was “vaccinated” against the second death!
Look at the legacy of missionary Nate Saint. He would not use his gun against the Ecuadorian tribesmen who came to kill him—why? Because he was already saved. He had guns for wild beasts, not to send sinners to eternal condemnation. The ethical choice is not logical. It is theological.
I hope we will be compelled by the same conviction in Kenya, as we pray that 33 partners will step up to a monthly gift of $100—to see countless Africans saved!
Finally, our hearts turn to Cuba . . .
I’ll be there soon, to establish a partnership with a group in China to bring literally tons of solar panels into Cuba—to set up a self-sustaining cycle of empowering churches. Thanks to the beautiful generosity of friends like you, we’re making great progress toward the goal . . . advancing ministry among the heroically creative Cubans!
In every field, I thank God for YOU. For your values, for your love for the Lord. This isn’t a romantic type of love. It is HIS love language. “If you love me, keep my commandments,” Jesus says. He speaks of a genuine love for Him, shown through action and obedience to His teachings, not just words. God bless you for it!
I hope to hear from you soon. And I thank you from my heart for the sacrifice of Christ-like compassion you’ll offer toward our harvest work together, around the world.
Joyful in His service,
Dr. Manny Fernandez
P.S. The Cuba-solar opportunity will mean a self-sustaining ministry across the island—despite that nation’s heartbreaking struggles! Please be a part of this. Thank you again for your partnership!