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Christmas 2017 Preparations

New Church in North Cumpas

Meet Our Co-Laborers - Ruelas and Michel

Connect to God's Spirit

Dear Friends,

Prayerfully consider these words. I believe you’ll find nuggets of truth worthy of meditation.

In my life today, I’m at a place spiritually speaking, where I’m supposed to be, even though it is clear that I’m a very long way from where I’m supposed to go. I’m far enough along that I have no desire to regress or return to my previous attempts to find and please the Lord, because my present relationship with Him has addicted me with a terrific craving for more of Him in my life, through His Spirit. 

Think of it like this; when we are in High School, we have no desire to go back to the 1st grade. By His grace and little doing of my own, I have experienced what it’s like to actually hear His Spirit speak to my spirit. For most of my life I’ve listened for His Word with my intellect and my spiritually hungry soul. This too is good and necessary, but to actually experience Spirit to spirit communication is life changing.

It seems that God’s purpose in this is multifaceted. I believe He wants a Father/son relationship communication with us.  The way He connected with Jesus to speak and manifest His nature through Him is our example.

I find that I’m always trying to fine tune my spirit frequency to hear God’s Spirit voice more clearly. This is a very personal process and should never become corrupted or diluted by outside voices. It’s not an easy thing to explain Spirit to spirit communication, because it is a private and secret place of intimacy with God.

As a full time minister, I have encountered many well-meaning people who see something they like in my ministry presentation and then they begin trying to “cultivate” me to remove something, or at least make some adjustment in the way I operate, in order to satisfy their desire to get me operating in a way that’s more pleasing to their way of thinking.

Now, don’t take this wrong, I need all the help I can get in numerous areas of my life and ministry. But what I’m talking about here is the importance of keeping our personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, personal. To hear and communicate Spirit to spirit one must have an uninterrupted focus on the Holy Spirit and be willing to obey God’s Spirit no matter how good men’s ideas sound.

Having our memory banks full of God’s Word is very important, because when Holy Spirit says something it is always a re-presentation of what He has already presented in His Word. Therefore to recognize His voice, it helps to be familiar with His Word.

Here at our church on the border and at most of our Mexican churches, we have a lot of unorthodox and non-traditional services. We usually get one of two responses from visitors who are accustomed to traditional church routine. Either they get a bewildered, confused expression or they bask in the liberty found where the presence of the Lord is in charge of directing our leaders. “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” II Corinthians 3:17

We find that when we hear directly from the Holy Spirit, hearing Him through our spirit, then our understanding of His Word becomes relative to the NOW. This Spiritual activity stretches our faith to new heights of glory. Holy Spirit also likes to stretch our thinking to conduct our services in ways that are “outside of the box”. So it all comes down to this, who do we want in charge, God or man, spiritual relationship or religion?

The more we can get our human spirit to connect to God’s Spirit, the more we find ourselves following Jesus’ example in all things pertaining to life and ministry. I believe this to be a good and correct lifestyle for Christians to pursue.

Let’s sum up these thoughts with the simplicity of the world’s best prayer. Father, Thy will be done on earth (and in my life and church) as it is in heaven. 

Hungry for more,

Calvin and Barbara

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Romans 8:14

Christmas 2017 Preparations

We are excited about the upcoming Christmas programs. As you can see, we have started purchasing toys. 12,000 children will hear the good news of the Gospel in a way they can understand and embrace. Many of the children live in small, poor, rural areas and are so blessed by the attention and the small gifts.

At the end of the program, as they repeat a prayer to receive Jesus as their personal savior, we have personally witnessed a light come on in their countenance more times than we can count. Seeing people receive Jesus never gets old, it always thrills our hearts. Thank you for your part in this effective evangelism tool.

Goals for Christmas 2017   Goal Have Still Need Boy Toys 6,000 989 5,011 Girl Toys 6,000 791 5,209 Toys, Candy, Distribution $30,000 $4,800 $25,200

New Church in North Cumpas

In the fall of 2015 Alberto and Zulma Ruelas felt the call to start a new church in north Cumpas. It is called Casa de Oración/ Dios Habla Hoy. They soon started having services in their living room.

They have gathered a small, faithful congregation, with new people continually coming. The amazing thing is that they have personally led each person to the Lord who is attending their church.

Alberto works at a gas station where people often ask for prayer for healing. Many have received their healing with a quick prayer while they are buying gas. 

In the U.S. when a church is built, money is raised and usually borrowed to buy materials and labor, it seems like they go up overnight. In Mexico, money is raised and almost never borrowed. Most labor is volunteer and as the money comes in materials are purchased little by little.

Depending on the size of the congregation and the project a Mexican church can take several years to complete. The Mexican process can be beneficial in that no debt is incurred.

October 2015 we dedicated the church property in North Cumpas where we are helping Pastor Alberto build. As of today, foundations are laid for the church and parsonage.

The church has a metal roof supported by steel framework. Two restrooms are up and $500.00 away from being ready to use. Here’s a list of cost estimates for the next phase. Please pray with us concerning these needs.

$250.00 for basic electric meter and post. $500.00 to finish restroom fixtures. $1,500.00 for adobes for walls. $2,000.00 for doors and windows for security closure. $3,000.00 for cement and tile flooring.

Meet Our Co-Laborers

Highlighting Pastors and Their Ministries in Mexico

Faith Ministries supports other ministries through some of the following ways: VBS materials, Christmas gift bags, offerings, mission teams, and encouragement. In the coming months, we will introduce those we support and work with.

In Cananea, Sonora, México: Pastor Antonia Mesa Ruelas

We met Sister Antonia on our first trips to Cumpas in the late 1980’s. Then, we became much closer to her in 1992 when she became a first year student of Pastor Jesus’s Bible School. At that time, we started sponsoring her through our H.O.W. (Homeless, Orphans, and Widows) program and we will continue until God calls her home. She came to Bible School as a determined senior citizen having very strong feelings about her call to ministry. She had two main goals: 1. To learn more about the Word of God for her own personal growth, making her better equipped to evangelize others. 2. That she would grow in grace and boldness to see her family saved. Upon graduation from Bible School, she had strong drawings toward her brother in Mesquite, Nayarit a few miles south of the sea port of Puerto Vallarta. Her brother lived in great darkness and she would take him the light of God’s Word. Well, she found her brother and stayed with him several days giving him her testimony and every opportunity to receive Jesus. Sadly, he rejected both Jesus and Antonia and kicked her out on the street. Undeterred, when she realized she was in a town without a church, she secured an empty lot, threw up a few boards and called it church and home. Last year, with the passing of time, her age has required that she turn her church over to another pastor and move to Cananea where her daughter and son live. At the present, we are helping her build a little house where she can finish out her days. However, she does not see it that way. She insists that her new house will be a great way to start another church. After all, who in their right mind would leave the ministry just because they turned 82?

	In Agua Prieta, Sonora Pastors Luis and Mercy Michel
Another amazing Pastor is Luis Michel of Agua Prieta, Sonora. He founded and pastors  Nueva Vida.  We first met Luis, his wife Esther (deceased) and their three awesome children in 1993. They had known of us for a while through mutual friends, but we actually met when we attended their yearly April fellowship meeting. At the time they were having services in the back yard of their home. They were a lively bunch who came together to enjoy the presence of God and one another. They paid little attention to starting time or time to dismiss. They just wanted to be together in the harmony of a spiritual family. Later on as the church grew, they purchased land and built a beautiful church building with a large dining area for fellowship. In 1996, the Lord blessed Faith Ministries Church with our present property. When the transition was made Pastor Luis shared with us that even before he knew we wanted the building, he and Esther had been directed by the Holy Spirit to walk around the property and pray the will of God for its use. Luis, for some years, supplemented his pastoral income with a good position in a local maquiladora (a U.S. owned assembly plant in Mexico). Luis has a powerful anointing to pray for the sick. Since his wife passed, he’s been doing all he can to plunder the devil’s kingdom. Luis and his new wife, Mercy, live in Douglas, AZ, about three miles north of their church in Agua Prieta, Sonora. Over the years we have called on Pastor Luis many times to help us import and distribute beans. He has a bold faith in that ministry. We honor Luis and Mercy for their commitment to serve the Lord Jesus and His Body.
Iglesia Nueva Vida

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