Stephen’s Table

Newsletter – Outreach Council – Occoquan Bible Church

March 1, 2006

Metropolitan Bible Church - The McMillans are church planting missionaries with The Evangelical Alliance Mission in Lecheria, Venezuela. 

Seven Potential Leaders for Metropolitan Bible Church

Last Monday evening the elders met with 7 candidates for church deacons. They will now enter into a training program after which they will be reevaluated and presented to the church.  Our vision would be for these deacons to lead or assist the elders in various ministries in the church. Please remember these men in your prayers. Alfredo, Anel, Cruz, Dilio, Jesus, Joel and Ramon.

Over the last couple of weeks we have been working with Sergio and Nimi. We shared in our last update that Sergio is bi-polar, which has caused addition stress on the family. I found out this past week that they were in the process of getting a divorce. In fact they started the process in November of 2004.  The papers are ready to be signed but Nimi who was  pushing for the divorce has agreed to call that off and work towards reconciliation. This past week we were dealing with their 6 year old who was having problems in school. Progress is being made. Pray that Sergio will be willing to be more responsible to his responsibility as a husband and father. Patience and grace for Nimi.

With all the growth at church there has been a need to reorganize the Sunday School program. We divided up some of the classes and need to train new teachers.  Sharon has been a part of this planning and reorganization. Pray they would have wisdom for training and for putting together a long range Sunday School program. We need to instill in the teachers the responsibility that if they are going to miss a Sunday to let the coordinator know ahead of time.  A praise item would be that there is a lot of interest in helping with the children. They had over 20 at the teachers” workshop.

Do you know anyone in the Virginia area that may be interested in buying a Dodge Caravan year 2000?  It was a great van for us the 6 months while we were in the states. Please keep that on our prayer list as well.

Over the next couple of months we are going to be losing two of our elders. Steve and Cheryl Albrecht, our co-workers with TEAM, will be going back to the US for 7 months. They are considering being a part of a church plant in The Canary Islands. Hageo, along with his wife Edis, will be returning to El Tigrito to work full time with the “Dios con Nosotros” church.  Adjustments are being made and we need to work even harder to train up more elders.

Friday and Saturday of last week Sharon and I traveled West for 3 hours to the city of Guatire.  We were together for a Missions Consultation that brought 32 pastors and church leaders from about 14 churches from all over Venezuela to Guatire.  The conference was lead by TEAM Venezuela with the goal of encouraging the Venezuelan church to move forward with the vision of sending missionaries to other countries.

Last Wednesday Sharon and I were on our way to a small group meeting and we got stuck in an elevator. It just stopped and didn’t want to go anywhere.  We were in the elevator with another couple and their two kids. Thankfully no one panicked and I was able to pry open the door so we could get out.

Tomorrow I am heading off to a Christian Education planning meeting for the church association. We will be up in the mountain city of Caripe for three days. Looking forward to a little cooler weather!

Serving together with you,

Peter for Sharon and Melissa

psmcmillan@cantv.net

Slavic Gospel Association – The Antioch Initiative

Partnering Western churches with Russian churches to meet a tremendous spiritual need, the Antioch Initiative is a biblically-structured, pro-active strategy which seeks to develop key regional impact churches capable of training, sending, and equipping their own to produce multiplying-daughter churches throughout their region.

With eleven time zones, vast Russia extends nearly half-way around the world. Spread throughout her 88 states, the 1,600 churches of the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists constitute an average of only 18 churches per state. Half of them are praying for an ordained pastor and about the same number are praying for a house of prayer for worship. Nevertheless, these faithful brothers and sisters in Christ have the zeal and resolve of the Apostle Paul. Their goal is to see a Bible-preaching church accessible to all of the 100,000 communities of Russia.

The Antioch Initiative is a strategic vision modeled after the church at Antioch, Syria, described in the book of Acts. A church marked by its passion to reach the whole world with the Gospel, the original Antioch church trained its own pastors and missionaries to send them out to proclaim the truth wherever they could reach. The impact of this church was perhaps greater than any other local church body in history. Having studied the scriptures carefully, the UECB has been praying since the 1980s for the Lord to raise up Antioch churches throughout Russia to reach their people with the Gospel.

The Lord has blessed SGA to have a key part in this sweeping vision for reaching the lands of Russia. The UECB leadership identifies a church that meets the high standards required for development as an Antioch church. Then SGA leadership helps to connect that church with a mission-minded group of North American churches that have a proven track record ministering in Russia with SGA. Such regional coalitions of churches are a critical factor in realizing the enormous potential of the Antioch Initiative. Working together and led by one of their pastors, these churches commit to do whatever it takes to help their developing Antioch church reach their entire state for Christ. They provide vital prayer support, advanced training for existing pastors and missionaries, and resources necessary to help equip the developing Antioch church for the high-impact, region-reaching church planting ministry set before them.

"And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch... And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers."

Acts 11:21-22,26b

Partnership Opportunities

Would you like to get involved in the work of the Lord in the lands of Russia?  Find Out More

Changed Lives

Would you like to find out more about the Christmas for Orphans program?  Find Out More

© Copyright 2005 Slavic Gospel Association

Care Net Pregnancy Resource Centers

CareNet - http://www.manassasprc.org/

CareNet Pregnancy Resource Center is a local non-profit organization committed to helping women, men and their families make informed choices concerning unexpected pregnancies. A variety of services are available with all being offered free of charge in a caring, confidential atmosphere. ]

Walk for Life will be held on April 29th. There will be three locations in Manassas, Warrenton, and Woodbridge.  Registration will be at 8:30 a.m. and the walk will begin at 9 a.m.  it is about a two mile walk. There are Sponsor forms and Walker Registration forms available at Occoquan Bible Church downstairs in the Gathering Place.  Please contact Laura Clark at lifeministries@obc.org if you have any questions.

 Client Testimonials

“I turned to Care Net Pregnancy Resource Centers for the emotional support I could not find elsewhere.”

 “Before she was born my daughter, Sarah*, was diagnosed with a rare condition... Most of the ob/gyn doctors that provided prenatal care had little hope in her survival and suggested that I abort. As strongly as these doctors and some of my family members encouraged me to abort, I had a stronger belief that God was the ultimate Doctor.

I turned to Care Net Pregnancy Resource Centers for the emotional support I could not find elsewhere, and they stuck with me through the pregnancy. Sarah was born [last year] and had surgery [the following month] to repair the [problem].

Despite the doctor’s predictions, Sarah was born a beautiful, healthy baby. Through she will undergo several more surgeries, she is now seven months old and doing perfectly fine. I am thankful that Care Net was there to help me, and I praise God for my precious Sarah!”

*Name changed

There are many ways to help Care Net Pregnancy Resource Centers...

VOLUNTEER:

There are many opportunities to serve at Care Net Pregnancy Resource Centers.

• Peer Counselor (ladies)
• Helpline (ladies)
• Committees for Banquets or Walk for Life
• Administrative
• Prayer Team

Please call or stop by one of the Centers for more information.

Please address inquiries to Laura Clark – OBC Liaison to CareNet

lclark@planetmike.com

Spanish Language Adult Sunday School

As OBC enters its new Church building we are excited by our new ministry to the Spanish speaking community in Prince William County.  Our initial program will be a Spanish language Sunday School class meeting during the first Church hour.  The initial class is “Fundamentals of the Faith”.  For details contact Edgar Gutierrez or Edmundo Vallejo.

Lesson 1: Introduction to the Bible
Lesson 2: How to Know the Bible
Lesson 3: God: His Character and Attributes
Lesson 4: The Person of Jesus Christ
Lesson 5: The Work of Christ
Lesson 6: Salvation
Lesson 7: The Person and Ministry of the Holy Spirit
Lesson 8: Prayer and the Believer
Lesson 9: The Church: Worship and Fellowship
Lesson 10: Spiritual Gifts
Lesson 11: Evangelism and the Believer
Lesson 12: Obedience
Lesson 13: God’s Will and Guidance

Food Bank

The February Food Bank item of the month:  Tuna

Donations can be dropped off in the basket at the Outreach table. Thanks to everyone for the Tea donated during December.

Homeless Shelter

Many thanks to all who helped with providing dinner at the homeless shelter on Tuesday's during the month of December.  If other opportunities for providing meals open up during the winter months I will let everyone know.

Urgent needs for the shelter are:  Bottled Water and Ground Coffee.

Prison Ministry

The support for Christmas Gifts Bags was overwhelming.  We exceeded our goal of 110 bags and provided 114.  Praise the Lord! 

If you fill you can provide fellowship with incarcerated teen boys, please consider joining one of our future fellowship visits to the prison.  We try to make at least one visit per month.  Please contact Derek (703-730-3860 or email at doscarbrough@aol.com) if you feel this is something you would like to get involved with.

Blessings in Christ!
Derek O. Scarbrough
doscarbrough@aol.com

Dominican Republic Deaf Mission—Voice for the Deaf

An Update from the keyboard of Peggy Blevins – February 3, 2006

Carol,
Thanks, but I don't think donated glasses would help, because they would have to be the right prescription, and that varies so much from person to person. Glasses are much cheaper here than there. A missionary friend of mine told me today that there is a group here who may help them with the glasses, and she is going to check on it and give me contact info.

One of my frustrations with the vision problem is that the teacher who took them to the optometrist before didn't ask the right questions, to find out more specifically what each one needs. So I am thinking about taking them to an American mission work that specializes in eye problems of all kind and see what they tell me. It will mean missing a day of class, but it may make a real difference in how some of them learn, if their vision problems are corrected.

Here are the deaf who've turned up during the last two weeks:

We had a new boy, Victor, come in one day this week. He was very small for the 12 years his parents said he is. Either he hasn't eaten well, or his parents don't know his age. They had been turned down by the other school that uses Sign Language, who told the parents he is retarded. I didn't see any indication of retardation. (Maria, who works at that school in the morning, told me that they just don't like "his type.")

He caught on quite quickly in the tasks I asked of him while I was evaluating his skills. I told the mom he could come. She brought him one day, and we haven't seen him since, although he seemed to enjoy school. He has never been to school before. When he came, he smelled like he hadn't had a bath for a few days, and had some sort of skin problem; possibly he was just getting over scabies. He was dressed very shabbily. The other kids immediately started to help him learn signs. I was so pleased with their kind attitude.  We have a phone number for Victor so we will be following up to try to get him coming.

Another mom came in today,carrying mirrors she was selling on the street. She asked if her 16 year old "mute" daughter could come. The girl has never been to school and apparently only knows home sign. This mom, like many, insists that her child is not deaf, but simply unable to speak. She said she doesn't make much money, and wondered what it would cost. She's going to bring her daughter to us for a visit, and we will decide if we think she should come. Sadly, we cannot take everyone, and often at 16 they are beyond reach as far as learning a language.

Maria got a call from another deaf girl's mom. She lives quite a distance, but her mom wants to find a way to bring her. We don't know her age.

Oh, and one other new girl came last week. She was also 16. She came just one day, and hasn't returned. At first she was afraid to stay. She thought her parents were leaving her there and not coming back. They explained they'd be back, and she finally consented to stay.

Probably a lot of these parents are going to wait till next year, and lose even more precious time, since they will reason that it isn't worth putting their children in school when the year is half over! Usually the kids want to come back, but often the parents won't take the steps to make it possible.

They mostly see school for their deaf children as a babysitting service, so at first it is only good if it is convenient for them, and doesn't cost much. As time goes on, and they begin to see the change in their children, their attitude changes as well.

Thanks for your prayers.
 

Peggy Blevins, missionary
Maria Virgen Gutierrez Teacher of the deaf
Centro Cristiano de Educacion para Sordos
(Christian Education Center for the Deaf)

Would you like to know more? You may address inquiries to deafschool@gmail.com, or through Agape Flights’ missionary mail service to:

Peggy Blevins

DMG 16351,

7990 15th St. E

Sarasota, FL 34243