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King of Kings Christian Church
Our current study for our family worship in the park is based on the parables of Jesus. We have learned about spiritual activity,
the wedding feast, and praying for workers for the harvest. Several of our men are taking turns preparing and leading these
bible studies. There are 18 parables from the gospel of Matthew that we will be digging into over the next few months. Pray
for the growth and discovery that the Word of God will bring into our community.
One of the tools we use in our ministry for discipleship and personal growth is what we call GTV (grupos que transforman
vida). In English, they are referred to as LTG's (life transformation groups). The concept is. basic and practical. Two
people get together once each week for mutual accountability to their goals, spiritual growth, and Christian character.
These two discuss what they have read from God's Word, pray with each other for people to come to know Jesus, and answer
a series of self-evaluation questions. It is possible to expand the group to 3 people but one of them should be in training
to begin leading another so that the groups can continue duplicating and yet keep the personal focus. No group should ever
consist of more than 4. Neil Cole explains the process in more detail in his book, Cultivating a Life for God. This tool
is an integral part in the development of disciples in the organic model for church growth that we are using. This book and
other resources can be found at www.cmaresources.org.
Prayer request follow up item:
The family with the evil spirits issues mentioned in the August entry has recently moved out of our neighborhood and we
no longer have contact with them. We commit them to the Lord Jesus who causes the seeds of His good news to grow. We continue
to devote ourselves to planting, watering, and harvesting.
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First week of September . . .
Yesterday morning I had a fender bender accident on the way to take the kids to school and it took most of my morning
to take care of paperwork, payment, and details. Praise God no one was hurt and only minor damage was done to one of the
vehicles ($500 U.S.). It could have been worse, but God used it for good because the gentleman whose car I hit, read the
business card I gave him with my contact information on it and saw that I am a missionary. Within minutes he asked me, "you
are a missionary?" then he told me that two years ago he lost his wife to cancer. He is 44 years old. While we waited
for the claims adjuster to arrive on the scene, we talked. I listened. God moved. He was invited to check out the Aguilas
church. We were about 4 blocks away from ICA (Eagles Christian Church) at the time and he lives close-by. Pray for Gerzain
(pronounced hair sa een) and his two sons. Pray for the seed that was planted.
The ministry is growing naturally and enjoying a good measure of successes lately. In August, we had 8 baptisms which
brings us to 13 for this year. Not long ago, a few of our men decided to take responsibility for the men's bible study group
and one (Valentin) has made it his ministry by opening his home and coordinating the teaching schedule. 9-12 Mexican men
attend regularly.
The women have organized themselves with officers and ministry task areas. They also changed their study format so that
they have group bible study one week and devote their whole bible study time to a prayer meeting the next session. Keep on
praying, women of the faith!!!
On Saturday afternoons for the last 3 weeks in a row we have played volleyball with the youth (the first two weeks more
adults participated than youth). Last Saturday, one of our young ladies invited two friends to come and for one of them,
it was the first time she had ever been to a Christian church event. We looked at the life of Joseph the dreamer and learned
about forgiveness.
We have several people in the group who are looking for work. The start of school also puts a financial strain on many
families who have to pay for school supplies, books, uniforms, etc. Pray that through these needs and God's provision, our
people will depend on our great God and find Him to be a faithful friend.
One of the biggest requests of all is the start of a new church. The oldest couple in our church live about 20 minutes
away and have been praying for 2 years that a new church would be started in their neighborhood. They want to open their
home and it seems that a new church will be started soon near, but not on top of, the ICRR (King of Kings) church in URBI.
We will keep you updated regularly when progress is made. In the meantime, Pray that God will help us to manage our already
tight schedule well. Also that we will keep in mind that the work depends on Him and not on us. We see this as a wonderful
opportunity for ICRR people to help start a new church even though they are a new church. Feels like breeding rabbits!!
Grace and peace to you.
Casey and Teri Hancock
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