Summer 2021 – Vol. 26 Edition 3

Dominican Republic

On May 12 I returned to the DR, but this time Ben Such-man and Verlen Sanon joined me. Ben has been to Cuba with me and now joined me here. Ben was a great help and did a great job preaching. Verlen Sanon is our director in Haiti. The first part of the trip landed us in Santiago to work with Michele Marte and his ministry. Also, taking the training was another church in the area. Both Churches were excit-ed and committed to following the training of the Global disciple making system. As I do everywhere I encouraged the churches to double in the next year. Every church that has implemented the system does in fact double, and in most cases majority of the growth is by baptisms. Since returning home I have continued to follow up through zoom meetings. The internet has its problems, but has its blessings too.

Pleasing Surprise

10 years ago I trained a church in Santiago. It was led by a wonderful cou-ple. Elvis, the minister, did his best to implement the system, but as often happens, a so-called leader stopped the vision. I met with Elvis on this trip and learned that he has taken the train-ing, has successfully started 8 new churches and is excited again to partner with me and con-tinue to use the material to make disciples.

Second part of the trip was in Santo Domingo. We traveled by bus from Santiago to the capi-tal of the country. I am excited is to witness others catch the vision and be willing to carry it on. The success of God’s work through me will be those I leave behind who continue the work. Sanon is one of those you pray for. On his own he sought out Haitian churches in the Dominican Republic to train and I am proud of Sanon for arranging all the accommodations for churches that were trained.

Sanon first training

I was pleased to see Sanon do the training in French and or creole. He was animated and the congregations were excited about the system. When I witness a disciple doing such a good job I become optimistic about the future of the ministry and find encouragement that my policy of equipping others to do the work is effective. We trained 4 Haitian churches. Since then, Sanon and I have been following up through zoom, he in Haiti, me in the US and the leaders in Dominican Republic. It is not always easy, but the work is progressing.

Haitian Churches in Dominican Republic and Haiti

One of my places to work has been Haiti. I have been trying to get back, but again, like Cuba and Myanmar I am hindered from going back due to political turmoil. This again reinforces my policy to equip the leaders and saints to do the work in their own country. If missionaries do not equip them, there is not a good chance the work will continue in any given place. Furthermore, if we don’t, then we also fail to follow the Biblical example of Paul and other missionaries.

The world moves on and a missionary must look at who is where and meet the need. People groups almost always group together especially when they are expats. Their need to congre-gate because of ethnic identification and because of being away from home is a natural gathering together that helps one exist in a foreign land. Ideally in Christ there is no differ-ence when one follows Christ, but Nature and flesh many times delay the unity we will have in heaven. One of my goals when training in any culture is to encourage and equip a church to reach out to everyone not just their own ethic group.

Sanon to move to Dominican Republic

Due to the volatility in Haiti Sanon and the Board of Global has decided to help Sanon move to Dominican Republic for the foreseeable future. From there he will be safer and will occa-sionally return to Haiti to follow up with churches there, as well be able to continue to train churches in the DR and branch out into other French countries in the Caribbean.

Burmese Connection

CUBA

Good news. Jose our director has been sick with uric acid in the blood but is not critically ill as was feared. Praise God he is on the mend and expected for full recovery assum-ing he can continue to get the medicine he needs.

Alberto pictured on the left has been a great asset to the ministry. He has joined us as translator, but has been doing much more, especially since Jose has been sick.

Some great things are waiting to happen when Cuba opens up again. Global’s mission has been to train and equip leaders and churches in the Global church growth/disciple making system. More than 500 churches have been trained. That will continue with added emphasis in church planting. My plans have been to create a church growth institute in the east of the country. That is now on the horizon. Please pray for a place to purchase and establish this training center and the funds to make it happen. More on these plans in the next few months.

Again, we cannot move forward with any plans due to the covid disruptions, now further complicated by widespread civil unrest seeking a change in government. It appears that a revolution is taking place. While the Christian churches are trying to become registered, the Government informed them that if any of the preachers par-ticipate in demonstrations, then the churches would not become registered. Getting registered means, they can be recognized as a legal entity.

Please pray

for the people of Cuba. It has been a long year of quarantine, food shortage, transportation shortage, medicine shortage, and various restrictions. At this point the borders are still closed with no end in sight. It is hard for us to under-stand at this point what they are going through each day.

Still working

We are still working with the preachers. When possible Alberto visits with the preachers we have trained and through Whatsapp I am able to talk with the leaders to encourage and do further follow up.

CAN YOU HELP US CONTINUE TO MAKE DISCIPLES THAT MAKE DISICPLES IN CUBA AND AROUND THE WORLD? PLEASE CONTACT ME TO LEARN MORE. WE NEED FUNDS TO BUY A TRAINING CEN-TER IN THE EAST OF CUBA.

Mission statement:

Our Mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ by fostering and advanc-ing ethnic, foreign, and national ministries and their leadership with readily available training, training materials and support; thus, enabling and equipping these ministries to, in turn, make disciples and to foster and advance others in making disciples of Jesus Christ in their country.

Making disciples is the heart of what we do. Christ’s last commission is a compelling command for everyone who follows Jesus as Lord. Global Church Growth Discipling Ministries exists to help in fulfilling this desire of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To accomplish our goal, we must be about evangelizing the world and helping them become and stay obedient disciples. Just saying a prayer and even being baptized is not genuine if there is no life-long commitment to follow Jesus. To do this, we believe at GCG that both the leadership and individuals in the church must be dedicated to this task of making disciples.

Vision:

My vision is to continue to equip national coordinators around the world to take on the mantle of developing and continuing the training and principles of the Church Growth System.

Strategy for mission growth:

Over the next 5 years God willing I will be traveling, identifying national coordinator leaders in each country. My goal is to equip them to carry on the work in their country. Also, to encourage and equip them to reach out to other countries and do the same. Two examples are our coordinators in Cuba and Haiti. They are equipped and able to do the work. Jose from Cuba has already traveled to Venezuela and began the training there. My coordinator Sanon in Haiti is equipped and has gone to Dominican Republic and shared with Haitian churches there. My plans are for Sanon to begin to travel to other French speaking countries to set up the system. We now have my curriculum in 11 different languages, and more are in process. We are developing a Church Growth institute in the east of Cuba. We plan to purchase a building to be able to train leaders. It will also be a ministry of benevolent outreach.

How does Global share the Gospel?

I have developed curriculum and system of evangelism and discipleship. In Cuba, each church that has used my evangelism system has doubled and tripled within their first year of using my training and methods. I train them to encourage every-one in the church to make a list of those needing the gospel and befriend them. Then trained evangelists visit and share the Gospel.

Thanks to all those who continue to support our international ministry.
Thanks to Phil Casey and LATM for their contribution in funding the trans-lating and printing of our books.

Our biggest training need is to establish a locally owned training center to help support directors in each country. Also, we need computers, phones, and projectors to equip the disciple-making team. Please contact me for details on how you can help.

Please send any contributions to: Global Church Growth PO Box 188 Sey-mour TN, 37862 or you can give on line through our website.

Check out our website at www.globalchurchgrowth.org