Jr. High Camp

The Lord blessed us with a great week at Jr. High summer camp. James was the main speaker for the week. He had to drink a caffeine-loaded Coke before each service to make sure he had lots of energy for this age group! There were 4 professions of faith and over half of the campers made other important decisions. Praise the Lord for the tender hearts of these kids.

Amy thought she was just going to help her husband, but they needed another female counselor. So, she ended up pulling double duty! It was tiring, but a blessing to her to lead two girls to Christ and have an impact in the lives of the girls in her group.

Counseling Time

Our team flag…and the winners of the week!!

We are so proud of Jaden, who was chosen as one of the “Campers of the Week.” He was very encouraged to get to be around Christian boys his age.

Game Time

Campers of the week from each team

One of the campers from our church, Elias, memorized all the Scripture verses and was able to recite most of them in front of the whole camp for a chance to win extra points for his team. We are so proud of him!

We still have two more groups of campers left to go… Thank you for your prayers!

Vacation Bible School

Thank you for praying for our VBS this week. It was a HOT week, with Thursday and Friday reaching 97 degrees!! Even without central AC, that didn’t hinder God from doing His work! There were about 25 kids and 10 moms each day, and 3 professions of faith. Some of the visitors came because of a radio announcement, but most were invited by a church member.

We are so blessed to have such a great group of servants who were each in their place, on time, doing their part. Each leader poured their heart into their teaching, crafts, or games.

One of the highlights of the week was the mom’s craft table. We invited the mothers (or grandmother or nanny) to stay to make a craft and listen to the Gospel while their children were enjoying VBS. It’s really an amazing ministry as more unsaved ladies came every day! Many solid contacts were made and several promised to come to church on Sunday. Please pray as we follow up with each of these.

Below is a little summary video we put together.  Enjoy!

Thank you so much for your prayers!

By His grace alone,

James & Amy Greenwood

Christmas Banquet

Thank you for praying for the teens’ Christmas banquet. With the help and close supervision of the youth committee, ten teens planned and executed a Christmas banquet in order to raise funds to go to camp. They did a great job preparing and serving the food and raised about 50% of the needed funds!

Praise the Lord for seven unsaved visitors who heard the Gospel! Two indicated they would like to trust Christ. Please pray as we follow up with those.

We are also proud of our oldest son, who accompanied James for their first musical special together! You can see the video here.

Please pray for the teens as well as the children who are going to camp in January, that the Lord would begin to work in each of their lives and hearts even now.

By His grace alone,

James & Amy

2011 Ministry Summary

Summary of 2011

Stateside: We wrapped up a short furlough in February with basically a zero net support gain, maintaining approximately a 91% support average. We held 23 meetings in those 20 weeks, 4 of which were for new support.

Evangelism: We held special evangelistic meetings throughout the year for the church’s one year anniversary, a sacred music concert, monthly ladies’ meetings, monthly youth meetings, and our first missions conference. For evangelism training, we taught the Netcasters course on Wednesday nights. Several folks have made salvation decisions in these meetings and on visitation. Everyone who shows interest receives follow-up by either the pastor or a church member, but only a handful have shown lasting fruit so far.

Discipleship: Our discipleship program continues to be the church’s primary strength. We held two semesters of Sunday discipleship and Saturday youth discipleship as well as 10 weeks of one-on-one with various new believers. The church body has faced several difficulties from within and without. Praise God for wisdom and patience in dealing with these situations.

Training Nationals: There are three men in James’ Thursday night deacons’ training. They have studied three leadership books and have been involved in visitation and new believers’ discipleship. The church will vote on the deacon candidates in January. We are still praying for a pastoral candidate.

Church Building: In September we began a second service to accommodate for growth. Between the two services, the church is averaging 85 in attendance. The Argentines have given almost 50% of the total $20,000 raised for the purchase of property. We continue to search for land in the city center and are also talking with the owners of our current location about the possibility of buying.

Goals for 2012

Following God’s leading, our goals for 2012 are:

· Begin Saturday morning evangelism door-to-door within a 3 mile radius of the church

· Continue small group and one-on-one discipleship

· After the deacons are voted in, continue leadership training as well as visitation times

· Continue to raise funds for the purchase of church property.

Prayer Requests

· A national pastor to take over this church plant

· Wisdom and funds to purchase church property – our rental contract expires in June!

· Spiritual growth and unity within the church body

· Spiritual and physical protection of and provision for our family

Another FIRST…

It seems we’ve been passing so many milestones of “firsts” lately – first anniversary, first deacons in training, and first church wedding, just to name a few. We celebrated another first this weekend – the first quinceñera in our church. In case you are wondering, a quinceñera is a type of “coming out” party for 15 year-old girls in the Latin culture. Traditionally, the party involves much dancing, alcohol, and the father spending way more money than he can afford for the sake of impressing his friends.

This was the first Christian quinceñera for most of our church people to attend and certainly the first to plan for the family of the birthday girl. So, we talked through each aspect of the event to evaluate how it can glorify God in every way. We are thrilled to say that the music, program, dress, and general atmosphere did honor the Lord and glorify His name. Instead of the birthday girl being focused on herself and her wishes, she was more concerned that her unsaved guests hear the Gospel and accept Him as Savior! That is God’s working in her life and the godly influence of her parents! We were also glad to see so many church folks pitch in to help out the family with the preparations and clean-up so the parents could actually enjoy the party too!

James giving a challenge to the birthday girl and the Gospel to the unsaved

Church update:

· Praise the Lord for continued growth. We’ve maintained an average of 85 since November. Anyone who’s had to go to two services to accommodate growth knows it’s not any fun, but certainly worth it! There is no way 85 could fit comfortably in our building.

· Yesterday there were 30 children in children’s church. No, we don’t have a bus ministry and there aren’t even kids who live nearby since we’re in a commercial district. There are just a lot of families bringing their kids, nephews, and nieces. Lauren brought her neighbor friend too. Later, the mom told Lauren that the girl really enjoyed church and that “Lauren’s daddy is a really good singer!”

Update on Land Fund

We continue to search for property, but everything we have found so far is either too small or way out of our league financially. Please keep praying for God to show us His will in this matter. To this date, the Argentine church folks have given over $9,665 which is almost 50% of the grand total of $20,520 presently on hand!!

If you have questions about this project, you can read more details here. If the Lord would have you to give toward this need, you can send a check to Baptist World Mission marked “Greenwood Church Land Fund.” If you would like to give a smaller amount each month instead of a one-time gift, Baptist World Mission has simplified that process with automated giving: http://baptistworldmission.org/automated-giving.html.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving. We were busily finishing our lesson preparations for our perspective Wednesday night classes. (James is currently teaching a course on godly music and Amy is giving a teacher training class.) Of course in Argentina, life does not revolve around a North American holiday such as Thanksgiving, so our church plans proceeded as usual. However, somewhere in the midst of pondering the meaning of Thanksgiving, we realized that it’s not just a North American holiday, but a Biblical mandate for believers to give thanks. “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Col. 2:6-7).

Halt! Change of plans — Let’s have a good old-fashioned praise service at church tonight! And that is what we did…

We formed a circle around the room (something that we have had to stop doing because of the amount of people now attending Wednesday nights) and just spent the evening singing, reading verses on thanksgiving, giving thanks to God, and praying.

It was so wonderful to hear testimony after testimony of how God has been working in each one’s life – folks are growing spiritually; fathers are leading their homes for the first time; families are becoming united; wounds are being healed; and the Lord is taking first place! Praise God for His work among this sweet group of believers! I believe it was unanimous that this will become a new tradition at Iglesia Bautista Independiente del Pilar!

As a family, we are taking the day to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with other North Americans. We’re planning on having another praise service – this time in English – and reading a Thanksgiving Declaration from George Washington. So, in whatever corner of the world where you may celebrate Thanksgiving this year, we pray God would give you a day of “declaring his works with rejoicing” (Ps. 107:22).

By His grace alone,

James & Amy Greenwood

The Family: Love is Spelled T-I-M-E

The Family: Love is Spelled T-I-M-E

Pastor Brent Armstrong, Missions Conference 2011

Stewardship

Saturday - Stewardship

part 1 –

part 2 –

Coming Soon….

Sunday AM - The Purity of a Mighty Church

Sunday PM - The Family: Love is Spelled T-I-M-E

The Purpose of a Mighty Church

Here are some videos of the preaching times during the 2011 IBIP Missions Conference, preached by Pastor Brent Armstrong.

Friday – The Purpose of a Mighty Church

 

Missions Conference Answered Prayers!

We are praising God for working in a mighty way over the past several days!

Our special speakers, Pastor Brent and Shelli Armstrong, from Tucson Baptist Temple, were supposed to arrive Wednesday morning. We had planned for them to share their testimonies with our church people on Wednesday night during the mid-week service. However, they were delayed by 24 hours due to a mechanical failure with their plane. Everyone showed up on Wednesday evening expecting to get to meet our special speaker, but God had other plans! James explained what had happened and then asked that we all just pray, one by one, for the conference. As a church body we literally cried out to God, begging Him to work in our hearts through the preaching of His Word and for souls to be saved. After an hour and a half we had to quit because it was getting late, but those who didn’t have young children probably could have stayed for at least another hour.

On Thursday morning we picked up the Armstrong’s from the airport and allowed them to rest up after their extended trip. (You can read about their journey on Pastor Armstrong’s blog.)

Why are YOU Having a Missions Conference?

Several folks have asked why a church plant in a foreign field would have a missions conference. That’s a good question. The Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 is given to EVERY believer, not just those in the USA. However, the focus of this conference was a bit different than the average missions conference in the States. The focus here was mostly on answering God’s call to serve Him full-time rather than supporting missionaries (but we’ll get to that soon!). God answered prayer and greatly worked through the preaching. One couple approached us after the first night saying, “We’re willing to do whatever God wants us to…where do we start?” Amen! There was a good turn-out among the members at the meetings Friday through Sunday.

Evangelistic Opportunities

On Friday afternoon we had an evangelistic ladies meeting. There were 10 visitors, one of whom trusted Christ! She is already scheduled to begin Basics for Believers with one our members.

On Saturday afternoon we had a men’s cook-out. There were at least 6 men visiting, one of whom was one of our neighbors!

On Monday evening we held a Business Ethics seminar. Because Pastor Armstrong was a successful businessman before going into the ministry, we wanted to use that as an outreach tool. It was advertised on the radio and open to the community, so honestly, we had no idea if there would be 5 or 50 people there. Actually, there were over 30 adults! The response was phenomenal. People were blown away by the concepts and Biblical principles presented.

This family brought a total of 11 first-time visitors during the week! Please pray for us as we follow up on those who need a visit.

Hearts Overflowing with Thanksgiving

We are so thankful for the ministry of Pastor and Shelli. They were a tremendous encouragement to us personally and in the ministry. They were a blessing to our church folks in their speaking and with their examples. We thank God for the work He did through their visit to Argentina. (You can read their summary of their trip here.) Thank you to the folks at TBT for lending us your pastor and pastor’s wife for a week! We look forward to reporting more of the fruit of this trip in the near future!

By His grace alone,

James and Amy Greenwood

Missions Conference

Pastor Brent and Shelli Armstrong

The preparation is done. The speaker has arrived (after a 24 hour plane delay!). The time has come for Missions Conference 2011! Please continue to pray for God to use the preaching of His Word to convict, touch, and work in hearts this week. Pray that He would call men, women, teens, and children out of this church body to serve Him full time. Pray that He would call a man to serve as the national pastor of this church. Please pray for several evangelistic activities during the week as well – a ladies’ meeting on Friday, a men’s cook-out on Saturday, and a seminar on business ethics on Monday.

FIRST Missions Conference!

We are gearing up for the FIRST missions conference in the history of Iglesia Bautista Independiente del Pilar. This will also be a first for a majority of the church folks! We are praying, praying, praying that God will use the preaching of His Word to call many out of this body of believers to serve Him full time as a missionary or pastor. We have been praying for several years now, well before we ever moved to Pilar, that God would raise up a national to pastor this church plant. Please pray with us!

A supporting pastor and his wife, Brent and Shelli Armstrong, from Tucson, Arizona have graciously offered to come down for the conference. The Armstrong’s have been friends in the ministry since our deputation days and we are thankful for their godly examples. Pastor Armstrong will be the keynote speaker. He will also speak at an evangelistic men’s cook-out and teach a seminar on Christian ethics. Shelli will speak to our ladies at an evangelistic ladies’ meeting. Pray for their traveling mercies and health, especially with their busy schedule!

Folks, there is a spiritual battle going on in our midst. We are armoring ourselves, praying, and watching (Eph. 6:10-18). We covet your prayers as Satan continues to lance his fiery darts at us, our ministry, and those to whom we are ministering.

We know that many of our supporting churches are having their missions conferences at this time as well. We are praying for God to work in and through each of those. It’s been precisely said that “An annual missions conference is not just a meeting for missionaries;it is an annual business meeting to determine the destiny of the heathen.”

By His grace alone,

James & Amy

New Religious Survey

La Nación, an Argentine newspaper, recently published the results of a religious survey. The results show that 76% of the population in Argentina still hold to Catholic beliefs (although only about 20% actually practice their faith). This is a dramatic drop from the 92% from 10 years ago. So, the question is, What are the Catholics converting to?

Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that Evangelicals now make up 9% of the population. That is up 7% from a decade ago.

The bad news is that those who would call themselves “indifferent”, in other words they don’t even profess to be atheists, is at a startling 11% — a 9% increase! How sad that these folks have become so disenchanted with the Catholic church and have turned to nothing! Is it because no one has shared with them the hope that is in Christ alone? God has placed within each one of our hearts a God-sized hole that only He can fill. These poor souls are looking to fill that hole with something that can never satisfy, whether it be riches, power, fame, drugs, alcohol, risk-taking, or even earthly relationships. Dear Christian, it is up to us to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with every one we possibly can. It is up to us to live our lives according to the truths of God’s Word in order to be salt and light in this world.

“The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:2)

Update on Land Fund

 

Link to:“Investment in Eternity” video

To this date, the Argentine church folks have given a phenomenal amount of over $8,011! A few supporting churches have already given toward this need, making a grand total of $18,865 presently in hand. We are actively searching for property in the city center. We know the Lord will provide the right property at the right time. If you have questions about this project, you can read more details here.

Relying on God’s provision, our goal is to raise $100,000 for the property before June 2012. Would you pray and ask God how you can be involved? If the Lord would have you to give toward this need, you can send a check to Baptist World Mission marked “Greenwood Church Land Fund.” If you would like to give a smaller amount each month instead of a one-time gift, Baptist World Mission has simplified that process with automated giving: http://baptistworldmission.org/automated-giving.html.

Ladies’ Tea

The Lord blessed our ladies’ evangelistic tea and specifically answered our prayers! The ladies were united in spirit, focusing on winning the lost visitors who came. There were 7 tables, each one with a hostess who was in charge of the setting and decorating the table, serving those at her table, as well as leading the discussion after the devotional with target questions. Our speaker was Raquel Dominguez, a dear friend and pastor’s wife in a sister church where we spent our first term. She did an excellent job of teaching on mothering and fully explaining the Gospel. She brought about 20 or so ladies from her church, so there ended up being about 70 ladies all together. About ten of them were unsaved contacts – friends, family members, neighbors – from Pilar who our church people brought. Praise God for these ladies who heard the Gospel! Pray God’s Word would penetrate their hearts!

prayer requests

Dear Praying Friends,

This Saturday, 10/1, the ladies are having a Mother’s Day Tea. (Yes, Mother’s Day is in October in Argentina.) It is primarily an evangelistic event. The ladies of the church are excited and have been inviting their family members, friends, neighbors, and even the mothers of their children’s classmates.

· Please pray that the Lord would work in the hearts of the unsaved even now.

· Pray that the event would go smoothly, without undue distractions that might take away from the message.

· Pray that the Gospel would be clearly and precisely presented.

· Pray for a spirit of unity and purpose among the members present.

This has already been a great week of spiritual victory. James went to visit a man named Miguel, the son of a shop owner we know here in town. He asked for a visit because there was Satanic cult paraphernalia buried in his backyard and he felt oppressed by its presence. Well, the short story is that God gave James a divine opportunity and both Miguel and his girlfriend got saved right there in that same backyard! What had been a place of Satanic worship became the site over which the angels rejoiced! Please pray they will begin to attend church and show signs of growth.

By His grace alone,

James & Amy

systematic studies

The Lord has brought us two new families recently and they both want to join the church! They are both from Pentecostal church backgrounds, but like the many others in our congregation, came to the realization that the Pentecostal preaching and practice does not line up with what God’s Word teaches. They were eager to get involved in some kind of discipleship. For the benefit and maximum growth of all, we’ve implemented a gradual, systematic discipleship program.

· Step 1 – Basics for Believers – 10 lessons covering topics like salvation, baptism, and daily devotions. This is usually taught in the person’s home, by us or another member.

· Step 2 – New Members’ Class – 6 weeks of Baptist distinctives, taught by the Pastor.

· Step 3 – Advanced Discipleship – 12-13 week, semester-based studies on Sundays, required for anyone who desires to serve in the church. This is taught on Sunday’s (like a Sunday School hour) by us or another member.

· Step 4 – become a small group leader – whether adults, teens, or children.

We visited both of these families and gave them the Basics for Believers booklet to start studying. We’ll set up a time to meet with them weekly to go through the book with them. This is a great way to get to know each other as well!

On the mission field, you really can’t take anything for granted. People grow up with no Christian teaching or training. Those from other church backgrounds have been confused by conflicting faith and practice. Systematic discipleship is so vital for a healthy church body!

Second Service Launch

Today was the big day to launch our second service! We were simply out of space and the best solution was to add an additional service. This would not only give more space to grow, but the alternate time would allow those who can’t come in the morning the opportunity to attend in the afternoon. Sure enough, a new family came in the afternoon! The members who volunteered to switch to the afternoon in order to help with ushering and teaching children’s church are excited too! They said it’s like being a part of a brand new church plant and they can’t wait for the auditorium to fill up all over again in the afternoon service!

Another advantage is the discipleship classes. We have men and women’s classes before the morning services (what would normally be the Sunday School hour). In order to be able to offer discipleship classes before the afternoon service, we had to get help! So, the morning group is taking turns teaching their classes and we are teaching the afternoon classes. For all the church body this is a stretching exercise that will help us to not only grow numerically, but also in our service and our faith. Pray for us!

Another praise is that two new families have been coming for about a month and have expressed they’d like to join! We’ll be starting that process with them this week.

Thank you for your faithful prayers,

James & Amy

Church Planting Strategy

A few supporters have asked why we need to purchase property now, at this young stage of the church plant.  Here are the major reasons why, taken from http://ibamissions.wordpress.com/ministry/…

The Current Need - With a church established and growing, our next major goal is to purchase property and build a building.  The strategy in this is in order to:

• Give room for growth – We have outgrown our current facility and are going to two Sunday services.  Having an adequate building that gives plenty of room for growth will free up that time for other disciple-making opportunities.
• Establish a permanent presence in the community – In Argentina, many “evangelical” (the name given to any non-Catholic church) churches rent a facility and come and go quickly. However, owning property gives a sense of permanence in the community and security to its members.
• Be wise stewards of our resources -  Loans are not only difficult to obtain in Argentina, but their rates fluctuate and can run 30% or more.  Rent is increased 10% per year and is renegotiated after 3 years.  This makes it unaffordable and unfeasible to stay in a rented facility for more than 3 years.
• Prepare the groundwork to hand over the work to a national pastor – Once the church is alleviated of the burden of a rental contract, it frees up funds to pay a national pastor’s salary.  We want the church to be prepared as soon as possible.

Out of Our Comfort Zone

Church planters say when a building reaches 80% capacity, it’s considered full because visitors feel uncomfortable trying to find a seat and are hesitant to return. Our somewhat awkward facility seats 75 people and we currently average 66 in attendance. In that regard, our building has reached its comfort level! Two core families have agreed to switch to our second service beginning September 18. Pray that this effort will allow us to reach as well as accommodate more people on Sundays.

First Church Wedding

One of the greatest joys of ministry is seeing new believers take important steps of obedience. One such couple, Jaime and Delia, asked to get married at church. This was James first wedding to officiate! (You can read the testimonies of Jaime and Delia here.)

Here in Argentina, if the couple is not married in the Catholic church, they must be married “legally” at the local municipality office first. About three weeks prior, the municipality scheduled their civil wedding for Friday, September 2. So, we all scrambled to help the couple prepare. First and foremost, James began premarital counseling with them. Amy began coordinating the program and volunteers from within the church. Instead of a bridal shower, the church people did almost everything for the wedding and reception –- photography, decorations, food, and serving. Even our kids pitched in, playing the piano for the prelude. It was a lovely, God-honoring event. Several church members who never had a church wedding (just a civil one) later asked when they could schedule their church wedding!

Jaden and Cori (Lauren’s friend) playing Canon in D, one of the pieces for the prelude.

James officiating his first wedding.

Children’s Day

Sunday, August 21 was Children’s Day in Argentina. This day is usually accompanied by gifts, children’s fairs, and family get-togethers.

At church, the teens had prepared a lesson to act out for the kids in children’s church. They did a WONDERFUL job making the day special for the children as well as fulfilling the purpose of children’s church – teaching God’s Word. We are so proud of their effort, creativity, and demonstration of service.

Agustina Narrating the Lesson

18 kids in Children’s Church!

We usually have visitors on Children’s Day from unchurched families that just want their kids in church that day for various reasons. This day we had a good amount of visitors, boosting our attendance up to 72. (It was a good thing the teens were out with the kids, because it would have been a tight squeeze in the auditorium!) Praise the Lord for His goodness and blessings on this church plant!

5 Reasons Preachers Quit

 

 

 

5 Reasons Preachers Quit | Ministry127.

This is a great, concise article that outlines ways you can pray for your pastor, church staff, and your missionaries!

Sacred Concert Video

Here is the video of the Marantha sacred concert Friday, August 5, 2011.