Today was a very special occasion for our church--we celebrated five years since we met for the first time, a small Bible study on a neighborhood porch down the road. We had only eight people with us that day; they had come after trusting Christ as their Savior on our door-to-door soulwinning efforts. We set up a few plastic chairs and a small keyboard. They seemed to like the cake I had baked; having refreshments helped break the ice. As we prepared to begin, Robbie passed out song sheets with the words to a few simple hymns. Singing them didn't go very smoothly; my piano skills were rusty, and our "congregation" didn't know any hymns yet. We would have to learn together!



Just before Robbie began his lesson, I quietly escorted the three children to the living room to hear a Bible story and color a picture. This would be our first children's class. There was no nursery yet, so I had to get pretty good at maneuvering the ABeka Book Flash-a-Cards while holding a baby on my hip.

Afterwards, we loaded everything up in our pick-up and headed home. We were so excited! Our first service! Little did we know how the Lord would continue to work...

On this April morning, five years later, we watched 252 men, women, boys, and girls file into the churchhouse, many of them arriving from our two bus routes. They came from all walks of life: a cobbler, a school counselor, a foreman, a vice-mayor, a city engineer, a seller of chickens. There are different races and different social classes. But they have one thing in common; a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

So much has happened in five years. Yes, the church has grown, but even better, the people have grown. Some of them are even burdened about becoming missionaries or pastors themselves.

When men's chorus sang, "Bueno Es El" ["He is Good"] just before the message, our hearts all sang with them. He has been so good to us. And He's not done yet. If He can do this much in five years, what can He do in ten? We can't wait to find out.



"Vision without action is merely a dream.
Action without vision just passes the time.
Vision WITH action can change the world."



To see a video of photos from Iglesia Bautista El Faro's five years of ministry, scroll to the bottom of the page.