Ron on the Road - London, England
Ron is on the road again, this time his travels have taken him to the United Kingdom. Here's an update from "Ron on the road""This past weekend I was able to participate in the 25th anniversary of Dundonald Church in London England. This church is the home church for the Co-Mission church planting network. Spanish River partners with this church and network to plant churches in the London area.The senior pastor of the Dundonald Church is Richard Coekin, it is through his leadership and vision that they have been able to plant over 16 churches in London. They also have partnered to plant churches in South Africa and Belarus.On Saturday evening we attended a special dinner to celebrate what God has done, and is doing through the efforts of the Co-Mission network.
On Sunday morning we visited Hope Community Church in Sutton. This church is one of the churches that SRC supports financially. Mark Fossey leads this church and is pictured here along with his family.
On Sunday afternoon we met with Jay Mariner, who is planting a church in the Brixton community of London. Brixton is very diverse community that is dominated by an afro-carribean community. Jay's comes from an interesting background where he became a christian while serving time in prison.He and his wife have six children and plan on launching this new church in September of this year.
Please pray for Richard, Mark and Jay and their families has they serve in London"
Prayer Focus: Nathan Riley & Hub City Church, Albany
Wanted to fill you and the SRC family in on some urgent news and prayer requests. This last week has been crazy, this last 12 hours even more so. As you maybe knew, we launched Hub City Church back in January in an old grocery store that we were able to lease. It was a great spot, and after a lot of work it started to feel like home to us. Two weeks ago we were told to vacate because the owner had sold the building... Bummer. So we spent all last week packing moving, cleaning, etc. But God provided, and we were able to relocate to South Albany High School. This last Sunday was our first in this new venue and it was great! It was the most well attended gathering since our launch, and we loved it! As an added bonus, they allowed us to store all of our stuff on sight (no need to trailer anything!). I awoke to a phone call at 5am this morning informing me that a 4-alarm fire had been reported at South Albany High School. The building was leveled and declared a total loss. And 100% of all that we own as a church (sound gear, instruments, kids stuff, hospitality, decor, etc) was completely destroyed in addition to the building where we were planning to host our Easter services. We now have no gear, no venue, and no immediate plan, though we are working on all of this right now. I wanted to send this email in hopes that you and the SRC family could hold us up in prayer. It's been a trying season, and while we believe God is with us it is a rough time.
Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for the support and prayers.
Peace, Nathan Riley Lead Pastor, Hub City Church Albany, Oregon
Eurasia Partners Update
Members of the local church organized a Christmas camp called Give Hope, for orphans at a local orphanage. This boarding school has 155 children, most of them (80%) are orphans with no relatives: children without parents or relatives in general (died, deprived of parental rights, etc.), and the rest 20% have only one of the guardians (only a father or a mother, or relatives) who for various reasons cannot provide for their children or take care of them.
Our Christmas project consisted of several parts. The first part of the project was a Vacation Bible School (VBS) itself and a final part was a concert with the presentation of gifts to the children.
Our team consisted of twenty three people. Fifteen members of the team were Christians from our church. The rest of the team was composed by volunteers: youth and teenagers who either did not know God, or had only a small knowledge of Him.
The main goal was to draw children closer to God, strengthening their knowledge about Jesus Christ. Also through this camp we wanted to show the orphans what real Christmas was, and how the birth of Jesus Christ affected the world, and in particular all of us.
Did we succeed? Absolutely!
Orphans heard the Gospel, received a lot of positive emotions and at the end each one received a wonderful Christmas gift that was lovingly collected from the residents of the city. Christians have been able to get out of their comfort zone, serve society and respond to their needs. It was nice that eight unbelievers guys, who first visited as volunteers, they all became friends with the Christians of our church. Of these eight, seven young men began to attend small groups, Sunday services and other activities of our church. And just four days ago one girl from the team of volunteers repented. This is a victory! Serving God by participating in the needs of society, we sow the seed of the Gospel to unbelievers, and it brings a good result!
Thank you, friends, for your prayers and financial support of the Christmas VBS! We together were able to make a Christmas celebration for orphans and show the love of God for these young children who most need it!
Galina, a teacher in the orphanage: “Thank you for the work that you do. It was nice to see a lot of smiles and happy faces here in the orphanage. These small gifts let children think that they are not alone in this world. This is a good project, and you do well. In this world, it seems that our orphans are forsaken by our state and our nation. On your arrival time goes differently. We begin to understand that we are not forgotten, and we are needed. And children become kinder and more open.”
Vision 2020 Bethel Gospel Church Hyderabad, India
Pastor Sudakar has been partnering with Spanish River Church since 2010. Hear Pastor Sudakar discuss the impact of SRC, David Nicholas and how teaching the Bad News and Good News has had in Telanga State, India and his vision for the future.
News from Cuba
SRC Friends,
During my trip to Cuba in mid January, I had interesting conversations with leaders regarding US-Cuba relations. Read some brief descriptions of what we discovered in the newsletter below. (click on the link below)
Pray that God will continue to lead these leaders as new opportunities and possible threats affect their ministry.
Allen
J. Allen Thompson, PhD
