Wednesday 26 October 2011

Reign in Spain


“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” Ephesians 3:20

We arrived in Kansas City in mid August to see our granddaughter’s birth and to raise support. We were asking God to allow us to arrive in time for her arrival and to draw people into His mission in Spain. Both were a success. Tinnley Marie Baker came into the world August 24th beautiful and healthy, and we have gained support and prayer partners! God has done exceeding abundantly above all we asked. Praise His name and to Him be glory forever and ever!!!
The first full day back in KC we met with Jay, our missions pastor, to discuss our goals for what we thought was to be a one-month stay. After looking at our Avant account he said it looks like you need to raise $15,000 and another $1,200 in monthly support. Our Avant account was $14,400 in the red. This was due to a monthly support shortage over the past 12 months and plane tickets back to the states. We want to thank Avant Ministries for carrying that burden for us.
That same week we met with the executive committee at Avant and they confirmed the task and added that we needed to be prepared to stay as long as it took to get the required support. This was not easy for us to hear. We have a team and a work to do in Spain, how could we stay longer than one month? This drove us to our knees to plead with our Father to provide as soon as possible.
Over the next few weeks it became clear that this was not so much about “our” support, but rather “His” mission. God made it clear that we needed to rally the troops to join us in prayer to see God work in Spain. Together with our church planting team in Spain we have already come to the conclusion that if anything happens in Spain it will only happen through “much prayer and fasting”. We are in a cosmic battle for souls and Spain is firmly in the grip of our enemy! So we set out to boldly ask God’s people for support both financial and intercessory prayer.
That’s when God started showing up. So may things happened over the next few weeks that made it clear we would need to extend our stay by a few weeks just to participate in what He was doing. Between our sending church, Graceway (formerly KCBT) and our sister church Midtown Baptist Temple it was non-stop crazy times!
Ally and I arrived back in Spain October 11th. Our Avant account is now back in the black. God has abundantly blessed above all that we asked!
There are so many people that we would love to mention right now and thank you for all your hard work. But we would not want you to have your reward here…it will be much better when our Lord and King blesses you in secretJ. But we would like to mention the events that have impacted us…Our churches love for mission and Kingdom work, our sister churches Tuesday night prayer ministry, all the fundraisers, the BBQ at the lake, the potluck, the Raytown Bible study, the garage sale, the many, many brothers and sisters that took part in these events and the many that have committed to pray for us and the work in Spain…THANK YOU!
And finally pray this week for us as we move to a new apartment. There are so many things to do. Our lease is up on October 30th and God has blessed and given us a new apartment a little bigger and much nicer for the same rent. It is sparsely furnished so we will be roughing it for a while but praying for funds to come in so we can purchase the necessary furnishings.
Pray also for Mayte (30), she is a Spanish friend of ours that has heard the gospel many times, is a schoolteacher and last week she lost the feeling in half of her face. Pray with us for healing.
Pray also for fruit! These are the names of our teams’ closest contacts…Miguel, Mayte (Miguels sister), Alberto, Gemma, Rosa, Carlos, Omar. A few weeks ago our team got together to see how many contacts we have made as a team, that number is 100 souls!
Ally and I want thank you for investing in souls here in Spain.

It’s all for Him,

Steve & Ally

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