Plans for the month of Oct.

The Bible says, 'A man's heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps' (Pro 16:9). Notice the word 'step'. Our God directs our steps. We have some big dreams and plans that we hope to see happen in Oct. but the truth is so much of life is out of our control.

Here are a few things that are on our calendar for next month:

Oct. 5 We are starting a new student ministry at our church.
Pray for our Volunteer youth leaders. Abby and Alfonso

-- ----------------------------- Alfonso Torres -------------------------------

Oct. 6 We are sending a small mission team to Cuba.

Oct. We plan to start a celebration recovery ministry in Playa

Oct. 25 Mission and Ministry fair.

Please pray for these plan and the growth of our church here.

Great news on a bad news day!

With all the talk of the economic crisis in the US I thought you might want to hear some good news. Last night two young men in our small group both in their twenties prayed and asked God to come into their hearts. They said for years they were convinced that the bible was true but now they are converted…. Praise God! Pray for these tw new believers
Gorge and Pablo….. They have many friends who also need a new direction for eternity..


Pastor Danny left and Gorge on the right

Darla is visiting her family and our kids in the States this week. Buddy and I need your prayers. We had a good day Sunday in our worship services....

Our praise team in the Spainish service

Be the first to join our blog followers Pray team

I want to invite you to be one of the first to join our online blog prayer team. You can now click on "follow this blog" on the right and add your name to the list of people who are praying for the work here in Mexico. We have hundreds of folks praying for us but it would be a great encouragement to me to see your photo each day and know that you are praying for us so please add your name to the list by clicking on “follow this blog” then follow the online instruction. Thanks so much for your prayers.

We need your prayers this weekend. I’m meeting with a small group of young single adults tonight to talk about “what does it mean to be a true follower of Christ in Playa del Carmen”.

Tomorrow I am preach is both the English and Spanish services.. Thanks so much for your prayer and please join our team.

Helping the People of Cuba

Hurricanes Gustav and Ike together delivered the worst hurricane-related blow in Cuba's storm-battered history, causing "around US$5 billion" in collective damage, the communist government announced Monday night.
Nearly 450,000 homes were damaged and more than 63,000 of those completely wiped out. At least 200,000 Cubans have been left homeless and "hundreds of more families" will have to find temporary housing while authorities work to rebuild, according to a statement that took more than half an hour to read during state television's nightly newscast.
"The country has been devastated in its economic, social and housing infrastructure like never before," the government said.

Our church in here in Playa Del Carmen has a strong Cuban connection. Our worship pastor, Daniel and his wife Liam are from the Island. Our small church here in Mexico has very little to give. I feel like it is the "widows mite" but we are going to give and go.

Our plan is to try to send Daniel along with two other volunteer missionaries from our church to Cuba in the next few weeks with some much needed supplies. Please pray for the people of Cuba at this difficult time. Pray that God would use our "widows mite" We can't do it all but we can do something.

Praying for our friends and family in Texas

Our hearts and prayers go out to our friends who are facing hurricane Ike today. Our son Brandon lives in Dallas and we also have many friends in the Houston area. As you watch the news I hope you will stop and pray for the people who are suffering as a result of Ike. You are not hearing much about it but the Cuban people also needs your prayers. How do you pray for the suffering. It is easy to get overwhelmed with all the stuff going on in the world. I think a lot of us have a distorted mindset about prayer. We feel helpless and say, “All I can really do is pray.” WHAT? All you can do is call upon the Maker of heaven and earth?

Please Call upon the Father for the suffering and please also pray for our church in Playa Del Carmen.

Note from Missionary friend in Cuba

Yesterday hurricane Ike hit Cuba. Assessment teams from the Eastern Baptist Convention of Cuba are out today visiting the zones in their area heaviest hit by Ike. We are already getting some reports. The following is one we got this morning from one of the convention leaders.
Today I spoke to pastor Gabriel in Las Tunas (one of the towns hardest hit), they have fifty people in the church building, and he told me something that marked my life. He said, “Something incredible has happened. The houses of the Christians have been protected. Houses fell on one side and the other but those of the children of God are still standing.” Glory to God! At about three in the morning Gabriel heard screams and a lot of noise, the wind pounded around 120 miles per hour. The neighbors who lived next door to the church building were losing their house. Without thinking twice, the pastor went out, the wind dragging him along, but he was able to bring them back to the church and protect their lives.
In these difficult times we are trusting in God. God is going to do something good.
Please pray—
+ For those who are homeless, hungry and barely hanging onto hope, like Gabriel’s neighbors
+ For the assessment teams who are visiting the devastated areas, that they would be able to encourage and offer a word of witness to the suffering ones, and that they will have wisdom in discerning how to help.
+ Thank God for His faithfulness to the Family of Faith in good times and bad.

A Day of Worship and Meetings

I should have preached on hell today because it was so hot in our open air grass root church building in Paamul. The sermon topic today was "building a foundation for effective living". The Key is integrity A lot of people think integrity is just being honest but it is far more than just being honest. Integrity is when you really live what you preach. It is far easier to hear a sermon or preach a sermon than it is to live out the sermon.

After preaching at the two worship services Darla and I fed our leadership team at our house we fed about 25 people. We all had a great time..... We really are blessed with a great group of folks in the church.

Please pray for our Brothers in Cuba tonight as IKE is moving across the island.

New Small Groups starting this week.

Last night we had 10 people at a new small group at Dr. Daniel's house. On Monday we saw many new people coming to our small group at Mayo's. Pray for two of our groups that are meeting tonight.

We are moving forward as God leads the way.....

We need your Prayers, your Support and we need your church to bring a mission teams our way. I have seen many changes in my lifetime in the culture and life of the church in the US. It is sometimes easier to see change when you are away. One of the things I have witnessed is a shift from the church culture of the 70's and 80's that said it's all about "me". I will come to church but what am I going to get out of it. Then in the 90's we said it's all about building a big church. It was a shift from "me" to "we". Together we can be a great church..... Now in the last few years I am seeing another shift from ME and WE to "Them". This is a culture of service. The young people in your church today want to serve..... and we need their help... Please contact me and plan a trip today. Doug@church-in-playa.com