Desert Streams Ministries

We had a great turnout this year for the Advanced School of Ministry conference in Cuernavaca. Almost 900 pastors, leaders and others involved in ministry, gathered with us during the four days of worship, teaching, ministry and fellowship. Pastor Bob MacGregor was our keynote speaker with the theme “Focus”. Together we focused on the different aspects of our relationship with the Lord and Christian ministry.

Sara and I each taught a session during the seminar. Sara’s was “Focus on Healing Ministerial Disillusions”, and she did a great job ministering to the hearts of those who had been wounded in ministry. She ended in a time of prayer and healing ministry to broken hearted leaders. I taught a class called “Focus on Social Media”, dealing with the benefits of using social media in ministry and also the dangers and precautions we must be aware of.

The conference included a total of about 18 teaching sessions, concluding with a graduation ceremony where 14 students celebrated their five years of study and received a bachelor’s degree in theology.

I interpreted, as I usually do, for our keynote speaker, Bob MacGregor. Both Sara and I were involved in preparing the 200+ page book that each pastor received containing the full teaching notes. This book can then be used by each pastor or leader as a resource for their own teaching/preaching. We also offered the book in PDF format for those who want to keep a copy on the tablet or iPad.

For the last several years I have been in charge of the online registration for the conference. This past June I redesigned the online registration program and interface to work better with mobile phones. Almost two-thirds of those who attended used the new system to register online. The online registration helps us avoid long lines at the conference. Those who attend only need to show a QR code on the screen of their mobile phone and can then receive their books and access to the conferences. Before we had online registration, the people would often have to stand in line for one half hour or more to get in. This year there were virtually no lines at all. This change and been a blessing for everyone!

Our team leaders, Bill and Gerda Brown, we both able to do their sessions, although Gerda has been experiencing health problems. The Lord strengthened her, and she was able to minister very well. She taught on the theme “Personal Focuses of Leaders” and used her husband’s expertise with the bow and arrow to illustrate her point.

Now that the conference is past, we’ll soon have a meeting with the leadership team and start planning for our 2017 seminar.

We started this year with a remodeling job in our church building. As many of you may know, we have been doing two Sunday morning services for several years now in order to have seating for everyone. However, we have felt the need to get the entire group together once again. After talking this over with our leadership team this past fall, we decided that we would try to make our building a bit larger. In order to do this, we removed the divisions that we had originally built to create a nursery and a storage area. In this way we were able to gain about 70% seating capacity and go back to a single Sunday morning service.

We are blessed to have several architects in our church, and one in particular who has had many years of experience. Gabriel, our worship leader, has worked on several large projects over the years, including the construction of a Sam’s Club, the Mexico City airport, and several housing developments. He has graciously offered his time, knowledge, and talent to make the changes.

A team of several volunteers gathered for the work during the days following Christmas and News Years. They worked very hard to have everything ready for Sunday services. We relocated the nursery to a property just three doors down the street, where we rented a second warehouse in which we will be building the children’s and youth ministry centers. This will be a good change for our children’s and youth ministries, as well. We plan to also use the classrooms for adult Bible school classes during the week.

This morning we had our end of year thanksgiving service. It was a time to thank God for all of His blessings during 2015 and then eat together with our church family.

[salbum folder=”End of Year Thanksgiving Service 2015″]

This morning we had two beautiful worship services. Here are a few pictures of the second service. Today I preached on God’s protection over those who dwell in His presence from Psalm 91.

[salbum folder=”Sunday September 14 2014″]

On Sunday, September 7, I was invited by Pastor Oscar Moedano to share with their church in Cerro Colorado in the morning, and then also to minister in a new church they are planting in Pachuca. This was their official “Inauguration” service in their newly rented building. Please pray that this new work would be blessed and quickly grow into a healthy new congregation.

Luke 10:2: Therefore said he unto them, 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.

[salbum folder=”Church Plant Pachuca”]