December Prayer Letter
(For those of you who have seen the print copy already, there are some updates in bold below.)
Dear Praying Friends,
As we look back at the past year, the Lord’s blessings are so readily apparent. The Lord has blessed us in our family life, in our ministry and in our walk with God. Yet as we look forward at the Christmas season, we realize that the greatest blessing of all came with the incarnation of the Word, who brought salvation and life for mankind. As I have preached through 1 John, the amazing love of our God has become especially real to me. “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God.”
As many of you know, David Benjamin Bixby was born on September 20th. He seems to be growing so quickly. He has become a very smiley little boy. Aaron and Ana continue to love their little brother to death (that would be a quite literal statement sometimes if not for the timely intervention of their mother!). We invite you to visit our blog: www.spoudason.blogspot.com in order to see family pictures and read ongoing family and ministry updates.
Iglesia Bautista Genesaret, the church the University works closely with and which we attend, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this December. In honor of that occasion, the Frank Garlocks, of Majesty Music, and Flay Allens, missionaries to Spain who helped start the University’s music program, have come to celebrate. On December 10th, the church will celebrate its anniversary with different activities, including the Christmas cantata The Greatest Gift with drama, choir and orchestra. We are in the midst of final rehearsals this week. The church is also seeking to raise $100,000 to purchase several lots of land on which to build the new church auditorium. Please pray that the church will reach its goal and that the funds for a new auditorium will also arrive quickly. (Update: the church raised $80,000. With a $35,000 matching gift, the total came to $115,000. Praise the Lord!)
We continue to minister at the mission church in Santa Mónica. We are excited about the increased attendance at the adult Thursday night Bible studies. Our main limitation at this time is space. Please continue to pray that the Lord will provide a meeting place so that we can not only expand our space but expand the number of services. Some of you may have read my blog about Samuel, the teenager who ran away from home and showed up in a city about six hours away. He is back at home but has shown some definite coldness towards the things of God. Pray that the Lord open his eyes to the pleasures of God’s way and the frustrations of life without Christ. Starting in January, we are planning to start six week Bible studies in several homes. These studies are evangelistically oriented. Pray that hearts will be receptive and lives will be permanently transformed for His glory. (Update: we had a special activity with children and parents on Saturday, Dec. 16th. We had over 100 children and about 15-20 parents. Several parents made professions of faith and asked that we continue to visit them! Pray that the discipleship work will go well.)
With the Garlocks and Allens here, the University music program had a concert. We were pleased and excited to see the obvious development in our music program. The Lord has blessed us with great musicians to teach and lead our music program. Christian and Noemí Lindsey are doing a wonderful job. Please pray for them next year as they will be returning to the United States to raise support in order to continue their ministry here at the University. As classes wind down (this semester I have been teaching Christian Growth, Greek Syntax, Homiletics and Christian Family), I praise the Lord for the things I have learned, and for the small part He has allowed us to play in the spiritual and academic preparation of young people who will serve the Lord faithfully.
Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to visit our family blog to stay up-to-date.
The Bixbys
(For those of you who have seen the print copy already, there are some updates in bold below.)
Dear Praying Friends,
As we look back at the past year, the Lord’s blessings are so readily apparent. The Lord has blessed us in our family life, in our ministry and in our walk with God. Yet as we look forward at the Christmas season, we realize that the greatest blessing of all came with the incarnation of the Word, who brought salvation and life for mankind. As I have preached through 1 John, the amazing love of our God has become especially real to me. “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God.”
As many of you know, David Benjamin Bixby was born on September 20th. He seems to be growing so quickly. He has become a very smiley little boy. Aaron and Ana continue to love their little brother to death (that would be a quite literal statement sometimes if not for the timely intervention of their mother!). We invite you to visit our blog: www.spoudason.blogspot.com in order to see family pictures and read ongoing family and ministry updates.
Iglesia Bautista Genesaret, the church the University works closely with and which we attend, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this December. In honor of that occasion, the Frank Garlocks, of Majesty Music, and Flay Allens, missionaries to Spain who helped start the University’s music program, have come to celebrate. On December 10th, the church will celebrate its anniversary with different activities, including the Christmas cantata The Greatest Gift with drama, choir and orchestra. We are in the midst of final rehearsals this week. The church is also seeking to raise $100,000 to purchase several lots of land on which to build the new church auditorium. Please pray that the church will reach its goal and that the funds for a new auditorium will also arrive quickly. (Update: the church raised $80,000. With a $35,000 matching gift, the total came to $115,000. Praise the Lord!)
We continue to minister at the mission church in Santa Mónica. We are excited about the increased attendance at the adult Thursday night Bible studies. Our main limitation at this time is space. Please continue to pray that the Lord will provide a meeting place so that we can not only expand our space but expand the number of services. Some of you may have read my blog about Samuel, the teenager who ran away from home and showed up in a city about six hours away. He is back at home but has shown some definite coldness towards the things of God. Pray that the Lord open his eyes to the pleasures of God’s way and the frustrations of life without Christ. Starting in January, we are planning to start six week Bible studies in several homes. These studies are evangelistically oriented. Pray that hearts will be receptive and lives will be permanently transformed for His glory. (Update: we had a special activity with children and parents on Saturday, Dec. 16th. We had over 100 children and about 15-20 parents. Several parents made professions of faith and asked that we continue to visit them! Pray that the discipleship work will go well.)
With the Garlocks and Allens here, the University music program had a concert. We were pleased and excited to see the obvious development in our music program. The Lord has blessed us with great musicians to teach and lead our music program. Christian and Noemí Lindsey are doing a wonderful job. Please pray for them next year as they will be returning to the United States to raise support in order to continue their ministry here at the University. As classes wind down (this semester I have been teaching Christian Growth, Greek Syntax, Homiletics and Christian Family), I praise the Lord for the things I have learned, and for the small part He has allowed us to play in the spiritual and academic preparation of young people who will serve the Lord faithfully.
Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to visit our family blog to stay up-to-date.
The Bixbys
posted by Matthew Bixby at
9:35 AM
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