Carl and Lois Sexton

New Life Ministries

Ministerios de Vida Nueva

World-wide Hispanic church planting

Greetings to each of you, our dear friends and family,                                                                          January, 2009

“JOY TO THE WORLD THE LORD IS COME”  Did you sing this a few times in December?  Well this is the message which we are presently seeing shared by our ministry as we train Hispanics to share the true joy of Jesus with their Hispanic friends.  They are even taking it back to their countries of origin.  Last month one couple from our church was in Cuba visiting family with the goal of sharing the gospel with unsaved relatives and friends. You would be blessed to hear the testimony of this couple and how they were able to flee Cuba in search of freedom.  After arriving in the U.S. they found Christ and the true freedom only He can give.  This month one of our families is in Colombia with the same purpose in mind.  These families always return with stories of multiple opportunities to share the truth of the Gospel with family and friends in their home country. God has designed a very interesting missions program for us here at Vida Nueva. We appreciate your prayers as we aggressively train people to be effective evangelists to impact their countries with the gospel of Christ.  We plan to help build a church in Argentina this year for an Argentine national pastor starting a church for the deaf.  We have been able to assist our missionaries in Portugal with urgent financial needs this year as well.

“Jehovah Jirah, my provider, his grace is sufficient for me!”  Have you ever sung this song in church or heard it on a Christian radio station? It really is true… God is our provider!  As Lois and I (Carl) reflect on this past year we remember saying to ourselves frequently, “God supplied our needs this month, but how it is going to happen next month?”  I read a prayer letter in November of another missionary in Columbia who wrote that he did not know if he should pray for his committed monthly support level to increase or pray that God would just continue to provide his needs in random ways.  This year our committed monthly missionary support for our ministry has decreased from 69% to 54% due to the effects of the economic crisis on our supporting churches and individuals.  We are asking you all to pray earnestly for God’s provision for us. Carl has applied for part time work to help pay for living expenses because of the decrease in missionary support.  One way he could avoid this is if 50 people could help with $1 per day.   If you are not already a financial supporter, would you prayerfully consider this opportunity?  God is our provider! 

THE SEXTON FAMILY IS GROWING IN NUMBER!  We are thankful to the Lord for the many ways in which he has had his hand on our lives.  Lois is now walking without pain and able to teach Kindergarten following her hip replacement in May.  Caleb is a Senior at Moody Bible Institute and is majoring in International Ministries. He is enjoying every class and eagerly anticipates serving the Lord in full-time ministry. His 6 weeks of ministry in Argentina were the highlight of his summer.  Nicolas enjoyed his cross country competitions and is very involved in the youth group with the worship team and now coaching in the soccer ministry.  Mark and Emily have a beautiful baby girl named Micaela Grace who is now four and a half months old.  We are now officially grandparents!  We thank God for good relationship with them and thank you for your prayers on their behalf that God would be first in their lives. Would you continue to pray with us that all of our children will seek to please God with their lives? 

Carl’s Triple-A baseball chapels and soccer evangelism!  Carl has been asked to double up his volunteer baseball chapel ministry next month to be responsible for both the Spanish and the English chapels for the Florida Marlins’ minor league in Jupiter, Florida, the Hammer-heads, on Sunday afternoons.  Spring training starts in February.  Our Vida Nueva church is participating again in the West Pines Baptist Church’s upwards soccer program for children. Nearly half of the children are Hispanic.  We just started this ministry on January 11.  One family has already visited our church!  These two ministries will be challenging to fulfill with the limited time Carl will have due to working part time.  God is in control! 

EXPECTING GREAT THINGS FROM GOD IN 2010 Our main goal this year is to have each area of the church functioning independently.  This will enable Vida Nueva to be ready to take the next step of calling a Hispanic Pastor who will help them on to the next level of maturity and outreach.  This has been the goal since the beginning.  We are trusting in God to help us to reach it in His way and His timing; we are hoping that it will be this year!  I am so thankful to have a team of Hispanics who are taking ownership of the major areas of church ministry. 

Thank you for your prayers and for your sincere interest and support of our ministry bringing “New Life” to the Spanish-speaking people. Carl and Lois,  for the Sexton family