A Long Time Coming...

So, I realize it has been a while since my last post. Interestingly enough I think this is how most of my posts start... Let me start out with some exciting news. I realize this may be me exciting for me than the rest of you. For starters, my roommate Sam, who had considered leaving the field to pursue a Masters Degree, has changed his mind and will be staying on with us here in Cúa! It brings me great joy in knowing he will continue his ministry with us here. He has really done a great job raising up the music ministry and leading it here at the church, but we recognize the job is not done yet. This past Monday I was also able to solicit my drivers license. Again, this may not sound like much, but when you have spent over a year driving illegally without one, it is quite a big deal. I no longer feel stressed out when I pass by the random police check points. It is wonderful to have all my car papers in order.

The church has also celebrated a few victories recently. We hope to finally be able to expand the space we rent here in the next month. The contract had been held up by the owner of the new space we are going to rent, but we finally reached an agreement this past month. We also celebrated 3 baptisms in the month of September. I am thinking now that I only wrote about 2 in the newsletter, but there were actually three! Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the third. We just baptized another lady yesterday as well! It is amazing to see how God works and how he continues to touch and change peoples hearts and minds.

One more thing, this Sunday I preach for the second time. I am in the monthly rotation of preaching now and am really enjoying the chance to preach God's word. This Sunday we will be talking about the Power of The Tongue!
I leave you all with some food for thought...

Matthew 12:36 "But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken."

Recap of the Month of August

Dear Supporters,
What a great month August was. I am sad to see it go... We celebrated this month with 6 people that decided to get baptized and dedicate their lives to Jesus! This month was also highlighted by: a missionary trip to the border between Venezuela and Colombia, summer camp for the youth, and a wedding in the church. I will be writing in a little more detail about the summer camp and mission trip in my newsletter for the month of August. We also have an intern that has decided to come on-board full time and work with the church in Cua! He is a Venezuelan college student that has been working with us during the summer and is currently preparing to serve overseas on the mission field. He is going to work with us full time starting in September till help prepare him more for his life of service. I personally am very excited to work with him as he will be greatly needed with the departure of Eric and Sam this next few months. Praise God for providing more workers for the harvest field!
Blessings,
Matt J.

A Season of Change

I imagine that about this time in the US the weather is starting to change again and we move back into the school year. To me this always signaled the beginning of fall which was a wonderful thing because this meant the start of football season as well. However, this post is not about fall, nor school, nor football (perhaps I will comment on the future super bowl champion Chicago Bears in a later post...). One of the integral members of the missionary team we have down here is Sam Schutz. Sam and I have lived together the past year and we do just about everything together. He is the worship leader here in Cua and has developed quite a music ministry his last 2 1/2 years on the field. However, he recently announced he is leaving the field in November to pursue an MDIV degree. That means that he leaves in November and then Eric, our team leader, leaves in May. All of a sudden I feel rather lonely here on the field. The three of us have spent the last year and a half working together on this church plant and I am going to lose both of them over the course of the next nine months. This means many changes for myself. I often times feel I am in over my head here (especially now that they both are leaving), but know that God has called me here for a purpose and will skill me in the areas necessary to finish the job of planting a self-governing, self-supporting, self-propagating church here in Cúa. I appreciate all of your prayers and support as this next year or so will be difficult for me. However, God has done so much just to get me here on the field and allow me to stay that I know deep down this is where he wants me for now. More to come in the next week or so....
Blessings,
Matt J.

Greetings Friends!!!

Good morning everybody! Well July is already upon us... and the Cubs are still in first place! Amazing. They always do well whenever I leave the country. Figures. This month is the month of Americans. We are currently hosting and working with a group from Huntington Beach California. They have been a great group so far. This past Friday we held an outreach event in one of the malls here in Cua. We took over the plaza of the mall from 2-5pm. The event included music, drama, choreography, a few testimonies and a small sermon by our youth pastor, Dairo Moreno. Sunday we showed some fruit from the even as a few people came to visit our church. This week we are doing a workshop on relationships Wednesday night to Friday night. This mornings event: Knocking on doors inviting people to the conference!
Blessings,
Matt J.

Its been a while!

Sorry I haven't updated the old blog in a while. There are some new things worth highlighting very quickly...
1. We had great services on Mothers Day and Fathers Day this year. These are always great holidays to get unbelievers to come to church and here God's word being preached!
2. We hope to be moving into our new house soon. It has been a process but hopefully in a week or two we will be ready to go!
3. We have got youth leaders established in youth group! This has been a huge step for the youth group and is still a leaning process for all of us but we are excited in the growth we are seeing not only from our leaders but from other youth as well.
4. We have two summer interns working with us and it is great to have fresh ideas on the field!

I am sure there are others victories to report but that is what comes to my mind at the moment. Thanks for your continued prayers and support! I hope to do a better job of updating my blog these coming months. Blessings,
Matt Johnson

Another Bible Study!

On April first I opened up another Bible Study that meets on Tuesday nights in a neighborhood where previously we didn't have any church involvement. We currently have about 4 regulars that attend and 2 of them are not Christians. I am excited to have another opportunity to work with more people to study God's word and try to apply what we are learning to our lives. We have seen some recent growth in the church and were excited to celebrate our third anniversary this past Sunday with 155 people in attendance. Please pray that we would be able to reach out to more people here in Cúa that desperately need to hear of the salvation that Jesus offers them!
In other news, not as uplifting, the motorcycle of one of my coworkers was stolen last Friday. Dairo is our youth minister at the church and part of the missionary team. He is Columbian and a very hard dedicated worker for the gospel. His motorcycle was his main method of transportation and the loss of it makes his everyday life quite a bit more complicated. Please pray that God would provide some way for him to replace the motorcycle with another. He currently commutes in from Caracas 1 hour away various times throughout the week.
God Bless,
Matt Johnson

Happy Easter!

Today we were excited to celebrate the resurrection of your Lord with 140+ people in our service! We praise God for the harvest we are seeing here in Cua! We baptized 5 people today after service! It is really amazing what God is doing here in Venezuela. Please pray that the Lord of the Harvest would continue to raise up leaders in the Venezuela church to lead it forward and add people to His Kingdom! Praise God!!!

Recent News and Upcoming Fast!!

Wow, I can't believe we have already entered into the month of March. It seems like just yesterday I was home for a few weeks for Christmas. That means we are closing in on the first quarter of 2008. Pretty amazing. Well, this last Sunday the 9th we set a new record in single Sunday non-special event attendance at: 117! We were so blessed to have an attendance that high. God is good! It has been incredible to see the number of new visitors we have been receiving this year. Some times we have had as many as 20 new face in a service. That is pretty good for a church that averages about 90 in attendance. God is really moving and touching the lives of people here in Cúa. Pray that God would also continue to raise up Venezuelan leaders to take the church forward! We are going to be fasting for a bigger local on March 22nd and 23rd and we would love to have some of our brothers and sisters in Christ joining us for the fast! Would you consider praying and fasting with us those 2 days for a bigger place to meet? All for God's glory!!

Matt Johnson

We have a new home!!!

Greetings everyone! I am happy to announce that our search for a new place to live is over! We have found a house to rent in a safer part of Cúa and hope to be moving there within a few weeks. I hope to have picture or a video of the new place up within a month or so. We praise God for a new place to live and new people to meet on the new street where we will be living. Blessings!
Matt J.

Recent Article On Santeria in Venezuela

Venezuelans increasingly turn to Santeria for spiritual needs
published: Saturday | February 9, 2008


File
A pilgrim drags himself on the floor while trying to reach th of St Lazarus on St Lazarus' Day or Babalu Aye in Cuba's Santeria religion, in Rincon, near Havana. Hundreds of followers of Cuba's Santeria religion celebrate one of their holiest saints while walking for days hoping to obtain relief from dreadful diseases or to fulfil promises for granted wishes.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP):

The man says he is possessed by a god. He shouts, his body trembles and he lifts a sacrificed lamb to his lips, drinking its blood from the jugular.

This initiation ceremony, seldom witnessed by outsiders, has become increasingly common in Venezuela, as the Afro-Cuban traditions of Santeria and other folk religions gain followers.

The rituals have become an attractive option for Venezuelans seeking a unique spiritual path, including healing ceremonies aimed at curing everything from illness to heartache. Some even believe certain gods will offer protection from Venezuela's rampant violent crime.

The surge in Santeria, which is practised by many in Cuba, can partly be explained by the arrival of thousands of Cuban doctors in Venezuela. President Hugo Chávez has been providing Cuba with subsidised oil in exchange for thousands of physicians who come to the South American country to treat poor people.

Santeria priests are also making annual predictions for Venezuelans and issuing warnings - just like Cuban 'santeros' do in Havana. Last month, one group of priests said the gods have indicated that the twice-divorced Chávez would be a more effective leader with a woman at his side.

It's a familiar pattern. Santeria has grown in popularity in New York, Miami and Puerto Rico in the past following influxes of Cubans, according to Margarite Fernandez Olmos, a professor at City University of New York who has researched the religion. She said Santeria's popularity also has grown in places "where African-based spirituality becomes a more acceptable social and spiritual option".

Selling animal for sacrifice

In overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Venezuela, many shops have sprung up in recent years selling roosters, goats and other animals to be sacrificed in Caracas' working class barrios. In the city's churches, believers can be seen in head-to-toe white, praying to their gods before statues of Catholic saints.

Santeria was born in Cuba among Yoruba slaves from West Africa. They were forbidden to practise their own religion, so they fused their beliefs with the Catholicism of their masters, starting a tradition that has spread throughout the Americas. The Catholic Church considers the rituals idolatrous, but has come to tolerate the popular practice.

Santeria has been present in Venezuela for decades, though some experts say it is more out in the open now due to the political situation.

"The current political ambience created by a populist government with its emphasis on nationalism has made Santeria more visible,'' said Leslie Desmangles, a religion and international studies professor at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

Along with Santeria, Venezuela is home to other folk religions, such as the sect surrounding the Indian goddess Maria Lionza, which has also been flourishing.

Believers in Maria Lionza make quick dashes through highway traffic in Caracas to reach a statue of the goddess in a highway divider. They lay offerings of flowers, liquor or coins at the foot of the statue, which depicts the naked goddess riding atop a tapir, a hoglike jungle mammal.

The Santeria movement nowadays cuts across racial groups and class lines, and includes lawyers and other professionals as well as the unemployed among its adherents. In spite of rapid economic growth propelled by Venezuela's key oil industry, people here face problems from crime to inflation that some say increase stresses on their lives.

Video Tour of Church Building