Reflecting on all of the tremendous experiences that Bro. Garry Morrison and I were blessed with on this most recent outreach to eastern Cuba, I can only exclaim from my heart, “Glory to GOD in the highest”! It was certainly one of the most awesome time of ministry that we have experienced in communist Cuba. I knew that it would be, because of all of the prior attacks that we were receiving on our website, from Muslim hackers. It was apparent the hackers had specifically targeted our ministry. On three different occasions previous to the Cuba trip, a Muslim terrorist group had successfully targeted EdLacyministries.org. When our viewers would log into the website, they would see things such as an armed terrorist, with slogans such as ‘allah is the only true god’ and threats of death. It was an obvious attack from the enemy himself, to intimidate and to strike fear into our hearts! But greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world! We have learned through these many years, that when adversity is coming to the child of God, you know GLORY is following close behind, if we will respond in worship of the Lord; trust in the Lord; and submission to the Lord, in the middle of the storm! And friends, the Glory of God was manifested in numerous and powerful ways, throughout this conference in Holguin, Cuba!
Over 400 church planting missionaries, house church leaders, and other lay leaders, attended 5 evenings, for 3 hours of teaching each night, from our most recent workbook study, entitled "Redeemed to Worship”. It is always such a privilege and absolute joy to teach brothers and sisters who have such an insatiable appetite for the Word of God. It is so wonderful to know in your heart, that these truths are not just being heard, but will be multiplied in the lives of thousands of believers throughout the mission churches, house churches, and other churches all over the Holguin province in Eastern Cuba! Bro. Garry and I both sensed a great liberty and a powerful assistance of the Holy Spirit, as we taught these 10 sessions on the essential issue of “living the totality of our lives for the glory of God, in true and spiritual worship”. Each night there was a higher intensity and expectation than the previous evening. The only issue that Bro. Garry and I struggled with, was the overwhelming feeling that these precious believers should be doing the teaching; and we should be doing the listening! When the conference concluded, there were literally hundreds of written testimonies from the missionaries and leaders, sharing how the Lord used His truths concerning worship, to impact their lives and ministries!
Bro. Garry Morrison, who has sacrificed his time and effort, to translate all of the material into Spanish, as well as to minister alongside of me on numerous trips, shared the following words of rejoicing,
“The one thing we both can honestly say is that the church in Cuba is alive and well, and the church in the USA has a lot to learn from them. Under decades of this communist regime, the body of Christ has had to depend on the power of God for their sole resource for doing God's work, God's way, for God's glory. When we minister in the church in Cuba, it is like walking into the book of Acts! There is no other way to explain what is happening there. They have so little in human resources; and yet they depend on the Lord, and do so much. They are reaching their cities and their country with the Gospel of Jesus Christ; they are faithfully discipling those who are converted; and they have a tremendous passion to love and serve the Lord Jesus Christ. In the last year or so here in the U.S., we have been talking about our economic crisis; but these believers in Cuba have been in an economical crisis of total destitution since 1959! And yet in the midst of it all, millions of Cubans have come to hear about, believe in, and surrender to Jesus Christ. Because of the economic destitution and political oppression, the church of Jesus Christ has had no other option than to be a true ‘New Testament Church’. So literally, what you read in the book of Acts is exactly how the Cuban Christians live. This was my 8th trip to Cuba, but I can tell you that far more than me ministering to them, they have ministered to me, through their example of love, their passion and their dedication for the Lord.”
WORSHIPPING THE LORD IN THE VALLEY OF ADVERSITY
During the daytime, it was our joy to visit some of the homes and churches of the 18 church planters, which are under the umbrella of Maranatha Baptist Church, the host church for the conference. This mother church has a membership of 900 believers; and also under their leadership and care they have 18 mission churches and 60 house churches. Because of the support of individuals for the Cuban outreach, along with Faith Baptist Church, we have the privilege to support the total annual salary of 13 of these church planters. We hope to extend that to include 5 new missionaries next year. These church planters live on 20 euros a month, (which is the equivalent of 30 U.S. dollars). This comprises their total salary for their living and ministry output. Maranatha Baptist Church oversees the ministries and support of these missionaries. We are praying about taking on the 5 new missionaries in full-time support.
Brothers and sisters, we are seeing New Testament Christianity “lived out” in every way within the lives of these Cuban missionaries. They are serving the Lord faithfully in the midst of great financial destitution and growing political oppression. They are living the totality of their lives and ministries for the glory of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Two of the missionaries that we support, (Manuel and Eduardo), are presently battling cancer. Manuel has been battling cancer for 3 or 4 years. One of his legs has already been amputated, due to the effects of the cancer. The disease has now metastasized to his lungs. And yet, throughout all of this tremendous affliction, he has continued to pastor his mission church, (Upper Room Baptist Church), as well as a number of home cell groups. There are 60 born again believers that meet in his concrete block home, twice a week, for worship and Bible study. Pastor Manuel’s house is on the 2nd floor of this building, with extremely narrow stairs. I can’t even comprehend how he makes it up the stairs to his home; much less the reality that he is continuing to witness to the lost and minister to the saints all over his district, while he struggles and suffers from this dreaded disease. But it is amazing, the church that he pastors is the fastest growing mission of all of the missions around this city! But there is even more! Out of his suffering a new hospital ministry has been birthed. Every-time that Manuel has to check into the hospital for chemo, or other cancer treatments, (which is usually for a week every month), all of the hospital staff says, "Our pastor is back"! A number of souls have been converted to Jesus Christ, during his hospital stays; and these people are now actively involved in the church. Even though Manuel is suffering from cancer himself, he sees the hospital as one of his mission fields, to evangelize the lost and edify other believers who are suffering with health issues!
Eduardo, one of the other missionaries that we support, is also in the midst of walking through the adversity of thyroid cancer. During one of the breaks between the 2 evening sessions, Eduardo came into a room where Garry and I were getting refreshments, and we had an opportunity to fellowship personally together. Friends, we could literally see the “GLORY OF CHRIST” on his countenance, as he shared about the manifest presence and power of Jesus in his life through this great trial! He joyfully shared with us how precious the presence of Jesus has been to him, during this tormenting storm. Bro. Eduardo also is continuing to pastor his mission and the house churches under the jurisdiction of his mission work, even as he walks through the reality of cancer. He too, is being faithful to continue to worship the Lord; plant a mission; pastor his people and evangelize the lost, even as he travels through this terrible affliction. One of the sessions in my study on worship is entitled, “Worshipping The Lord In The Valley Of Adversity”. As I watched these 2 brothers “living out”, the truths stated in this session before our eyes, it was a tremendous encouragement and challenge to my life!
We also had the tremendous privilege to have a meal with one of the other church planters, named Radolfo. Tears freely rolled down his cheeks, as he shared his testimony of conversion in 2000, at the age of 52. He was an engineer by trade; and an atheist member of the communist party. By Cuban standards, he was doing well. He shared with me that his testimony was exactly like mine. He too, was an atheist musician. His wife was converted to Christ before him and just like Dianne, his wife, lived a transformed life before him. She continually prayed for his lost soul, even as he mocked her ‘worshipping life’! But nine years ago, he visited Maranatha Baptist Church. Upon hearing the Word of God preached, he was gloriously converted to the Lord Jesus. The Lord radically changed his heart and life. Three years after his conversion, (just like me), the Lord called him to be a full-time missionary. He is 60 years old now; and he has been a church planter for 6 years. Riding on his bicycle, he ministers all around his particular district in Holguin. He openly wept, as he shared about the awesome things that the Lord is doing in him and through him in the mission church that he pastors!
FRUIT THAT REMAINS
On Saturday afternoon, we had the blessing of having lunch with another one of these new pastors, working with Maranatha, named Rafael. This is the 3rd church, in which he has served as a pastor. He began our lunch with these words, “When I heard that you were coming to teach this conference, I was so excited, because I have a special testimony that I want to share with you and Garry. Before my conversion to the Lord Jesus, I was heavily involved in spiritism. But in 1996, I was invited to attend an evangelistic crusade at 4th Baptist Church in Santiago de Cuba. That night, 13 years ago, you and 2 others shared the gospel of Jesus Christ. I remember every detail of what took place that night; for on that evening, I was gloriously converted to the Lord!”Rafael rehearsed every song that was sung and every detail of the gospel message that he heard that night. Three years after some very intense discipleship, the Lord called him into full-time ministry. The is the first time that he had been able to attend one of the conferences in person; but he testified that he had studied all of the workbooks that I have taught in Cuba, through other pastors who had given them to him. He was so excited that he was going to be able to attend this conference in person.
We have already received the invitation for next year. Bro. Garry and I have been asked to teach on the GRACE OF GOD next December. Also, the president of the worship leadership department for the entire convention, who attended this conference, asked us if we would stay some extra days next year, and teach this workbook on “Redeemed to Worship” to all of the worship leadership for the entire Eastern Baptist Convention. I believe that there are 250 worship leaders in this convention. That would take place at the Seminary in Santiago de Cuba. Please pray with us, as we have these continued opportunities to be a channel of blessing to these missionaries, both spiritually and materially.
Well, I could go one and on. But I do have to share how the Lord supplied enough funds to meet a number of personal needs in the lives of church planters. Another ministry that has begun at Maranatha Baptist is one to senior adults. In Cuba, many seniors are placed into to the communist rest homes, where hundreds of older people are basically forsaken. The “so-called” rest home is just one big room with a few hundred beds in it. Each elderly person receives one set of cloths, and served only one meal a day, (which is not even a decent meal). They basically live in the midst of filth, with little or no attention given to them. However, this church has seized an opportunity to begin a powerful ministry in this place. They are feeding and clothing the people, cleaning them and caring for them. The Lord has opened the doors to preach the Gospel to these 200 needy people. Eleven of these elderly people where recently converted to Christ and baptized at the church. We were able to give the funds for the entire budget for this coming year for this senior ministry, which was only $1,000. GLORY TO GOD!!! Also, we were able to give the funds for an extension of the 2nd floor building, where Manuel’s ministry, Upper Room mission church meets. These funds will enable them to accommodate the 60 baptized believers that are attending church in his home. In addition, $1,000 was given to further the construction at 3rd Baptist Holguin, which is nearing its completion. Last year, we gave $2,000 toward that building. By our next visit, this project should be completed. In all, the Lord enabled us to give over $10,000 in missionary support; food expenses for the conference; 2 building projects; and the senior adult ministry! I wish that everyone of you could read the stack of testimonies of what the Lord accomplished through the conference on Worship, to gain a deeper sense of how your prayers and gifts benefit in so many ways. It would literally take a book to record them all!
Also, we held an evangelistic outreach night at Maranatha Baptist Church on Sunday evening. The church was absolutely packed. There were at least 100 people standing outside! Upon the conclusion of the evening, there where many adults of all ages, who came out of the counseling room, giving a testimony that they had been transformed from rebels into worshippers! It is such a great comfort to know that individual believers from the church will disciple these new believers in the fundamentals of the faith for the next 21 weeks. After observing their lives, and going through this study, they will hold a special service that will be entirely devoted to their baptism. They will use this time as a time of rejoicing, as well as a time to invite lost family and friends, to hear about their change lives.