In Remembrance....

We are so sad to report that Bro. and Sis. Roca, missionaries to Cuba, were in a serious accident today. Sadly, Sis. Roca passed away. Bro. Roca is in the hospital with injuries, but will recover.

(Sis. Dorothy Roca,far right with Pastor Juan, Matthew Ball, and Pastor Barbaro)

We have had the priveledge of knowing the Rocas and working with them for almost two years. They have helped us so much along our journey working in Cuba. Sis. Roca was an inspiration to me. She had such a sensitivity to the Spirit of God. From what I know, she was an extremely prayerful woman who was so thrilled about the revival taking place in Cuba. We know that she is in a better place now.... a place we can't even begin to imagine.


Please keep Bro. Roca in your prayers, along with their children, grandchildren, and friends and family. We can't imagine the grief they are feeling right now, but will hold them up to God in our prayers. We will not ever forget Sis. Roca's sweet and loving nature, and know she will be rewarded greatly for her life of service.

2008: Reflections

Merry Christmas!!

We hope that you are all enjoying this wonderful Holiday season and take time to remember what it is we are celebrating. As usual, thank you for your consistent prayers and support. We truly could not do what we do without people like you behind us all the way.

2008 has been a year of growth for us personally and progress in Cuba. We spent January-April in Cuba, teaching seminars, meeting with pastors and church leaders, preaching at many churches and planning a Conference for March. We saw much progress in the Kingdom of God. We are thankful for Cuban men and women who give so much of themselves to see the church advance, and we are thankful for what God is doing in our own lives.

We had somewhat of a difficult summer for various reasons, but God is truly faithful. We know that all things work together for good to those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. We were supposed to spend three more months this fall in Cuba, but faced problems with our visas. Thankfully, we were able to take a short trip in November. We spent a lot of time in meetings with Cuban leaders and are thankful that God dealt with each and every one of our concerns during this very productive trip.

(All of our group except Matthew Ball on our November 2008 trip: Pastor Juan,Chelsea Ball, myself, Pastor Danis, Bro. Josh Wilson, and Bro. James Rennard)

We just received great news!! The Cuban leadership has applied for 60 day visas for our family starting the first of February, and they expect to have them any day. We are praying that we will be able to extend those visas an extra 30 days for a total of 90 days (please pray with us!) We are thrilled about an exciting program during this time. We will be visiting each church for extensive, 3-day training. We will be doing leadership training, doctrine training and evangelism training. It will be a very busy schedule, but we are so happy to have the opportunity to reach so many. We will also be helping the Cuban church in Cuba to organize their first National Women's Conference in March. Please pray about this conference. I am thrilled that a group of ladies from our church will be attending the Conference. What a blessing!!

We do have some special needs. If you would pray about these with us, we would be so grateful. First of all, please pray that our visas come through and that we will get the extension we need for the full 90 days. We are also currently re-applying for our license to travel to Cuba. We cannot travel without this license, so pray that this is approved. Our transportation issue in Cuba has not been resolved, so please help us pray that God will provide the funds for a vehicle for us to use on a day to day basis. We also need prayer for protection, a smooth transition for Ava, and a unified working relationship with the Cuban leadership.

Again, I pray that God bless you richly this Christmas season and in the year to come. Whether you have given financially, have spoken an encouraging word, or have said a prayer for us, please know that you will be rewarded by God for doing your part in God's work in Cuba. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

All our love and gratitude,

James, Rachael and Ava Rennard

Leaving Tomorrow!!

We are so happy to be leaving for Cuba tomorrow! Although we were not able to stay for an extended period this fall (due to visa issues), we are thrilled to be able to visit again.

While in Cuba, we will try to make the arrangements for another extended stay at the first of 2009. Please pray that God opens the door for this to happen.

We will be visiting several churches, meeting with local leaders and aiding financially in several pressing projects. Please pray for protection and guidance. There is currently a category 4 hurricane over eastern Cuba. Please pray for the safety of Cubans, and for our safety as we travel to Cuba on Monday.

Our group consists of myself, James, Matthew Ball, Chelsea Ball and Josh Wilson. We will return Saturday, November 15th. We appreciate your prayers and will update you with details of our trip as soon as we return. God Bless!! -Rachael

August Update

I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful summer. As many of you know, I (Rachael) have been very sick for much of the summer, in and out of the hospital. I am much better now. Thank you for your prayers and support during such a difficult time. We are trying to take advantage of the rest of the summer before we head back to Cuba! We hope you enjoy some of our family pictures that capture our time here.

Ava and Audrey at our weekend Church Retreat
Myself, Sara and Tasha
Me & Jimmie
Ava and her cousin Leah at her Nina and Papa's house

Jimmie hiking in southern Indiana
A wonderful visit with Grandpa and Grandma Ball
Me & Chelsea at ALJC Youth Camp
Ava enjoying VBS Sunday

We are thankful for these great memories and have truly enjoyed our time here with family and friends.

We want to give a special thank you to Pastor W.E. Hutchins and Church of Champions as well as Pastor Mark Koogler and Yellow Springs Apostolic Church for their generous support. We would also like to give a special thank you to Pastor Carroll and the entire Southeastern district of the ALJC for raising funding for upcoming projects.

Our meeting with the Carrolls at General Conference

We have an urgent prayer request. As of today, we do not have visas. Normally we would have heard by now, as they applied for them over a month ago. Our plan was to leave September 1st, but we cannot purchase flights until our visas have been approved. Please join with us in prayer! We believe that with all of your prayers, we can hear THIS WEEK that our visas are ready! We are very ready to return and get back into the work of God in Cuba. There is much to do.

As usual, right before our departure is the time we need to raise the largest amount of money. We are thankful for those of you who are consistently supporting the work in Cuba. We have many travel expenses and project expenses coming up soon. If you would like to contribute, please send a check to the Cuba for Christ address listed on our blog or contribute online at our secure online contribution through Faith Apostolic Church (link also listed on this blog). As usual, thank you for your consistent support, whether it be through friendship, financial support, or prayers. We couldn't do what we do without partners like you! God Bless and get out there and enjoy the rest of the summer!

New Cuba for Christ Video!

We have recently completed our second video - this one has some commentary and footage from our latest trip. Please take a look! We are excited about what God has done over the past year and are expecting great things in the year to come!

Summer Events and News

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all having a great summer! It has been good being back in the United States, spending time with friends and family! However, we are looking forward to our return to Cuba. Just a few weeks before that happens!

We just wanted to take a minute and let everyone know what we'll be up to this summer while we await our return trip. Most of our time is spent helping with our local church in Carmel, Indiana, Faith Apostolic Church. We have visited a few places, have gone to a couple conferences, and have a few more exciting things planned for the Summer.

Next week we will be in Louisville for the ALJC General Conference which will be a great opportunity to meet many of you that subscribe to our blog and support us regularly. Please feel free to visit us at our booth and say hello!

In late July I (James) will be helping Josh Wilson, our ALJC Apostolic Youth Corp coordinator, in Jamaica for the AYC 2008 trip. We will be down in Jamaica for a little over a week working with some churches there and introducing youth to missions work. It is going to be hot, but should prove rewarding for the young people and for all of us helping out! It is great to see so many of the younger generation stepping up into foreign and local ministry!

If you have any questions regarding our stay here in the States or would like us to visit, please feel free to contact us. We are grateful for all of your prayers and support and are excited about what is to come in the nation of Cuba!

God bless!

Life in the United States

We hope this update finds you all doing well and busy with the work of God. As most of you know, we have been home for three weeks now. It has been quite an adjustment. For some reason, it is a more difficult adjustment coming to the U.S. from Cuba than going to Cuba from the U.S. I believe that once you find the exact place God wants you to be, that place becomes like home.

Of course, it has been a joy to see our family, friends, and be part of Faith Apostolic Church again. We are making plans to begin deputation to raise funds for future trips. We are currently planning to return to Cuba in August, unless God opens a door for us to return sooner. We will stay for another three months, return to the U.S. for National Youth Convention and Christmas, then return in January for three more months.

We feel that our trip was an overwhelming success. We were able to visit every pastor and talk about their vision and their needs for their church. Jimmie preached several times a week, did leadership training, and evangelism training. We saw a visible difference in people's faith. Where once people were very timid about seeking after God, by the time we left people were crying out to God in expectation.

Jimmie preached at a Trinitarian church about the Oneness of God and Jesus' name baptism. We are thrilled to announce that a week after we left, the Cuban leadership baptized 20 people from this congregation in Jesus' name! We are believing that a pattern is being established... that entire churches will be converted to the truth of the Oneness of God.

We want to thank the people who have given so generously to God's work in Cuba. We take very seriously that you have entrusted us with your money. We are happy to report that God blessed our finances in a supernatural way. We budgeted our money very carefully, and were still shocked at how little money we required to live. The remainder of the money was used to fund the Conference in March and help with various projects. Over half of the money we took with us was used to fund various projects associated with our mission. Praise God! Please pray that God will continue to bless our finances in the future.

The Conference held in March will be considered a pivotal moment in the history of the Apostolic Church in Cuba. Over 100 more people received the Holy Ghost. It was amazing, and we are humbled to have taken part in it. Beyond people receiving the Holy Ghost, there was an equipping and empowering to do the work of God that took place. The Cuban church is ready to get the word out, spread the gospel, and get busy with the work of God. We have faith that we will return to a church that is growing and thriving even more than when we left. Thanks so much to Pastor Logue, Baruch, Nathaniel, Bro. Tisdale, Bro. Nathan Kern, and Bro. Ball for coming and ministering so effectively at the Conference.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at any time. We welcome your comments as well. If you are interested in our family visiting your church to share our burden for Cuba, please contact us soon. We thank you all again for your prayers and support. God Bless You!

Back in the States!

Greetings!

First, thank you to everyone for your prayers and support while we were in Cuba the past three months! We had an extremely productive trip - God did many wonderful things! We are looking forward to publishing more information and news about what happened in Cuba the first quarter of the year!

We are currently working on getting acclimated to the change in landscape, living, and life in general. Three months in a totally different nation really does make a change in your outlook and the things you are used to! It was a blessing for us to serve the Lord in Cuba and are excited about what the future holds.

Though we are going to provide a more detailed report soon, I wanted to give you a glimpse of what happened the past few weeks we were in Cuba as well as our upcoming plans!

Most of you know, but we held a conference for all of the churches towards the end of March. During this conference over 100 people received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and many received miraculous healings! God has continued what he started last August! In addition to the two conferences and those that have received the baptism in their local churches during our visits, we are estimating that over 250 have received the baptism of the Holy Ghost since October 2007! That is just six months!

Cuban pastors are reporting great revivals in their churches, miracles, and so much more. We are truly a blessed people to see revival like this and are humbled by the experience.

If you would like to play a part in this Cuban Pentecost, please contact us at info@cubaforchrist.net. We are partnering with Apostolics worldwide in efforts to see endtime revival throughout the world!

More information will becoming soon - in addition to video and photos!

In servitude,

James Rennard

Random Photos

Revival in Cuba

Pictures of Our House

March update

Praise the Lord! We apologize to you all for not hearing from us for awhile. We have been extremely busy with the work of God. Things are going very well. We're learning Spanish, feeling very at home in Cuba, and seeing God work in wonderful ways. We've visited almost all of the churches and met with many, many pastors. Last weekend we were at a baptism service where we baptized 4 people from one church! What a blessing. God is moving in a powerful way at every church we visit. We're thrilled to announce that two previously Baptist churches are preparing to re-baptize their congregations in Jesus' name and join the organization! What a blessing.

Our time here is winding down. Please pray that God continues to protect and keep us in his will. Next week we will be having a Conference with a group of ministers from home. We are believing for a mighty outpouring of God's Spirit. Please pray for this conference - the 27th-30th. Our return date is April 15th. We are very anxious to see our families, friends, and our church again soon. It will also be very sad leaving Cuba. Thanks to all of you who continually uplift us in your prayers. We can feel the prayers of everyone back home. I'm including new pictures. I hope you enjoy them! God Bless!

March pictures