Cuba Update - Summer 2011

Greetings to all of you in the awe-inspiring name of Jesus Christ! It’s been a whirlwind of a year and we find ourselves half-way through 2011! Despite the quickening pace of time and a seemingly endless amount of things to do, God always finds a way to do amazing things. We wanted to take a few moments to provide an update regarding the work that the Lord has done in Cuba so far this year.

In late 2010 we were able to raise enough money to acquire and renovate a church for a growing congregation. The old location would seat about 30 people comfortably, but the church was growing and did not accommodate all those that wanted to attend services. Nearby was a building that was available and with your assistance and support we were able to move into the new space, renovate it to more efficiently meet the needs of the congregation, and start holding services. It now will seat close to 100 people comfortably!

In addition to physical growth, the church in Cuba has been growing spiritually under the new leadership of Bishop Barbaro Gonzalez and other newly elected Cuban national officials. The national board is dedicated to the purpose of the Lord and eager to continue their partnership with the ALJC and churches here in the States. We’ve been adding existing congregations from all over the nation of Cuba to the national organization, from the tip of Pinar del Rio to the extremes of Santiago de Cuba. At this moment we estimate that over 20 churches are gathering and working together to spread the truth throughout the nation of Cuba.

Due to visa restrictions and hindrances on both the part of the United States and Cuban governments, we are not able to reside in Cuba. This is a grave disappointment to us, but we are making the most of the circumstance by traveling to Cuba as frequently as possible via short term trips. In the meantime all contributed funds to the ALJC for The Rennard Family – Cuba are funneled directly to travel, works, and mission related needs in the nation of Cuba. If you have any questions regarding our current plans, ministry approach, or projects we are working on, please feel free to contact us via the information on this site.

We will be traveling to Cuba in the Fall of 2011 to meet with the newly added churches, host training seminars, and review ongoing projects. Please be praying for this trip!

We greatly appreciate your support and continued prayers for the nation of Cuba. The Cuban church is in a time of transition and need your assistance. If you’d like to contribute to and pray directly for a few of the projects we are working towards, please make note of the following:

1. New Church Construction / Acquirement: Carlos Lago in Casablanca - $15,000 USD
2. Repairs / Expansion of Agua Vida: Aleyda in Pinar del Rio - $4,000 USD

Though many of our projects are on the local church level, we are also committed to providing a central location to continually train and equip leadership and ministry. We have acquired the use of a large tract of land to utilize for the first ever Apostolic Institute in Cuba. However, the financial need to construct such a facility is large. Please be praying for this endeavor as it can revolutionize the church in Cuba.

Cuba Apostolic Conference and Training Center!

Hello again! I just posted, but forgot to mention an important aspect of what God is doing in Cuba! I believe we have mentioned this before, but I wanted to provide a little more information so you can pray and seek God for what He is doing in Cuba!

The Cuban church has an awesome vision for Cuba. They feel that with the help of God they can plant 100 new churches every year! Local Cuban churches are normally held in neighborhoods since travel is difficult. So, they plan on having multiple churches in every neighborhood, serving 20-40 people in each church! It is an amazing plan!

For this to happen though, they are in need of training facilities and a central headquarters. Whenever the leadership wants to hold a conference or have all of the Cuban pastors come for training they have to find various places for them to stay and often have to rent facilities, which is a high cost.

During our last two trips we made plans to help them build a conference/training center at a central location. This center will be three stories tall and will have enough space to house many ministers' families, training rooms, a sanctuary, and all the amenities needed for long-term training seminars. This facility would be an amazing blessing for them as well as for us! We would be able to stay there and hold trainings as needed!

The cost of this building is staggering for Cubans, but overall costs are approximately $80,000.

They have already had the design and blueprints drafted by an architect and are currently working on obtaining the appropriate licensing and permits to begin construction. This would be a tremendous blessing, so please agree with us and pray that God will provide the funding and that the process for building will be quick and unhindered!

We'll post more about this as we get updates and news!

James

Upcoming Trip - Preparations and Updates!

Greetings! This is James posting today!

We've had a few weeks of breaks from news and updates for you, but are pleased to provide some new information about what God is doing in Cuba and the status of our ventures there!

As many of you know, we will be taking our whole family, Ava included, to Cuba in October for an extended stay. This will be Ava's first time for a lot of things, first time on an airplane, first time on foreign soil, first time in a non-English speaking area. So, please be praying for her and that she adapts and has a great experience!

In October our friends in Cuba will be hosting a Caribbean conference! The conference will be attended by many Apostolic ministers throughout the Caribbean and will be a great time of fellowship and communion with fellow laborers in Christ. We are anticipating a great move of the spirit of God and expect many to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost!

Because of our connection with the Cuban Apostolic church, our brother and pastor, Matthew Ball will be one of the premier ministers at the conference. Along with Pastor Ball, many others from the States will be attending the conference, including our niece Chelsea and the Foreign Missions Director of the ALJC, Rev. M.L. Walls.

This is an exciting time for the Cuban church as well as for us. We'll be staying for around a month and the group from the US will be coming for about a week for the conference.

During our stay we will be making preparations for our three month stay in January as well as teaching about the receiving of the Holy Ghost and just encouraging the pastors and ministers in Cuba. We've already made some great friends, so we are looking forward to returning and spending time with them as well.

We know that God is in control of all situations and that He wants to do a great work in Cuba, please pray for all the Cuban pastors and ministers and the leadership as well as for the many other people throughout the nation. God has a lot planned for Cuba, we are glad to be servants and are glad to be a part of what God is doing.

Though we know He is in charge, we also know that we have to do our part in preparing ourselves for His purpose. For this reason, we've started visiting churches to raise awareness of what God is doing in Cuba as well as to raise funds for our trips and expenses in doing God's work.

We were greatly blessed by Apostolic Tabernacle in South Bend, IN earlier this month. They truly have a heart for missions and their outpouring of prayers and financial support was an amazing answer to prayer. So, we'd like to thank them for all that they are doing in supporting God's work locally and abroad.

If you would like to help out in any way, whether it be through prayer support or financial support, please contact us and let us know. Just so you are aware, all financial support will be channeled through Faith Apostolic Church, our local church. We want to make sure that all financial support is accounted for and appropriately distributed and will make financial accountability a top priority.

We want to make options for donating to God's purpose in Cuba simple. You can safely and securely contribute online at http://www.faithapostolicofcarmel.org/ by clicking on the Donate banner at the bottom of the page. This will allow one-time contributions or weekly, monthly, or quarterly recurring contributions from your checking account or debit/credit card. Just be sure to select Cuba - Rennard Family from the donation list when you make your contribution.

If you would prefer to mail a check or contribution, please mail it to...

PO Box 235
Carmel, IN 46082

and make the check payable to Faith Apostolic Church - Cuba Missions.

More than anything though, we need and appreciate your prayers and encouragement.

In the coming months we'll have a website setup where you can sign-up to be a Partner in Missions and gain access to further information about Cuba and what God is doing!

This is an exciting time, thank you for being a part of Cuba and a part of our lives!

James