The following is a ministry update from Matias Buldain, an SGBC supported missionary in Argentina:

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."   Matthew 5:16

In our Sunday morning sermons, we have arrived with our church to Exodus 25, where we read the instructions for the building of the tabernacle. The design for this tent, that served as the means by which God dwelled among His people and had fellowship with them, came directly from the Lord through a vision that Moses received at Mount Sinai. There he saw heavenly things that were later represented with earthly materials. That is why every element is filled with symbolism (that are explained later in the Bible) which all point to Christ.

Two weeks ago we arrived at the section that describes the instructions for the building of the candlestick. What a great text to preach the same day that we were launching the Focus in Love campaign! For the next month we will be praying for people that we know, and then we will intentionally build trust so that we might share the unchangeable truths of the gospel with them.

We are exited to receive a team from Florida (USA) and Paraguay next month, and we have been planning already many ways in which we will share the gospel with as many people as we can. Looking at the candlestick, we learned that Jesus Christ is the only light for the world, but His light shines through many lamps which are filled with oil.

According to Revelation chapter 1, the candlestick through which Christ shines are the local churches. The Church's identity can be compared to that of a candlestick, and our mission is only to shine. We don't shine with our own light, but we shine with His light in us.

Every believer must shine the light of Christ with His words and with their deeds where ever they might be. With this challenge we launched our campaign this year and we are so exited to see God's power for salvation in the next few weeks. But before telling you more about the campaign, let me share with you some of the things that God has been doing with us in the last few weeks.

August 15th - Children's Day in Our Church

On August 15th we celebrate in Argentina the children's day, and this year we invited all the children that attend our church and small groups in the neighborhoods to come to the church for a special day. We had over 80 kids that regularly attend weekly programs in their neighborhoods come to our event. There we had music, games, food and gospel preaching. We had several parents as well, and many members of our church served the kids in different ways. God is working through the children's ministry in our church. Please pray for the follow up of every kid and their spiritual growth. Pray that God will raise more people with a burden in their hearts to serve every Saturday in the children programs in every neighborhood.

August 17th - Special Class at the Pastoral Training Center

In our Pastoral Training Center, we had special visitors the week starting on August 17th. Our friend pastor Patrick, and Eugene taught on the topic of Spiritual Leadership. As they went over the qualifications of elders, God brought conviction to our hearts in many ways in which we needed to grow as leaders. We have enjoyed so much this year teaching at this school, and we look forward to all that the Lord is going to do in the upcoming months. Pray for the important decisions that many of them are making as they get ready to leave for different countries with a vision of church planting. Pray that God will use the time in class and each professor to grow convictions in their hearts about their walk with the Lord and their service to Him.

Couple's Seminar

On August 22nd we had a seminar on marriage in our church. We had a wonderful teacher with us: Doctor Rubén Martin. God used him greatly to show us a picture of what true biblical marriage must look like. Our church was greatly encouraged by his teaching. Please continue to pray for the young families in our church. Many of them just came out of difficult backgrounds, and now they need to learn everything about marriage.

Women's Retreat in Santiago del Estero

The weekend of the 29th of August, Nerina was invited to teach together with Gloria at a women's retreat in another state (Santiago del Estero). There were over 70 women that came for three days to be taught and encouraged for service in their local churches. The title of the conference was "To be found blameless by Him". It was wonderful to see the Lord bringing conviction to them and seeing them making decisions to please the Lord in their lives and ministries. This was Nerina's first retreat as one of the speakers, and God used her greatly.

Launching Our campaign "Focus in Love"

Just as we have done in the last several years, the next few months our church will be very busy in what we call the "Focus in Love" campaign. We are exited as a church to see what the Lord is going to do this year. A few weeks ago we launched the project, and we encouraged the people at our church to pray faithfully for one month for 10 people that we will attempt to share the gospel with during the second week in October. This year, Lord willing, we will have a much greater team than those we had in previous years, and we plan to use teams in partnership with other churches in the area for a bigger and wider impact. Please pray for us as we plan and prepare for this event.

Prayer Requests 

Sunday Schools: we are working at our church to start a new project that we will call "Sunday School". We believe this will help the people in our congregation to see how we view a mature Christian, and how they can pursue growth within our church. The first Sunday after the campaign we will start our service a little earlier, and we will have 45 minutes of intense Bible teaching every Sunday morning to help every member grow.

We are very encouraged by this project, and we believe that it will help many to grow. At the same time, it is a great challenge to find, train and check the 7 teachers, but this too will be a tool that God will use to bless those who will begin teaching at our church. We also need to do some remodeling at our church building to accommodate those classes.

Thank you so much for your prayers. None of this would be possible without an army of faithful co-workers along side of us who pray and give so that this work can continue. May the Lord richly bless you.