February Update 2018

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ!  We're pleased to share with you what the Lord has been doing in our lives and ministry.

Family: In February we celebrated Joseph's ninth birthday with cake, cards, and gifts. On the same day as Joseph's birthday, it was also Len's thirty-second spiritual birthday. And during the previous week, we celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary and received some very lovely, thoughtful cards from the children.

Faith continues to practice playing her guitar, and has even put to music one of Charity's poems called Take Me Away, which is actually quite a beautiful worship song. She has experienced a lot of improvement in her eczema, too, so praise the Lord for that. But she still presently has to keep moisturizing it twice a day.

On another note, since discontinuing physical therapy, and doing only home exercises, Len is experiencing some improvement in his left knee, so we continue to trust the Lord for a total healing for him.

More photos.    

Ministry:  As we continue to administer our discipleship training school (DTS), we'd like to update you on the good things that God is doing with it.

Christian in Nigeria

In addition to the students we have in Kenya, Mali, and Nigeria, we now have three more new students who have enrolled -- two in Nigeria, and one in Uganda. They will be starting their first quarter with us on March 1st.

The two new students in Nigeria are brothers Andrew and Chisom. They are classmates of two other existing students of ours, who are in medical school at the University of Jos, David O. and Christian (pictured left), whom we will be highlighting in this month's newsletter. Here is an email that Christian sent to Len in January:

"Good morning sir,

Andrew as well as David are my classmates at school, we're close friends too. We are all 2nd-year Medical Students at University of Jos. It was actually David who introduced me to DTS after I spoke to him about my search for a Well-built spiritual life.

We also spoke to a couple of our mates about DTS.

Myself, David and Andrew have started our own LTG...

Sir I must say, your articles and site are giving a better definition to my spiritual life. Thank you Sir

Yours,
Christian."

Then he wrote to Len in February saying, "I, Andrew and David met today for our LTG and it was an awesome hour listening to each other and admonishing one another...we read the whole book of Matthew for the week." Praise the Lord for their progress!

The Lord has also been helping Christian learn to play the keyboard, and the recordings he sent to us of some hymns he played sounded good. Here is a testimony he shared in February after being in our DTS only since December 1st:

"I want to appreciate God Almighty for Creating a thirst in me. To be honest, I have become more concerned about the things of God than I ever used to be.

A few months back, even after making a resolve to serve God, I would often dose off whenever I pick up my Bible to study. However, with the help of the LTG I belong to, my study of the Word of God has been moved to a new and higher level. As a matter of fact, the Bible keeps me awake and alert whenever I am worn out from studying anatomy or Physiology. It just keeps on getting more interesting even as my knowledge of the Faith Increases.

I thank God for you, Brother Len, for yielding yourself as a tool in the Hand of the Almighty God. Your articles have been a source of rich and balanced Spiritual Diet for me. I get to learn new and very basic things which 'modern day Christianity' would have swept under the rug. Thank you sir.

"Take a step towards God and He would take a Giant Leap towards you" my Pastor (at my local church) would always say. I have tested and found this to be true. Ever since I joined DTS, I made a personal resolve to draw close to God and God has never left me on my own. Each time I spend money out of Love, I see God replenishing me in unusual ways - Divine Providence.
I see God answering all of my Prayers according to His will. I feel God's presence in everything I do even as He has helped me to quickly pick up basic piano skills.

God has really been faithful and I trace it back to the day I signed up for DTS.

Yours,
Christian."

Praise the Lord! To God be the glory. In light of all the students from the University of Jos Medical School that are enrolled in our DTS, we are trusting the Lord for a mighty revival on that campus. Please pray with us to that end.

James in Uganda

Besides the recent enrollment of Christian's classmates Andrew and Chisom into our DTS, a pastor named James Odeke in Uganda has enrolled as well, and he will also begin his training with us on March 1. While serving in the Ugandan police force in 1993, he got saved at a crusade. Afterward he was baptized immediately, and worked in the local church for ten years. Later when he moved to another town, he served as a deacon and then later as pastor, where he continues to serve to this day. When asked why he wants to enroll in the DTS he states, "I need to get more knowledge in the Bible to be a good pastor in spiritual issues, in order to help others know Christ." We look forward to serving Brother James, as well as our other new students during the next three years.

Meanwhile, three other prospective students have expressed a desire to enroll in our DTS for the next quarter beginning on March 1st. Their names are Femeca in the United States, John in Nigeria, and Grace, a pastor in Uganda. John and Grace are both trusting the Lord for a laptop, in order to conduct their studies with us. Please pray they will each receive a laptop and be able to enroll in our DTS by March.

Stephen in Nigeria

Another one of our students in Nigeria named Stephen (pictured left) wrote in an email to Len in February:

"Bro Len,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to thank God for the opportunity to get to know DTS. The teachings are sound doctrine. Am especially blessed by all the teaching, I can feel the inspiration of God upon each of them. Most especially I was challenged by Few Will Be Saved. It open my eyes to the recurring pattern of few being saved and I felt a need to share it with members of our church where we prayed and seek to do all we can in our capacity to enlist among the few that will be saved in this generation.

These are sound teachings which are not taught in our churches today again. It has also grants me opportunity to know more of the scriptures.

Thank you for this opportunity. God bless you.

Yours in Christ,

Stephen"

Len sent out his monthly edition of Old News That's Still Fresh in February to pastors, elders, and laborers in the harvest in the US, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Southeast Asia. One of the articles in this latest edition is somewhat of a commentary on the book of Malachi, called Escaping from Dead Religion.

A wonderful door of opportunity has opened for Len to serve short-term overseas, which we believe is from the Lord. We are praying for the financial provision for it and the Lord's timing, as well as the Lord's message when he goes there, and the demonstration of the Spirit's power. We would so appreciate it if you would join us in prayer for this matter.

Although we are not based overseas any more, we are still missionaries and still need your financial and prayer support of our ministry. Please pray and ask the Father if He would have you give.

"Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Cor 3:5-6).

Resources:  This month we would like to suggest some articles Len has recently written called Escaping from Dead Religion, A Word to the Wise and Learned, The Messenger of the Covenant, and Ten Myths Jews Believe About Messiah. Len's latest articles are all available at Old News That's Still Fresh -- February 2018. His entire collection of his most popular blogs are at Writing for the Master.

In closing, we have much to praise God for, and many opportunities for you to join us in prayer.

Praise the Lord with us for the many answers to prayer:.

1. For allowing us to celebrate Joseph's ninth birthday.
2. For the improvement in Len's knee.
3. For our three newest DTS students. 
4. For the progress in Christian's LTG group. 
5. For the way the Lord is helping Christian with his keyboard lessons, as well as the way He is moving in his life.
6. For the opportunity to assist each of our students in becoming disciples of Christ and fulfilling their callings. 
7. For the Lord's leading, guidance, and help administering the Doulos Training School (DTS), and for the progress the students are making.
8. For the lives being touched for Christ around the world through our writing ministry.

Next steps and prayer needs:

1. For the Lord to heal Len's knee and sciatic pain.
2. For the Lord to heal Faith from eczema on her ankle and neck.
3. For the Lord to bring about a mighty revival among the students at the University of Jos Medical School. 
4. For the Lord to assist us with the administration of the Doulos Training School (DTS), as well as develop through it many disciples who multiply disciples. 
5. For the Lord to increase the enrollment in our DTS according to His will.
6. For the Lord to help John in Nigeria and Grace in Uganda to each receive a laptop, and enroll in our DTS for the coming quarter in March.
7. For the Lord to help all of our DTS students to find LTG partners (another Christian to meet with weekly for discipleship in a Life Transformation Group). 
8. For the Lord to fulfill His purposes for us and our ministry.
9. For the Lord to send His angels with Len’s written messages to those who need them, and for an open heaven over them when they receive his messages. 
10. For the Lord to move mountains to raise up new faith partners, including those who would sponsor our students, and for Him to provide for all our needs -- not only ours personally, but also those of the ministry -- as He releases a financial miracle.
11. For the Lord to guide and provide for Len to walk through the open door for ministry overseas.

Thank you so much for your partnership in this ministry.

with love from all of us,

The Lacroixs

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