June 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 May a mocking bird laid four eggs in a nest in one of the trees in our garden. The children enjoyed monitoring the progress, watching the eggs hatch one by one, and then seeing the little newborns constantly beg for worms from the mother and father birds. Eventually they witnessed one of them leave the nest and take up position in a nearby evergreen bush. We've included some of the photos in our link below, in case you are interested.

At the end of May and first week of June, they all took their final annual standardized tests as they prepared to wrap up another school year by the grace of God. Charity has also written two new poems called "Greater Things Await" and "Life's Basic Training." They are both posted on Verses to the King at the links provided, if you are interested.

While Len has experienced significant relief lately from lower back and sciatic pain, he is still experiencing knee pain, so we continue to trust the Lord for a total healing for him. Faith is still experiencing eczema and so is Len, from which we are continuing to pray for healing. All things are possible with God.

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. By the grace of God, we currently have eighteen disciples in five nations including Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, Mali, and now India. Altogether these students speak a total of sixteen different languages, including Hindi, Malayalam, Igbo, Idoma, Hausa, Teso, Yoruba, Darkarchi, Bette, French, Kiswahili, Lubukusu, Ngakarimojong, Bambara and Luo. All of them speak English.

Brother Albin in India

One of our new DTS students is a young man in northern India named Albin, who recently gave his life to the Lord at the end of April after corresponding with Len for a few weeks.

We received an email in April from him stating:

"Dear brother Len,

I have liked reading your articles from beginning and continue the same.

I read your article 'To Sin or Not to Sin', and I'm glad Lord used me as an instrument in helping you write this article. It certainly exposed satan's day-to-day tricks, and I'll keep reading it to remind myself that it is easier 'Not to sin' than 'to sin' once we've been freed of strongholds of satan.

The 'Keys to Prayer' and 'The Disciple's Prayer' articles are really good and I would use [those] to show to the people who pray like the Gentiles and don't know how to pray.

I didn't realise that I was still praying like the Gentiles and that Jesus wanted us to use The Lords prayer to structure our prayers rather than chanting it blindly as it is. It's wonderful how The Lord revealed this simple thing that most people fail to understand.

Keep up the good work .

Praise Lord Jesus.

In Jesus,
Albin"

Praise the Lord! We give God all the glory for using the plain truth explained in these simple articles to help this new believer in India. He also wrote to us afterward in May to say that he attended his first worship service in a Bible preaching church, which the Lord helped him to find and attend, although he got a negative reaction from his family for doing so. Please pray for Albin that he will continue to grow in his faith and make great strides in his walk with Jesus, despite the opposition he encounters from his family. And pray that the Lord will break all the chains of darkness off his life.

Brother Joshua in Nigeria

Another one of our new students is Brother Joshua in Nigeria (pictured left), who was invited by another one of our DTS students. He is a thirty year old man who got saved ten years ago in 2008 and has since been baptized with the Holy Spirit. He said he enrolled in the DTS to "know more about God and to be heavenly minded and earthly useful to live a life sold out to God and humanity." He started his three year journey with us on June 1 and we look forward to assisting him in achieving that noble goal.

Len received the following email from brother Grace in Uganda, one of our DTS students who is a pastor there.

"Praise the Lord! I really thank the Lord Jesus for the training and the first quarter I have completed though faced with some challenges like forming an LTG. Of course, we are praying that the members of our church should adopt the culture of studying God's Word. Most of the churches here have not been discipled, and I believe it is the very reason why our churches are crippled and lagging behind. They pray much, but are lacking when it comes to studying God's Word.This requires your prayerful consideration for our groups here. I praise Him for what so far is being accomplished in our lives and need more of it, as I will try to do my best where I'm supposed to. To Him be the glory, majesty and honour forever more, Amen!
Your humble brother, Grace Okurut."

Brother Charles in Uganda

A pastor in Lira, Uganda named Charles contacted us in June to apply for enrollment in our DTS. He stated: "I would like to appreciate and thank God for the training that has impacted many Pastors around the world. As a Pastor of a local church I recognize the importance of acquiring Bible knowledge so that I can impact my community with the message of our Lord Jesus Christ positively. I am writing to request for an online Bible training program, I came to know about this program from Pastor James Odeke, whom I have worked with for a very long time now. Please help me be the Pastor that Lord wants me to be by equipping me with the necessary skills required. The Ministry I lead is less than one year with a membership of about 200 members."

He shared his testimony of how he was saved in 1993 by stating: "I got born again while in high school. [I was] a member of a very stubborn click of students, who were involved in drinking, smoking and all manner of things that kept us out of school for indiscipline. It was in the Second term while in Senior Two in the night [that] I had a dream that I was preaching to a great multitude of people and among them was part of the student community. They were rejoicing and celebrating the manner at which God was using me in that dream. It's then that I knew the Lord wanted me to be born again. The following day I heard a group of born again students praising the Lord in one of the classrooms. [Through that experience] the Lord convicted me to give my life to him."

Praise the Lord for his wonderful testimony and for subsequently baptizing him with the Holy Spirit. Brother Charles is now the pastor and founder of Champions Miracle Ministries, and began his three-year training with us in June.  Let's pray that the Lord uses the DTS to equip him for works of service, so that he can achieve the vision the Lord has given him and fulfill his calling.

In our last update we mentioned that brother Olugbenga, one of our DMI Board Members who is a pastor in England, traveled to his native land of Nigeria on business in April and May. While it was a productive trip and he was able to meet with one of our DTS students, he contracted typhoid fever and his baby Joel who was with him contracted malaria. So he spent a lot of time caring for the baby and making visits to the hospital for treatments. By the grace of God, Brother Gbenga is doing better now that he is back in the UK. He has finished his treatment and is no longer having stomach pain, but is still feeling really exhausted. He is awaiting results of a blood test to determine if the typhoid has been eliminated. Joel's blood test result shows that there are dead malaria cells, but no live parasites in his system, so thank the Lord for that. The doctor has advised Brother Gbenga to take the boy for a medical examination if he develops fever of any kind in the next six months. As you know, malaria is known to recur, but we are praying that the Lord would miraculously prevent any future recurrence of the disease. Let's remember Brother Gbenga and Joel in our prayers.

Please click here to see the full DTS Photo Album.

Len sent out his monthly edition of Old News That's Still Fresh in May to pastors, elders, and laborers in the harvest in the US, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

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 to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness." (Ps 115:1)

Resources:  This month we would like to suggest some articles Len has recently written called Against Entropy, Knowing the Lord, Changing the Atmosphere, What Jesus Did Not Do on the Cross, and The Gift of Celibacy. Len's latest articles are all available at Old News That's Still Fresh -- June 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 helping all of our children with their standardized final exams.
2. For Brother Olugbenga's successful trip to Nigeria and for the Lord healing him from typhoid, as well as Joel's healing from malaria.
3. For the enrollment of Brother Charles in Uganda and Brother Joshua in Nigera to our DTS.
4. For the wonderful testimony of brother Albin in India.
5. For the opportunity to assist each of our students in becoming disciples of Christ and fulfilling their callings. 
6. For the Lord's leading, guidance, and help administering the Doulos Training School (DTS), and for the progress the students are making.
7. 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, as well as the lower back and sciatic pain that seems to be coming from his spine.
2. For the Lord to heal Faith and Len from eczema.
3. For the Lord to heal Brother Olugbenga from exhaustion and miraculously prevent his son Joel from any future recurrence of malaria.
4. For the Lord to provide a good job for Deji and help him and Hannah to get married soon, as well as help him to pastor the campus church.
5. For the Lord to bring about a mighty revival among the students at the University of Jos, Nigeria, and to help those who are in our DTS to pass their final exams at the university. 
6. 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. 
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, 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.

Thank you so much for your partnership in this ministry.

with love from all of us,

The Lacroixs

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