January Update 2019

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

Family: On New Year's Eve, we brought in the New Year together as a family with prayer as usual. After midnight, Len gave each one a New Year's blessing, following a family tradition handed down from his father. Then on New Year's Day we celebrated with a feast. Speaking of the New Year, let us take this opportunity to pray that the Lord would bless each one of you with His peace, with good health, a closer walk with Him, and a sense of His presence, as you abide in Him in 2019!

Christopher has been making great progress in playing the keyboard and likewise Faith has been making equally excellent progress with her guitar playing. They have been adding a wonderful new dimension to our worship in church as they play skillfully on their instruments. Praise the Lord!

The Lord also blessed Charity with a better job at another restaurant that will provide better pay, more hours, and be closer to home. So she has resigned from her job at Chick-fil-a, and will begin her new job at a cafeteria style restaurant on the 21st of January. Please pray for her to do well in the transition as she learns a whole new job.

Jennifer is in the process of trying to get a consultation with an orthopedic surgeon, and possibly a surgical procedure to address the problem with her right shoulder being painfully stiff and immobile.

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 disciples in five nations including Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, India, and Mali.

Shadrach in Nigeria

A new student named Shadrach from Calabar, Nigeria enrolled. He was referred to us by one of our current DTS students named John, who lives in that same city. He is twenty-four years old, came to Christ two years ago in December 2016, and has been baptized with the Holy Spirit. He tells his testimony like this:

"I was born and brought up in church, but I still didn’t know what I was doing. Even though everybody around me knew me as a Christian; I just knew I had a big vacuum in me that needed to be filled by Jesus Christ. Later a friend of mine invited me to a youth fellowship which was not organized by my church, [which] was where I had an encounter with the Word, and right from that moment something new happened to my life. I got a new fire and passion for Christ (I knew deep within me that I was now saved and was born again)."

What a wonderful testimony that emphasizes the fact that we all must be born again in order to enter the kingdom of God, even those who have been brought up as Christians, and who consider themselves Christians.

Here is why he says he enrolled in the DTS: "When I look at how scarce the Word of God has become in the heart of the people around my environment, most especially the youths, I always feel deep in my spirit that God is seeking for a man to equip and release to help men find Him. It is with this reason that I have decided to prepare myself for the task which God is releasing me into, by seeking [to enroll in] a discipleship school that teaches the truth." 

We are delighted to have Shadrach begin his journey with us on March 1st. Let's pray the Lord would indeed equip him, so that he helps others find Christ. As Paul wrote to Timothy, "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others." (1 Tim 2:2).

William in India

A fifty-nine year old pastor from southern India named William also enrolled in our DTS in January, so that he can gain a deeper knowledge of the Scriptures. He will begin his training at the same time as Shadrach on March 1st. Here is his testimony of how he was saved in 1979 as a young adult:

"Dear beloved Leonard,

My mother and father are Christians, so I regularly attended Church from my childhood along with them. I heard the Word of God and learned discipline and became a good-character youth. Especially I knew about the kingdom of God, and [when] I heard the Word of God to enter the God`s  kingdom, I repented by the Word [that says]: 'He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.' (Pro 28:13). [I was] saved and born again at the point. This is my [testimony] regarding [being] born again.

Thanking you.

in the Lord,

William"

Praise the Lord for his testimony, which reminds us that everyone, including those with good character, who have been raised in the church all their lives, must still be born again in order to enter the Kingdom of God. We are thankful the Lord has brought William to us, so that we can serve him. We look forward to the journey together with him over the next three years.

David (L) and Christian (R) in Jos, Nigeria

Len received a phone call from one of our DTS students in Jos, Nigeria named David (pictured left). He is in the medical school at the University of Jos, studying to be a medical doctor, and he informed Len about a tragedy that occurred there in mid-September. He said that the Muslims attacked and committed a massacre in Jos, even murdering entire households like they had previously done in June 2018, only three months earlier. The June massacre had claimed three hundred lives.

He said that in this mid-September attack, one of our other students named Christian (pictured above) had a friend who was killed in the attack along with his entire household, except for one sister who survived. And brother David said that he saw the attackers with his own eyes when they struck at the hostile where he and other university students were living. He said some people were trying to repel the attackers, and in the process of doing so, a stray bullet hit a young man named Shadrach in the back of the head and neck. He was brought into the hostile where brother David was, where he lay unconscious for about an hour. But there was nothing he could do for the victim, except pray, since the hospital was very far from there, and there was no way for him to treat such a traumatic head wound. Unfortunately he watched Shadrach die, and although he was a Christian, David is not sure if he was born again.

In addition to all of this, the University lecturers all across the entire country of Nigeria are on strike. They are making demands of the federal government, which brother David says it is in no position to fulfill. This strike has been going on since the fall, so the final exams that were supposed to occur in October and November never happened. Many of the students, like brother David, have returned to their hometowns to live with their families until the strike eventually ends.

Sister Blessing in Jos, Nigeria

Len also received an email from sister Blessing, another one of our DTS students at the University of Jos, describing the bloodshed that took place in September. She stated:

"It was really bad. We lost a number of students, some of which were considered missing and others who were actually killed. Although some missing students were found, while some confirmed dead, it's heartbreaking thinking of it now. Most families lost loved ones. On one occasion an entire family was [killed by] machete. It's really sad... killings without anybody doing anything about it (it's almost normal to wake up in the morning and hear that herdsmen attacked a village and killed a hundred people and that...nothing is done).....and the economy has been at its worse...hunger reached it's peak....It's quite terrible here, but then we have a 'big God that [surpasses] them [all].' We [will] survive by God's grace. Good things still happen down here though."

These DTS students in Jos need our prayers for protection and for an end to the professors' strike, so they can return to their studies. Anyone who says that Islam is a peaceful religion, or that Muslims worship the same God that Christians worship is not in touch with reality. The Koran itself teaches them to carry out this kind of jihad against the so-called infidels, which is what they have done for nearly two thousand years. They need our prayers, too, that they will come to know Christ, who alone can save them.

More DTS Testimonies

Len received an email from Sister Collete in Mali on New Year's Day, in which she stated:

Sister Collete in Mali

"Dear brother Leonard,

I thank God for bringing us into 2019. I have so much to thank God and glorify His name that paper and pen may not be enough.

He has been our all in all in 2018.  He made us overcome many trials and challenges in the last year. We became more than victorious. For Doulos School students, I thank Him so much for using us in various areas to be His witness and proclaim His name in the corrupted world. To your family I thank Him for all wondrous things He manifested in your lives.

My prayer for this year is for Him to take a permanent place in our hearts as we await His return that we may be raptured.

Finally I wish you a blissful year of joy and blessings.

With His Love

Sister Collete"

DTS Photo Album.

Deji in Nigeria

Len received an email from Deji in January, which he has given permission for us to share and excerpt from it here. He said:

"I sense the Lord is asking me to spend more time studying, because he has something he wants me to do which I don't know yet...However,  during a teaching on evangelism yesterday morning, I felt like resigning from my job, going to a place where the gospel has not been established, where I can spend all my time getting people into the Lord's kingdom and studying God's Word. Immediately after that message, I encouraged myself in the Lord..." Then he said that his pastor "...encouraged me to obey the Lord's leading and prayed for me too. Now I have joy and peace in my heart that I can do what I know the Lord is calling me to do as I am also waiting for the Lord's open door to be sent far away to the Gentiles to bring light to them.

Thank you sir,

The Lord bless you,
Deji"

Let's continue to pray that as Deji finishes his final quarter of DTS training with us, that he and his lovely wife Hannah would hear clearly from the Lord, so that they may know the Lord's will for their lives and do it.

Len sent out his monthly edition of Old News That's Still Fresh in January to pastors, elders, and laborers in the harvest in the US, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Southeast Asia. This month's edition included a free, devotional e-book and a free, downloadable calendar, both of which you can find at the above link. Upon receiving it, James Odeke one of our DTS students, who is a pastor in Uganda, replied, "Thank you so much for the help this is what we need."

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.

Resources:  This month we would like to suggest some articles Len has recently written called The Active Nature of Faith, Obedient to the Heavenly Vision, Why God Hides His Face, The One Another Commandments, and The Holy Fire Series. Len's latest articles are all available at Old News That's Still Fresh -- January 2019. 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 bring in the New Year with prayer, and blessing us with a wonderful feast together as a family.
2. For providing Charity with a better job in answer to our prayers.
3. For the progress that Christopher and Faith are making on their musical instruments and the blessing that is bringing to our worship services.
4. For protecting all our DTS students from harm during the recent massacre in Jos, Nigeria.
5. For the way He brought brother Shadrach to Christ three years ago, and for leading him to enroll in our DTS.
6. For leading William in India to enroll in our DTS.
7. For the opportunity to assist each of our students in becoming disciples of Christ and fulfilling their callings. 
8. For the Lord's leading, guidance, and help administering the Doulos Training School (DTS), and for the progress the students are making.
9. 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 Jennifer from chronic pain and limited range of motion in her right arm (adhesive encapsulitis in her shoulder). 
2. For the Lord to heal Len's lower back and sciatic pain.
3. For the Lord to heal Faith and Len from eczema.
4. For the Lord to help Charity to do well in the transition, as she learns a whole new job.
5. For the Lord to help brother Deji finish his DTS training with us by February 28th, and to lead him concerning the next step for his life.
6. For protection of our DTS students in Jos and for an end to the university professors' strike, so they can return to their studies. 
7. For the Muslim marauders in Nigeria to come to know Christ, who alone can save them.
8. 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. 
9. 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). 
10. For the Lord to fulfill His purposes for us and our ministry.

Thank you so much for your partnership in this ministry.

with love from all of us,

The Lacroixs

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PO Box 5526
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