Planning Banquets and Enlisting Ball Players

As we get closer and closer to January, we have a tendency to panic that plans are not going according to schedule...we tend to forget that God has everything scheduled already, and His timing is not necessarily our timing.

I'm not sure why the fundraising got left in our hands, but apparently God has a reason for this. We have been able to delegate most of the other areas (i.e. baseball players and clinics, house church groups, follow-up and discipleship) to others who have embraced the vision of evangelism in Caracas. But God has left the gathering of resources in our hands, so we are doing what we know to do.

Our efforts these last few weeks have been on putting together a fundraising banquet. We seem to be getting bogged down in enlisting table hosts and underwriters for our Vision Banquet. We have asked our good friends Rick Williams and Charlie Smith to help in this area. Pray with us that God will lead people to step forward to this task. This is a critical part of a successful fundraiser. Time is getting short to enlist people who will commit to asking others to attend the Vision Banquet who will be helpful in funding the crusade in January. The date of the banquet is October 20. Pray that all the planning and enlistment will come together, that we will have a peace about the whole process, and that God will use the event and speakers to gather His resources that will be needed.

The other problems we have encountered this week have been in getting our Venezuela Vision office set up. Our friend Robert Thorn has been helping us get all the equipment set up, but there have been problems with the phone service and having the phone lines set up as needed. This has delayed our getting the office up and running. We DO have volunteers, however, who are waiting to begin serving in this area of the ministry. They will be there to answer the phone and do other office tasks that need to be done. They will also be helpful in the office work required for the banquet.

On an upbeat note, we are excited about the professional ball players who have committed to go and share their testimonies at the crusade. We are meeting in Atlanta on November 2 with Dr. Bill Cashion who is spear-heading this facet of the crusade. We will meet with many of the ballplayers who will be a part of the clinics and the crusade. Jacobo, from Caracas, will be here as well, having just been to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual convention in Amarillo. We have several ballplayers on board, including Juan Rivera and Carlos Subero, and several more we are waiting to hear from, including Mariano Rivera, Omar Vizquel, and Edgardo Alfonso. Jeff Siegel of Global Youth Baseball is on board with his ministry that conducts clinics all over the world. Jeff is also our link to SCORE International.

So a recap of this week's prayer needs:
1) Vision Banquet: the planning and enlistment of table hosts and underwriters, the gathering of guests who will embrace the vision and help financially, a calming peace for Kerry and me.
2) Meeting with ballplayers in Atlanta: traveling mercies for all who will attend, God's presence in the meeting, God's leading in expanding our vision to them.
3) The Venezuela Vision office: the set-up and quick opening of the office, the volunteers who will help, gratitude for those helping us.
4) The House Church teams: the enlistment of teams to go in January to work with local church members in setting up groups, the small contingency going at the end of September to help train local church leaders in Caracas.
5) The shipment of Bibles: The 50,000 New Testaments are ready to ship. Pray that they will get to their destination, that all of the paper work will be in order, and that they will be delivered as planned to the group in Caracas. There are numerous horror stories of shipments from the US being confiscated or held in port because of faulty or "mislaid" paper work!

Thanks to everyone for their prayers. And if you are interested in being a part of our trip in January, let us know!

Diane