Monday, May 28, 2012

Some Great News!!!



I just wanted to share we have received our first large gift for the Medical Clinic in Venezuela!  Please pray for our trip to the Kentucky Annual Conference in June where I will preach and receive an offering for the clinic.  We are praying for an offering large enough to construct the first phase of the clinic and get it operational on the Campus of the Seminaro Wesleyano de Venezla.

I just learned from Academic Dean Dan Dunn we expect to award 16 degrees this August!  That is 33% more than we have ever awarded!  This represents at least 6 years of work by the students to receive this degree, a Bachelors of Sacred Theology (US Equivalent). Pray for the recruitment of new students to begin this process in October, 2012.

Another significant number is our enrollment.  We currently have over 30 students enrolled in our Extension Campus in Nirgua and over 50 on the main campus at La Piedad.  In the first 10 years of operation of the Seminary we have taught approximately 200 individual students in at least one course!


In January, 2013 we will offer our first course in our Master's Degree program! Please be in prayer for this.  Pray for the faculty and staff, pray for the students to enroll who need to be there, pray for financial provision.

And of course this August we will break ground on the Medical Clinic and we will celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the Seminary. All of this needs your prayers and we need financial support.
You can give through PayPal or by sending a check to Venezuela Now, Inc.  PO Box 1655 Duluth, GA  30107

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Great Report From Veneazuela


 

  Exciting News:

I just learned of a church pastored by a Student in the Seminary which had a mass baptism of many new followers of Jesus Christ.  This would not be news in some places, but it is of great significance in Venezuela. It is the most secular country in Latin America. It is a country where 40% of the communities have NO church and many more have no effective congregation.  It is a country where 60% of the people live in what we could call “Shanty Towns.”

 
It is in this world the ministry of the Seminario Wesleyano de Venezuela is making an eternal difference by training pastors to be effective in ministry to this nation. That is resulting people coming to Christ, new churches being planted, the sick visited, prison ministries, media ministries, medical ministries, food ministries and so much more.

Next week Drs. Jim Powell and Jim Seaton, UMC pastors in California, will be teaching “Pastoral Counseling and Congregational Care” at the Seminario Wesleyano de Venezuela.  The students will be blessed to learn from these effective pastors.  They will be teaching during the day classes on the Campus in Cabudare, La Piedad.

At night, alumnus Pastor Victor Ramirez will be teaching a course on “The Life of Christ.”  We are excited for “Thoby” will be teaching. He is an effective pastoral leader in the Methodist Church in the eastern part of Venezuela, Puerto Ordaz.  He is also the founding pastor of the Methodist Campmeeting which meets each year during Holy Week and has been responsible many new followers of Jesus. Thoby is one of the capable pastor/teachers we are raising up to teach in the Bachelor’s program in the Seminary. Thoby will be teaching in the night classes for the next two weeks.

On June 2, Dr. David Cosby, Dean of Students, will be teaching the first part of the “Disciple” course at our extension program in Nirgua. Then June 4-8 David will be teaching “Holiness in the New Testament” at our main campus.

All of these are great courses and will be of tremendous help to the pastors and students in the Seminary and will result in many more people coming to Christ, the hearts of the students changed and the sick healed.

Thank you for your giving.  As we pray and prepare for our August Graduation events we are much encouraged.  Not only will 12-14 students receive their Bachelor of Sacred Theology Degree, but we will celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Seminary and break ground on the new Medical Clinic we are going to build on the Campus.

Now we need $12,000 for the August classes, the Graduation Events, including diplomas, medals, dinner, and other events; the celebration of the 10th anniversary and a significant capital project for the event, and the festivities of the Groundbreaking. 

Would you like to give a special one-time gift for one of these causes?  Simply make your check to Venezuela Now, Inc. and mail to PO Box 1655, Duluth, GA  30096 or you can give through PayPal* (see instructions below).

May God richly bless you for blessing the world through your prayers and giving to the work of Christ in Venezuela.
In Christ,

Warren Lathem
*To give via PayPal:
1.       Go to www.paypal.com
2.       Enter your user-id and password (or set up a PayPal account, specifying what credit card you wish to use)
3.       Click the “send money” tab
4.       Enter vznowinc@gmail.com in the “to” box
5.       Enter amount of your donation in the “amount” box
6.       Click the “personal” tab under amount
7.       Click “gift”.

Monday, May 07, 2012

Classes Begin at 2:00 Today

Dr. Leroy Lindsey, (pictured here teaching in Venezuela) veteran missionary, seminary professor and a favorite of the students at the Seminario Wesleyano de Venezuela, begins teaching today at 2:00, Holiness in the Old Testament. He is a great Wesleyan scholar and a passionate and challenging advocate of personal and social holiness. Please pray for the students.  This class has the potential great transformation in the lives of students and their congregations.

Saturday, May 05, 2012

Pray For These Classes


Dr. Dan W. Dunn just finished teaching Colossians in our Seminary Extension n Nirgua. Monday Dr. Leroy Lindsey will be teaching Holiness in the Old Testament on our main campus. Professor Wilmer Antonio Perez Lucena will be teaching Inductive Bible Study II at night. Please pray for the students, faculty and staff of the Semnario Wesleyano de Venezuela. Also pray for continued provision for the Seminary. This ministry is impacting a nation for Christ.