Calvary Latvia - June 2010 update

Got a minute for missions?

This is Brenten from Calvary Latvia saying hello to Calvary Santa Cruz,
I heard you are doing a spaghetti dinner to support our ministry, so I wanted to say thank you! And I hope you enjoy all the spaghetti you are going to eat. (:
This is a one minute update about what we’ve been doing this summer

• We’ve been enjoying the freedom and the warm weather to preach the gospel on the streets, and I began preaching open air in the center of Riga, and there’s been a great response from the crowds that have gathered.
• One young man named Martin got saved and was baptized in the Baltic sea. That was a little bit cold but it was such a thrill.
• Also we went into an orphanage, we are sharing food and the gospel with about 70 kids who had never heard the gospel before.
• Everyone in the church is growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus as I’m teaching through the Old Testament. You can listen to those Bible studies online at CalvaryLatvia.com
  

Be encouraged! God is working! But please continue to pray for us. Thank you.

Ministry to Orphans

The send off prayer from CCMB

The send off prayer from our home church from Brenten Powers on Vimeo.

Nate and I have been friends since 2000 when he was teaching the college age group and I was leading worship. He is a very gifted teacher and has always encouraged us in missions, so we are blessed to have him as our new senior pastor at Calvary Chapel Monterey Bay. This video is from January 29, 2009 when the church prayed for us at the end of our furlough and sent us back to Latvia with their blessing.

CCMB website: calvary.com

Check out what Nate had to say about me on his blog:
nateholdridge.blogspot.com/2008/12/brenten-powers.html

Recommended Videos

Here are a couple great videos I want to share. The first is from the Bible College I went to and the second is from pastor Nate at my sending church Calvary Chapel Monterey Bay. They both express the heart for the word of God that I share. Blessings.





Tradition vs. Scripture - Mark 7:13 from Nate Holdridge on Vimeo.

Turning to Jesus

Here are two guys I witnessed to in Riga one Thursday night. They were walking by my and I asked, "Can I ask you some questions?" They said, "About what?" and I said "About eternity" Then they said, "Sure, let's go sit at a park bench" After sharing the gospel with them, one of them, named Roma, was ready to turn to Jesus, and wanted me to lead him in a prayer of repentance, he didn't want to forget it so he wrote it down on a map he had with him. I was so excited that he was ready to turn from sin and trust the Lord to save him and set him free from his addictions. Here is a video from that night...





Yesterday I got back from a youth camp where I helped with worship leading and a couple Bible studies. Wednesday night about 20 kids came forward to receive Christ. I was able to connect with a few and encourage them. I hope to continue influencing three who live in Ogre, one in Ikskile and four in Jaunjelgava. Pray for those who were sincere about following Christ, that they would continue to become disciples and overcome worldly influences in their lives after camp.

Hallelujah - Latvian youth version

At youth camp we rewrote the verses to "Hallelujah" for a special performance on our last night of camp. I wrote verse 2 to suit the new faith of the boys singing behind me and they wrote the Latvian verse with Liena Pandare.




HALLELUJAH - YOUTH CAMP (c) June 2008.

I heard that there was a secret chord,
that David played and it pleased the Lord,
but you don't really care for music, do ya?

It goes like this the fourth the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift,
the prophet king is singing hallelujah!

Hallelujah (4x)

It takes guts to sing a song
In front of friends when they think I'm wrong,
but I don't really care what they think anyway.

All I want is to please the Lord,
Everything else I can't afford,
It's the word of God so let me sing it to ya.

Hallelujah (4x)

Bībelē teikts tev un man
Dzīvot būs mums kā Pestītājam,
Bet bez Jēzus vieni to nespējam.

Tik Jēzū spēks un dzīvība
Ja Vinņa vienmēr paliekam
Tad neuzveiks mūs grēks vairs - Aleluja!

Happy Fathers Day

I hope you all enjoyed fathers day. I sure did. Lena and Caleb made me a cake for after lunch and we went out to dinner and ate ceasar salad and barbeque chicken wings. Then after the kids went to bed I finally put together some clips from our weekly family outings.

Video of Brenten preaching the gospel

This is the gospel message I preached on March 23, 2008 at the house of culture in Ikskile. No one indicated they repented as a response but my hope is that the word of God that I shared would one day bear fruit in changed lives.

Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. James 1:21

Thanks to Ansis Imaks and his team at Kristus Gaisma TV, the Easter Sunday outreach was filmed, edited, shown on local Ogre TV and posted at www.kristusgaisma.lv. He gave me permission to copy it and share it at imeem.com and here.

English Club news

Our English Conversation Club continues to reach out to new people. Tonight, will have our monthly movie tonight, but we will not meet at our house as usual, but we will meet at Trisvieniba Baptist church along with the youth group to watch the film "A venture in faith" about Calvary Chapel's history and philosophy. Here is a clip with the testimony of Lonnie Frisbee, one of the hippies that God saved during the Jesus people movement in Southern California in the late 1960's and 70's.



We started the English Conversation Club last August in order to help young people practice what they are learning in School and to compare world views on different topics. We have discussed many topics from the alphabet and numbers to a Christian hard rock group "Flyleaf" that is popular here.






We will continue to meet Tuesdays at 6:00 PM as long as it is helpful to those coming. Those who come regularly have improved in their communication skills and becoming more fluent. It is also a nice opportunity for us to bond with their culture and share our faith. Praise God for the English Club. For more info go to www.englishconversationclub.blogspot.com or www.angliski.wordpress.com

Memories from Nizhyn, Ukraine 2003

Here is a slideshow from our first 2 years of church planting in Ukraine. Music "Beautiful One" by Jeremy Camp.

Memories from Ukraine 2004

Here's a video I made in 2004 when we were missionaries in Ukraine. When we don't feel like we are making that much of a difference, it gives us hope to look back and see the fruit of changed lives. O how we desire to see God pouring out His Spirit in Latvia too. Although Latvia and Ukraine share a communist past, their cultures and spiritual openness are quite different. I believe God used our time in Ukraine to prepare us for Latvia but it is also evident that it's a unique situation here which keeps us praying that we will be lead by His Spirit not just trying to repeat past victories.

Palm Sunday

Here is a music video from our Palm Sunday service at the Russian speaking church in Ogre. The words to the song in English are:

"I will praise you, O my redeember, for you are worthy of all praise.
And if I don't praise Your name, even the rocks will cry out.
If I don't praise your name, even the Mountains will shout!"

I taught about the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled on the day He rode triumphantly into Jerusalem as King on a donkey and was proclaimed the messiah. The multitudes breifly recognized him as their King saying,

"Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; even the King of Israel. BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

All four gospels record this event; Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, John 12:12-34. Some OT scriptures that were fulfilled on this day were Daniel 9:25-26, Psalm 118:14-28, Zec 9:9, Unfortunately, the crowds praise was shallow and they changed their tune just a few days later when they realized Jesus did not come to set up a material, political kingdom but a spiritual heavenly kingdom by giving His life for the world.

True Love Evangelism

Something about the video... this is the view from my bedroom of the main walking street in Ogre sped up 4 times. I am sharing the gospel with a few russian speaking boys around 16 years old. This is actually the third time I have shared with them since I met them in the summer. They were open but not ready to commit to follow Christ. One thing I like about the video is how you can see all the people that walk by all the time, which is a big motivation for evangelism.

true love evangelism.wmv

My Desire

The purpose of this video is to show at CCMB Sunday morning in order to encourage people to pray about joining an evangelistic team that will come in August 2008. We were asked long ago to produce a 60 second video, this is 65 seconds but I am hoping for 5 seconds of grace since I couldn't shorten the song anymore. I would have liked to share a broader scope of our ministry but with one minute I thought it best just to focus on this outreach aspect that relates more to those who God is calling to come in August. By the way, this song "My desire" by Jeremy Camp (a former Bible College class mate) has really been my hearts cry for everything I do, I live to do God's will and my desire is to be used by God. I will confess that often we do not see how God is using us to impact peoples lives and it can be discouraging, but we know we are in the center of His will even if we don't see many people coming to the Lord. Keep praying for souls to be saved. It's harder soil here and people can be cold to strangers but we see people open up slowly as they see we are trying to learn their language, music helps too.



my desire 2008.wmv

Paul Washer's Shocking Message - Is it true?

If you are concerned about anyones salvation, I think this message is worth watching and discussing. Paul Washer preaches to a youth evangelism conference from Matthew 7:13-27. Do you think the way he interprets it is true? Let me know in the survey on the left or leave a comment to this post.

2 Corinthians 13:5 NASB Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?

October 31 Alternative

What is there for kids to do on October 31 in Latvia?

1. Get dressed as the dead and go out with friends to get candy or do pranks on people.
2. Nothing. Sit at home and be bothered by mobs coming to your door.
3. Or, celebrate good instead of evil at the missionaries house: free food, lots of candy, Christian music, fun and games.
   

The Bible says, "Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21) And "Flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace along with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart." (2 Timothy 2:2) So, we decided to host an alternative to Halloween for the kids from our childrens ministry, we called it "Reformation Day" and we explained how Martin Luther was a Christian who changed history by challenging evil in his generation and stood up for good. We encouraged the kids to glorify God not the devil and to celebrate life not death and to seek good not evil.



We provided Hot dogs, chips, cola and plenty of candy so that they wouldn't be tempted to go trick or treating. Our games included a pinjata, Uno, guess how many M&M's are in a jar, bobbing for apples and who could make their balloons stick to the ceiling after rubbing it on your head and finally. We connected our camera to a monitor so they could see themselves dance along with the David Crowder Band, singing "Your a Revolutionary Love" and "O Praise Him" and now we have this action packed video to show you:






October 31 Reformation Fun

Exploring Cesis Video

Cesis, Latvia

Saying "Cheese" in Cesis, Latvia

We took a lovely trip as a family to the old city of Cesis (pronounced "Tsesis"). It was fun to explore the beauty as the golden leaves fell. There are so many people walking around the city center and I hope to return there on an outreach this week while students are on fall vacation.

Family Hike in Ligatne

Once a week, we take drive to another city to explore Latvia, spend time together as a family and get more vision for the rest of the country. Here is a music video from our walk in Ligatne National Park. I am singing "Father, I worship you" in Russian.


minute in ligatne.wmv