Time To Re-Launch!
 

If you’ve been following our story for the past few months, you know what’s happened here in Nicaragua. We were prepared to launch official services of our new church plant “Santuario Familiar Bautista Estelí” on August 5th. We had a growing number of people coming to our preview services, launch team meetings, and had seen over 40 people accept Christ in our first 9 months here in Estelí, Nicaragua! God was daily reassuring us that we were exactly where He wanted us, doing what He called us to do. We had seen crowds over 80 people coming to our events, and our Sunday evening Preview Services were going good as well.

Then, it all came to a screeching halt! Because of severe civil unrest and danger on the roads, we had to leave. Thank God it was only for two months, but as you might imagine, the momentum we had going for us dwindled away. We wondered if things would ever get back to “normal”.

And now, we have been back in Estelí for a month. We arrived not knowing if we could re-establish the momentum or not. Things are not “normal” still. You can see the uncertainty of the future on people’s faces. Not many people are out of their houses at night, so holding evening services is not wise at this point in time. 

BUT… we have restarted the ministry here. Just a couple of weeks ago, God provided us a new house to rent for the church! It’s next door to our house here in downtown Estelí! We’ve now had two Sunday morning services and some of the faithful have returned! God has given us the wisdom to launch with a new strategy. Before, it was all out, shout it out, take it to the streets, leave the doors open, publicize from the rooftops type of ministry. Now, we have to be a bit more restrained with our strategy. People in Nicaragua are accustomed to going to church on Sunday Evenings. Sunday mornings, are not the prime-time to have church services. So, with the way things are right now, we have had to offer our services on Sunday mornings at 10am. And guess what? It’s working! Our first service we had just 11 people come. Last week we had 16 and 2 accepted Christ! We are expecting even more this Sunday. 

What have we learned in all this? Simple: God knows best! We all know that and we even like it… when His plans seem to align with ours. But, sometimes God rips the reigns from our hands and says, “I’ll take it from here.” And really, why would we want it any other way? Thank you all for supporting us and praying   for us. Together, one day soon we will see the results of God’s plan! 

Thank You For Your Support!
Max & Jennifer Kennedy