We Arrived in the Dominican Republic!
September 2024
"Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity." (Psalm 98:8-9)
"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" (John 7:38)
Jimenoa River, Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic
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| GAP Year students (10) being introduced and prayed for at Oasis Church service |
| | Santiago Theological Seminary - We praise God for a wonderful apologetics conference held in Santiago jointly with Westminster Theological Seminary and Third Millennium Ministries (Richard Pratt) August 30-31. With around 550 in attendance, we were able to be of great encouragement to church leaders and young people from many churches brought together concerning our humanity, as made in the image of God, from creation to fall, redemption and glorification. Also addressed was how that is lived out in use of our bodies and as males (addressing machismo). By God's enablement, it was a work of great effort by our team.
- We also held a pre-conference seminar for about fifty church leaders that addressed the need for not only orthodoxy (right doctrine) and orthopraxy (right living), but also a balance with orthopathos (emotional well being).
- In July we offered a course on counseling for addictions. It was taught by two professors, one in Santo Domingo and another in Santiago. We praise God for how this certificate program is meeting a great need in the DR (160 students). Our next course this month is on dealing with suffering.
- Praise God we have ten students in our GAP Year of discipleship. This week has been the beginning of their academic classes. They are from five countries, with 7 women and 3 men! Let me know if you know of a potential candidate for next year. See website in English (click bottom corner) at https://gap.stsantiago.edu.do
- Praise God that STS has reached over half of our challenge matching grant of $50,000. We look forward to your participation to reach our goal. This challenge grant will enable us to provide scholarships, hire a coordinator to initiate new programs, including an on-line diploma in theology, and various certificate programs. These certificates can be combined towards earning a degree. https://actsbeyond.org/donate-1
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| | | Family Update - Praise God for providing wonderful special needs teachers for Kaleah. Their expertise in autism is amazing, already showing up in positive changes for Kaleah. We could not find this kind of help in Philadelphia. It was also not available here at Santiago Christian School last year. It all worked out in God's good timing for this year.
- Bruce was able to attend a Simeon Trust workshop on expository preaching, where we focused on Acts of the Apostles. It was a wonderful three days of learning and fellowshipping with local DR pastors.
- Anne is enjoying her ESL students, but has had some health issues in the adjustment to this new environment. Pray for renewed strength. God worked out things for the best for Anne with her school position, rather than a more demanding one she had initially applied for.
- In God's perfect timing our shipment of household items shipped a month beforehand arrived to our house two days after arriving to our new house! PTL!
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We missed Ace's 2nd birthday, but Bruce will see our four grandchildren in Philadelphia at the end of October. |
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Prayer Requests & Answers
- Thank you for praying for our move to the Dominican Republic. God has provided a good house in a safe community. He also provided a great car, large enough to take students and visitors around. God has also enabled me to overcome my initial fears of driving here, which is crazy! We are also developing new friends here, who are great.
- Pray for Kaleah's continued growth at integration into a normal classroom context.
- Pray for the LORD to continue to direct and provide a way for our STS counseling students to become certified by Association of Biblical Counselors (ABC). One of the first steps is getting their main textbook translated to Spanish, which we plan to do. Next is sending a couple of our leaders to their annual conference.
- Praise the LORD for providing a wonderful and diverse group of students for the GAP Year. Pray for their spiritual development in Christ.
- Pray for God's continued leading for program coordinator(s) for STS, as the process has begun favorably.
- Praise God that my book on Christian Baptism has just been published in Spanish by CLIR in Costa Rica. Pray it would be used to blessed many families and churches.
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| Partner With Us
Mailing address for support checks:
Reformed Evangelistic Fellowship PO Box 847 Bristol, TN 37621-0847
Be sure to include "McDowell ministry" on memo line of check so it goes to correct account. Include your email address. Or donate on-line:
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| | | Bruce's Website
Read his blog on things concerning Scripture, the Lord and our world, and find his books, sermons and recorded teaching: http://bruceamcdowell.com .
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| | Santiago Theological Seminary
Non-Profit Website
The STS website: https://stsantiago.edu.do/wp/ |
| | | Conference speakers with translators answering questions at apologetics conference |
| | GAP Year students in class on hermeneutics (biblical interpretation) |
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