Fall Newsletter
— November 2022 —
Summer 2022
Our Collective and Vástagos 2022 program officially wrapped up in August much in the same way it began- with excitement, new vision and a sense of opportunity. From June through August, CTC was home to fourteen Collective church planting students and ten Scions mission interns.
It was a year of firsts- we've never had that many interns on base, and we've never had this small of a class for Collective. In both cases, we saw the Lord's guiding hand and purposes. As a ministry, we drew close to these students and interns and are so excited to see how the Lord will use this experience to shape and confirm their callings.
Highlights
Summer began with a lot of action, with a team from Awaken Las Vegas, here to greet the summer students and interns and host a welcome dinner where we were able to get to know one another better. Simultaneously, a brother from Awaken Las Vegas sent a crew to repair our roof on the main classroom.
Our summer started smoothly but we soon got hit (hard!) with both COVID-19 affecting teachers and an unidentified virus similar to COVID-19 (all the test results were negative but identical symptoms) affecting the students. Teachers were gracious to switch class times or pinch hit (alternate with other teachers) and we were able to end the year successfully.
During this time, we also conducted our first Hope Medical Missions (a ministry of Awaken Las Vegas) brigade in Maneadero with an incredible response by the students and the local community we were ministering to. Our summer ended with two strong classes- The Holy Spirit and Prayer taught by Pastor David Hernandez (Brasas CDMX) and Vision and Planning taught by Pastor Jeff Roenspie. We are confident that between these two classes- our students have a clear sense of God's purposes in both church planting and missions! Please continue to pray for our graduates as they return home and serve in their local churches.
Awaken Tijuana 2022
With the summer programs over, we have turned our attention to Awaken Tijuana- an evangelism event that will be held in Estadio Caliente in Tijuana and is in partnership with Awaken Las Vegas. Awaken Tijuana is a two-day event, starting with Awaken Aid on November 11, where we will reach out to the local community with legal, medical and dental assistance, food and clothing distribution, a children's ministry program and prayer and counseling. We are anticipating 5,000 people to attend! The following day- November 12- will be Awaken Crusade- a time of incredible music and a message of hope. This day, we hope to fill the stadium with 20,000 people and present the Gospel. Right now, scores of churches are involved in counselor training and coordinating efforts and outreaches. Our staff is also building skateboard ramps for a skate ministry that will be helping with the event, transporting backpack donations for the kids that will be attending and preparing to receive eighty short-term missionaries from Mexican churches for the event. We ask that you please be in prayer for this coming- that lives are transformed and churches are united in this effort. Visit this site for more information: https://awakenevents.org/ .
General Updates
Vástagos Internship
This month, we welcomed two short-term interns - Eliana Machado and Jared Nava - both from Hermosillo, who have joined us to explore their calling in missions. Jared is the eldest son of German and Mary Lopez, Collective 2018 graduates, who have since gone on to plant a church in Hermosillo. Eliana is the daughter of Jose and Adriana Machado, pastor of Horizonte Christian Fellowship in Hermosillo, who grew up with the Roenspies (Pastor Jeff and Lilia) as her Sunday school teachers. During their time here, they will assist on base, learn about missions, be discipled and seek the Lord for next steps in serving Him cross-culturally. Eliana will be serving with us for two weeks and Jared for two months. If you or someone you know is interested in exploring missions in this capacity, you can reach out to Bonnie Knight: bonnie@awakendtc.org or click here for more info awakendtc.org/kindred .
New Name
Finally, we are settling into our new name- Awaken Discipleship and Training Center! Along with our overseeing church, we have officially changed our name to reflect our vision and mission of seeing the church revived and the lost rescued. While we still have the same roots - Calvary Chapel - and the same vision - equipping the saints to proclaim Christ - our new name really captures the passion of our calling!