LATIN IMPACT MINISTRIES
www.latinimpact.org!
Summer 2011 RUSSELL & KERRY BLACK 19485 SW 288TH STREET HOMESTEAD, FL 33030 PHONE: 305-245-6479 WWW.LATINIMPACT.ORG russkerry@me.com
ttttttttttttttttttttttt “IMPACTING LATIN AMERICA SO LATIN AMERICA IMPACTS THE WORLD”
The Gathering Homestead group with Revival Agents from Dallas, TX We are all Expolit! Every year “Expolit” takes place in Miami. It is the largest international expo of Christian literature, music and media in Spanish. Our fifth year of participation included working with a group called Revival Agents. Revival Agents is a youth and young adult ministry out of a church in Dallas, Texas. Marco Barrientos, one of the most well known worship leaders in all of Latin America now pastors this city-impacting church of a few thousand. This year we were involved in three new initiatives during Expolit. One was called Expocinema which is the first mini film festival in Miami showing movies and short films with Christian messages. These films were produced in Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the United States with the purpose of reaching Hispanics with the Gospel.
Andres with the team at Expolit!
Even though this is the first time having an event dedicated to Christian film at Expolit, the response was very positive, offering a good chance to continue it in the years to come.
This is considered a great success since Christian film making is in the developmental stages in Latin America. These efforts help encourage the further production of Christian media products that is vital to communicate the message of the Gospel to the masses. The second initiative that we participated in was connected with the audiovisual production of Vida Extrema; our communication tool that reaches thousands of Hispanic youth. We worked throughout the event producing promotional material for a new translation of the Bible in Spanish called the New Living Translation, as well as conducting interviews with internationally known Christian artists and personalities for use on our weekly Vida Extrema Podcast.
Ministering to the Revival Agents team at the start of Expolit
Without a doubt, one of the highlights of Expolit for us was the Prayer Booth, which we have been developing for the last four years. This year it was a privilege to have Revival Agents joining us in this initiative. Revival Agents, lead by pastor Alfonzo Ortiz, is a dynamic group of passionate young people who have been experiencing a great revival with signs, wonders, and miracles. The prayer booth was prepared to be open for the entire 5 days of Expolit, with continuous worship, intercession for the nations, prayers for salvation, healing and giving prophetic words. It became a spiritual oasis in the midst of the busyness of the expo.
LATIN IMPACT MINISTRIES
www.latinimpact.org!
Summer 2011
Taking advantage of the Revival Agents’ visit and their willingness to minister in our city, we invited them to share at the Gathering meeting. It was a powerfully refreshing experience and a great blessing for our local ministry. Many of the things they have been experiencing in Dallas have been occurring at the same time with us through our evangelistic outreaches called, “Treasure Hunts”, and during our nights of worship and intercession. God is creating anointed,relational bridges in preparation for a genuine nationwide revival that is touching the young people first, and is becoming a Holy Spirit empowered movement; reaching a whole generation, equipping them for the greatest harvest of souls in all of history. Revival Agents ministering with the Gathering team in Homestead.
Transformed Lives in the Mission Field of South Florida We are watching Homestead evolve out of being a mission field and into a ministry paradise! God’s miraculous power is accelerating right in our own back yard and we’re thrilled to be a part of raising up young, radical revivalists right here in South Florida! A few weeks ago at the Gathering, a young lady asked me (Kerry) to pray for her drug-addicted sister. Her sister has been addicted for years, in total denial, has 2 children, and is in the process of re-marrying. We prayed, agreed and declared her true destiny over her life as a young lady who is no longer addicted, but who is radically set free, loved by God and healed of all of her wounds. Two weeks later I received this incredible testimony from the young lady about her sister. She stated: “I ‘randomly’ decided to go to my sister’s house on Friday night unannounced (I don’t usually like going to her house like that because she’s always ‘high’, and it’s very discouraging’). But, to my surprise, my sister was completely sober! She confessed that she had been in denial about her addiction and knew she needed to do something about it; but ever since TUESDAY NIGHT (the night we prayed for her) she has not had ANY desire to do drugs anymore!” HALLELUJAH!!!!! Anointed worship takes place each week at the Gathering
One of the Gathering worship leaders shared another testimony about a former co-worker, whom she’d thought would “never get saved”, but none-the-less, would pray for her all the time. This coworker was flipping through the TV channels one night; starts watching a well-known televangelist and right there in her living room, gives her heart to Christ! She called our friend, and shared what had happened. Our friend has been ministering to her ever since and says that this woman is now “radically on fire for God”! ONE MORE TESTIMONY….I wish we had space for more! A young man arrived early one night at the Gathering with our sound engineer. Our sound engineer had been reaching out to him and had asked if he wanted to come and learn how to work a soundboard (God was setting him up for a sneaky encounter!). Little did I know he was, as our sound engineer described him, “stoned out of his gourd”! Well, that didn’t stop the Holy Spirit at all! Later that evening, God had a word of for him about his true destiny and identity. We spoke that over him and then he got truly ‘blasted by God’! He continues to receive Papa’s love daily and his life will never be the same! Come on, Jesus….get everything you paid for!!! Throughout this summer, the Gathering will be meeting each Tuesday for a abbreviated worship and intercession time and then going into the streets of Homestead conducting outreaches. Please support us in prayer for this effort.
Upcoming trips information here: June 25 - July 3: Cuba trip to minister in several churches; strategize with ministry leaders and research for the book Russell is writing about the history of the ongoing revival in Cuba. July 15 - 23: Our first family vacation in several years at Watercolor, Destin; Thanks to Carey and Judy Huff and Brandon and Heather Huff. Katie’s coming from California and Aaron is traveling from Tampa where he’s in an internship this summer. August 10 - 17: Colombia trip where Russell will be taking a team from the Gathering for their first missions trip together.