AFCI World News

Church Growing in St Vincent

BY: Veral Blake, National Director

Talking about church! This past Sunday was exceptional at Harvest Bible Chapel St. Vincent – an outreach established by AFCI. It was our Friends & Family Sunday. We were overwhelmed at the response of the friends and family who turned out at the invitation of members and friends who attend our church. Normally our attendance on Sunday will be about 160. This Sunday we had 270 in attendance.

In the evening we showed the film "Courageous" and over 500 persons showed up. Most exciting of all is that several persons committed their lives to Christ in the morning and the movie challenged a wide cross section of men who brought their children to view the movie to really make a commitment to raise their children "God's way. Harvest Bible Chapel St. Vincent is one year and 5 months old .

To God's glory! It is the fastest growing church in St. Vincent presently. We are overwhelmed with the joy of the Lord of the bold step we took to evolve our small struggling congregations from a mere rippling brook to a mighty flowing stream. The father/son combination is having a great impact upon the nation. In fact Allister and I are now working on an article to be published soon regarding the efforts and effectiveness of our father/son tag teeming.

God’s Protection in St. Vincent

BY: Veral Blake, National Director

We want to share with you an experience we had a couple days ago as an encouragement for you to continue praying for us regularly and to show how valuable your prayer of protection is. On Wednesday night we were on our way home after a dinner appointment. As  we got on the outskirts of Kingstown the capital City,suddenly a little boy of about 8-9 years ran from one side of the street to get to the other directly in front of our vehicle. He was hit head on and knocked to the ground. Thankfully I was not driving fast so I was able to stop without running over him. He got some bruises but was not seriously injured.

Obviously it shook us up and sent Norma's pressure skyrocketing. The parents who ran a barber salon were nearby, The father had just left him in the saloon to go get some food at a nearby restaurant when the boy ran after him without him knowing.God had protected us from killing that child.

There was an interesting part to the incident. We took the mother and son to the hospital.When I told her who I was she was excited because since she was a child she listened to my children's program and always thought it was someone from overseas who hosted the program. She was ecstatic to meet me. An incident that could have resulted in distress and sorrow, God turned it into a blessing.

The child is doing well. He has no concussion. Never stop praying for our safety and protection.

Ministering in the midst of Tragedy in St. Vincent

BY: Veral Blake

We got back home on Saturday morning in time for the funeral of my cousin Ingrid, better known as Lyn, who was shot to death by her husband last week on Tuesday. The funeral was well attended. Those who attended heard a powerful Word from the Lord by Pastor Ormand Alexander who is also a relative of Ingrid. The three year old daughter's expressions to all who talk with her is "My mommy gone to Heaven and the police carry my daddy to jail." She no doubt was already impacted by her mother. The child's name is Sophia.

They found a list of at least 16 persons who were targeted to be killed. Our son Devon was very close to the family. It was the Saturday night before the shooting on Tuesday they had a social at their house. They were both in church on Sunday. The thing is he was not saved. Please continue to pray for little Sophia and the rest of the family. As God calls us to minister in the midst of evil, we pray for His strength and wisdom.

Church Planting Ministry in St. Vincent

For many years, Veral Blake, National Director for St. Vincent, has been involved in planting churches in his nation. Recently, Veral conferred the church planting role of AFCI to his son Allister and his wife, Debbie.

The Bible Churches that Veral started have all been consolidated into this new church venture that started last year and is quickly developing into a very dynamic and growing church body, called Harvest Bible Chapel.

Harvest Bible Chapel has already exerted a very strong spiritual impact upon the nation after just one year. People have been very favorable to a father/son combination due to the long and outstanding impact of Veral Blake’s ministry in his nation.

Harvest Bible Chapel was officially launched on September 4, 2010, at the Aquatic Club which was a popular night club. At first people were very skeptical of church being held in a night club. After one year that place has been changed from a night club to a Worship Center where lives are being transformed.

Reaching out Through Radio in St. Vincent

Veral Blake, National Director for St. Vincent, has been on the radio in the Caribbean for many years.  This year they celebrated 30 years on radio! There are three radio programs that air on a regular basis:

• ViewPoint
• Children's Bible Club
• Ambassadors for Christ Broadcast

ViewPoint is a 5 minute Christian commentary that generates a lot of discussion in the community. The “Children’s Bible Club” has a vast listening audience of children in St. Vincent.  And the “AFC Broadcast” is heard on 15 stations across the region, focused on Bible teaching and evangelism.

Veral just wrote to say, “Our plan this year is to expand the radio outreach to another 3 stations. Presently I am preaching a series of messages on ‘eternal security.’ I got a call from a listener in St. Lucia who felt that he was rejected by God because he had failed the Lord so many times even though in his heart there was a voice telling him God still loves him. The program gave him a great sense of reassurance of God's love for him.”

Hurricane Hits St. Vincent

Veral Blake, National Director for St. Vincent, wrote the following on Sunday to tell about Hurricane Tomas that hit his nation over the weekend . . .

Saturday and into early morning Sunday we were devastated by Hurricane Tomas. The hurricane was only a category one when it hit us but did an incredible amount of damage. I was drafting during the storm which was unfinished due to the fact that the electricity went in the middle of it and only returned about an hour ago.

The government estimated the cost to be in hundreds of millions of dollars. There were over 300 families who lost their house roofs or sustained major damage to their properties. About 1000 are in shelters. There has been major damage to the nation’s infrastructure, including roads which are still impassable and still thousands of persons are without electricity and telephone contact. As I write this letter I can hear the pounding of hammers as folks repair their roofs and other damage done to their property.

We did not sustain any damage except that the door to our storeroom was blown off letting in lots of water. As I was clearing the debris in our yard after the all clear was given this morning I looked at the raging river at the back of our house pounding against  the retaining wall we have just erected to protect our house and shuddered to think what might or could of happened had we not built this wall. I burst out in exuberant praise.

Church services were cancelled today including ours. We had our first baptism service as Harvest Bible Chapel planned for today and were all looking forward to it but it had to be postponed till next Sunday in the will of the Lord.

Please pray for Veral and others in St. Vincent as they seek to help those affected by this storm.

New Church Started in St. Vincent

AFCI St. Vincent has helped to launch a new church in Kingstown, and the first service was beyond expectations. National Director, Veral Blake, wrote, “God did immeasurably beyond anything we could have asked or imagined. There were 200 persons in attendance. There were 158 adults and 42 children. The worship was great! and the Word by Pastor Al (Veral’s son) beginning a series entitled "simply Jesus" was powerful. And to think it took place at the Aquatic Club. To look at the hundreds of hands lifted up in praise to God brought tears to our eyes.”

Veral also wrote, “We had some serious attacks from the enemy especially the week prior to the launch and even on launch Sunday. On Friday night one of our vehicles which was recently repaired to be used for transporting persons for the launch was involved in an accident and completely wrecked. It is beyond repairs. On launch Sunday the drummer did not show up yet the worship was in no way affected and 10 persons committed their lives to Christ!”