It is hard to believe it is the middle of October, already!  Where has the time gone?  One more trip to make in November.  We will be home in Springfield for the  month of December.  There is office work to do and finalizing a few classes for 2010.  It has been quite a year.  We are thankful for God’s faithfulness.  He has gone before us and His presence has been with us in each of the classes.

Each country we have taught in we added students to the school.  These students are pastors, teachers, young adults interested in ministry, and we have even had doctors and attorneys in our classes.  Classes are helping these students deepen their knowledge of God’s Word and a continual affirming of God’s calling on their lives.  Without our participation in the six schools we teach in, these students would not be able to receive their bachelor degrees.  These degrees give the churches in these countries credibility and open doors of ministry.

We have had requests from other countries asking us to help them with their schools.  It is our desire to do so, but we can only do what we have funding for.  This year has been rich in ministry, but poor in finances.  We are struggling to make ends meet just like so many people are these days.  We understand the economic crisis our country is in and we know that as missionaries we experience the same economic circumstances that our supporters experience.  That is why we are praying that God would bless our supporting churches abundantly. We know ass they are blessed they will remember God’s kingdom and His heart for this world.  Please pray for us as we are praying for you.  Remember, a dollar in the hand of God is multiplied. We need to get back to work!  Money is short, but God’s hand is not and there is so much to do.  By the way, check out our new website at cstonline.org!  Blessings to you!

I am in Jamaica teaching today.  It has been wonderful to get to know the students and the call God has placed on their lives.  My weeks here have been eventful.  We have had to wear masks at times because of the “Swine Flu” and then I have battled what they call the “Jamaican Runs”!  Know what I mean?

There are 39 students in class.  It is not easy to come and sit in a hot classroom for hours, but they are happy to do it.  God is raising up some dynamic ministers in this country, some of them with a call to missions.  It will be exciting to watch and see what God does with their lives in the near future.  Keep Jamaica in your prayers.

I will finish up here this week and then be home for three weeks to prepare for classes in Belize for three weeks.  With 6 Bible schools and the possibilities of a couple of others, we continue to flourish in the ministry that God has placed us in.  Please continue to pray for us as we are on the brink of something exciting and awesome happening in the Caribbean.  We can feel it!!

Can't get your food any fresher than this!

New CST students from Providence Island

As academic dean I am responsible for 7 Bible Schools.  Those schools are in Guyana, Suriname, Bahamas, Belize, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Trinidad.

CST is connecting, serving and training pastors, teachers, evangelist, youth pastors and we pray missionaries.  These brothers and sisters want to reach their islands, countries, and the world with the message of Hope through Jesus Christ.

Some of these countries are somewhat isolated from the rest of the world and to have the teaching and training CST can give is a treasure to them.

These small countries have many problems and poverty makes life harsh.  Even in what many believe to be paradise there is great need for the Gospel.

God has given us the opportunity to literally be missionaries in 7 countries!  In these last days we know that many doors are closing for missionaries in many countries.  We believe that God is going to raise up missionaries from these small countries and they will have no problem going to countries that we as Americans could not go.  God has a plan, doesn’t He?

After being in the classroom all week it was refreshing to get out and see a little bit of the country.  Guyana is still 90 percent untouched rain forest.  At night I would lay in bed and listen to the unfamiliar sounds of wild animals and the loudest birds ever.  This day I was going to a little village named Paradise.  Pastor Cheryl was one of the students.  She told me that on Saturday the church had an outreach to children.  They had expected 100, but to their joyful amazement they had over 200 show up.  

The church in Paradise was a congregation of about 100 people.  As I got up to preach I could see there was standing room only.  I had the privilege of being apart of a baby dedication.  All I could think about at that time was Shirley would love it here!  I told her later that if she came to Guyana she would want to stay.  Following the service I was brought a coconut with a straw in it.  I found out that it is not coconut milk, but coconut water and it is very good for you.  At least that is what I was told.

In Georgetown, Guyana, we had 92 students studying 6 different courses.  It was wonderful to see the receptiveness of the students.  They are hungry to learn to be prepared to minister to the best of their ability. Most of the students are already in ministry or launching out into ministry of some kind.  

Nola is a wonderful woman who has a vision.  She travels one full day each week into the jungle.  She is planting a church there.  She was not able to be in class on Monday because she was traveling back to the city from ministering on Sunday.  The jungle is a dangerous place.  Jaguars, panthers, alligators, snakes and all kinds of animals live in the jungle.  But each week Nola travels through the dangers to take the gospel.  

Dil was a Muslim and now a devoted Christian man who not only is studying for the ministry, but is taking Spanish classes so that he will be equipped to reach the Spanish speaking community.  He  is also involved in Teen Challenge.

Two of the students are involved in a T.V. program each week with their pastor for a time of Biblical questions and answers.  This program is reaching thousands!

These are just a few stories of the many students that we are serving through the Caribbean School of Theology.  Each seminar cost $1500.00.  We continue to believe God for the funding so that we can go to schools like the one in Guyana.

Today I have had no contact with David.  The internet has been down at the school in Guyana all day.  David did send me a text saying he will be preaching tomorrow across the river.  I know it will be a good day in the Lord.  Last Sunday he preached and was privileged to help with a baby dedication.  He said, “Shirley, you would love these people and would want to move here.”  I know God is knitting our hearts together with those we serve.  

God is so good to not only call us, but to give us a heart for what we are doing.  We use to have a picture in our house that said, “God’s will will never take you where His grace cannot keep you.”  Through the years we have found that to be very true. Umm, I wonder whatever happened to that picture.  

I have started counting the days until David comes home.  It won’t be long now and I will have pictures and more news to post.

This morning the sun is shining and it warms me as I sat and write this blog.  It was cold coming to the office this morning, but now I am warmed by the bright sunlight and it feels so good.  Isn’t that the way life is.  We live in a world that is cold and harsh and even stormy, but as believers are hearts are warmed by the bright HOPE that only Christ can give.

In Matthew 24, we read that the last days will be as the days of Noah.  There is no doubt in my mind that we are not in the last days.  Many talk about the hopelessness they sense and feel, but as believers this is our finest hour.  In the midst of the turmoil we have something to offer.  We hear the phrase, “give back”.  Get involved in your community by helping in some way.  I say, ” go for it” and while you are there helping, share your faith and the love that God has for all people.  Give testimony that there is a Hope in Jesus Christ.  

Opportunities are vast in these end times.  God’s kingdom is not made up of money and things, but of people fulfilling His calling.  Missions is apart of all of our lives.  Stay focused on what matters.  People’s eternity depends on it.

David and I feel very humbled that God has allowed us to be apart of missions in your lives by teaching and training ministers.  These ministers are called and anointed by God.  Your hands extended to these ministers will change the world!  

Don’t forget to pray for us as we are traveling in and out of 6 different countries this year. David has been in Guyana for the past week and will be there this week and next. He was in Belize before that.  By the time I see him next it will have been 4 weeks away.  It is not easy, but oh so worth it.  This is a day of opportunity!  So, let the sun shine down on you and warm your heart with His hope and love.

                                                                         Blessings,  Shirley

It is hard to believe that it is already 2009!  While in the office this week we went over the yearly calendar.  With 8 trips scheduled and even more classes, 2009 will be jam packed.  We are excited that no matter what is reported in the news, no matter what the economy is doing, God’s Word continues to remain constant.  In 2009, pastors and ministries of all kinds will be taught and prepared to reach this generation.  

I leave on January 20th and will be gone for 4 weeks.  I will be teaching ” Pastoral Counseling” in Guyana.  Then in March, Shirley and I will be in Nassau for 2 weeks teaching “Pastoral Epistles.”  In May, I will be traveling to Suriname to hold classes for pastors and young men and women who feel God’s call.

The thing we are most excited about is the fact that God is raising up not only pastors from this region of the world, but we believe that missionaries will be called to take God’s message into countries that we could not go.  God’s Word will not be stopped by borders or governments.  That is why we are committed to go and teach and train future ministers.  Our Lord is coming and we believe soon.  This is not the time to draw back, sit and worry about world circumstances, or wonder what is next.  It is time to engage more than ever before in participation with God in fulfilling His Great Commission. 

Our Prayer Needs:

• Donations to continue to travel to 6 different countries this year
• Prayer for protection and health
• Wisdom to give direction to these schools
• A spirit of unity and love among nationals

Thank you for your continued partnership and love.  We could not do this without you.  We love you and pray that God would give you the best year of your life!

                                                                                             David Swafford

Christmas is our favorite time of the year.  It is a time of celebration for the gift of Christ that gives us hope.  It is also a time when we have the opportunity to look back and assess our lives over the year.  

This year we traveled many miles paying very high prices for fuel.  We ate at many fast food drive ups and gained a few pounds to show for it!  But, when we look over this year the things we remember are the many hours working on the digitization project at Global University.  The job is done and the entire G.U. library is in a form now that can be used in many different medias to assist the pastors and missionaries around the world with literature.  We think of the pastors that we talked to after services, listening to their hearts for missions.  We see the people in the pews who sat and listened intently and gave what they could to join us in fulfilling the call that God has given.  

This year has left us tired and happy.  God has given us a calling that gives us the motivation to travel those extra miles and to tell our story one more time.  We tell it because each one that has been apart of our mission for the past 10 years can tell the story as if it were their own. We are one body sharing in the calling that God has given us to go and teach.  Together we make a difference.

Christmas gives us much to be thankful for.  Christ has come to give all He had to us.  The true gift of Christmas is accepting Christ once again and saying, “yes, Lord we will do what you have called us to do.”  

May Christ touch your lives in a very special way as you gather together as a family.  We love you and wish you a very blessed Christmas.