Dear Friends,

Warm greetings in Jesus’ name to each of you from our family! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying the new year of life in 2007 that the Lord has given us.

As always we want to thank you for taking the time this month to remember us before the throne of grace. I have been reading through Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ commentary series on Ephesians, and particularly his two volumes on spiritual warfare, “The Christian Soldier” and “The Christian Warfare”, covering Ephesians 6:10-20. I was reminded again in his comments on verse 18 of how crucial intercessory prayer is, not just for missionaries, but for all members of the body of Christ. We need to be praying for one another. Listen to how Paul concludes his teaching on spiritual warfare with an explicit call to prayer in Ephesians 6:18-20:

“…praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”

Now listen to what Lloyd-Jones says in his sermon entitled “Praying for all the Saints”. I quote it at length because it has everything to do with these monthly updates we send and that you so faithfully pray through:

“It is remarkable that Paul should end on this particular note of prayer, because as we have remarked so often, this Epistle above all others in the New Testament is an Epistle devoted to doctrine, to teaching, and to the display of the great theological principles which govern the life of the individual Christian and the life of the whole Church. It is probably the acme even of this Apostle’s endeavors; and in it we have all the great doctrines. So it is interesting to observe that as he comes to his last word it should be concerned with prayer. I reemphasize the fact, therefore, that the ultimate test of the Christian life is the amount o time we give to prayer. But my statement can be misleading because it rather represents prayer as a duty. Prayer is a duty, but it is much more than a duty. It should be a delight, it should be the ultimate expression of the Christian life…Pray for me, says the Apostle, that I may present this truth boldly, and yet pray that my spirit may be kept sweet, that I may not become partisan, that I may not become fanatical, that I may not become sectarian, or merely a party-man fighting for a label. Pray, says Paul, that I may be concerned only about God, about the Lord Jesus Christ, about the Holy Ghost, about the kingdom of God, the salvation of men and the advancement of the truth. ‘As I ought to speak.’

“Here is the mighty man of God, who because he knows his own weaknesses, his own tendencies, and the frailty of human nature, asks the Ephesians to pray for him. And men and women in the Christian Church should be praying for the preachers of the Gospel at the present time. Pray that we may be delivered from a spirit of compromise, pray that we may not be guided by diplomacy or expediency, pray that we may be delivered from fear for ourselves; but pray also that we may, on the contrary, be like the Apostles and the first martyrs and the Protestant Reformers and Puritans, the Covenanters, and the mighty men of God of former days. Pray that the truth shall come first, that we may speak it with boldness, and yet have hearts full of love and mercy and compassion.

“Why should we contend for the truth? Because it is the only thing that can save men! Let us therefore look beyond men to their lost souls, and let us be concerned about nothing but the glory of God and the salvation of men and women. So the Apostle exhorts us to pray with all perseverance and supplication in the Spirit for all saints, for all preachers of the Gospel whatever their circumstances and conditions, that they may speak the mystery of Christ boldly, as they ought to speak. And so he finishes.” (pp. 350, 364)

What Lloyd-Jones says is true, and for that reason we do ask like Paul that you would pray for us for boldness in our preaching of the gospel in Lima, that we would be enabled by the Spirit to speak as we ought, with boldness and tenderness.

Specifically please be in prayer for the following:

1. Lori as she oversees the Cristo Salvador feeding and tutoring program in Huaycán, as well as our three 2-year women missionaries.
2. Lori as she oversees our busy home and the summer activities of our 4 children, Emmett, Anna, Taylor and Abigail.
3. Our marriage and family, for spiritual growth and health day by day and protection from the assaults of the enemy. Also for physical protection while driving and moving throughout the city.
4. Mark is finishing up this week his work on our 2007 ministry plan and budget. There are some important decisions to be made on a number of fronts in the ministry and we ask that you pray for wisdom for him and us as a team.
5. Mark’s teaching and preaching and leading this month:
   1. Saturday night Jan. 6 in Salamanca at an evangelistic Bible study. He is preaching through the Gospel of John.
   2. Sunday Jan. 14 in Santa Anita on Acts 15:1-35 on “Christian Freedom”.
   3. Saturday night Jan. 20 in Salamanca again in John.
   4. Each Thursday night teaching a new believers class.
   5. Discipleship of Felipe Hervias, new believer with special needs.
   6. Forming core group in Salamanca to cast vision, begin organizing church plant, pray
   7. Marriage counseling in Amauta of a couple that have become Christians and want to marry after years of living together
6. Our Sunday school teachers in Salamanca:
   1. Martha Matamoros 3-5 year olds
   2. Enrique Matamoros 6-8 year olds
   3. Lucy Flores 9-11 year olds
   4. Mauro and Haydeé Quispe 12-15 year olds
      Specifically pray for:
      1. Growth in their teaching abilities and knowledge of the Word.
      2. For the Lord to provide solid teaching materials
      3. That the church plant of its own accord would tithe and give in order to purchase these materials
      4. school ministry of the church
7. Jeremy and Amanda Ross arrive at the end of January to begin work helping oversee the Cristo Salvador feeding and tutoring program in Huaycán as well as begin development of a ministry to street children. Pray for:
   1. their move from Arequipa on Jan. 30-31 and move in date of Feb. 1
   2. the important ministry to street children and at risk children that they will be developing for us

1. Mark baptized Romina and Gianella Matamoros in Santa Anita on December 24. Romina is 12 and Gianella is 10, and their parents are new believers (2-3 yrs old in the faith) as well. It is a joy for us to see God fulfilling his promises to save entire families! “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” Acts 2:39.
   
2. We had special celebrations, hot chocolate, panetón (Peruvian sweet bread with candied pieces like fruitcake which is tradition to eat at Christmas with hot chocolate) and presents for quite a number of children, some very needy, in each of the church plants: Salamanca, Amauta and Santa Anita. It was a joy to share the gospel and our possessions as an act of worship to our precious Lord Jesus who we remember in such a special way at Christmas.
   
3. Mark’s trip to Cuzco and the Sacred Valley with Fabio Padilla went very well. They have set up an EE Clinic for February 12-16, 2007 with some 20 interested pastors and leaders in the town of Urubamba, the key town in the Sacred Valley. Our hope is to take several of our leaders from here in Lima who have been trained in EE to serve as trainers. It will be an opportunity for them to do missions and serve the wider body of Christ, in keeping with our goal of a church planting movement for Lima and Peru.

With much love in Jesus Christ,

Mark and Lori Berry

Contact information:
mberry@mtwla.org
http://limanewcity.mtwla.org/

Support information:
Mission to the World
P.O. Box 116284
Atlanta, GA 30368
Support Acct #10541