Missionaries of the Week

Josh and Cecil Wroten

Just over four years ago, a young couple, Josh and Cecil Wroten, had their first inquiry class for a new church plant in Newark, California.  There were 33 people at that first meeting.  Mark Platt, who is director and mentor for the 80+ pastors who have planted churches in Northern California and Nevada in the past 25 years, remembers the diversity of the group that gathered that day.  There were generic Americans, Hispanics, Filipinos and one Swede (Mark), there were a dozen couples and singles under 25, one former Mormon, one former Seventh Day Adventist, many with no church background at all and several brand new believers.  This is very typical of our church plants today.  Mark calls them Next Generation Churches.

Josh and Cecil served without pay, living mostly on Cecil’s salary.  This left Josh free to evangelize, lead, disciple and teach.  Then, in October of 2004, God blessed the family with a baby daughter, Alanna.  About the same time, our First Baptist Missions Committee wanted to invest more deeply in church planting and asked Mark Platt to choose a project for us to support.  He chose to designate our commitment to salary for Josh.  The church is growing and healthy with attendance around 100.  It still meets in a school, but a donated property is becoming available for their own building.

Remember to pray regularly for Josh, Cecil, Alanna, baby Ethan and Morning Star Church in Newark.  Good news is that baby Ethan, who had heart problems, is doing very well at this point.

Address: 6354 #C Joaquin Murrieta, Newark, CA 94560
e-mail: josh@pastor.com

16 Sunday  ~  Missionaries of the Week: Josh and Cecil Wroten, Newark (CBA/NC). Josh and Cecil have two great items of news to share: first, their one-year-old son, Ethan, has a good report concerning his heart.  The hole in his heart has closed and the heart is working well.  Secondly, the Patterson Ranch Development has gifted Morning Star Church in Newark with four acres of land on which to build their own church.

17 Monday  ~ CityTeam.  Pray for the homeless who come to CityTeam each night for shelter, especially now that it is getting colder.  Pray that their hearts would be open to the hope of real change in their lives as they hear of Jesus’ love.

18 Tuesday  ~ Stephen and Martha Steiner, local (Harghita Christian Camp). Praise that Stephen has helped to raise funds to complete the bathrooms at a church near the camp in Romania

19 Wednesday  ~ Curt and Lalia Kregness, Brazil (World Venture). Pray for Curt as he is the field leader for ministries in Brazil. Pray for Lalia also, who is a native of Brazil and spends time in translation projects. Praise God that Curt is finding that the Greek he studied last year is sharpening his biblical language skills.

20 Thursday  ~ Wycliffe Bible Translators. Pray that over 200 Information Technology specialists could be recruited to aid in computer hardware, software and network support for Bible translators worldwide.

21 Friday  ~ Ken and Bola Taylor, Japan (WV). Praise God for the weeks that the Taylors had for vacation and for Black Gospel ministry in the Philippines. Revival in the Philippines has produced many new churches, including one in which Ken and Bola were saved in the early 1980’s. It had 100 members, but now has 12,000.

22 Saturday  ~ Western Seminary. Pray for professors  and students as they study together, preparing for ministry. Pray for the seminary, that they may receive funds to loan to the students so that they can finish their education.