focusbuildersinternational

THIS YEAR OUR PASTOR'S AND WIFE'S CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD IN VERA CRUZ, A SMALL TOWN NEAR PANAMA CITY. WE MADE THE DECISION TO MEET HERE INSTEAD OF MEETING ON THE ISLANDS THIS YEAR FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:

We Praise God for what He has done in the past Conferences and trust Him to do even more this year as we teach and are led by the Holy Spirit.

We ask each of you to pray and ask God what He would have you do in supporting the conference this year. We want to thank you in advance for your prayers and financial support. You may make your check out to:

GOD IS AT WORK--SUMMER TRIPS OF 2009

⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way
   and the evil man his thoughts.
   Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
   and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

⁸ "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.

⁹ "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

It is wonderful to see people who were worshipping the wrong gods come to the ONLY TRUE AND LIVING GOD as the source of their lives. We were able to see this very thing happen many times this summer.

In late July we were part of two mission teams. The first one was at the island of Rio Sidra which is located in the Carti Bay area. We had built a church building there in 2004. This past year there were two strong storms that washed away about ten feet of the island and about four feet under the church's concrete slab. As a result of this damage the slab was beginning to crack. Our team was able to install 55 gallon barrels filled with concrete under the slab to stop the cracking and then built a retaining wall behind the church to prevent this from happening again.

We left Rio Sidra and went nine hours in a canoe to the island of Aligandi. We were able to build a bathroom with two water closets, two showers and four lavatories. This will be used by visiting mission teams but mostly by the Children's feeding center that was completed earlier this year. The feeding center is the one we worked on last year and was completed by the Baptist church in Aligandi this year. The center feeds one high protein meal each day to over 100 children. We praise God for the the San Blas Medical team and Jane Gruver working this project since the 1960's. We also thank Pastor Johnny Brady and a team from "The Fellowship of the Nations," of Houston, that worked on the building, witnessed through Basketball, testimonies and held VBS on and around Aligandi. The team saw many people make a step toward Christ.

Late August we joined Pastor Carl Williamson's team from Calvary Baptist Church of Cleveland, and went to Isla Pino to replace a roof which had collapsed. They worked on the construction, held VBS, preached services every night and showed the movie "The Passion of Christ" at a different island nightly. There were 52 adults who confessed Christ as the Lord of their lives. We want to thank Woodridge Baptist Church for the finances to purchase and ship the material to Isla Pino.

We are very thankful that there are many followers of Christ who are not wasting their lives, but instead investing in the Kingdom of God. We also want to Praise God for each of you who pray for us and support us financially.

Pictures of the 2009 Trips

Aligandi and Rio Sidra

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Aligandi and Isla Pino

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Welcome to Focus Builders International

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Our prayer at Focus Builders International is to draw near to God and glorify Him in our thoughts and actions. 1 Corinthians 15:58

We want to thank those who regularly support our on going projects of Pastors' support, Elizabeth Smith's medical school, two high school students, one junior high student, church building, annual Pastor and Wife's Conference and evangelism endeavors.

If you would like to share in support of these projects, please send your tax deductible donations to the address above.

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Home after a God Filled Trip-March 2009

King David is quoted in the first verse of Psalm 122, saying, "I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord." This verse came to my mind several times as we were in Panama, March 4-21. The Lord allowed us to be part of building two new churches on the Bayano River in Panama in Kuna villages of Ikandi and Diwar Sikwa.

Our thanks goes out to Woodridge Baptist Chruch in Kingwood, Texas for the finances for the church at Diwar Sikwa and the Corpus Christi group for the labor in building the church. We were given a building in the village for a parsonage for the pastor moving to Diwar Sikwa. The team was able to work on the parsonage and then with material left over from the church were able to build a swing set which became a favorite with the children and adults. Another team came to Diwar Sikwa to drill a well. The rocks in the mountain prevented the well from being finished at six different sites around the village. The team will return to the village to try a different method for obtaining pure water for the people.

First Baptist Church of Porter, Texas sent a team and provided the finances to build the church at Ikandi, another Kuna Indian village on the Bayano River. The material was ready at the village when we arrived and the building went up in just three days. We have heard that the church this past Sunday had 80 children, 60 women and 40 men in attendance. We may have to go back and add on to the church building for the large crowd. Praise God for that kind of a problem.

The men of each village installed the thatch roofs to both buildings the day we left the villages. We thank the villages for their support on the buildings.

At both villages there were evangelist outreach to share Christ. There was VBS, showing films and personal evangelism with over thirty adults accepting Christ as their Lord. We thank Mark Redd, pastor of Bayshore Baptist Church of Laporte, Texas for his team. He has a blog with video of this trip that you can enjoy. A link to this blog is in the right column under Favorite Sites titled "Panama 09- Diwarsikwa."

Royce Binion of Porter came on both sites to prepare the meals and did an excellent job. One of the first mission trips I remember that I gained weight on. Sam Craig was there with all the teams to keep spirits high.

Most of all I am glad that the presence of God was leading in so many ways to draw us toward Himself and perform His works.

Sam Parker, director of Focus Builders International, wants to thank his home church, Temple Oaks Bapist Church, for the time away from the church to do the mission work in Panama that God has called him to. Our thanks go to Dennis Winters for filling in Sam's place while he was away.

Featured pictures

2009 PASTOR'S AND WIFE'S CONFERENCE - NOVEMBER 4-12