Brenten Powers

Missionary, Pastor, Calvary Latvia

Lena and I are missionaries in Latvia sent from Calvary Chapel Monterey Bay.We have 2 children: Caleb (6) and Lily (4). In 1994, when I was 17, I repented from my self-centered life and committed my life to Jesus as He called me to live for His glory. He gave me a hunger for God's word that led me to Calvary Chapel in 1997 and to Calvary Chapel Bible College in 1998. There I grew in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and was filled with the Spirit, God opened my heart to missions and I spent one summer evangelizing in Germany. In 2000 Lena and I were married after a 2 year engagement and began serving together at Calvary Chapel Monterey Bay. God revealed our gifts as we got involved in different ministries (starting a home fellowship, college and career) and He revealed his will for us to be missionaries as we sought to discover His will in prayer. From 2002-2004 God sent us to Ukraine where we learned Russian, helped start Calvary Chapel Nizhyn and grew as a family (our son was born there). In 2005, God gave us a vision to go home and prepare for another mission field. After our daughter was born in California, God gave us a burden for the people in Latvia. God confirmed our call to Latvia on a trip to Riga in 2006 and He opened the door for us to move here in May 2007. There don't seem to be any churches like Calvary Chapel in Latvia that teach expositionally through the whole Bible but God has given us a vision start one. I served for a year and a half at a local Russian speaking church, leading worship and teaching James, Jude, 2&3 John and Romans in Russian while we learned to speak Latvian. In 2008, I started teaching with Latvian translation through Acts on Wednesdays and Mark on Sundays in Ikskile but we moved these Bible studies to our house in Ogre when we realized those who were hungry for Bible teaching were all coming from Ogre. In 2009 we are continued to meet Sundays in Ogre with Latvians in Ogre and added a service in Riga Sunday morning for those who speak English fluently. Pastor Brenten taught a year long series on Jesus in the Old Testiment, searching verse by verse, chapter by chapter and book by book and finding that it all testifies of Him, so we come to Him to have life. We also reach out to the lost so that they too may repent from their sins and come to Christ by faith. We regularly preach the gospel on the streets and squares, giving out tracts or starting more personal conversations or preaching on a box in the open air. Our hope is that God will be glorified through the preaching of His word, and as the gospel is heard, that more souls will believe, call on Jesus to be saved and added to the church that is still forming in Latvia. Now to Him who is able to do excedingly abundantly beyond all that we can ask or think, to Him be the glory in the church, both now and forever!