January Newsletter
I trust this letter finds you charging this new year with passion and fire in your bones, ready to take on everything our God has for you! I trust your Christmas and New Year holidays were blessed and, hopefully, spent with loved ones.
Wow! January 2026! Who ever thought we would be here? Every year I tell you the same two things… that the theme for the new year is “Missions.” It isn’t cute, it doesn’t rhyme, but it is absolutely the truth! The second thing is… God gives us a brand-new checkbook every January, with 12 blank checks inside. One check for each month, January-December. Once the month is passed, it goes into the history books, the annals of time. We can never get it back. The same thing when the year is passed. January is fruit inspection time. What fruit did we bear last year? Are we pleased? Is Heaven pleased with how we spent the year— pleased with what we did with what we had? Our prayers, our time, our money? We have 2026 in front of us, and one year from now we will have put that current checkbook away and reflect on how we spent the year. Only what we do for God will last.
Wow! January 2026! Who ever thought we would be here? Every year I tell you the same two things… that the theme for the new year is “Missions.” It isn’t cute, it doesn’t rhyme, but it is absolutely the truth! The second thing is… God gives us a brand-new checkbook every January, with 12 blank checks inside. One check for each month, January-December. Once the month is passed, it goes into the history books, the annals of time. We can never get it back. The same thing when the year is passed. January is fruit inspection time. What fruit did we bear last year? Are we pleased? Is Heaven pleased with how we spent the year— pleased with what we did with what we had? Our prayers, our time, our money? We have 2026 in front of us, and one year from now we will have put that current checkbook away and reflect on how we spent the year. Only what we do for God will last.
As you know, we have been in the middle of our Orphan Christmas Project through our Foundation, JMICF. We blessed thousands of orphans, widows, those with special needs, and some missionary children for Christmas in at least 40 nations— our best year yet! Report coming soon. Thank you again!
The Spirit has instructed me to share with you the many years I’ve ministered in the Communist island nation of Cuba, and the things God has done, and the history that He has used us to make, and the history we have helped to change.
I started going to Cuba back in the early 1990’s. Since the early 1960’s, when President Kennedy placed an embargo against Cuba, it has been illegal for an American to go to there. It was against American law. So, when Americans wanted to go, they would travel to Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, or Europe and then on to Cuba—but not directly from the USA. Upon arrival in Havana, the passport control and customs immigration service instructed its officers never to stamp the American passport because the American would be arrested when they returned home. But when the Lord told me to go minister there, I determined I would not do it that way. I would travel legally to Cuba and minister. I have broken laws of many other nations the last 58 years to go preach the precious Gospel around the world, but I had never broken American laws to do so, and I wasn’t going to start. So, I began calling our Treasury Department and asking for permission to travel to Cuba and preach. I was turned down many times, but I persisted. They said, “Rev. Mize, you cannot go to Cuba; it is illegal.” I said, “I know that, but I want you to allow me to go. I’m going to go!” They said, “If you go, we will take your passport from you and put you in prison.”
I said, “No you won’t. It is not right that I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and my own country, the United States of America, has forbade to let me go minister to people and take the Gospel to them. You need to give me permission to go legally.” Finally, after one of these phone calls, they gave in and said, “OK, we will issue you a visa to legally go minister in Cuba. It will be for ten years, and you can take anyone you want with you. They don’t have to apply, but if they are with you, they are legal.” History changed!
On one early trip to the island, I took a dear friend from Miami with me. His name is Jerry Messano. We had invited and gathered some 70 pastors from around the nation to come to Camagüey for a pastors’ conference. One afternoon we arrived at the meeting place, but no pastors were there. One of the leaders ran out to me and said, “Brother Terry, the army came to arrest you, and all the pastors jumped out of windows and doors and ran away—they were so scared.” I said, “You guys go find the pastors and bring them back here. I am going to the army base and ask them what they want with me.”
So, Jerry and I went to the army headquarters and asked for the commandant. The secretary asked me if I had an appointment, and I said, “I don’t think I need one. He wants to see me and just sent soldiers to arrest us.” We were shown into his office, and I said, “I understand you want to see me?” We sat and talked. He said, “I know what you are doing.” I said, “What am I doing?” “He said, you are gathering pastors and teaching them the Bible.” I said, “That is right. Isn’t it wonderful? I’ll bet your mother loved the Bible and taught it to you.” Soon, I said, “I’ve got to go. I have a meeting. You know my hotel, and you know my meeting place. If you want me, you know where to find me.”
We had many meetings over the years. The pastors were always afraid they would be caught, and they refused to meet in groups of more than 200 at a time. One meeting in Havana, I had 600 pastors, but in three locations in groups of 200. That was a busy time as I kept rotating from one group to another and then another. My dear friend T. L. Osborn, arguably the greatest missionary evangelist that ever graced the planet with salvations and miracles, once told me, “Terry, what you are doing is a significant step to the re-opening of Cuba to the Gospel!” That was in 2004, and now history has been changed, and Cuba is open to the Church and the Gospel. I am honored to have been a part of making that happen. I will continue the wonderful saga of ministry and miracles in Cuba in next month’s letter.
Remember we have our YouTube channel, Terry Mize Ministries. There is a new broadcast every Thursday, and hundreds in the archives you can access. Please go there and ‘Like” and “Subscribe”. It will help us, and it’s free. Plus, as Kenneth Hagin used to say, “It’s good, sides what it will help you.”
We love you. Send us your prayer requests and praise reports!
Making and changing history together,
Terry L. Mize
I started going to Cuba back in the early 1990’s. Since the early 1960’s, when President Kennedy placed an embargo against Cuba, it has been illegal for an American to go to there. It was against American law. So, when Americans wanted to go, they would travel to Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, or Europe and then on to Cuba—but not directly from the USA. Upon arrival in Havana, the passport control and customs immigration service instructed its officers never to stamp the American passport because the American would be arrested when they returned home. But when the Lord told me to go minister there, I determined I would not do it that way. I would travel legally to Cuba and minister. I have broken laws of many other nations the last 58 years to go preach the precious Gospel around the world, but I had never broken American laws to do so, and I wasn’t going to start. So, I began calling our Treasury Department and asking for permission to travel to Cuba and preach. I was turned down many times, but I persisted. They said, “Rev. Mize, you cannot go to Cuba; it is illegal.” I said, “I know that, but I want you to allow me to go. I’m going to go!” They said, “If you go, we will take your passport from you and put you in prison.”
I said, “No you won’t. It is not right that I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and my own country, the United States of America, has forbade to let me go minister to people and take the Gospel to them. You need to give me permission to go legally.” Finally, after one of these phone calls, they gave in and said, “OK, we will issue you a visa to legally go minister in Cuba. It will be for ten years, and you can take anyone you want with you. They don’t have to apply, but if they are with you, they are legal.” History changed!
On one early trip to the island, I took a dear friend from Miami with me. His name is Jerry Messano. We had invited and gathered some 70 pastors from around the nation to come to Camagüey for a pastors’ conference. One afternoon we arrived at the meeting place, but no pastors were there. One of the leaders ran out to me and said, “Brother Terry, the army came to arrest you, and all the pastors jumped out of windows and doors and ran away—they were so scared.” I said, “You guys go find the pastors and bring them back here. I am going to the army base and ask them what they want with me.”
So, Jerry and I went to the army headquarters and asked for the commandant. The secretary asked me if I had an appointment, and I said, “I don’t think I need one. He wants to see me and just sent soldiers to arrest us.” We were shown into his office, and I said, “I understand you want to see me?” We sat and talked. He said, “I know what you are doing.” I said, “What am I doing?” “He said, you are gathering pastors and teaching them the Bible.” I said, “That is right. Isn’t it wonderful? I’ll bet your mother loved the Bible and taught it to you.” Soon, I said, “I’ve got to go. I have a meeting. You know my hotel, and you know my meeting place. If you want me, you know where to find me.”
We had many meetings over the years. The pastors were always afraid they would be caught, and they refused to meet in groups of more than 200 at a time. One meeting in Havana, I had 600 pastors, but in three locations in groups of 200. That was a busy time as I kept rotating from one group to another and then another. My dear friend T. L. Osborn, arguably the greatest missionary evangelist that ever graced the planet with salvations and miracles, once told me, “Terry, what you are doing is a significant step to the re-opening of Cuba to the Gospel!” That was in 2004, and now history has been changed, and Cuba is open to the Church and the Gospel. I am honored to have been a part of making that happen. I will continue the wonderful saga of ministry and miracles in Cuba in next month’s letter.
Remember we have our YouTube channel, Terry Mize Ministries. There is a new broadcast every Thursday, and hundreds in the archives you can access. Please go there and ‘Like” and “Subscribe”. It will help us, and it’s free. Plus, as Kenneth Hagin used to say, “It’s good, sides what it will help you.”
We love you. Send us your prayer requests and praise reports!
Making and changing history together,
Terry L. Mize
Posted in Blog
Posted in Cuba, JMICF, Happy New Year, Kenneth Hagin, 12 checks, January, T.L. Osborn
Posted in Cuba, JMICF, Happy New Year, Kenneth Hagin, 12 checks, January, T.L. Osborn
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