I know, I often post about birthdays in the May edition of “retro”. But, of course, there is a reason.
So this year I’m just going all out. Here are some pictures from 2015 of the cakes – and piñatas!
Hannah had absolute chocolate overkill in her cake, and a giant “Hershey Kiss” for a piñata.
Nathanael had an “under the sea” theme for his cake, and a shark for a piñata.
As many of you know, for the last few years we have had institute classes – that is, Bible college level classes open to students from three or four churches in the area.
Starting in August, and running (roughly) every two weeks, we were doing a course on the basic Christian life, including topics such as:
And much more! The challenge for the teachers was that we often had to cover two, three, or even four topics in one week – and not easy topics, as you can see!
For the last class this past Saturday, our original teachers, John and Frank, came down from Texas to teach and hand out the diplomas.
For the last two classes, we focused on the return of Christ – a wonderful theme to end with, after struggling through so many topics related to obedience to the Lord. We are reminded, once again, to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
John was showing us an object lesson at the end, intended to show how the Holy Spirit works through our imperfect human efforts. The experiment actually didn’t show anything – something went wrong, as sometimes happens! But it reminded me that there is so much that we don’t see in this life. God is going to do amazing things – and is doing amazing things through His Word and His Spirit – someday we will see a much bigger picture of the great things He has done!
Another class is being planned – after we take a break!
Sometimes the strangest things stick in your mind, or the smallest things make a moment all the more meaningful.
That was the case 10 years ago today. We had planned a sunrise service at the Path of Life Bible Church Jesús María, and so we were all gathered early in the morning to celebrate Christ’s resurrection. It was just after 6:30am, and all of a sudden the power went out.
So, out came the cell phone lights, and we went acoustic, singing our songs of praise in the semi-darkness. Of course, in another hour the sun had risen, and it did get brighter! But our greatest joy was the Light of the World Himself.
This past Sunday it was our privilege and pleasure to join the celebration – the 15 year anniversary of the Path of Life Bible Church of Jesús María!
It’s hard to believe that it’s already been 15 years since we first met in that tiny room, already packed out, in a house on the corner in the community of Jesús María.
The service was a great blessing! There were several special “participations”, including a skit from the youth, a women’s chorus, a song from the children, a mother-son musical number, worship music together, a song from the youth, and possibly other things that I’m forgetting . . .
There were a couple of testimonies as well that were a huge blessing, especially from the person that we personally knew the best. Such an encouragement to hear how God has been working in people’s hearts!
There was a special speaker as well, who gave a clear presentation of the gospel, which was also a great encouragement.
Oh, there was food, of course. A caterer with a wide variety of tacos, and a cake!
Praise God for 15 years of God’s Word being shared in Jesús María and beyond!
For much better pictures and more info, be sure to visit Mexico Matters!
Ten years ago today (2015) we were busy putting together wheelchairs, together with a team from Pathway Community Church. We might have made a few mistakes during the assembly, but I think we corrected them all!
This was actually an outreach in Las Palmas, where the third church would eventually start. At an event the next day, we were providing wheelchairs to some people in need, and promoting our various community centre classes. Mayra shared the gospel with the group that had gathered.
As usual, there has been a lot going on over the last little while! One thing that’s been fun – well, more than one thing – have been related to music.
The piano/keyboard class has (finally) started up again, with at least six students. Most of them are already involved in the worship music ministry at the church.
I’ve had to refresh my own memory as I go – it’s been a while since I’ve taught the course! But the students have survived two classes so far, with seven to go. We’re having a class every couple of weeks or so, so it will take a while to finish. But I’ve got them memorizing their seven notes now. 🙂
I’ve also been enjoying leading the worship music Bible study again. Actually, it’s one of two that I’ve done before – the more general one. (The other one was specifically for keyboardists.) There’s always something new to learn as we go deeper into the Word of God to see how we can better lead people to worship through music.
And then, of course, are the regular music practices that we have, which are also fun. It’s been a bit of a challenge having less time to practice before the service, because we only rent the hall for a certain amount of time. But we usually practise during the week as well.
It’s amazing to see how this group has grown over the past few years, and it’s been great to spend a little more time with them over the past little while!
