This past Saturday, we joined together with the youth group for a special birthday party and goodbye party for Nathanael! As you may know, he’s planning to work in Canada for a while, so this is one of the last youth events he’ll be at.
Above is the banner we printed, showing the theme. Chess! And making the next move, of course – to Canada. Our theme verses were Joshua 1:8-9.
Of course, one of Mom’s cakes was involved…
Those chess pieces are homemade chocolate, by the way.
There were some games…
And a potluck meal. Yum.
There was also a Bible study time (part of the normal youth group schedule), and a time of sharing and encouragement for Nathanael, and a time of prayer.
There was even some actual chess playing!
We’re so thankful for these wonderful friends – and brothers and sisters in Christ!
We were so thankful for the leadership recognition service on the 30th of April – so why didn’t we post anything about it? Well, for those who know us well, we could just say “it’s May” (hence crazy busy) and that might be enough. But we were also trying to get the news out to our Support Team first, so hopefully many of you have already heard the news! If not, there is probably a letter on its way to you. 🙂
(left to right) Ezequiel, Esther, Viri, Oscar
Anyway, yes! On the 30th of April we had a special service to recognize the first national leaders of the Path of Life Bible Church Las Palmas (Iglesia Bíblica Sendero de Vida Las Palmas)! Ezequiel and Oscar have already been doing the work of elders, but this service was a time to specifically honour them and their wives, to talk about leadership in the church, and to lay hands on them and pray for them.
I (Jim) had the privilege of leading the music, with Nathanael as one of my fellow musicians, and all the songs were chosen by Oscar and Ezequiel. It was neat because the songs all emphasized their desire to look to the Lord and put Him first. In fact, every song except one was directly a prayer – and the one that wasn’t was instead a testimony. (I don’t know which songs have English versions, but you might recognize songs such as “Psalm 5 (Give Ear to My Words)” and “Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me”.)
Oscar shared a little bit about our friend Edgar, who passed away this past November. It was important to us that he be remembered in this service, because he had had a leadership role as well. We miss Edgar, but look forward to seeing him again soon.
Rod preached about the role of pastors in the church from 1 Peter 5, and other texts. Martín, pastor of the church in the community of Santa Barbara, gave the charge to the congregation.
Next the two couples were presented with various symbols representing different aspects of the ministry…
Shepherd’s staff, representing pastoral leadership (1 Peter 5:1-4).
Basin and towel, representing humble service (John 13:3-5).
“My house is your house” decorative plates, representing hospitality (Titus 1:7-8).
Framed verses – 2 Timothy 3:16-17, representing the Bible as our authority.
Shari and I presented the last one.
Then we laid on hands and prayed, along with other elders and pastors and their wives from the area.
Time of Prayer (photo courtesy Nathanael)
Of course, no special service would be complete without some food and a time of celebration! And some cakes! Maybe even some impromptu games!
A cake featuring 1 Timothy 3:1-7
No one really wanted to leave, so I think it was evening by the time everything wrapped up. 🙂
Thanks so much to everyone who was praying – and who is praying! We’re so thankful for these men and their families, and for many other men and women who are already helping with the ministry of this congregation. But the work of this young local church is only beginning – may God grant that it would be a light here in Ixtapaluca and around the world! Please continue to pray for this church, and especially these leaders, who are finding their way into the service of this growing congregation.
It’s been a pretty crazy weak week or so. Not just for me. But I can talk from my perspective because it’s my blog post.
I was sick on Friday – sicker than I’ve been in years. Nothing contagious. I went to a meeting that evening – it’s kind of a blur. Then, I came home and it wasn’t pretty. In fact, I’m still recovering.
Somehow, I got up and preached on Sunday. It really is hard to believe, looking back. For the sermon time I felt pretty much normal, but before and after wasn’t so good. So I’m thankful for that brief moment! Maybe if anyone didn’t like the sermon, they’re not so thankful. But be that as it may.
Our friend Ezequiel was also sick on Sunday – he went to set up, and then realized that going to the service itself wasn’t going to happen!
It’s been busy because we’re getting ready for the leadership recognition service on Sunday. I know that we all would appreciate your prayers, because I know that it hasn’t been only Ezequiel and I that have faced some extra challenges this week. Pray especially for our two leaders and their families (Oscar and Ezequiel), and for us and our fellow missionaries Rod and Mayra Fry.
But yeah – anyway – talk about stream of consciousness – Sunday is a very special Sunday, as we recognize our first Mexican elders. We’re looking forward to a special time, and a whole bunch of special visitors, and a time of food and fellowship after the service. So we would appreciate your prayers.
For those of you on our Support Team, I will try to get a newsletter out to you next month ASAP with some details of the service.
Today I was working with the repairman, who was here yet again working on our hot water tank. As with many things, tanks and parts are getting more expensive and the quality is going down. So he’s been here twice – I think the second time we’ve had more success! However it is becoming kind of a running… er… joke… that we’re finally prioritizing getting certain things taken care of, and it turns out the issue is not really “fixed”.
Tonight is the Chronological Bible Study, so I’m looking forward to that. Hopefully it’s well attended – but, wow, looks like quite the storm is brewing! We’ll see if it actually turns into something.
Anyway, there is a lot happening, a lot coming up. So we appreciate your prayers as always, as discipleship, evangelism and general growth continues here in Ixtapaluca.
Actually, mixing with missionaries isn’t something that we do all that often! But as you saw from our newsletter, it’s been a bit of a theme in the early weeks of 2023.
We enjoyed, for example, a visit from two couples from the US who are part of our mission (at two different times). We had some fun time to hang out and chat.
We recently enjoyed some “cultural orientation” time in Mexico City, and, of course, some fellowship, with a missionary family who has been on the field for a few months (but I had not yet met them) (picture above). So we saw the sights and had some tacos, and then we all came back to worship with our church on Sunday.
A tradition has been “MK Camp” every spring, and this will likely be the last one for a while for Nathanael! We’re there right now. 🙂 Shari is the counsellor for the younger girls.
We’re in prayer for our church, and other churches in Mexico City, as this week is also a youth camp! Due to previously mentioned conflicts, we’re not there. But I’m sure they would appreciate it if you join us in prayer for the youth and the leaders and organizers. They’re there at a camp out of state until Saturday.
And then – Resurrection Sunday! If everyone coming back from all their camps is still awake to celebrate properly. We’re looking forward to the weekend, which gives us an extra reminder to meditate on and celebrate our God’s great work of salvation for us.
So a bit of a breather over the weekend before plunging into a few weeks of absolute chaos. But we won’t talk about that right now! Just stopping by because I realized I hadn’t updated you all for a while.
It is our desire to equip local pastors and elders for their long-term ministry. One of the many ways this is happening is through the special project, Retreats and Resources for Pastors.
It’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like! 🙂 When you give to this project (and yes, it is a tax-deductible gift in Canada or the USA), you are providing resources such as Bible study materials, and also help with transportation and fees for retreats for pastors/elders and their wives once a year. Obviously what we can do will depend on the funds available.
This is a project that you can give to as an individual or family, or you can make it a special goal for your Bible study group, church, classroom, etc. For instructions on giving, just go to the donate page, click on your country, and then look for instructions for special projects. But to make it simple, you will be giving through Avant to Project #71969.
We’ve recently started up a general Bible study for the church in Las Palmas. We had a packed house for the first lesson, and we had some fun with these little Bible posters…
That’s the Old Testament above, and the New Testament to the right. Each poster has the name of the book, the language it is written in, the first and last words of the book, the estimated date, a keyword (theme), the author, and the length of the book (the thick line at the bottom), and sometimes a little more information. It’s fun to be able to see all this at a glance.
We originally used these posters for a special service at the church in Jesús María, and I had the books divided up into sections. But I didn’t really have the time (or space!) to do it this time.
Upon popular request I created a file with all the books together, so hopefully I’ll be able to use that at En la Biblia so that others can make use of them.
Our first two studies went well, with a lot of discussion about the sufficiency of Scripture, God’s involvement in His Creation, attacks on the Bible – we have an intelligent group which definitely tends to push the discussion to a deeper level!
We would appreciate your prayers for these studies, especially that more of the newer people at the church would join us.
Speaking of studying the Bible, I’m currently having my mind blown by John 5 as I prepare to preach on the healing of the man at the Pool of Bethesda, and Jesus’ subsequent teaching. Jesus certainly has a way of saying just the right thing in just the right way – please pray that He would be exalted as we continue our study of the Gospel of John!
As is the case, no doubt, with your own church, our church is facing many challenges from many directions. But God continues to teach and guide, and remind us that He is with us.
