Starting today…
Today at Iglesia Bíblica Sendero de Vida Jesús María we’re starting a series on the letter from the Apostle Paul to the Philippians. Right on!
Ministry glimpses
From May into June – Not bored yet…
So I haven’t really written a lot lately. Frankly, I’ve been recovering from our trip to Canada. The recovery hasn’t been going as well as hoped, but I’m getting there. I was up and down the first week, in bed all day Monday, better but shaky yesterday, and more or less back to "normal" today.
But that’s not to say it’s been dull around here. So here are a few things that have been going on.
Getting back
It’s amazing the things you have to do after getting back from a short trip. There were paperwork issues, catching up on all the things you didn’t do while you were gone, kids catching up on school, paying bills – and boy can a house get dirty quickly this time of year (dry hot season)! And of course when it’s "clean the house day", there’s no running water…
Some other activities
There have been a lot of practical matters to take care of. We still have work to do toward our visas, we had paperwork to do on our vehicle, and lots of other fun stuff.
But there has also been stuff that was really fun. Teaching Tuesday night Bible studies, for example. We’ve been focusing on what Jesus did on the cross, but we usually get into other topics as well!
We had a really good service on Sunday. I enjoyed leading the music, and we heard lots of stories about how God has been faithful, and Ishmael preached. We finished off the book of Nehemiah.
I’m very excited to be speaking next week – we’re starting on the book of Philippians. How cool is that? I think it should be a fun Sunday.
And coming up…
And coming up – there’s a LOT coming up! The "internship season" is just beginning, which means we have visitors from – get this – Canada, the USA, and Mexico! Oh, and a whole team coming from Ohio (to be exact, from Leroy Community Chapel). They’re short term missionaries who will be putting their energy into the work here in Ixtapaluca and beyond.
They’ll be especially working in Santa Barbara and Jesús María.
What will they be doing?
Some planned June activities include…
- Coffee Shop Ministry: Hey, Tina’s even planning some special promotions, and even "English practice" times – gotta go there for that! 😉
- English classes
- Basketball
- Guitar class
- Baking class – hey, that’s Shari! I hear she’s planning to make cake pops!
- Tree planting
- Constructing benches for the community
- Craft times
- Movie nights
- Soccer!
- Break dance outreach! Break dance outreach?!
- English song competition at a local public junior high school
- Wheel chair distribution
And that’s not all! There are other events coming up – and this doesn’t include all the involvement in normal Bible studies, prayer meetings and services. Did I mention there’s a baptismal service coming up (see the countdown to the right on our blog)? WOW!
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We’re also planning a Walk Thru the Bible Seminar to end off the series of studies we’ve been doing and reinforce what we’ve taught – in this case, Walk Thru the Old Testament.
Oh, and Samuel made this cool graphic to use in our outreach for the next little while. It says If you want to change Mexico, be born again then of course, Ixtapaluca, Mexico Summer 2012. Although the term "born again" may be considered a worn-out term in the English parts of North America, here it’s much less known, so it should be a great conversation starter!
It’s also playing on the big event this summer in Mexico – our national election. Does real change come from electing a new president? I think not…
And did I mention what’s coming up in July?! Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Leadership Recognition Service in Jesús María
Today was the big day! It was the day we had a special service to recognize the first elders (one who is pastor) of the church in Jesús María.
It’s almost better not to say anything – I think I’m a little speechless. When you look around and see the people that were there today, you think of the amazing things God has been doing, you think about how time passes, and yet how quickly things have happened. What can you say?
I did take some video, and hopefully one of these days I’ll get it posted. 🙂
I did have a small part in the service today, so maybe I’ll use that here. We made special presentations to the two couples. They were given a cutting board, reminding them to feed the flock. They were given walking sticks, reminding them to lead. They were given plaques for their homes, reminding them to be hospitable.
And I had the privilege of giving them Bibles. So I’ll translate here what I … well, more or less what I intended to say in Spanish. 🙂 I actually took the idea from this post.
Yesterday I was sick. It’s always difficult for a wife (or a husband) when the other is sick in bed. But around mid-morning, my wife took the time to bring me some delicious baked oatmeal. Pretty nice, right? It’s pretty cool to have an Amiga del Alma in my house! [Amiga del Alma is a term for best friend, but in this case it refers to one of the teachers of the baking classes we have here.]
It seems like everybody wants to be known as a “good person”. I think most people think that what they’re doing in life is good and worthwhile.
One of the Apostle Paul’s favourite expressions was “every good work”. This is what he said in his letter to the church in Colossea: …we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
In 2Corinthians 9 he said: God is able to make all grace abound to you …for what purpose?… so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
God gives us grace. Grace to know Him. Grace to know His will.
But how can we know His will? How can we know God? Through His Word.
Paul told Titus that an elder must hold firm to the trustworthy word. Many people talk about things that are without value; myths and the commandments of men. They (say Paul) are unfit for any good work.
And of course this is what he said to Timothy: Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness. … Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonourable, he will be a vessel for honourable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
And finally, All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent (or perfect), equipped for every good work.
When you feel inadequate, when you would like to read one more book on leadership, when you would like to go to one more pastor’s conference, when you would like to take one more Bible college course, remember this:
All that the man of God needs to be complete is here in God’s Word. Everything that we need for every good work is already here. Not some good work – all.
If you want to feed the congregation, put aside your opinions, and give us Scripture. You can speak with authority and confidence, because the words are not yours, but God’s. If you want to lead the church, get on your knees with this Book open in front of you. Every good work. Without exception. God’s sufficient Word.
Oh yeah – it’s War
You know how it is. Every once in a while something happens – or maybe a whole bunch of things happen – and you’re reminded that, no, you’re not at home (if your home is heaven), and you’re not in friendly territory.
Frankly, there have been some amazing things going on this month. We’ve been meeting new people, new people have made confessions of faith, and there are new people coming to worship with us and study the Bible with us.
On Thursday the church started a new evening workshop for women in the community, entitled "Is it hard to be a woman?" (do they really need a workshop to answer that question?). The idea is to cover a variety of topics over several weeks (until the beginning of July) relating to women’s issues from a Christian perspective.
We were wondering if anyone would come… and in the end, the room was packed with 30 women! And there were so many kids that … well, it was like herding chickens.
And we continue to see growth in people – and there’s a whole slew of people who want to be baptized at our next baptism service in June – and the church is about to recognize its first elders – and there are so many wonderful incredible things happening, you wouldn’t believe it.
Oh yeah – and life is hard. Sometimes it seems like just about every area of life is in chaos. And that’s just us. Other coworkers and fellow believers have been going through major challenges as well. And it drives us to our knees, where we should have been in the first place.
And it reminds us – oh yeah. We’re in a war here. It’s not supposed to be easy and comfortable. People we can see and spirits we cannot are against the work of God. That’s just the way it is.
So it all brings verses like these to mind:
…we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
(Ephesians 6:12-13)
When they [Paul and Barnabas] had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
(Acts 14:21-22)
And I keep thinking of the passage I quoted just 10 days ago – Psalm 20. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
(Psa 20:7)
What else is there worth trusting?
MI Team: A Look Back (and Forward) (video included)
At the end of March/beginning of April we hosted a team from two churches in Alberta Canada – Mirror Alliance Church and Innisfail Baptist Church. Below are some clips from their time here.
The time with the team was filled with a lot of new friendships, a lot of fun activities, and always the unexpected. But every person on the team adapted well to the changes and showed themselves willing to learn.
Among other things they were involved in a kids’ club, they did some work for the community centre (including building shelves, painting, and building a swing set), and they were involved in services and studies (where they shared testimonies, and more). But they were also willing to simply spend time interacting with people, and that’s what it all has to come down to.
At the farewell party for the team, some people from the church here shared that they were inspired and motivated by the work of the team to do more for the Lord here. We also had some new confessions of faith, and there are brand new people attending Bible studies and services now that we had never met before the team came!
So although only God knows the impact that the team made, He has allowed us to see some little glimpses of what He’s doing.
We would love to see some – all – of the people from the team come back! And maybe more from these churches. And what about your church? Do you think you might like to come and help out?
The video below has a few clips from the team’s visit. As usual, the clips are somewhat random, but they should show a little of what the team did. You can also check out the video from their first four days here. That video shows more of the activities from those days – this video includes those days but is a little more MI Team-centric. 🙂
[If you’re reading this in an RSS feed, you may need to jump to the blog to see the video here]
By the way, I also posted almost every day the team was here. Here are the posts, in case you’re interested:
Video from MI Team
This video is from the MI Team from their time in Mexico. Yes, I’m still working on my video, so you haven’t seen the last of them! But here’s their version of events. 😉
PS – not sure who made the video – I hear rumours that Dave Trenholm was involved…