News and current issues

20 July 2006

Protests in Mexico City

As a follow-up to my previous post on the Mexican election, I thought I’d write briefly about the protest in Mexico City on Sunday. Hundreds of thousands showed up, some estimates say between 1-1.5 million. We do praise the Lord that the protest was generally peaceful. With a few exceptions, the protests, which continue, do continue to be peaceful.

However, the supporters of LÃ³pez Obrador are still trying to keep the attention of the people and push their demand for a vote-by-vote recount. A recent poll says that most Mexicans don’t want the recount, but there is still a lot of support for LÃ³pez Obrador, Mexico City’s former mayor, who is claiming that fraud brought his opponent to power.

As I mentioned in my last post, there may not be a final decision until September, so please remember Mexico in your prayers.

There are some pictures of the protest on Flickr – check out this one from stut.

16 July 2006

More on the Mexican Election

Jim Mexico, News and current issues 0

Mexican ballot showing the Partido AcciÃ³n Nacional (National Action Party – CalderÃ³n) and Alianza por el Bien de Todos (Alliance for the Good of All – Lopez Obrador)
Photo courtesy of Â·jÂ·ÃºÂ·bÂ·iÂ·lÂ·oÂ·

It’s been 2 weeks since the Mexican election, and the results are still in dispute. Felipe de JesÃºs CalderÃ³n Hinojosa was declared the winner by a margin of 0.58%. AndrÃ©s Manuel LÃ³pez Obrador, the runner up, decided to bring a legal challenge, demanding a vote-by-vote recount and investigation into allegations of fraud. Officials say a vote-by-vote recount isn’t possible. And so, the dispute continues.

And it will continue for a long time. The court makes the final decision, but that decision doesn’t have to be made until September 6th. Lopez Obrador and his team have already handed in a 900 page legal challenge. Meanwhile, Calderon has responded with his own appeals, claiming human error at 500 polling places.

All this to ask you to please pray for continued peace in Mexico. As you might imagine, there are growing protests in the country. Lopez Obrador is planning a march of hundreds of thousands in Mexico City today. If this is going to go on until September, who knows what the outcome will be. So please continue to pray for the people of Mexico, that God would bring peace and justice, and that there would be freedom for the Gospel.

1 July 2006

This summer in Mexico

Jim Mexico, Missions, News and current issues 0

Let me give you a bit of an update about the short term missionaries in Mexico. Ok, not all of them, but a few.

Lots has been happening with the CAM International missionaries and the Mexicans they’ve been working with. Vacation Bible Schools for children, teaching English, serving at a women’s shelter, sports workshops – these are just a few of the things that short term missionaries have been up to.

CAM Missionary Rod reports that they’ve already seen some fruit from the ministry. He sent me the above picture of some of the guys that were serving in Mexico this summer. Second from the left is Troy, one of the Canadians serving in Central Mexico this summer. Next to him is Brad, who works with CAM and who was with our team last summer for a few days in Mexico City.

Brad has posted more great pictures on his blog – check out VBS! and English English English

Ariel, who was on our team last summer, has returned to Mexico for more ministry. She flew down on Tuesday, and will be in Mexico for a month. Please pray that she will have many chances to serve and show the love of Christ, and that God would work in her life and give her leading for the future. That’s her on the left.

On Tuesday morning, at 3:00am, I’ll be leaving our apartment and heading to our church. I’ll be picking up a part of the Evangelical Free Church of Canada Mission Mexico Team and driving them to the airport. They’ll be serving in Hermosillo, Mexico, with our friends the Neufelds. I’m not excited to be getting up in the middle of the night, but I am very excited for this team, and for the ministry that’s going on in Hermosillo!
Pray for all the missionaries, short term and long term as they serve this summer. Please pray also for tomorrow’s election in Mexico, that there would be stability during election time and that wise, just leadership would be elected for the coming 6 year term. It’s an important election and at this point it looks like anyone could win.

Thanks for remembering Mexico.

11 June 2006

The World Cup and YOU

Jim Mexico, Missions, News and current issues 1

It’s starting right now – Mexico’s first game in the World Cup. They play Iran today, and then they get a few days off. You can find out what’s happening at the BBC World Cup page.

But I didn’t actually stop by just to announce that. Jason Gardner, a blogger over at MobilizingBrazil.com, had a great idea I thought I would share with you. Why not take this opportunity to pray for the countries in the World Cup?

I’m sure you could think of reasons to pray for Mexico and Iran right now. The World Cup really does have a huge impact on the world. Not only is it about soccer, it’s also an opportunity for evil, and an opportunity to God to show His power, and get the glory He deserves more than any team.

To help you in this endeavour, Jason made up a prayer guide, available in Portuguese and English. Click here now to get your copy of the World Cup Prayer Guide.

Jason and Liliam Gardner are missionaries to Brazil with Fellowship International Mission (FIM).

2 June 2006

One week until the BIG event

Jim Mexico, Ministry glimpses, News and current issues 8

Only one more week to wait. The 2006 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to begin in Germany on June 9th. 32 football (soccer) teams will face off in the most popular sporting event in the world. An estimated 5 million fans from all over the world will be visiting Germany for the 4 week long competition. In addition, there will probably be over a billion viewers watching around the world!Ok, so Canada didn’t make it this time. It’s “a team in development”. So we’ll be cheering on Mexico, with some secondary cheering for a few other countries as well. Canada is actually represented on England’s team by someone from Calgary no less – Owen Lee Hargreaves.

Owen is a midfielder.

In Spanish speaking countries, this has been an opportunity for some of our friends to make use of special World Cup tracts. If you’re from Canada, you may be rolling your eyes – tracts?! Yes, believe it or not, in places like Mexico tracts can be very effective. People really read them, and actually talk to you about them. And remember, many of these people have never actually heard the Gospel before.

To the right you can see part of the tract – I think it translates into something like the plan of the World-Wide One, but ask me again after I finish my Spanish classes.

Remember Bryan Smith, the CAM missionary we worked with in QuerÃ©taro? He recently wrote a blog about the excitment of a local game, and the opportunity to hand out tracts – read Soccer Excitement!

A fellow missionary pointed out some spreadsheets you can use if you want to keep track of your favourite teams in the World Cup. Check out his list of spreadsheets here. They’re pretty neat.

Interesting facts about this year’s FIFA World Cup:

The top ranked team is Brasil

12 cities in Germany will be hosting the games

7 teams have never played in the World Cup before

You can get a nifty Yahoo! Widget for the World Cup here (you need to download the free widget engine)

Freddie Ljungberg from the Swedish team is concerned that migraine attacks could knock him out of the World Cup

Visit the Official FIFA World Cup Site

Brasil won the last World Cup in 2002, beating Germany

17 May 2006

Helpful article on The Da Vinci Code

Jim Devotional and Bible, News and current issues 0

Today the movie The Da Vinci Code begins its journey into theatres all over the world. It opens in North America in 2 days, and in some parts of the world today. I’ve mentioned resources regarding this topic before (Da Vinci Code post 1, Da Vinci Code post 2), and I realize some of you have been overloaded with information. But I have one article I feel is worth mentioning, if you’re looking for good solid information.

First, in summary for those who have been living in a monastery over the last couple of years. The Da Vinci Code is a book and now a movie. It’s a fictional story that in some circles has been passed off as “based on fact”, about a conspiracy to cover the truth about Christianity. The supposed truth has to do with secret societies, lost documents and the revelation that Jesus was in fact married to Mary Magdeline.

Now anyone who has taken any time to look at the evidence soon discovers that there is very little fact mixed in with a whole lot of fiction. So in a sense, it’s hardly worth mentioning, except for the fact that some of the hype continues to give people false impressions. It seems the media loves a mystery, and loves to give the impression that there really is very little we can know for sure about Jesus.

On the contrary, there’s a whole lot of reliable historic information about Jesus. And that truth is more amazing than fiction could ever be. And although it’s amazing that some of this fiction from The Da Vinci Code is being taken as fact, it’s a great opportunity to clear up some misconceptions about Christianity that were around long before the book was published. Where did the Bible come from? How do we know anything about Jesus? Who was He?

Anyway, my Dad wrote this article, and I thought it was worth sharing. Why not print it out and have a copy on hand for those who ask you about it? He also pointed out a collection of info from Lee Strobel. He has a collection of short video clips you can watch online from several experts and teachers with the facts about the Da Vinci Code. And here’s the article from my Dad’s website:

The Da Vinci Code
A CRITIQUE OF THE NOVEL

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