Prayer and Praise

25 March 2014

Video: First Service at the New Property

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Ok, here it is! This is your chance to see what our first service was like at the new property in JesÃºs MarÃa. 🙂

A few disclaimers are probably in order first. The video is only 12 minutes long, so I obviously left out a lot. For example, many people shared their thoughts about having a service at the property for the first time, but I only included a few. Some parts didn’t record as well as others, or were hard to hear, etc.

Also, I’ve included some “subtitles” – sort of – in the English version of this video. They are only paraphrases and summaries of what was said (or sung). I didn’t have the time to translate every word, and sometimes parts were cut off or difficult to hear. So if you understand Spanish, you’re a step ahead. If not, you’ll get the general idea. 🙂

I was thinking today that this was actually the first time we’ve had a place that we’ve fit into. The first Sunday we met, it was in a rented house, and it was packed out. When we rented the salon, we frequently ran out of room.

Admittedly, we were a little short on chairs on Sunday, but we had lots of room and we have space to build a bigger room.

Praise the Lord! And enjoy the video.

La versiÃ³n en espaÃ±ol se encuentra aquÃ.

The New Building and How We Got There

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This morning we had our first service on the new property! More pictures and video are coming, but I want to give a quick report with a few pictures.

Four years ago, there was no church in JesÃºs MarÃa. So more than anything, we thank “our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us … to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:13-14)!

I don’t know what you think of when you think of a church plant, but you may find two things interesting.

First, there was no missionary leading the service. A missionary didn’t preach, or teach Sunday school, or lead the music. No missionary planned the songs or arranged for the food that appeared after the service. I happened to be playing keyboard, but I don’t do that every week.

Now sometimes we do those things, but our goal is to equip others. And, in fact, we can’t even say that we did that alone – apart from God who truly gives people the power, believers (many still young in the faith) have helped others to get involved.

Jesus builds His Church. We’re honoured to serve Him.

That being said, here’s the other amazing thing. There are many, many, many people who have been involved in this work. Even looking just at the land and the building, there have been people from many parts of the world who have helped.

Thank you to the many who have prayed for these people, and who have given and even come and helped with the construction!

But speaking just of people here in Mexico City, there have been so many people who have given sacrificially of their time and money to make this property and building a reality. I’m talking about people working late into the night, people praying, people washing cars to earn money, people selling food … looking around during the service, surely almost everyone we could see (except for new people) had helped to get us to where we are.

So the work is all the Lord’s – and yet He invites so many to be involved! A great community of people, leading others to worship and praise and celebrate!

It’s exciting that the church now has property that belongs to them – a place to make disciples.

But the neat things is, the church itself (or, I should say, ourselves), belongs to Christ – purchased with His blood – united forever to Him.

For more pictures of the service, check out the post from Tina: First Sunday in the New Property!

22 March 2014

Tomorrow We Go In Here

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Yes, tomorrow is the big day. We’re going to go through here, onto the property that the church owns, and we’re going to have our first service in a new location.

I took lots of pictures today of the last minute construction. We moved in the chairs and instruments. We actually had a music practice there tonight, but since they were still mounting the doors they had LOUD machinery going the whole time. So we had to shout at each other. I think I heard some instruments and some singing, but I’m not sure.

Anyway, I have lots of pictures from today, and I’ll have lots more to show you when I’m able.

So tomorrow, Lord willing, we go in here. Praise the Lord – after all this time we have more space to make disciples!

21 March 2014

Overwhelmed? Us?

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Naw, of course not. Well, ok, maybe a little.

With less than 27 days to go before our trip to Ontario, preparations are in full swing. And no matter how organized we are, no matter how far ahead we plan, we’re still surprised at just how much work we have to do between now and then.

Nathanael with his new shield, with friend Ian

For example, today I was absorbed for quite some time in some legal subtleties related to our upcoming border crossings. *sigh* …and I thought it would be simple.

Yesterday I was working with Hannah and Nathanael as we try to get their school responsibilities taken care of. And while we’re at it, we’re trying to figure out what we’re doing next year and how to get the materials. When we get back to Mexico, it will be almost time to start school again!

Meanwhile we’re preparing for ministry that we’ll be doing on our trip, making sure we have places to stay…

Oh! I really need to change the battery in our van today. Don’t let me forget.

To add to the fun, Shari has her arm in a sling. Apparently she has a little thing called lateral epicondylitis (otherwise known as tennis elbow). So if she can’t do it with one hand – the rest of the family needs to pitch in and help! However, she’s been learning a whole new medical vocabulary in Spanish as everyone asks her “What happened?!”

Leaving for three and a half months, in most ways, might as well be a year. We have to take everything we need, except the Christmas decorations. So, I’d better get back to work!

In the picture: Nathanael made that shield for history class (he was learning about King Richard the Lion-Heart). Getting into the spirit is his friend Ian.

16 March 2014

The Last Sunday in a Rented Room?

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Well, Lord willing, this was it. The last Sunday service in the ol’ Zumba studio, where we’ve met since May 2011.

We’ve been renting this place to get a little extra room while we looked for new property, purchased it, and started building.

But thanks to the hard work of a lot of people yesterday, we’re almost ready to meet on the new property.

Just a little more to do, and we can move into the temporary sanctuary – and stop renting!

We had a really good service today. We celebrated with a woman who had just accepted the Lord this past week. We saw some people we hadn’t seen for a while, heard some answers to prayer, and cried out to God for some serious needs people have.

We thanked God for a family that has been brought together by the Lord. We sang about the majesty of the Lord Jesus.

Ismael gave a timely message about faith, the need to trust in Christ for salvation, and the need to follow Him in faith.

Above you can see the worship team practising. The picture was taken at 10:10am – ten minutes after the service is supposed to start. But we’re working on being more punctual. Really.

And so – one week more —- !!

Zumba studio – second floor

13 March 2014

Property Update: March 2014

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So how are things going with the property for the church in JesÃºs MarÃa? It’s time for a bit of update!

Little by little, construction is continuing on the land. As a matter of fact, we have a structure in place. This won’t be the main sanctuary in the future, but it will suffice for the time being. Below is a panoramic shot, from the wall to the right of the picture to the wall to the left. Because it’s panoramic, the back wall looks curved, but it isn’t. It just gives you a better look at the length.

As you might imagine, there are still a lot of little things that need to be done. Things that involve various people and various lengths of time. Things like doors and windows, and items for the temporary bathrooms.

Our goal is to be using the structure on or before the 6th of April, when we’ll be celebrating the 4th anniversary of the church.

Here’s a shot from the same place, in the opposite direction:

This is where the sanctuary and some other parts of the building will go once they’re built. As you can see, there’s not much there yet!

At the far end is the entrance to the street. On the right is a construction worker with a wheel barrow, proving that work is in progress. 🙂

That’s about it for now! Thanks for your prayers – I’ll let you know when we actually start using the property for services!

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