We very much appreciated the four people who came down from Lighthouse Community Church this past weekend to teach the Biblical Counselling Seminar. The material was so carefully prepared, and so well presented. And, ok, so convicting! 🙂
Day 1 at Path of Life Bible Church in Santa Barbara
As I told Tim, Mat, Laura and David (our guests) afterwards, it’s a good sign when you hear people talking about the material during the breaks, already wrestling with how to apply God’s Word to some specific situations they’re dealing with.
Four churches were represented, and I’m sure they will have a lot to take back to each church as we continue to grow in God’s grace. Thanks again, friends from Lighthouse, and all those here who helped as well!
Day 2 – Q&A with the Path of Life Bible Church in Las Palmas
We also had an interesting class with Rod, as he continued his series on Defending the Faith. And of course we’re continuing our incredible journey through Hebrews 11, this time with Abraham and Sarah.
And now we’re busy preparing for upcoming ministry, some of which I’m sure I’ll tell you about later. 🙂 Thanks for your prayers!
We enjoyed our time with Bill and Ryan this weekend, visiting from South Calgary Chinese Evangelical Free Church. It was a bit of a trilingual weekend, with a bit of Cantonese being thrown around along with the Spanish and English!
Ryan, Bill & Jim out for tacos in Mexico City
In fact, Ryan gave the benediction at the Sunday morning service – in Chinese. Another reminder of how we all can worship God together, no matter what our country or language!
I did some site-seeing with these guys, and showed them a bit of the ministry up-close as well. We talked a lot about strategies for future ministry. Thanks for visiting, guys! Come back soon, and bring your friends! 😀
Saturday night was our last Bible study for a few weeks. The adults finished up the Chronological Bible Study with the last segment – “The Triumph of the Lamb”.
Here are the kids from Shari’s study – keep praying for them – some are probably not believers yet.
Saturday night kids’ study
On Sunday we continued our study of Hebrews, and the Ten Commandments. A friend from Uruguay shared special music. The Mothers also got celebrated with a small gift and a song of blessing (it was Mother’s Day on Friday here). 🙂
Las Palmas Moms
And now we’re diving into the activities of the week! It just might be someone’s birthday this week, so there might just be a party coming soon. 😉
I haven’t written much lately, because Manic May is here (actually, it kind of started early this year)! But I thought I’d better stop by to let you know we’re still alive and kicking.
Some of the youth led worship this past Sunday at Las Palmas
One big activity has been paperwork – remember that? Yes, it never really ends. Two members of the family have had official paperwork to review, and as usual it’s a multi-step complicated process. But we’re getting there, little by little!
Some individuals have birthdays in May, as you may know, so we’re getting ready for that!
You could pray for our first visitors who will arrive on Thursday, from South Calgary Chinese Evangelical Free Church. We’re looking forward to spending some time with them, so we’ve been busy preparing everything for our time together.
For me (Jim), Saturday is the “Grand Finale” of our Chronological Bible Study. The final study is called “The Triumph of the Lamb”. We also continue with our study of Hebrews – lovin’ Hebrews 11 right now – and I’m preparing to continue the 10 Commandments study – we’re onto “Remember the Sabbath day…”.
Well, that’s just a few of the things we’re thinking about right now. Thanks so much for your prayers! We continue to be encouraged by the way God is working in our lives here. But we have a long way to go, by His grace!
We’re just about to head into what I affectionately call “Manic May”, because May tends to be our busiest month of the year. And it doesn’t look like this May is going to disappoint.
I won’t get into all the reasons for that, and all the things we need to get done in May. But let’s look at a few of the upcoming events you might want to pray about.
South Calgary Chinese Evangelical Free Church: Over the second weekend of May, we’re looking forward to welcoming two men from the SCCEFC (obviously from Calgary, Alberta)! We’re hoping to give them a glimpse of the ministry here, looking to possible future ministry.
Still Water Community Church: The next weekend, a larger group will be coming from Rowlett, Texas, for much the same purpose.
Lighthouse Community Church: The weekend after that, we will have visitors from Torrance, California. This will be a biblical counselling training weekend, with the main seminar on Saturday. We appreciate the continuing partnership that we have with Lighthouse.
In here somewhere we’ll be preparing for some exciting upcoming events – for example, a wedding on the 1st of June, and two teams visiting in June as well!
Please pray as the ministry continues here through the rest of the spring. We’re looking forward to special Holy Week services, continuing studies, and of course wrapping up home school for Nathanael in May/early June. Hannah is getting into the crazy school year-end stuff as well.
Through it all, may God be glorified, and may His Word spread!
Below is a video of the baptisms from this past Sunday. A few words of explanation…
We don’t have the video for the first two baptisms, hence the photos. Sorry!
There were 24 people baptized (I think I said 21 on Facebook, but I counted and it seems there was 24!). 19 were from the church in Jesús MarÃa, and 5 from the church in Las Palmas. It’s easy because the Las Palmas people went last, and that’s the only time I was in the tank. 🙂
You’ll hear a part of a song played over and over. And over. It’s become a bit of a traditional baptism song in the church in Jesús MarÃa, so they played a small part between every baptism. What you’re hearing is, “We give glory to You, Jesus!” – and yes, we do!
The other people you’ll see in the tank are Daniel (left), a leader in the church in Jesús MarÃa, and Ismael (right), the pastor.
Ok – here you are! About three and a half minutes of people you can pray for.
We’ve been thinking a lot about water lately. Frankly, it’s hard to avoid.
Black water – but not as bad as it has been sometimes…
As many of you know, we’ve gone from having very little water pressure, and having to resort to buckets to get clean – to now having wildly unpredictable moments in which we have more water pressure than we’ve had in years (no exaggeration), to water that is black, to not even a drop anywhere.
Our water was off all night – but did come on this morning. A little black, but certainly better than no water at all.
But really, that’s not the water that’s most important at the moment. The important water is in a rectangular tank up in the community of Jesús MarÃa. I imagine it’s filled by now, ready for a special service tomorrow, in which many believers will be baptized!
We have enjoyed spending a little time with some of the people who will be baptized, hearing how God has worked and is working in their lives. So we’ve been able to have an extended “time of rejoicing”, which will continue with the celebration tomorrow morning.
Please pray for these people, who may be in front of a bigger crowd than ever in their lives, 🙂 but who will be making a public confession of the inward reality of faith from the Holy Spirit!
I don’t know if the water will be clear or black – but it doesn’t matter much, because it’s only a symbol of the reality. The cleansing that God has done in hearts is perfect – and purifies us completely. And it is done with blood – imagine! But a blood so pure it cleans our souls.
I’ve been studying for an upcoming sermon in Hebrews, and these words seem very appropriate…
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
