Check it out! On Sunday we celebrated the 8th anniversary of the Path of Life Bible Church Las Palmas. And – two people were baptized! So, as is the tradition around here, I’m sharing a video of the baptisms…
Thanks to so many of you who were praying for our Vacation Bible School at the Path of Life Bible Church Las Palmas last week! The final total – 50 kids registered (a very good number for us). Many of the parents also came and heard the gospel!
Here are a whole bunch of rather random video clips. The short-term team was from Mount Joy Church of God in the USA, and they were a huge help!
There was so much going on, as you’ll see, that it was impossible to catch everything. But hopefully this will give you an idea of the atmosphere! And even if you don’t speak Spanish, you should be able to see that the Word of God was poured into these kids all week. Even in the more active moments, they were being challenged to remember parts of the lesson of the day. I can’t count the number of times the gospel was shared.
I’m not sure there was anyone in our church was not involved in some way. Our coworkers Rod and Mayra have been mostly working at another church for the last little while, but Mayra still found the time to oversee everything, organizing groups from two countries and still being involved “on the ground” everywhere you looked. Rod was also involved behind the scenes, and even on “stage” on the last day, sharing God’s Word with kids and their parents. Even some people who had to work were there before and after each day’s activities to set up and take down (remember, although there was a tent, we were outside, and so most things were stored each night and set up in the morning).
You’ll see a lot of our friend David, a resident missionary from Mexico City, who was the “Captain” who gave the main lesson each day.
The clips are basically in chronological order, starting with some of the last-minute preparations and ending with clean-up. So you’ll probably get an idea how the week progressed as well (perhaps a tad bit more chaotic as time went by?). Another thing you’ll notice is that the entire event took place in one small space (the place we meet at on Sunday mornings). It’s amazing what the organizers accomplished in a few metres of area!
Remember to keep praying for the people you see here – both our church and those who were our guests!
I’m departing from my usual “10 years ago” posts to bring you this special presentation from 18 years ago today.
But first, a little background on this video. Nathanael was one week short of his second birthday. We were still living in Calgary (we would move to Mexico in 6 months). We had put elastics on the kitchen cupboards to keep little hands from getting into things (not that any of our angelic children would ever get into trouble!), and Nathanael discovered that these made excellent string instruments.
So, in a nod to his future ukulele career, he began to play this new kitchen string instrument and sing the song that was on his mind – Cristo Me Ama (Jesus Loves Me). I joined in, but I think he had chosen a key that was a little high for both of us. This amusement kept his attention for an unusual amount of time, until he finally realized that there was some delicious pasta cooking on the stove.
So, here it is – 18 years ago today!
Yesterday we celebrated the baptisms of 9 people – five from the Path of Life Bible Church Jesús María, and four from the Path of Life Bible Church Las Palmas. You’ll see them in that order in the video below. Praise the Lord! And thanks to all of you who were praying for this service.
Some interesting things happen while I’m preaching. This is partly because we’re more or less outdoors (please pray that we can find a more permanent place!).
This past Sunday was, of course, Resurrection Sunday. And as I was preaching, a microphone stand randomly fell over. Oh well… it wasn’t the one I was using.
But then a parade, with a band, started to go by. Now, the back door was open, and so I could see people in costumes going by the door. And they weren’t all – shall we say – the most spiritual. And this was right at the very personal application part of the sermon, the last few minutes, and the prayer.
I stopped briefly (this is the part you see in the clip), thinking that it was passing by. But they instead camped out at a house nearby, and we were able to enjoy the full effect for maybe 15 minutes or so.
Anyway, you won’t see the parade in the clips below, but you will get an idea of how loud it was. Eventually they began to set off “bombas” (exploding fireworks, which sound a lot like gunshots). Oddly, those didn’t really pick up in the video. They were pretty constant and loud especially during our closing singing!
But here you are – another little glimpse of the unexpected…
I’m coming prepared now, somewhat, every Sunday, to discover what last-minute issues we have right before the service.
Yesterday it was mainly a laptop which decided it was time to update itself. It was the laptop we use for PowerPoints. And this Sunday I happened to be using a PowerPoint for my sermon. With the service starting at 11am, I think it was just about 11am when the laptop finally allowed me to check my presentation. 🙂
For the second year in a row we recognized Biblical Sexuality Sermon Sunday, and I preached on 1 Timothy 1:8-11 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, touching on a few other passages as well. We ended with 7 things that these texts give us “hope” for through Christ.
A woman from our church also shared about some of the challenges that our children are dealing with, from interactions with other friends and families and at school.
Even during the service, the unexpected should really be expected. Just as I was starting to preach, loud static suddenly woke us all up – we really need to upgrade our sound system. Thankfully that was fixed quickly (thanks, Ezequiel!).
But during the coffee break, the tent at the front caught the wind and blew over completely! Amazingly it didn’t hit anyone or knock anything over. The keyboard stand did tip, but the keyboard itself landed nicely on the chair behind it.
So for another glimpse into our Sunday mornings, here’s a brief video of the “rebuilding of the tent” (makes me think of Acts 15:16)…