Sharing the gospel at the church plant in Laura Flores.
Today was our last day of ministry. We woke up this morning, went to breakfast and then headed to leadership training. We studied personality types and leadership styles. Afterward we headed to our morning worship time at First Baptist church here in Santo Domingo. We had a great lunch (tamale, soup, meat/rice/veggies) and then bused over to Laura Flores, a neighborhood built on a trash dump. At the site we had a short church service, sang songs, and then I shared the gospel with a ton of kids.
Emily and Mallory hang out with a few girls.
The team spent time playing with kids and a few girls in our group played soccer against the local Ecuadorian girls. The game was pretty intense and we discovered that Mallory is an incredible goalie!
We had dinner at a local restaurant and then headed back to the hotel for another leadership session.
Goldthwaite's finest Goalie!!!
Tomorrow we are headed to visit the Tsachilas people, an indigenous tribe of Ecuador. In the afternoon we are headed back to Laura Flora to put on a Soccer Clinic.
Please continue to pray for us as our mission is not over.
Well we had another great day. The day started with breakfast and then we moved into our leadership time. We studied another "soft" skill Authenticity. We also looked at strengths and non-strengths.
Emily teaches how to share the gospel.
After our leadership study we headed to our ministry site. One thing I didn't know until this morning was that Emily had led three people to the Lord yesterday!! Praise the Lord! We made our way around to different homes and shared the gospel. Mallory and Emily were able to share the gospel with several people. Emily led another woman to Christ! I had a great discussion with a young man named Shelbit from New Jersey. I was able to leave a Bible with him and some information. I know the Lord is after this guy and will continue to reveal himself.
This evening we went to a youth service at the "mother" church. Mallory shared her testimony again. We returned to the hotel for a hamburger dinner had a debrief time and now were headed to bed.
Tomorrow we will be going to local churches for worship. Patrick will be preaching in the afternoon.
Mallory shares her testimony.
Please continue to pray for us.
- Fatigue is setting in
- Pray for Patrick preaching tomorrow
- Pray for boldness in sharing the gospel
Today we had another great day. Thanks so much for your prayers. Keep 'em coming!
We started the day with breakfast (OJ, cheese sandwich, scrabbled eggs) and then headed to our leadership training. We spent the morning talking about the importance of studying leadership. We are studying two dimensions of leadership this week, "hard" skills: what a leader does and "soft" skills: who a leader is. Today our "soft" skill was Social Intelligence. After our leadership training we went to lunch and had an empanada, cheese/potato/avocado soup, fried fish, veggies and rice with a gelatinous jiggly pineapple desert. (see Mallory's demonstration below)
Next we headed to our ministry site, Dos Pinos (Two Pines). We started down our street. Mallory and I were able to share with a 20yo guy. He listened but due to his schedule we prayed with him and moved on. We then spent over an hour with a lady named Laura. A 70yo great grandma. Mallory led the charge and did a great job. Emily got to go to several homes with our mission leader, Clint, and share at several homes as well. She did an incredible job and was very bold. We invited everyone back to the church for a small meeting. I got to lead two worship songs. It was incredible hearing people singing to Jesus in Spanish and English at the same time!! Mallory and another student then shared their testimony. Afterward our mission leader began some basic discipleship material and connected the people with the church members and pastor.
Emily and Mallory with one of the little girls, Daniella.
We headed back to the hotel and finished the day with a dinner from KFC. We had some time to debrief and then we played some games. FBC students will be proud to know we dominated at Silent Football!!!
The day is over and we are headed to bed. We are having an incredible week so far.
Emily chatting with our translator.
Please pray for the following things:
- Emily has felt a little sick
- continued boldness to share the good news
- please specifically pray Sat 10-12 and 2-4 as we
will be sharing
- for the Spirit to open eyes and hearts to truth. Just like in Goldthwaite, many people believe they go to heaven because they simply know about God or they think God will let them into heaven because of the good things they have done or they think they are good people. We know this is a lie from Satan. Please pray against this spiritual attack.
Well it's been a great first day! We stayed at a Nazarene seminary last night and then woke up first thing this morning to head to Santo Domingo. We took a 4 hour bus ride through curvy mountain roads. Thank the Lord for motion sickness medication. After arriving in Santo Domingo we ate lunch, a four course meal starting with avocado salad, then chicken leg soup, beef, rice and gravy, followed by strawberries and cheese, and blackberry juice to drink.
After lunch we checked into our hotel and headed to our ministry sight. We broke up into three teams. Emily stayed at the church with our mission leader to help lead a women's Bible study. Mallory and I went with a translator, the IMB missionary, and two ladies that are members of the local church. We stopped and prayed with a man who had been paralyzed in a car wreck. We then headed to a home and found a lady and her family that were already believers. Next we went to a home and shared the gospel of Jesus Christ. We read the story of the Lost Son (after the woman shared it was her favorite Bible story). This gave us a great inroad into sharing the gospel. We had time for one more visit were we introduced ourselves and set up an appointment for tomorrow.
This evening we'll head to supper and then debrief the day.
Please pray for us as we continue to be harvesters. The population is largely Catholic so we are struggling to help people understand grace and the supremacy of Christ. Please pray as we follow up with the people we spoke to today. Please pray for Mallory, Emily and I to be bold and to speak in the Spirit of power given by the Lord.
We are waiting for our flight here in Miami. We will arrive in Quito this evening and head to our lodging. We will head to Santo Domingo tomorrow morning. We met up the rest of the team from Shelby, NC. We are looking forward to the week and are expecting the Lord to do a great work. We covet your prayers this week.
A great adventure lies on the horizon! Wednesday morning Emily, Mallory, and I will be departing for an 8 day mission trip in Santo Domingo, Ecuador. Depending on internet access and availability, I will be updating this blog daily as well as posting videos to Facebook. Please join in the adventure by praying daily that the Lord would use us in doing a mighty work in Ecuador for His Name and His Glory.
I think about the command we have all received "And Jesus came and said to them,“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
When Jesus says "Go" he is literally saying "as you go." This week we are going to Ecuador. Our mission is in that nation this week. You have a mission this week as well. Share the gospel where you are. "As you go" means as you go to work, as you go to the store, as you go to workouts, as you hang out with friends, as you eat with your family. In all of life's circumstances let the gospel be on the tip of your tongue. Going on a trip or going door to door can be great but we are supposed to be sharing 24-7, as we go, as we do life!! Be quick to share the gift of grace that God offers through Jesus' sacrifice. Talk about Jesus in front of others, talk about Jesus to others, tell what Jesus has done in your life.
Matthew 9:35-38 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” The harvest is plentiful, in Ecuador and where you are. The laborers are few. You are the laborer, let get to work!!
Easter has always been an important day at our house. When our children were younger we read the Easter passages to them and talked about God's love for them and the world. We dyed Easter eggs, had great lunches and the all important afternoon Easter Egg Hunt. Never saw those kids set the table, eat, clean the table off, do some general clean up of the kitchen so fast. Sometimes I would be about half done with lunch and they would be clearing the table and washing dishes. "Yes I do mind if you have my plate and glass, I'm still eating here thank you!"
The hunt was always amazing, it had to be in the front & side yards. The dog would find the eggs and then proceed to eat them, it was not right he could smell them out & besides he never did learn to hide his eyes while we were hiding them. We always had the special GOLDEN EGG to be found, along with the egg with your name on it. At times we had to have multiple hunts for the GOLDEN EGG, that way everyone could find it. All of these are wonderful memories we will laugh about and cherish from now on.
The monuments were reading the Scripture to our children, and hearing it again ourselves. How God could give his all for us and all the world as well. That is just amazing! I know as a father &grandfather I would never sacrifice my children & grandchildren for anyone else. Especially people who were not the least bit grateful. GOD DID!!! We don't deserve His love but we are still the beneficiaries of this love. We are also the vessels in which he has chosen to pass this information on to our world. How great a love, how can it be? Thank you God.
We live our lives so much of the time as if we are in total control of everything that goes on around us. In our minds we control what we do, when we do it and how we do it. Now that may be stroking our ego a little much in reality.
Let's take a look at our lives. We get up to the alarm so as not to be late for work, watching our speed not to get a ticket and obeying other rules of the road. Answer the phone as people are calling about various things important to them. Check our calendars to see where & when we need to be. Take an hour for lunch at the appropriate time and do all the errands we need to get done for the family. Back to work while remembering all the things we need to do this afternoon for the children, husband or wife. Leave at the designated time, rush to the store, post office, home, chores, supper, projects we have going. Now it is 10 pm, ah yes we have "my time" to do what I want now, until 6am. Yes sir it is great being in control of our lives isn't it?
Face it we can't control the little part of our own world let alone EVERYTHING else. The Scripture says that Jesus takes in EVERYTHING and makes decisions without so much as a tiny bit of frustration and concern.
When you have defeated Death and Sin for all eternity for all of mankind, the rest is a piece of cake. Allowing Jesus to work in & through us is the only control we really need in our lives. Jesus can handle life and all it's problems & joys, He has done it for a long time.
Mark 11:8 "Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches, they had cut in fields." What are our expectations of God? Boy most of us have a list, wooowhee, it is long, it is specific and it is about me & mine. That's for sure. We want the three H's, you know Health, Happiness & Heaven along with a long list of other things. They are love, sense of purpose, great family & friends, stability, and the list goes on and on. If we were to think about it for a minute we could come up with a multitude of other expectations if we put our minds to it I bet.
What has got to be frustrating for God is our wanting it, (whatever it is), NOW! Then we go into this "Does God not love me and want me to be happy? Why has He not answered my prayers like I want Him to? What does He want or need me to do?" Seriously get over yourself people, God does not want or need anything from us. He is NOT dependent on us, it's the other way around. God is pretty undemanding on us, while we on the other hand are very demanding on Him. To tell the truth we are just plain needy & selfish. It appears that we may the problem in this relationship.
The people in Mark 11:8 were prasing and honoring Jesus one week and the next they were screaming "Crucify him". All God has ever asked of us can be found in Micah 6:8. It states "And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Pretty simple, makes our demands and prayers seem a bit selfish. Maybe if we were more about God and less about ourselves Easter wouldn't be just one day a year.
What an amazing verse, I love this verse it is like God slipped this one in to remind us where we stand. "Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hossanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
If that doesn't get your attention I'm not sure you are alive. We,(the Christians of today ) are where we are today in our Christian faith because of all those who stood before us. They paved the way, fought the battles, died for the cause of Christ, left homes, families, health & wealth behind. To say they were committed is a bit of an understatment. Christians in Mills County, Texas are not persecuted, ridiculed, punished or belittled for our beliefs. Yet we do not live or proclaim, Christ the Lord, the Risen Saviour the one who can change the world for some reason. Instead we have enslaved ourselves to public opinion, what others might think and "this is uncomfortable for me" mentality. All of which renders us powerless to be what God has intended us to be. The point is we are placed here IN THIS TIME AND IN THIS PLACE TO POINT OTHERS TO JESUS CHRIST. We are not here to coast on what others have done.
We have the responsibility to pass on to others, those who follow us, the correct information & more importantly our relationship with Christ. It is all about Jesus Christ and who he is and what he has done for us all. We, my friends are literally standing in the gap between the past and the future. It is our responsibility, not someone elses, to boldly live and proclaim Christ to OUR world. It is time to "Man up" for our God & Saviour in our daily lives.
Sometimes it feels like you are invisible to others doesn't it? That's natural we all have had those kind of moments. Face it the sooner we realize that our world "Is Not The Center Of The Universe", the better off we will be. The 2 disciples that Jesus sent on this mission were simply following his instructions. They were, it seems a little self conscious about what they were doing. Not unlike ourselves at times.
From time to time we have opportunities to make a difference in our world, usually in small seemingly unimportant actions. These disciples were to carry out their part and move on. If you will notice we don't even know their names, no fanfare or attention being drawn to them. Today we would have to have a committee, sub-committee, enviromental impact study on moving the animal, animal rights advocate for making sure the animal was treated correctly, CNN to give updates and protesters bused in just for the cameras.
Instead the people there asked, as Jesus said they would, the disciples answered and the whole thing wasn't a big deal at all. Many times God does wonderful and ordinary things without the world even noticing. How awesome is that? I think all of us could be used more in God's work if we, like those disciples, didn't care if our names were mentioned. Those disciples just served the Lord, period.
Sometimes in reading passages I get hung up on a phrase and can't seem to move past it.
So it is with the statement in verse 3 "If anyone ask you". Four words that say volumes to
me and to you hopefully.
Jesus was talking to 2 of his disciples so he knew exactly what to say, how to say it, and
why he was saying it. We all have people in our lives that require us to word things carefully. As children & youth we said to our parents at some point "but you said". Yeah, we have a habit to take things literally, (when it suits our purpose of course), so we can have a little wiggle room to get out of things if we think it benefits us. So I guess we are like the disciples in this way, they were human also.
Jesus knew their first question to him would be "what if they ask us why"? It wasn't like they were afraid Emily Post would come out and chastize them for their bad manners. No it was more about, even after all the time they had spent with Jesus, they were still fearful of "what people would say". He calmed their fears and explain what they should do all at the same time.
Isn't that just like Jesus to take care of our questions before we ask them?
I apologize for posting this blog so late in the day. Our Labrador Retriever Lily decided to give birth to seven puppies this morning between 2:30 and 6:45. It was a neat experience to witness but really ruined my ability to focus before noon.
Yesterday we looked at the glorious might of our Lord Jesus. Today I'd like to continue looking at Colossians 1:15-17:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
How do we know and understand the nature and character of God? We look at Jesus! Hebrews 1:3 says Jesus is the exact imprint of God the Father. Here in Colossians Paul says He is the image of God. Not a close copy, not a glimpse but the full nature and character of God in human form. If we want to know God and have relationship with Him we must know Jesus.
We have to be in scripture reading about Jesus. We have to read John 8 where the religious leaders bring a woman caught in adultery to Jesus to learn that our God is merciful. We have to read John 11 when Jesus is on His way to raise Lazarus from the dead and He stops with Martha and Mary and shows us that our God is a God of compassion. We have to read Luke 8 where Jesus stops the storm to learn that God is all powerful even over nature. I could go on and on but you get the idea.
Jesus was 100% God and is the revelation of God himself to us. We don't have to guess; we can know the living God that rules the universe.
He is the firstborn. This doesn't mean He was created. It is a title of position, meaning he is in the position of inheritance and authority. Jesus is Eternal, He was there at creation creating and He is the ruler over every created thing from puppies and trees to gravity and a universe than spans light years.
Does the God who rules all creation, things visible and invisible, rule in your heart? We all have a throne on our heart. Who or what sits on the throne of your heart? Take some time today to reflect on Christ who is the King on the throne of your heart.
May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy...
His Glorious Might, wow!! We can't do this life on our own. Today I'd like for you to take a moment and reflect on God's glorious might.
Have you heard the expression "too big for your britches?" My britches are pretty big but still there are times that I forget my place in the grand scheme of life and eternity. This happens when we look at and meditate on ourselves more than we meditate on God and His Word. There is the throne of our heart that Christ should sit on, however, many times we replace Him with another love. When this happens it is good to get perspective and repent, change our mind about our idol and submit to the leadership of Jesus in our lives.
Here is a passage for you to reflect on today:
Psalm 8
1O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. 3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 9O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Who am I? I am nothing but humble and obedient in the presence of The Mighty and Glorious King Jesus. This glorious might, the might that created and sustains the universe, is the power that is available to me and you, to strengthen us to endure and persevere and to do it with joy. Tap into that power today. Remember your place and submit to the will of the Lord in your life.
Take time to reflect. Maybe write your own psalm in your heart as your drive to work. Reflect on creation, things large and tiny. Pray and ask the Lord to give you proper perspective and help you tap into His Glorious Might that you might be strengthened as you continue in your obedience.
After lunch we checked into our hotel and headed to our ministry sight. We broke up into three teams. Emily stayed at the church with our mission leader to help lead a women's Bible study. Mallory and I went with a translator, the IMB missionary, and two ladies that are members of the local church. We stopped and prayed with a man who had been paralyzed in a car wreck. We then headed to a home and found a lady and her family that were already believers. Next we went to a home and shared the gospel of Jesus Christ. We read the story of the Lost Son (after the woman shared it was her favorite Bible story). This gave us a great inroad into sharing the gospel. We had time for one more visit were we introduced ourselves and set up an appointment for tomorrow.