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Kicking the Tires of WordPress 2.5

April 9, 2008 in SiteChanges by Dave | 3 comments

OK, for those of you looking for something more profound, I’m sorry to disappoint. This post is devoid of deep thought. Instead it focuses on the technical side of my portfolio here in Mexico.

Part of what I do here in Mexico deals with maintaining my website, and the website of our Missionary Fellowship. Maintenance has a lot to do with staying current, and when the web management software that you use tends to upgrade every three months, staying current can be a challenge. I use WordPress as the engine that drives what we do at discipleMexico.org and today, I completed the upgrade process to the brand new version 2.5

Part of my reasoning behind the upgrade is to ensure the security and stability of our website. There are many languishing installs that are currently succumbing to hackers and spammers and losing their status in search engines because of it. Problems like that can hurt non-profits like us who rely on a low-cost web presence to promote their message. It pays to be current.

The other part of my reasoning lies in taking advantage of new features that the software provides. I’m on the lookout constantly for step savers or ways to extend what I offer. I was particularly interested in the WordPress 2.5 gallery feature. If it worked, it would allow me to ditch my another process and help me get pictures up more easily, and perhaps more frequently. Of course, that was only if it worked.

The first upgrade, a 5 minute process performed through WordPress Automatic Upgrade failed to produce the brand new uploader which is the heart and soul of the new gallery feature. Without that, my new time-saver was dead on arrival. OK, time to trouble-shoot, an hour of trying this and that proved fruitless. Only a complete reinstall of the software, this time manually installed, allowed me to access the new uploader.

OK. Step one solved, now on to the next, producing a gallery. I looked for examples to see what this new tool was capable of. Would it fit the bill for my site? A quick tour of the Internet proved promising, but my first gallery was a flop. With no navigation, the supposed gallery seemed unwieldy and useless. It looked like I was going to be tied to my third-party solution. Still, something in me said that there was a solution out there. Others would not have been able to get the results that they had achieved without software mature enough to deliver.

A deeper search revealed that the gallery feature relies not only on the new uploader, but also on a new template called image.php, available in the default theme. Part of the problem of heeding the upgrade warnings that WordPress sends is that many of the new and improved features are poorly documented. Tags were a case in point a few releases back. This time the photo gallery has proven to be the winner.

Sure enough, copying the image.php file to my current theme did the trick. With a few tweaks and a few bug fixes, I achieved success. My first WordPress native gallery was born. I’ve posted it below. It’s a conglomeration of some prominent images characteristic of the Mexico that we have experienced. It’s not exhaustive, but it displays a bit of what the WordPress gallery can do. I hope you enjoy.

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Living “In-between”

April 5, 2008 in Devotional by Dave | 2 comments

Easter Cross

Many thanks to all who were instrumental in prayer during this trying week. Kelly and I were both down dealing with different sicknesses. Hers was an amoebic infection while I was flat on my back for many days as the doctors tried to determine which antibiotic was going to vanquish my dreaded nemesis, the sinus infection. We are both back on our feet again, the blessed recipients of the care and concern, (thanks Kazims), prayers (thanks especially to Carlos who called and prayed with me), and the understanding of 3 wonderful kids (thanks Rebekah, Joseph and Jonathan.)

During my convalescence, I had little to do save read, and read I did, voluminously. My most profound experience came through the words of Philip Yancey in his book “The Jesus I Never Knew.” It is an excellent work on the Jesus that came near, analyzing his personhood, teachings, miracles, and legacy.

A concept in this book spoke to me as I lay there waiting for my body to respond to treatment, waiting for my healing to come. There were moments of despair, frustration and to be sure pain. I was “in-between.” I had been given what I had needed in order to heal. I had the promise of health from the doctor, I just needed to wait. However, as the moments stretched to hours and the hours to days, the waiting was difficult, tedious, dreadful. I was tired of the delay.

We who hope for redemption are in this state of “in betweenness,” the time between Christ’s ascension and His return. Yancey says it is a sort of Saturday. He states that both the other two days, Good Friday and Easter Sunday have names on the Church calendar. But we who live in this time live on Saturday, the day with no name, the time between the promise and the fulfillment, and to be sure we fret, and become frustrated, and we despair. All around us are the signs of the decay of this world–sickness, corruption, poverty. Even our own bodies remind us that, despite our struggle to overcome, we’re made of the stuff of this earth. Yancey explains:

What the disciples experience in a small scale–three days in grief over a man who died on the cross–we now live on a cosmic scale. Human history grinds on, between the time of promise and fulfillment. Can we trust that God can make something holy out of a world that includes Bosnia and Rwanda, and inner-city ghettos and jammed prisons in the richest nation on earth?

And I ask myself: can I trust that God can make something holy out of my setbacks, my failures, and even my infections?

It’s Saturday on planet earth; will Sunday ever come?

Yet in the same way that three days of grief came to an end that Easter morning now over 2000 years ago. Our promise too will be realized because:

Easter opened up a crack in the universe winding down toward entropy and decay, sealing the promise that someday God will enlarge the miracle of Easter to a cosmic scale.

My waiting of sickness is over. My body has responded, I’m recovering, and thankfully, so is Kelly. Still, in the meantime we wait; we wait for all to be set in order, we wait for our final redemption while we hold out hope to a world increasingly reluctant to respond. But we know, despite what Paul calls our light and momentary troubles, our waiting is not in vain. Our King will come!

Photo by jaqian

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I Get by with a Little Help…

April 1, 2008 in Ministry, Missions by Dave | Permalink

There’s an old song that says “I get by with a little help from my friends…” It’s been a full two weeks since my last post, and I have much to tell about the missions trip that we hosted and the work that we accomplished, but I’ve been sick. Yes, sick like last year. So this latest offering is offered with the help of my friend, my brother to be exact. Here is a highlight from the Chi Alpha missions trip that he mentioned on his blog:

One of the most rewarding parts of the trip was seeing the result of our work last year. At the end of that week, we met a man named Daniel. He was a member of the church in Muna and the tour guide for our visit to the Mayan ruins of Uxmal. During our time together, he mentioned to Dave how much he liked our presentation and that he would love to develop the church’s evangelistic outreach. That conversation opened the door for Dave to begin training church leaders in sharing their faith. Together, Dave and Daniel set up opportunities for us to work alongside trained church members sharing the gospel in 5 different communities. Amazing–and to think it all began on our day off from “missions work!” I thank God for the opportunity to see the impact of our trip first-hand and I can’t wait until next year.

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Spring Newsletter Now Available

March 20, 2008 in Media by Dave | Permalink

Spring 2008 NewsletterOur print newsletter is on the way to press, but you can get the electronic copy here at disciplemexico.org in advance. Just click here or on the photo to get up to date.

Remember, in order to read the newsletter, you’ll need Adobe Acrobat reader, which is available for free.


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Good Friday

March 18, 2008 in Events by Dave | Permalink


Holy Week preaching engagement at Maranatha Church Tixpeual, Yucatán.
Pastor: Natanael Ku Cetina

Wednesday of Rest

March 18, 2008 in Events by Dave | Permalink


Holy Week preaching engagement at Golgotha Christian Center Church Mérida, Yucatán.
Pastor: Orlando Vázquez

Missions Trips: All Leave Changed

March 18, 2008 in Media, Ministry, Missions by Dave | 1 comment

We’ve made it back from our second annual Chi Alpha Spring Break Missions Trip in Yucatán. (You can read about the first one here) We are still in recovery mode following 8 days of hard labor and evangelistic services, but we didn’t want to let time slip away without filling you in on some of the details. This post and its companion video speak of the impact that missions trips can have on its participants.

Cenotes are a common feature of the landscape of the Yucatán. Cenotes are created when the acidic rain region eats away at the limestone bedrock. Eventually, water filled caves are created by this continual erosion. When finally the roof falls in, the cenote is revealed.

Cenotes today are a welcome relief to the Yucatán heat. Their cool water and regulated temperatures serve as a refuge and source of recreation for many, but, years ago, cenotes were a primary water source and a site of religious ritual.

Because of the lack of rivers, streams, and lakes, cenotes were the main source of water for the indigenous Maya that populated the region before the Spanish conquest. Furthermore, cenotes were thought to be the entrance to the Maya watery underworld known as Xibalba (prounounced she-bal-ba. For this reason, in many cenotes can be found pottery, jewelry, and other offerings as well as human remains in such cenotes as the Sacred Well at Chichén Itzá.

Why all this talk about cenotes? Well it just so happens that this natural limestone formation, so important in ancient and modern times has just taken on a new significance in the life of one of our team members, Ashley Wall. A return member of our team, she decided to be baptized in a cenote near the city of Muna, where we did the majority of our work.

This cenote is a rather young one; it was uncovered by a family drilling for a well some years ago. So there was little fear of encountering ritual remains as we entered, but still, the connotation cannot be dismissed. This ancient source of life-giving water gave witness to a declaration of dependence on the Water of Life, Jesus Christ. This shadowy entrance into the underworld was converted into a place of rebirth, and this refuge from the heat became a symbolic bath where sins were washed away.

We hope that you enjoy this installment from our Chi Alpha Missions Trip ’08 and rejoice with us as we congratulate Ashley for taking this step of faith.

Preparations

March 7, 2008 in Ministry, Missions, Prayer by Dave | 1 comment

Evangelism Preparations

We are preparing for a busy week of ministry as we receive my brother, Mike, and his team of 9 students from the Chi Alpha Campus Ministry at American University. Instead of choosing a party spot, this group has decided to invest their Spring Break in ministry, trading a beach towel for a shovel and all night partying for evangelistic rallies.

The group arrives at the Mérida airport tomorrow at 9:00 PM, but that’s not where the story begins. This event has been in the planning stages since November of last year, and it’s scope is larger than anything we’ve attempted before.

Preparations began with two intensive evangelism training courses held in Muna and in Mérida. In these sessions, 4 churches had the opportunity to learn about personally communicating the gospel. We encouraged each student to focus on a list of five individuals that they could evangelize, praying, serving and sharing with each person in the months that preceded the arrival of the Chi Alpha team. The team in turn was preparing to share a gospel message, with the hope to be able to share this message with people who are ready to receive.

At this point, the excitement is brewing with several churches looking to capitalize on the special event that is the ministry of these college students. In Abalá, a village 1/2 hour away from Muna, there are plans to plant a church, in Opichén a town on the route to the Maya ruins of Uxmal, the town square is being reserved for the event. In Muna, the evangelism committee has painted 20 walls with the phrase: “Do you feel dry?” (Te sientes Seco?)The answer will be brought as the team distributes water and an invitation to the night’s service that says “Jesus is the water of life!” In Sacalúm the church has planned a 3 night campaign that the team will open on Wednesday.

Thinking about all of this, I can’t help but smile. Our desire when we arrived in Mexico was to serve as a catalyst within the state of Yucatán–an element that would enable the local church launch out in ministry. As this event begins to take shape, I have the feeling that we are accomplishing that goal though these efforts, providing opportunities for congregations to take their place as Christ’s ambassadors as they announce the kingdom of God in their communities.

Keep us in prayer this week, and keep posted for the good reports as Americans and Mexicans work side by side in ministry.

By the way, for those of you that voted on last week’s post we’ve declared Mike the winner! His prize? Well a trip to Mexico. of course!

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Chi Alpha Missions Team

February 27, 2008 in Events by Dave | Permalink

My brother Mike and 9 members of his Chi Alpha group from American University in Washington, DC will be working in the state of Yucatan in the cities of Muna with Pastor Julian Puc, Opichén with Pastor Leodegario Yah, and Sacalum with Pastor Hasabias Puc to lend a hand in construction as well as to hold evangelistic services.

Semana Santa

February 27, 2008 in Events by Dave | Permalink

Traditional Holy Week celebrated by protestants and catholics in Mexico, and the final week of the Catholic Cuaresma (Lent). This week begins on Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday) and culminates on la Pascua (Resurrection Sunday).

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