Ministry

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Waking up to the Need

September 29, 2006 in Mexico, Ministry by Dave | 2 comments

Where has September gone? Between getting our trip here, getting our house in order and applying for our visas, it seems as though we’ve burned through a whole month! Just now catching our breaths, we’ve found some time to look around a little bit, and we’ve been a bit surprised at what we have seen.

The other day, while I was working on our front lawn two very friendly ladies, one in her fifties, the other a bit younger stopped by. Carrying materials that they offered me, they began with a message about the dangers of too much television watching, a subject that many of us are open to. However, as I probed a bit deeper, I found that they represented the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a cult that claims to be Christian yet denies the divinity of Christ, marking them beyond the fold of what we would call the Orthodox Christian Faith. The surprising thing was that not only were they out but they were out in force, going door to door with at least three groups in our neighborhood.

It also appears that this neighborhood is a neighborhood in search of God. Stopping around the corner to get my car washed, I struck up a conversation with Alberto, the owner. The subject turned to my work, which gave me an opportunity to explain who I was as well as talk a bit about my acceptance of Christ. When the conversation turned to his faith, he answered that he really didn’t know what it was that believed, but he certainly was willing to listen to what I had to say.

Going back to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, you can see the magazine that they left with me earlier in this post. The title is “Despertad,” which is a Spanish command that means: “Wake up!” I think that is what Kelly and I have received, a wake up call to the readiness of those who are searching, evidenced by my conversation with Alberto, and the limited time that we have to reach these searchers as false religions sweep in to snatch up those who are spiritually vulnerable.

Please continue to pray for us as we pray to reach Merida, and pray for those like Alberto, that they might be receptive of our message.

Making a Day of It

September 25, 2006 in Culture, Mexico, Ministry by Dave | 2 comments

This Sunday marked my first opportunity to preach in Mexico. I was able to share at the Centro Familiar Cristiano “Cristo Viene,” which translated reads Christian Family Center, “Christ is Coming.” The church is pastored by Berta Sabido Castillo, a pediatrician/minister. She invited me to speak specifically to the teens of the church during the Sunday morning service. I was able to share about my personal experience of being called by God when I was fifteen. It served as a springboard as well to preach missions.

The message was well recieved and many came forward to pray following the service. Also notable were the new relationships that were formed that will last long after the words of the message have been forgotten. I was invited back to help teach leadership principles to the cell group leaders, and our familiy was invited to spend the afternoon celebrating the 21st birthday of her son Josué, who also is a student in the Bible School.

We enjoyed sharing a meal of pollo asado, chicken cooked in rasins, orange juice and olives, along with lots of tortillas. The kids were excited about drinking Coke, which is the beverage of choice here in Merida (sorry Pepsi fans), and having a part of the cake, “tres leches.” A custom of the Yucatecos is to have the person celebrating to take a Mordita, or little bite of the cake before it is cut. The picture above is what resulted during the bite. It is also a custom to push the person’s face into the cake when taking the bite.

We’ve enjoyed this opportunity share a little bit of the lives of those who are working for the Lord here in Merida, and we’re looking forward to more opportunities to come.

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Opportunity Knocks

September 18, 2006 in Day2Day, Ministry, Progress by Dave | 2 comments

Dividing up duties in my hermeneutics (Bible interpretation) class with Paul, I got a chance to lead the group in making observations about the texts that they had been given for homework.

What they were assigned to do was to determine the component parts of the passage, verbs, pronouns, conjunctions and the like, as well as to find any comparisons, contrasts, and cause and effect sequences that there might be within the text. From there, I began to show them the way that their observations can lead to questions that can guide their study of the passage.

I found it interesting to note that, although these students had taken a class in hermeneutics, before, many of them had never mined a passage in this way. While I find that to a certain degree alarming, I also see the opportunity that we have. We have the opportunity to teach them what it means to be true students of the Bible, disciples of the Word, and it is my prayer that they will be disciples that will make change in Merida and throughout southeastern Mexico.

Back to class

September 8, 2006 in Ministry, Progress by Dave | Permalink

No, not back to language school, but back to the bible institute. We have just begun a new semester in which I will be team teaching, of all subjects, Hermenéutica, (say that five times fast) or Hermeneutics in Spanish. The picture above is of missionary Paul Kazim, teaching the class of 32 students who come from as far as Tabasco in southern Mexico in order to attend classes at Bethel Bible Institute. I’m excited as this will be a great way to expand my vocabulary and train others to interpret correctly the Word of God: one way in which we are beginning to fulfill our mission here in Mérida.

Saying “so long” to Dad and “hello” to the work

September 5, 2006 in Ministry, Progress by Dave | Permalink

We certainly didn’t want you to think that we have fallen off of the end of the earth here in Merida, although you don’t have very far to go to reach the end of Mexico from here. We only have about 20 minutes to reach the Gulf and on a clear night, they say you can see that lights of Havana Cuba from there. The reason for not updating on our progress has been our lack of internet connection.

We have moved from the Kazim’s home to our own rental, which means that on top of saying good-bye to Sandy’s home cooked Mexican food, we also have had to say good-bye to our internet connection. Fortunately, they still let us drop by from time to time to mooch their wireless and sometimes a cup of coffee. On the subject of saying goodbye, we said good-bye to Kelly’s father this morning. He flew out this morning, breaking up the two Daves team, but reuniting with Kelly’s mom and brother, Micah, who have been more than generous in letting us borrow him.

Saying good-bye to family certainly has not left us with lots of time on our hands. We’re getting straight to work, learning to navigate through the city, buying what we need for the house, starting up the children’s home school, and turning attention toward the ministry. I went yesterday to a service that marked the start of the semester for Bethel Bible College here in Merida. This semester I’ll be a part of a hermeneutics class that Paul Kazim is teaching. I’ll also be preparing to team teach as soon as we get our feet on the ground, something that I am looking forward to.

So, continue to lift us up in prayer for our continuing transition, that we will be able to make our house into a home very soon, that the kids can get on a good schedule that will enable them to thrive here in the city, that we will find open doors to our ministry, and that we will boldly proclaim the gospel.

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Giving Back

July 16, 2006 in Language, Ministry, Progress by Dave | Permalink

As language school students for the past year, we’ve had the benefit of taking a lot from the people around us. We’ve received 4 hours a day of lessons, we’ve stopped people along the street, in shopping malls, and in church in order to have conversations, and we’ve received advice and insight into the latin culture, but we’ve not often had the opportunity to give back. That’s why, when we have the opportunity to contribute, we feel that it is blogworthy.

This month Kelly headed up a program at CINCEL to help seniors in high school (colegio in Spanish) prepare for their math exit exams. She did interviews at the colegio in order to asses their areas of need and then was available for the past 4 weeks in order to give them the help that they needed. I also got a chance to contribute to the English program that fellow missionary Ron Marcotte has been offering to the community, I translated from English into Spanish for the beginning students during the teaching sessions and then helped as a conversation partner as each student worked on their alphabet, their numbers and various simple phrases.

I think that the most special opportunity that we had this past month was the birthday that we celebrated with our friend Mayra (pictured with the cake above). She was celebrating her 60th birthday, but with her children in Florida she was looking to spend her day completly alone. Kelly planned a small celebration with several students who knew Mayra, and Mayra was touched deeply.

It’s interesting. We’ve grown up in a consumer culture and have been bombarded with commercials about the things that we need to acquire, but the older I get (32 years and counting), the more I realize that we have been created to give. Nothing creates a better feeling of satisfaction, and nothing more positively reflects the image of Christ that so many others in our society need to see.

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Predique hermano, Predique.

June 21, 2006 in Mexico, Ministry, Progress by Dave | 2 comments

Preach Brother, Preach!

In order to keep a license to preach with the Assemblies of God, a minister needs to preach at least 10 times within a year’s time. Now while that wasn’t a challenge in the states where we preached over 150 times in the course of our itineration, we’ve had a more difficult time fulfilling that requirement here in Costa Rica, especially since we had to learn to preach in Spanish in order to secure a preaching date.

We’ll I’m happy to report that I got back on track in fulfilling my licensing requirements as I preached my first sermon in Spanish today before the professors and students of CINCEL. The sermon was on John 15, the passage in which Jesus talks about abiding in the vine. It is available here, for those of you who would like to read it in Spanish.

It’s hard to describe the significance that this event has for our lives. During our commissioning service, we were given a Spanish Bible with the admonishment to preach the Word in the language of the people to whom we have been called. I remember opening that Bible in the days after and finding it difficult to even understand a few words. Now to be able to not only read, but share the Word of God in Spanish is something of a dream come true. We are amazed at how far God has taken us, and reflecting on His faithfulness has increased our faith in God’s plan to use us to reach the people of Mexico.

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Hands

March 12, 2006 in CostaRica, Ministry, Prayer by Dave | 1 comment

There is a song that says, “It is no secret, what God can do…,” but knowledge and expectations at times can be two totally different things. In the case of the Luis Palau Festival God blew away the expectations!

The students of CINCEL got a chance to be a part of the festival, as I had mentioned in this previous post, presenting a 15 minute “mini-show” to the children on Friday night. The picture above is of what had a chance to witness during the call for those who wanted to ask Christ into their hearts following the show. Dozens of children came to the Lord that night. More than that, the workers were able to collect information from over 4000 children who made a committment to the Lord during the two day event. Like I said, “It is no secret,” but at times it can be surprising what God can do.

Thanks to Renay West for the great photography. The photo album is posted here.

Casualties

March 11, 2006 in Day2Day, Ministry by Dave | 2 comments

Irony of ironies! I had just read Amy Maxwell’s sad post on the loss of her Palm when I left for our Luis Palau drama team practice, as always with my Pocket PC in the left pocket of my cargo pants. In the drama, we needed to simulate a car crash. Of course, when there is a car crash, usually the occupants (especially if they are not wearing their seatbelts) don’t stay in a proper seated position. In this case, as we were standing, we needed to fall towards the audience, which was to my left. I performed a classic fall, rounding my body to absorb the impact in non-critical places. It was one for the movies. However, my Pocket PC just happened to be in one of those “non-critical” areas. I felt the impact when I fell, but since I had the PC in it’s case, I thought nothing of it, but when I powered it on again, “Alas! No screen, only lines!”

Fevershly, I pulled the PC out of the case, reseting the system thinking that I might just be a glitch. No luck. Perhaps a wire that needs reseated, I thought. But after two hours of talking with tech support, pulling out and reseating wires, I found that my efforts were of no avail. My electronic friend, my Bible, my itineration manager, my newspaper, and my Spanish translator were gone in the fraction of a second.

Fortunately for me, my wife, Kelly, who just so happens to be the most wonderful person in my life has let me use hers in the time being. Thank you honey! Of course, it was also a comfort to know that it died in the line of duty.

So long faithful worker. You will be missed!

Ministry starts here

March 8, 2006 in CostaRica, Ministry, Prayer by Dave | 1 comment

Now that we have about 6 months of Spanish under our belts, we feel fairly confident to travel in San José and to go about our daily activities. Still, expressing thoughts, wishes, and feelings can be a stretch for our minds and our mouths. So sharing about our relationship with Christ in Spanish has been a challenge to say the least. Still, we are aware that ministry is not just what is waiting for us in Mexico. Ministry starts here in language school as well.

That is why when the students from CINCEL had been given the opportunity to participate in the Luis Palau festival we felt lead to join the team. This weekend’s festival which features Luis Palau, considered to be the Latin Billy Graham, is expected to draw upwards of 100,000. We have been working on a 15 minute “mini-show” to present during the children’s portion of the program. During this show we will be presenting a clear message of the gospel in Spanish to which the children watching the program will be given an opportunity to respond.

Please pray for the following:

  • That all of the logistics of the campaign will move smoothly.
    That God will prepare the hearts of those who will attend the festival to hear the message of the cross of Jesus.
  • That God would work through our “mini-show” as well as the other events in order to motivate children and adults to have a relationship with Him.
  • That God would help Luis Palau to communicate clearly the message of reconciliation with God through His Son Jesus Christ.
  • That the cooperation among the evangelical churches that this festival has provoked will continue.

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