Forgiveness

In today's devotional from Neil Anderson, he talks about forgiveness and says this...
"Forgiveness is agreeing to live with the consequences of another person's sin. " WOW! Christ agreed to do this, are we willing to do it to forgive others?

Abundant LIFE

We had a good meeting last night at our Student Home Group. I asked one of our students to give the Bible study and he chose to speak about how we should respect our leaders. He did a VERY good job. It was organized, it thought-provoking, and it was complete. Please continue to pray for Julio as he grows in his gifting and continues to walk forward in the Lord.

Field Day

Thursday was a Feild Day for Rebecka's Kindergarden class. There were a number of events; footrace, bicycle race, soccer, shot put, etc. Rebecka participated in the first heat of the footrace which was the first event of the day. She didn't really know what was going on, in fact, when the called out "go" (spanish--"fuera"), the other three girls took off. Once she saw them running, she started to run. In spite of that, she made a photo-finish for third. I was proud of her because she did her best! I was really dissapointed that I kept pushing the button on the camera as they were running and NO pictures came out! I did get one while they were waiting to start though...

"Just Thinking"

Just Thinking is a radio broadcast by Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and it has been a real blessing to me. I encourage you to check out the archives of messages. They are less than 13 minutes long and have lots of meat.
Blessings!

Prayer the Brings Revival by David Yonggi Cho

Our friend Hazel Doan-Reeh loaned this book to me. It has been one of the most, if not the most, inspiring books I’ve ever read (apart from the Bible). Ever since I was in High School I’ve had a desire for a life of prayer. I was able to experience a hint of that in college and I got to see God move in ways I had not seen before. In the past few years, I have had a prayer-life, but I have not been motivated to live a life of prayer. My deepest desire is to have communion with my Lord. I want a life of prayer, not just a prayer-life.

Pastor Cho has set such a good example of how one can have deep communion with God. Throughout the book, he uses scriptural truths to make important points and shares experiences of his life and others to show that when we take the Bible seriously, we will have results in our prayers. I do not know what else to say as for a review of this book except that I highly recommend it. It will not take long to read, I don’t care for reading much and I finished it in a time span of less than a day. It is full of meat and it definitely will motivate you to pray. My prayer is to have a deeper desire, strength, and discipline to pray more.

Ministry Resource

One of the things that I've really been noticing that is effective in our youth ministry is having discussions--we talk about a story or truth of the Bible and have some question and answer time. One of the things that I've noticed that really catches the youth's attention is video. Last year when I was talking about being responsable with our finances, I used a clip from "A Bug's Life" to make my second point of "saving money for times of need." I think they got it. I was directed to the website, The Source for Youth Ministry. I have found it to be very helpful, they have movie clip ideas and whole discussions about them. There's also sections on games, activities, events, etc. Maybe this can help you also if you're working with young people.

Dinner with the Staff

Tom Hackett, the director and founder of Alternative Missions, came to have dinner with our staff last night and I am very encouraged. Ever since I first met Tom in 1988 on a Short-Term Missions trip as a youth with my home church, I have always loved to hear him share his heart. When I first met him, I said to myself, “I want to work with him.” I first came down to Mexico as a “full-time” missionary in January of 1996 to serve here in Cofradía. Now, almost 20 years after meeting him for the first time, his enthusiasm and heart for missions and reaching the world impacts me even more today.

As he was sharing his heart, I was thinking of a chapter in a book I was reading in the morning. The book is called “Worship: Rediscovering the Missing Jewel” by Ronald Allen and Gordon Borror. Chapter 2 is called, “Art and Heart in Worship.” It talks about how we are to combine Art and Heart in our worship to God. As we respond to God, which is what Worship is, we all have different talents, gifts, interests, and ways of life. All of those things would be our “Art.” But if we do those things without a Heart for God, that’s all it is…Art. On the other hand, some have discouraged others saying that being “artistic” is not “Christian” because it’s “weird” or we could get wrapped up in our art, losing sight and time of “serving” God. Here is a quote from the book,

“While it is not our purpose to judge heart motive, we can but wonder why one could not dedicate his art to the glory of God as an expression of worship. This is a fulfilling of the godly attribute of creativity. Art form need not dominate heart condition; it simply must come under the control of the Holy Spirit and support the heart in the praise of God.” (pp.22-23)

So, the point is to combine Art and Heart in Worship. Art without Heart is just Art. Heart without Art is doing away with the creativity God has placed in each one of us. Years ago, I used to think that art was drawing, painting, sculpting, etc. But it’s not just that, it’s the creativity that God has given each individual whether it be in any of those or music, song, dance, technology, service to others, helping the little old lady cross the street, etc.

Since Worship is not just a service we go to on Sundays but a way of life; how, then, can we reach our world in our Worship to God? Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (NIV). God is in control, not us. We live our life for Him the way He has made us and gifted us and He will be glorified. In John 15 Jesus says, “I am the vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he trims clean so that it will be even more fruitful” (NIV). So, since Jesus, we are in a Vine Age. And this is what Tom was talking about last night at dinner.

Vine Age-or the Alternative Church- is a ministry of Alternative Missions that Tom and some others have started through a Think Tank called the Innovative Missions Group in order to reach the world through the internet. We live in a day that the internet is crucial (unless you live in a place like Cofradía) for many people. It’s the means of communication; emails, text messaging, etc. This is creative, this is using “Art” to worship God and reach the world. This has been Alternative Missions’ motto since it was founded; “Creative Ways to Reach the World.”

There are many things that VineAge/the Alternative Church has to offer you if you are a Christian, have a heart for God, a desire to reach the world for Him, and internet access. There is a lot more to this than what I have explained, you can go to the site for more information and I have added a link at the right. Let’s work together in our creativity to glorify God and reach the world for Jesus! What is your “Art”?

Emma Rose-One Year Old

Today was Emma's Birthday. Gena made a great cake and Emma was able to stick her hands in it; she still doesn't have down the traditional face-in-cake bite they have here in Mexico, so Rebecka demonstrated for her as she nibbled the side of the cake. Emma is taking steps now and has her two bottom teeth coming in. The top ones are barely breaking the surface. She hasn't said much that we can really understand yet, but she sure is trying.

If you look real close, you'll be able to see her bottom teeth.

Emma and her birthday cake (consider the heat and humidity, we had to take the picture before the frosting melted).

Rebecka's demonstration.

Abundant Life Meeting

Last night was our weekly youth meeting in our house. I decided to put on the movie The Passion of the Christ and have some discussion time afterward. The discussion time was goood; I would have liked to hear from more students, sometimes it's really hard to get them to share. After the discussion time we had communion and sang a song. Please pray for these students to have PASSION to serve Christ. This is something that has been on my heart the past few weeks and it troubles me. On the other hand, there are a few students who "get it" and that is very encouraging. Thank you for your prayers.

Just To Let You Know

We're still here. I find it hard to write about things sometimes when things are pretty much the same and don't change. We're all doing well, we have another team here from Washington and they're working in the morning at the church and in the afternoons they have a VBS with the children. The weather is starting to get warm...the sun seems to be getting hotter and hotter each day. Blessings to everyone who reads this. We love you!