Praise God! Thank you for Praying

We just got word that our marriage certificate arrived from Venezuela (see blog entry: Urgent Prayer Request). Tomorrow we go to the U.S. embassy to begin the paperwork to obtain baby Jasmine's U.S. birth certificate and her passport. We've been told that this will only take 10 working days. If all goes well she will be ready to travel back to the states with mommy (Karen) in the beginning of April.

Thank you for praying. Thank you to our Venezuelan counterparts who rushed to get this back to us. Thanks be to God as He takes care of all things.

Let's Dialogue...

...about the New Paradigm of Missions

We live in a new era of missions. I just heard, through my sister, about a retired Alliance missionary who, while serving in Mali, did not get the news of her mother's death until two weeks after she passed. I on the other hand, spoke to my mother this morning through video-Skype so that she could get her daily dose of her new granddaughter.

William Carey went to India with his wife and children. They lost three of their children and Dorothy, his wife, progressively lost her sanity and could not cope with the strain of living at a subsistence level in India. However, Karen and I have recently added to our family and mentally Karen remains out in front of me.

Speaking of Carey, when he first began communicating his passion for missions he spoke out at a meeting of fellow Christian leaders, only to be responded to by an elder pastor in this manner:

"Young man, sit down! When God pleases to convert the heathen, he'll do it without consulting you or me."

That's quite a bit different from the manner in which we were sent out as missionaries from our assembly at the national council of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.


Currently, I believe the evangelical church is redefining their definition and strategy for missions. And I believe this trend needs to fully mature, because our pioneering predecessors were successful in obtaining their goals. Wilbert R. Shenk of the School of World Mission of Fuller Theological Seminary writes about this in his book Changing Frontiers of Mission. He states, more or less, that the modern missionary movement is winding down and a new age is in the process of emerging. My belief is that today we need visionaries similar to Carey that will stand up and say what needs to be proposed even if that means they will incur the judgment of those who hold to another paradigm. I'm going to begin praying, dreaming, and thinking about this in the upcoming days. Check back with me and see if what I have to say evokes any thoughts from you.

Let's dialogue.

Church Growth

I believe that when we prepare the church for growth by doing what needs to be done in order to facilitate growth, God will send the people He is reaching to the church. He will send them to the church because it will be a place where they will be cared for appropriately. If the church is not healthy and heading towards the cure, why would God entrust that church with those He desires to transform?

Currently in Asunción we are restructuring the ministries within the church: Our mission, values and vision are being defined and articulated, Sunday School is being revamped, Cell group ministry is being added, spiritual gift discovery is being implemented, worship is improving through concentrated focus, we had our first kindness-outreach event (and an evangelism seminar is in the works) and a result of this is that people are growing in their individual walks with the Lord. Today was the second week we had 50+ attend the service (today we had 70). This is a great praise as the church has experienced several years of decline (we've been at 30 or less for many months).

What is different? We haven't had huge campaigns... we haven't canvassed the neighborhood... our Sunday School is being revamped but the new structure has not been implemented... we are adding Cell group ministry to the church but as of yet only the leaders are involved in a model and in training... we still have a couple more weeks studying spiritual gifts before we can place people in their ministry of effectiveness... the kindness outreach was a success, but we've only done it once. What is different? I believe we are doing what God is asking of us. And because of the church's obedience we are experiencing growth. Everyone involved in the above implementations are eager to serve and grow. There is a verse that our pastor in the states often quotes that I believe explains what I'm trying to say:

"Because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His" 2nd Chronicles 16:8-9.

I believe this is why we are experiencing the growth we are now seeing. It's not because we are mighty or worthy, but it's because He is mighty and worthy. We understand this corporately and are now submitting ourselves to His plan for us. He is literally delivering the new people into our church.


Please continue to pray for us that we would remain dependant upon Him and not succumb to any of the attacks the enemy throws at us.