Mission to the Americas

Serving Ministries and Missions in Latin America

Where can Bible Institutes Go?

by Leave a Comment

I live in two worlds:

  • Latin American
  • North American.

I travel back and forth frequently, and am often amazed to the point of incredulity with some of the questions my North American friends ask me.

  • “Do you have indoor plumbing?”
  • “I didn’t know there were skyscrapers there . . “
  • “Do you eat chicken?”

For those that perhaps have never traveled internationally, or don’t even know what a missionary does, the common perception is that we live in a thatch hut in the jungle with nearby indigenous peoples who don’t wear clothes.

Sunday School in darien

I have to show people photos of my city to show them that I live in a city like Miami, and yes I have indoor plumbing.

panama pictures 065

I have taught in churches that do not have such plumbing.  One doesn’t need to go to far outside the city to encounter indigenous tribes and the general need for indoor plumbing.  My trip to the Darien province assured me of this.

Here is the church bathroom:

Church Bathroom

But sometimes, I’m caught with asking questions that stretch my worldview and my experience.

Can they read?

We wanted to take a Bible Institute course to a remote corner of this country, accessible only by plane.

No cell phone coverage.

In fact, no electricity.

In planning the development of the Bible Institute, we had to ask the question of literacy, and knowledge of written and spoken Spanish.

For those who work frontier missions, this may be a standard operating question.

But this one was a new one for me. Yet it is one that needed to be ask.

At the moment, we’ve put this development on hold.  We are still in the interest gathering stage.  We don’t know if it will materialize, but we’ll keep it in the hopper as the Lord permits.

An Offering of Lemons

by 2 Comments

Through God’s sovereign working, we’ve received an invitation to do a workshop here in November in a church out in a very poor suburb of Panama City.

According to the pastor, this suburb has over 63,000 residents, only 3% of which are professing Christians.  I’m told there are approximately 45 churches trying to serve this residential area, with most memberships under 100 people.  This suggests an large unreached population.

Photo-0007The church itself is on a main road.  It is a one room structure with a metal roof, and thus it gets very hot inside when the sun is out, or very impossible to hear when it rains.

The walls are made of whatever material can be found.  Picture is the block wall.  The back wall is unfinished wood planks, or 1/4 plywood on some battens.  Other times it’s tin.

Photo-0006

We attend a prayer meeting on a Saturday morning in this structure to help plan the event in November.

Instead of a Sunday morning time, when the sun would overheat the building, the workshop will be on a Thursday evening after working hours.  This will present a logistical challenge for our team to get there on a school night, in the dark, and without a car.

Pastor leads up a pastors association and his dream is to have several churches squeezed into this little one room church for an evangelism workshop.

Photo-0005

Yes, that is a stake holding a piece of plywood in place.

We had rented a car for the weekend to make sure we were able to get out there.  Even with a car, it was still about 45 minutes from where we live.  I can’t imagine the bus trip during rush hour traffic.

The community needs are so great (one block away is a intersection that at least 3 gangs fight for control over – it’s the border between them all).  Crime is a concern being the “gringo” in a poor neighborhood after dark.

The lack of resources is clearly visible in the structure of the church, as well as a little thank you gift we received: a bag of lemons from the tree in the back yard.

Pray for this little church, the workshop, and the logistics of how we will get there.

Did I really do that?

by Leave a Comment

Paso Canoas trip oct 09 008This past weekend I went to Paso Canoas, where I first went last month and wondered, was it worth it?

Once again, the 6 hour red-eye bus ride, a brief stay for rest at a friends house, followed, by the 90 minute bus-ride to the border town.

Pictured to the above is the actual border crossing.

We took a small bus to get up there.  I took some video of the jam-packed overcrowded bus on the way home, but the lighting was off and it didn’t work.

Paso Canoas trip oct 09 018A small group had gathered in a very small, blue painted room, one of the few tiled areas in this structure.  They were patient with my Spanish as we talked about church planting and a biblical theology of missions.

Did I really do that?

This time, my host was the director of the school I am teaching, and he shared with me several testimonies of how our evangelism training is being used.

This group is working particularly with Muslims who are seeking Christ.  I am not an expert in this kind of evangelism, yet they are taking the principles of our teaching and applying it in their context.

Another group is applying the teaching on evangelism to how they are wanting to reach indigenous tribes accessible only by boat.

Yet another group is applying the principles to reach out to others in their neighborhood and I heard reports of new believers because of those outreaches.

I’m not an expert in any of these fields in particular, but it demonstrates how people take the training we provide and run with it in their given context.

That leaves me in awe of how God is taking this work further than we could ask or imagine.

The troubles of travel

The bus home was overcrowded and very uncomfortable 90 minute ride back from the border to the terminal.

The second bus was not entirely clean, had broken seats, and the suspension system so overworked that the 6.5 hour trip home felt like we were driving on a gravel road.

My body couldn’t relax, as it was constant jolted from the bus’s reaction to the ruts in the road, or thrown from side to side as it rounded curves.  The air conditioner was so high, that with even a sweater and a hat on, I was cold.  Sleep unfortunately was not an option.

14 hours of bus travel round trip for a 3 hour class.

Is it worth it?

The answer is still yes.

That’ll become clear when a house church gets launched among new converts out there.

Action Steps from Live 2009

by Leave a Comment

Herminino

I got this email this morning from the elder pictured:

bendiciones hermano,

estamos bien, estamos practicando algo de sus enzeñanzas aca en la iglesia y el pastor esta muy feliz.

formamos el equipo de interseccion y iniciamos el domingo con cuatro hermanos.

Translated into English, this says

Blessings brother,

We are well, we are practicing something of your teachings there in our church and our pastor is very happy [about it]

We are forming a team of intercessors and are beginning this Sunday with 4 brothers.

I spoke on developing a team for your apostolic work — that of planting churches.  Yet some of the principles are just as valid for ongoing church work — particularly having a team of personal intercessors for the pastor.

I spoke of the value of our intercessors, and the value of a team praying for us personally and this elder took it to heart and back to his church.  I’m hoping to preach in this church next time I am in his village — a date potentially scheduled in October of 2009.

Recent Comments

Archives