Progress

This Sunday evening, I had a chance to preach at Golgotha Assembly of God here in Merida. The church is only about 5 minutes away from our home, and is one of the few evangelical churches that is located near the growing northern section of the city. We have attended services at the church on other occasions, but this evening was special. This was the evening that the church welcomed us as one of their own.

In our work as missionaries, relationships are the key to effectiveness. Without an open door, we have no work. So we have been praying for pastors with whom we could share our vision, pastors with whom we could partner and assist in discipling their people and equipping them to reach out to the lost all around them. Also, we have been praying for a church that we could call home. As foreigners, it is difficult to “fit in” in all circumstances. We have the fairest skin, speak the poorest Spanish, and probably drive the nicest car (thanks STL). We need people who can accept these realities, and yet be open to accept us into their circle of intimacy, take an interest in our well being, and that of our kids. This Sunday we decided that Golgota was that place.

Not only was the church conveniently located to us and strategically located to reach out into an unreached area, but we found at Golgota an attitude that drew us in. The pastor, Orlando Vazquez (pictured at the pulpit) a minister for over 50 years, has shown an openness to new ideas and a vision for reaching the world that I have seen in few congregations. In the 4 services that I had attended prior to last night, Mexican world missionaries were preaching in 2 of them, sharing their work and giving opportunity for the people to join with them in prayer and giving. For a church of about 60 members in Mexico, that was an amazing sight.

So we have a new church home away from home. Now that is not to say that we have been assigned to work with only one church, but in working and relating with the members of Golgotha Assembly, we now have another open door both to minister and to be ministered to here in Mérida.

This Monday started the new bimester at Bethel Bible Institute and with it began a whole new slate of classes. The new schedule finds me teaching Dynamic Evangelism to a class of seven first-year students (from front to back: Diana, Alejandro, Karin, Alicia, Lázaro, Bernardino, and Adrián.) This marks a sort of coming of age for me as a missionary. This is my first class that I am teaching on my own, completely in Spanish, but to me, much more is riding on these next set of weeks than solely an opportunity to “cut my teeth” teaching. What I desire is that these students not only understand me, but also learn.

The course, Dynamic Evangelism, is a subject that strikes fear, guilt, or both in the heart of many Christians in the U.S. and, I’ve come to find out here as well. Three of the seven students told me that they hope to be able to learn, through this class, how to get overcome fear that they have in talking to others about Christ. What I hope to do is to assist these students to begin making evangelism part of their lifestyle so that it becomes, not a dreaded task that they have to do, but a natural outgrowth of their Christian lifestyle.

I was reading another Guy Muse’s M Blog yesterday, and it seems as though he has the same idea. His post: What is the most effective way to evangelize is about finding God’s method to “continuously evangelize,” and he and his group is waiting for God to answer the question.

So we begin this prayerful foray into the experimental task of reaching people: How do we open minds and hearts to the Gospel? How to we pull away all that is culturally and traditionally bound to what we call Christianity in order to present the message of Christ to a culture that has deemed our message obsolete? How to we remain faithful to the biblical message and yet relevant to the society in which we live?

Stay with us as we embark together on this adventure with God. Follow along with our experiences, which I hope to post frequently, and above all pray for God’s direction and intervention in our class and in the work that takes place because of it.

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.

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.