Mid week Report
Our meeting with the folks at Hogar Crea (residential drug rehab center) went extremely well. We had over 60 men come! Our plan was just to distribute the booklets of John's Gospel with the 5 lessons, explaining how to do it, and then leave. Our first "study" will be this Friday at 3:30pm. Well, they had a different agenda. They came and seem very eager to study and know more about God and His word, but they weren't going to let us go so quickly- they had a variety of questions for us about baptism, about other denominations, etc. I had begun by sharing that the wonderful worship experience we had last week with the Quest team isn't something we can do all the time. Our worship is so important and vital, but so is knowing and obeying God's Word and our focus would be divided between the two: worship and character formation through study and obedience. Without really having planned to, I gave a brief overview of the chief differences between us as Baptists and some other denominations they have worked with. Chiefly, our focus on salvation by grace alone and once saved always saved, is quiet distinct here in the DR. That led to quite a discussion about some of the "rules" other churches impose. It was an interesting discussion to say the least. It is refreshing to be among a group of people so eager to learn and discuss! Please pray for us as we get to know these men better and pray for them to find their rightful place as sons of God, finding the strength in Christ to stay drug free and becoming men who will impact the lives of others with their testimonies of God's work in their lives.
Our Villa de Yaque church had me in tears last week, wondering if they were going to make it. We challenged ourselves to spend 40 days in prayer, Sunday-Friday. Each night the number of people gathering in different homes has grown. Monday night they had 12 adults. I am looking forward to being with them tonight for our prayer time. Will you say a prayer for them and for their community tonight at 8pm? Pray that God would bring them to have clean hearts and hands before Him, committed to obey in all things, and that the Light would overcome the darkness in this community.
