The Barnabas Foundation...

I just got back from doing the devotion with the Civil Defense group.  It has been a challenging joy to get to know the director and their operations.  The medical clinics with the nurses and the conferences we did with the folks from Big Pine were so effective in opening doors and planting seeds. The devotional time each Sunday has been good, and certainly has given us a consistent presence with the leadership and volunteers.  They need to see us on a consistent basis and not just every once in a while in order for any trust to develop.  As I went today, I felt a stirring in my heart that it is time to try to move our involvement to a new level.  I am not sure what that is exactly but it just so happened that I had a few minutes to talk to Francisco, the director, and shared my desire to see and talk to the folks in a more participatory manner; right now I pray and share the devotion but there is no opportunity for any dialogue.  He was receptive and suggested maybe doing a conference once a month for an hour or so. That would give me a chance to invite some of our pastors and Baptist lay leaders to work with me which would be great.  Our goal is always to evanglize and disciple, forming leaders and churches. This group represents people from all over the province of Santiago so we have an open door to potential reach thousands of communities. Please continue to pray with me about future steps, and ask God to show us what to do.

I saw this quote today and couldn't hep but smile at its truth!  (It may not be the most important thing, but life is a lot easier and more fun when this is put into practice!)

The most important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self seriously. The first is imperative, and the second disastrous.
- Margot Fonteyn

I don't understand it but the US doctors that evaluated Mecho today say that her arterial veins are too "fine" *I think they mean thin or weak) to withstand open heart surgery. She has been dismissed from the program and is at home again. Obviously we are all disappointed with the news and wonder what this means for her life expectancy. I am hopeful that we can talk to some of her cardiologists soon and find out what other treatment she can have to help alleviate the blockage or at least keep her from deteriorating any further. Pray for her and her family this weekend as the news sinks in, and pray for us this coming week as we seek out other alternatives.

I appreciate all your prayers and help and I know Mecho and her family do as well. One thing I know: she has had all the medical care she has needed, all her medicine, she has taken good care of herself these past months and she has had an overwhelming amount of prayer on her behalf, so we can rest easy in God's will. 

It has been a long time! We had a great week in La Romana- I heard it was rainy in Santiago but we had mostly sunny days with just a little bit of rain. It was a restful time.  My folks have left and now I am trying to get back to work! (Little breaks are important, especially to spend time with family!) 

Mecho is at the hosptial- the doctors are here and will be evaluating the 24 on the list for open heart surgery. Please join us in asking the Lord to include her among the 10 people who will be operated on this time around. We are not sure how long she would have to wait for the next turn. 

Victor is hard at work today in La Vega with an event with the youth- he has more than 200 from Santiago participating in a sports tournement as part of his work in the prevention of drugs. Continue to lift him up in your prayers as he works among many community leaders and groups in this endeavor.

Felix is excited and feels his wood working business is about to take off. Let's continue to remember him as well as he seeks to honor the Lord in his family and work life.

We have a group of 6 men in Puerta Plata participating in the national Baptist Men's prayer retreat.  Please pray it will be a time of renewal and commitment for those there.

Villa de Yaque continues to report over 20 every night for prayer. Hector was very enthused and excited- pray for them as they seek to be light and salt in their neighborhood. We know that the Harvest depends on the Holy Spirit and not our efforts.

Tomorrow will be a fun day as we worship together and catch up on all that is happening. Our Wednesday night Bible studies are going well and it is a great source of joy for me to hear the reports on Sunday.  Also, all three churches now have Sunday School on a regular basis; each Sunday we have more than 90 children in attendance. I am thrilled that they are ministering on their own in this way, we can tell a difference in our children and how our church is received in the community through this ministry. 

Today has been a great day- we had a little graduation ceremony in Villa de Yaque celebrating the children finishing their first quarter of SS.  Then our worship time together was very inspiring; I am discovering more and more how special it is to be a part of that little group of believers.  Later that day I had the same wonderful experience being with my family of faith in The Hole.  My parents and my sister are here visiting and it was fun for my friends to be with my family.  We all seemed to really enjoy that experience and bonding. 

Good news: Felix shared today that his woodworking business is about to overcome the setback we have been dealing with; he was very energized and excited with what he believes to be a major turning point. He attributes this breakthrough to his/our praying so let's keep praying for him! 

Attendance in all three of our churches is rising and they are beginning to take more and more initiative to develop their ministries.  I can't tell you how that encourages me! We are teaching more than 80 children in SS on a weekly basis and at least for the past two weeks we have had over 70+ in adult bible study in the three churches, plus the 75+ in our mission bible studies. 

I will be gone Monday morning through Wednesday afternoon enjoying some time with my family at the beach. I am not a big beach fan but it will be fun to experience a new place and spend time together. I doubt I will update my blog during that time but you just never know! 

I pray for each one of you and thank you for your prayers which are such a vital part of what we are experiencing here.  Your friendship and emails of encouragement mean the world to me!

Our Friday session at Hogar Crea went very well. We seem to have very lively discussions.  There is a 7th Day Adventist influence among some of the members so our first "debate" was over whether a Christian can eat pork. I was so impressed that Victor had researched a number of Bible passages to address this.  Basically, most of us took the verses to mean we could eat pork, or not, as God directed one's conscience.  Well, the Adventist challenged some of our interpretation and as we progressed with all the Scriptures, he said he was more convinced than ever that we shouldn't eat pork, but he thanked us with a big smile for being willing to discuss and share about these issues based on Scripture and in a respectful manner. It was fun. Then we moved into a discussion about whether Muslims will be saved/ boy, what a tough topic! Apparently someone at HC has friends who are Muslims and they are good people so he wanted to know why they wouldn't be accepted. We reexamined the Scriptures we had just studied to help him find his answer and then talked about how we need to pray and love those who don't know Christ in a saving way.  Let me tell, that Bible study group is a challenge but it is fun!

Today we had a going away get together for fellow missionaries who are taking different assignments in our region.  It is always sad to see people leave!  I am learning we really have to focus on how big God's Kingdom is and be open to all the changes that occur.  While I was gone to Santo Domingo, the association of churches in Santiago were meeting. Victor and I went together at 10am and then he stayed to represent the Timothy Project. I am excited to see this group getting back together and getting organized. Working together is more fun and more productive. We had prepared a newsletter about our ministries and invited other churches to join us in some of our projects- Victor says many were interested so I hope to talk to some pastors soon and follow-up on that. In particular, I hope some of our worship teams and pastors will come to Hogar Crea to lead our group there at least once a month. It would be a blessing to all of us!  Please continue to pray for us, and for all of our Baptist work here in Santiago and around the Island.

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.

Yesterday was a much needed day of a completely clear calendar (except for the plumbers!). I have discovered that every two months or so, especially when I have a lot of big events close together, I need a day to just crash.  Yesterday was that day!  Thankfully, I feel much restored this morning.

The Quest team is in Rio San Juan and I assume all is going well. Their final two days here were excellent- Saturday we had our SS kick-off in the Hole; Victor reported nearly 30 in SS on Sunday so obviously our kick-off was sucessful.  The door to door and worship in Navarette also was very productive. I met a woman through the Quest team that seems to be a "person of peace," someone God has prepared to open the doors to not only this section of Navarette but also another community called 7. Pray for her and for us as well as we seek to develop this contact further.

Today at 3:30pm Victor and I will be back at Hogar Crea, the drug rehab, to start the guys in a study of the Gospel of John. Pray with us that the enthusiam of last week's worship will carry over into diligent study of God's Word.

I was deeply saddened yesterday and today, watching the events at Virginia Tech unfold- Virginia is a second home to me after living in Fincastle for 9 years.  The tragic experiences of yesterday touch even the Timothy Project here in the DR because a number of our mission volunteers are students at VT.  As of now, we have not heard that any of "our" folks were injured, but we pray for all those families who did lose their loved ones, as well as for those who lived through the horror and are dealing with the aftermath.

 

Yesterday afternoon we went to visit the folks at Hogar Crea, a drug rehab center. Victor is there often trying to help young men get free of their addictions.  We have tried over the years to make a presence and be supportive, knowing how difficult kicking the habit is and knowing how destructive it is for the addict and his family to continue. 

We had a huge turnout- the chapel was full and the Quest team led an awesome worship/share time. The testimonies were honest and real and the follow up message was right on target too.  When we finished, Victor and I shared about the need to tap into God's power to rid themselves of addiction and offered to come and lead them in Bible study- all 70 eagerly said yes! We are committed to going back Monday afternoon to get them started and then on Friday go back again to lead our first session! Pray for these eager men to find the Truth that will really set them free for life!

From there we headed over to Los Santos and made some quick visits around the community and then had a wonderful worship/share service. I was amazed at our turnout of young people- the church was full of adults and teenagers! (We made the littler kids stay outside where they watched and listened through the fence!)  Again, the testimonies and message were just awesome and right on target. I believe the work of LBC last week got us to this point this week- pray now that their interest and desire to follow God will continue on without special guests!

Today we are doing a special VBS activity in the Hole to register children and youth for SS which will start Sunday afternoon. Then in the afternoon we are going to Navarette to have another encounter with the youth out there. Pray it will be as fruitful as our experiences yesterday.

Thanks for your prayers! Instead of the rain that has persisted all the days we have NOT had volunteers, we have had a strong sun and lots of heat! It is like a sauna!

The Quest folks arrived well, ate well and then after getting settled in the Institute, headed off to Guayacanal. We did some prayerwalking/evangelism before the service and then we had a very good group for the service. I was really pleased to see numerous teens and adults, along with our children.  We hope to get our little shelter finished next week.  Just the floor and the back room remains to be done.

This morning we had to juggle our plans a bit but we had a terrific morning in the Hole, sharing in the school and then visiting on the far side of the Hole. We had a great encounter with a group of our church members as well as a group of young men and really were able to share about what a true church is and invite them to participate. I pray they will!

We snuck a quick peek at the Stadium, home of the Eagles, who are champs in the DR as well as the Carribbean. After a lunch break, we will head out to Hogar Crea, a drug rehab facility and then to Los Santos to share with the young people there. Thanks for your continued prayers!