The Barnabas Foundation...

So far so good... My mom came through the surgery with flying colors.  The doctor said her colon was extremely irritated and inflamed, and he estimated she must have had over 30 attacks of diverticulitis. So the surgery will be well worth it  (He said she would have never gotten better without the surgery so she made the right choice.)  She says her tummy hurts but that is to be expected. She should go home next Tuesday or Wednesday if all goes well.  Thanks to everyone for their prayers.

Have a safe and enjoyable Labor Day weekend...

What a day! I know I am biased, but I must say Fenway definately beats Yankee Stadium.  It was quite an experience heading into the Bronx decked out in red! It is fun being a part of one of the greates rivalries in all of sports. Thankfully, we were not alone- the Red Sox nation travels!  Obviously, the series was a bust- we got swept- it was terrible. There are two things that struck me...

1) How passionate and intense people are about sports. The t-shirts expressing what Yankee fans think of Boston and the Red Sox were incredible. (And vice-versa).  It is amazing how much money was spent today just to watch a game. Over 55,000 poeple, many traveling from Massachusetts (@$3+/gallon!), all the food, all the merchandise- it was hilarious to see grown men and women dressed in their favorite players team shirt...)  I enjoy the game and the rivalry as much as anyone, but the whole scene today made me pause and consider how misplaced our values can become.  How I wish we could be as passionate about justice and righteousness, and as willing to make sacrifices for those causes as we are about sports.

2) In the 6th inning, things were getting a bit testy in the stands. I don't think the Yankee folks appreciated the Red Sox nation shouting, "Let's go, Red Sox" in their stadium.  A few fans were ejected, etc. Then there was a controversial call on the field, with Terry Francona eventually being tosses. So here we are, shouting back and forth our dislike for one another, then comes the middle of the 7th inning, we all stand up and sing "God Bless America" together, and then we sit back down and begin once again with the NY/Boston hate talk. It was just amazing- we can disagree so passionately about which team/city is the best, and then forget all of that and sing about our common bond/love for our country. It was a striking moment- I loved it! 

Like I said, the results of the game/series stunk. But it was a cool experience- lots of fun. 

Tomorrow morning my mom will go in for surgery at 6am. Hopefully by 10:30am, she will be in recovery. Thanks for keeping her in your prayers.

Just a reminder: my mom will be operated on tomorrow. We won't know the time until a little later this morning. I will try to update later with the time. She is doing very well- her workouts at the gym have helped her regain some of the strength she lost this summer during her various hospitalizations.  We have been on the go constantly since I got home last week which has been good- keeping her mind off the surgery. But now the big day is almost here. And unfortunately, she will be alone most of today (remember I am on my way to NYC to see the Yankees vs. Red Sox :). 

So, please keep my mom and dad in your prayers today and tomorrow as they get ready for the surgery. My brother and I will meet them at the hospital tomorrow.

Also, my nephew David is on his way this morning to Ft. Benning, GA to report for duty. We are proud of him- he was commissioned as a 2nd LT. this summer.  Please join us in praying for safe travel. 

From DR1.com 

Dominicans really not happy
According to a Gallup-Hoy poll, 57% of Dominicans would leave the country to live and work elsewhere if they had the chance. This percentage increases to 60% in the southern and eastern parts of the DR.
Only 45% of Dominicans feel they are better off than their parents, 23% feel they live in the same conditions and 27% feel they are worse off than their parents.
The poll also showed that 55% of Dominicans feel they are poor while 27% feel they are middle-poor class and 15.5% feel they are middle class. Only 2% considered themselves middle high class and less than 1% considered themselves high class.
Racially speaking, 55% Dominicans considered themselves to be "Indio" while 16% considered themselves to be mulatto and 12% considered themselves white. And only about 12.5% of the population considered themselves black except for those located in the eastern part of the country where 37.5% of those polled viewed themselves as black.
The Dominican ID card no longer specifies the holder's race, and ethnicity is not a requirement on most official documents.

It is so peaceful! It always amazes me how people here obey traffic laws and wait their turn at the stop lights! I had to laugh yesterday- I went waverunning with my brother and nephew and they warned me there are lots of water police so I had better observe the 150 ft rule closely- you can't be closer than 150ft to another boat when you are going more than 5 MPH. And they enforce it pretty closely! I have to confess, I have a hard time overcoming my Dr driving habits but I tried hard, even on the lake!

It has been a busy few days, visiting my family. I am taking advantage of an opportunity to work out at Golds Gym in Concord, NH- my muscles are feeling it! I got in a nice swim at the lake.  My oldest nephew was just commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the Army and leaves Thursday for Ft. Benning, GA so it has been nice to spend some time with him.  My mom is doing well- she has been working at Golds Gym with a personal trainer to get her strength back after being sick so much this summer, getting ready for the surgery this coming Friday. She is getting a little nervous so please keep her in your prayers. (We plan on keeping her pretty busy so she won't have too much time to think about it.) 

I forgot to mention that I will have sporadic access to the internet so my blogging may not be regular. Also, I may not be able to respond quickly to email You can reach me at 603.463.7619 or cell phone: 603.493.6809.

Things with the Red Sox are looking up- they head to NY for a three game series and we enjoy a 6.5 game lead- I will be in New York Thursday to see the last game of the series. Go Sox!

It has been a busy few days wrapping things up, getting ready to be gone for three weeks.  I am excited about the plans for ministry that will be carried out while I am gone. Please remember our churches- they will be hosting special conferences over the next three weeks on the family. They have invited some of our pastors and other lay leaders to lead these seminars. I am excited to see them working together to carry out these plans, and for the conferences themselves- please pray for Los Santos, The Hole and Villa de Yaque that the people will participate and catch a vision of God's plan for their family life.

Some special dates to keep in mind: August 30th- I will be in NYC to see the Yankees/Red Sox game played at Yankee Stadium- I am pretty excited about that- Go Sox!!

August 31: My mom will be operated on. Please continue to keep her in your prayers. She is working out at Gold's Gym these days, trying to regain some strength before the surgery.  I plan on joining her while I am home! It is time to get back in shape!

I return to the DR September 13th, hopefully refreshed and recharged for ministry. I have several new initiatives I am praying about and will be talking with people in the States trying to gain more information and get started. One personal project is to begin working on my Doctor of Ministry degree at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston, working on the "Ministry in Complex Urban Settings" tract.  Another project is the formation of a foundation to work alongside the Timothy Project, handling the flow of special gifts and focusing our efforts further in the area of job training/new business formation, special medical needs and funding special church planting/development projects. Pray for all this to come together in a clear manner and for wise, Godly counsel to guide the process.  Victor is working on the legal process here in the DR to incorporate such a foundation. According to him, we will be eligible for government money! That will be cool!

Also, I am working to re-tool the basic format of our ministry, focusing my efforts more directly on discipleship training and leadership development. I have my hands in so many different arenas that some key areas are not getting their due attention. I now have a solid team of Dominicans to help with the weekly ministries so I plan on giving those responsibilities to them and my going deeper with discipleship/teaching and developing leaders.  Pray for God to guide me in these new plans and for our leaders as they feel a stronger push from me to assume more and more responsibility.

You can contact me during the next three weeks at 603.463.7619. This is my parent's phone number.  I will have sporadic access to email but I would love to hear from you while I am stateside!

It is a legal holiday today- the streets were quiet, especially at 5:45am when we left for the Haitian border to visit the weekly Haitian market. We had 8 people in all- it was a great day of laughter and sharing stories. The shopping part was not so much fun- I am not one for crowds or for the open sun but I managed.  Everyone came away with something- some things to resell (for profit) and some for personal use- I was able to get a great deal on some pots we needed for the kitchen when our volunteers are here. We are ready for next year, folks!

The hurricane effects were minimal here in Santiago.  We had heavy rains off and on but no flooding beyond the usual.  We could tell it had rained a lot in Dajabon but today it was a nice sunny day there.  It was a success all the way around!

Yesterday our worship services were excellent- we had a good turn-out despite the anticipation of Hurricane Dean and a good spirit in each. Several people began to come to terms with the fact they have been pretty weak in their daily walk with Christ.  I am excited for the Fall and am working on some new plans that we will implement when I get back from vacation.  I will share more about those in the coming days.

Thanks for your prayers for our leaders, for our worship time yesterday and for the whole country as we waited for the hurricane to pass by- we felt your prayers!

We are getting ready for some heavy rains this weekend as Hurricane Dean makes its presence felt. Victor worked with some goverment emergency crews last night getting some tree trunks and other debris removed from the river, hoping that it will lessen the flooding. We'll see!

We had quite a party last night- we divided up the "goodies"- all the things the volunteers have left behind that hand't already been given away. We had mountains of children's underwear! Mountains of pencils and crayons and toothbrushes and toothpaste. I kid you not, this stuff must multiply in my closests! I give away three hundred, put away 200 toothbrushes and when I pull them out, there are 500 again!  It is incredible!  Anyways, all the kids in our Sunday Schools (120!) are getting a little goody bag with notebook, 2 pairs of underwear, pencils and other misc. items for school which starts next Tuesday. And we still have underwear to give for Christmas! 

We divided up all the medicines and crafts that were still here. I give that stuff out and give it out and my shelves are still always full!  (Not now though.)  Each church left here with over 5 large garbage bags of crafts, supplies, meds, children's goody bags, etc.

I think most everyone knows that when our groups bring us certain items, we sell it for half (or less) of its retail value.  It helps prevent the "give me" attitude that is very detrimental in our barrios and it also allows our ministry leaders to participate in the process of earning the money/value we receive. And it still allows people to get things they need at a very affordable price (half or less of what they would normally pay!)  We keep this money in a special fund for Special Ministry Events- this past year with these special funds we sent 14 ladies to the National Women's Conference, 5 men to the National Men's Prayer Retreat, we bought 120 notebooks for our children and bought 3 chalkboards and chalk for our Sunday Schools among other things.  And we still have a little left over which will probably go toward getting our children Christmas gifts and preparing food baskets for our needy families.  So, a HUGE thank you to all our volunteers and their churches who this past year brought us all kinds of goodies and made such a tremendous contribution to our ministry.

Just a note: we never sell medicines, first aid supplies, hygiene kits or school supplies, and we do prepare special goody bags for needy people who couldn't buy the clothes/shoes even at 1/2 price.  We never lose sight of these items being ministry gifts, we simply try to avoid the damage done by just giving away lots of stuff.   

Remember us this weekend as we deal with the effects of Hurrican Dean.  Our SS leaders are going to be going house to house of our children, giving them their special back to school gift and praying for their homes. Pray for the parents of our SS kids, that they too will come to study the Bible with us.

 Today is a DR holiday which will be observed on Monday, the 20th. I have a group going to Dajabon Monday to do some shopping. The Haitian border is open on Mondays and Fridays and it is wild- a lot of bargains can be found.  Victor, Felix, Milagros, Carolina, Pilar, Mecho and some others will all be a part of the adventure.  Here is a little history about August 16th:

From DR1.com 

Restoration Day
President Leonel Fernandez will be in Santiago to celebrate today's national holiday, Restoration Day. Although the DR gained its independence from Haiti in 1844, by 1861 it had reverted back to being a colony of Spain. With the help of Haitian revolutionaries who feared the presence of Spain on the island, the war against Spain broke out. Restoration Day celebrates the day, August 16 1863, on which the national war of "restoration" began. By 1865, Ulises Heureaux and Gregorio Luperon had restored the Republic. Fernandez will be present at the unveiling of the remodeled Heroes Monument in Santiago. The Monument, which is 55 years old, has undergone a five-month restoration project led by the Ministry of Culture. Dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo built the Monument in his own honor in 1944, but after his regime was ousted the imposing structure was renamed in memory of the Heroes of the 1863 Restoration War against Spain.

The weekend activities went very well- there was an excellent turnout in El 7 and some very good discussion of how to apply Biblical truths to our lives. Sunday services went very well- we are using a new format and time in Los Santos and it seemed to work well. They are struggling there but I feel hopeful that in time, with prayer, they will grow stronger and stronger.  Please keep Sol and the other members in your prayers as they seek to grow and minister as a team.

Tuesday's Bible study in La Canela went well- we didn't have a big turnout but I was very pleased with the discussion and the people involved. We have been able to make friends and gain the ear of the leaders of the community. One in particular is very honest in saying he doesn't have much use for "church." As we talked about his vision as community club president, he shared he was concerned with the lack of values and the deterioration of the family. We talked about that, and brought it back to God and the Bible being our anchors and when we cut loose from Him and His Word, we find ourselves in chaotic situations.  We went through a number of Biblical passages and had a great time of sharing. We shared our vision of spiritual renewal through repentance and obedience as the way to community transformation and offered to work with them in their vision. He seems very pleased to have us help and very clear of the spiritual dimension of our vision. He has invited Victor to lead a seminar on developing leaders and I think we will use "Glory Road" as a lead-in. I love the movie and it shows how important determined leadership is and the vital need to work as a team to overcome and achieve.

Last night in the Hole the church sponsered a seminar on drug prevention- it was very attended and afterward we had a great discussion. I hope the church will continue to offer these typse of seminars to help strengthen the family and through that reach people who are not traditional church goers.  I was excited last night, yet the bleak picture of our society and the effects of drugs was pretty depressing.

Tonight we will be visiting in Guayacanal.  I am looking forward to seeing those folks. We want to help them form a neighborhood community leadership council- it will help them to get more assistance from the government and help establish a better sense of community. Currently there is a mafia type presence that controls things and basically oppresses the poor to make money for themselves. Pray for Victor as he works with the people to break those bonds and help them establish themselves.

This weekend we have the Couples Seminar. I am pretty discouraged right now as two of our participating couples are seperated! One is pretty surely heading to divorce and the other I just don't know. I am sad for them and concerned. As I have shared for a long time, healthy marriages are few and far between among our people. Please continue to pray for our leaders and their homes.