New tasks

On Saturday, after a scavenger hunt, some games and a lesson we all got talking about the future of the group and began assigning tasks to different ones in the group.  No one seemed to object and all were excited about all that God could do with our small youth group.  Personally, I’ve been waiting to hand off some of these duties to those with more energy.  We’ll see how they do next week.

Can you guess who's in charge of games?  There are two of them...

Checking out the critics

Our theme for Tuesday eve’s prayer meeting was focusing on the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son.  We spent extra time searching God’s word and praying for our lives as believers.  Most of those attending withdrew from other churches in the area because of hurts and bad testimonies.  “We hope this congregation grows to accept all,” commented one mom who was hurt in her church, but is now seeing her husband come around and attend our congregation.  Wow, what a motivation to keep pushing ahead!

More readers

During the service, we acknowledged those who are studying the Bible by giving them a certificate of recognition for their hard work.  It was great to see some new families getting into the habit of reading the Bible and learning to listen to His words.  We applaud their efforts and those who have made reading his word a part of their lives.

1 More > Expected

 

When we started the Sunday eve service, I thought, “well, I guess we’re gonna have one of those small turnouts.”  And for the first half of our service, we were small in number.  Oh to my surprise when God brought in family after family.  It was great to see one huge extended family that came even though some came to visit from their own churches.

Signing the Dotted Line

During our afternoon Sunday service, we turned in baptism certificates to those who were baptized.  We also opened up for the first time a registry of members for the One More 4 Christ congregation.  The first ones to sign the registry were those who were baptized.  And after that, several came up to sign in as members of this congregation.  It was a historical day of events and we had to celebrate with cake after the service.

Coming Home

On Sunday we packed up our bags and headed to the hills, the local hills where the mother church is located.  We took a good group of believers to be baptized there.  I ended up baptizing 6 that morning.  The water was warmed up just for us.  I could sense that all were excited to be there.  Later I was told, “I believe our people here enjoyed seeing the people from the new church plant in Los Heroes,” by a leader in the mother church.  It’s been a long time since we’ve done this.  It used to be a regular event for the other churches we’ve planted, the visit, that is.

In Service

 

Wanting to find out what teaching kids is all about, Tracey invited interested ones to participate in a training session.  We had over a dozen show to learn about the essential elements of instruction.  I could hear them all laugh, learn and act from the second story of our home.  Time seemed to fly because they were at it for over 3 hours.  We’re developing a pool of teachers that will be teaching in the coming months.

Sketchy Start

I asked the youth to put together a skit for Sunday’s message.  We paired them in teams and had them go at it.  Each group presented their version and we all voted on who would present their version in church.  It was fun to see the different variations of the skit we selected.  In the end, all the youth participated in one way or another.

Just to Share

The youth stepped up and gave a short report to the congregation about their adventures at the concert.  While speaking in public is not their “thing,” they did a great job in letting the church know what they were up to and how much they enjoyed it.

The Power of Testimony

I asked María to give her testimony on Sunday.  Since she is going to work with us full-time, I wanted people to know how she came to Christ and how he’s worked in her life.  She gave us a glimpse into the desperation of her life before Christ and how he promised to lead her when she accepted him into her heart.

So, what did you learn?

The women of the church on the same Saturday of the youth concert attended a ladies’ conference in Mexico City.  It was a time of instruction through workshops and conferences.  I was told that the food was great!  “If they just picked one thing to work on, their lives will be better,” commented María as we heard several of them share of the insights that they gained through the classes. 

Something for Everyone!

The groups that played had a unique style that seemed to fit the likes of the crowd.  Since about 8 churches showed up with a total of about 150 people attending, there were lots of youth, but there were also lots of families and adults.  As the bands played, the young people got more excited and active.  Our youth group loved it and it was memorable to them.

What do I say?

That was the question running through my head when I was asked to speak at the youth concert.  I wasn’t sure if I’d be speaking to mostly Christian youth or to those interested, so I took a phrase from Zechariah 4:10, “Who dares despise the day of small things…?”  And we began with huge beginnings and then brought it down to us.  My two questions were… Who am I? And, where am I supposed to be?

Off to the Fair

Our sister church in Tizayuca, about an hour away, decided to put on a youth concert.  3 church bands were invited to participate and many were invited to attend with their youth groups.  We managed to gather a dozen youth to take to the event. 

 

It was a fun ride to the party and we did some games on the way there.  There happened to be a street fair near our activity.

Man of War

Mike gave his testimony during our Sunday evening service.  He spoke of his past life as a soldier in war-torn Central America in the late 70’s and early 80’s.  He wasn’t proud of his past life, but shared, “One day, when I was invited to a church meeting in Pomona, CA, God touched my life and I couldn’t stop crying.  And days later, I gave my life to Jesus.” 

Mike invites his friends weekly to join us at our men’s Bible study and he never ceases to share about Jesus.  What an impact he’s had on the community and on me!

A New Chapter

The congregation has grown to a place where we’ve bought more folding chairs, but to accommodate more people and save in space we opted to buy plastic stools which are less expensive. 

 

But now we need more organization to reach out into our community, so we decided to invite Maria – our voluntary worker for 2 years now – to work full-time to better use our time in both discipleship and reaching out to new areas of the neighborhood. 

All are pleased to have her working with us.  She’s developed a good reputation among the congregation.  And on Sunday, we dedicated her efforts to the Lord by praying for her as a congregation.

Parable of the weeds…

We studied about the tares sown among the wheat and had the youth go out and take shots of “the run down” hidden among the new.   Here’s what one team came up with… (the wall marked up and not.)

 And the other team, well, they enjoyed making themselves the “new” amongst the run down (grass.)  Is this just another way to get themselves into the picture?  I wonder...

Unconventional

We had a great group of youth on Saturday.  We spent about 30 minutes picking them up, but in the end we had enough for two teams to play soccer.  Well, since the desire of every boy in Mexico is to become a professional soccer player, you can imagine how they’ve  honed their skills from young.  So to include the girls who don’t always play as well, we decided to level the playing field.  We created two mixed teams and the play was entertaining.  Notice anything different about the ball?  It was our element of surprise.  Let you know tomorrow…

Master Touch

I was curious how Kiana’s picture turned out – her art assignment.  So I took a peek.  Well, since she finished it, photographed it and sent it in to her teacher, the canvass has remained on my desk.  I’m quite amazed at the skill it takes to do something like this – and the time!

 

The beginnings of an artist?

More Space

Our rented hall has provided us with all the space that we’ve needed for our Sunday afternoon worship services and music classes.  As the congregation has grown, we’ve challenged the congregation to provide adequate seating for all our guests and members.  With a large number of kids arriving for music classes, we decided to purchase some smaller seats to accommodate the children.  Recently we purchased 20 of them.  We hope that this allows our guests adequate space to visit and worship with us.

 

Thanks for your prayers.