New Church

Two of the ladies, sisters, in the area where we’re starting a new church got up during the service to teach the congregation its verse for the month.  It was wonderful to see their confidence and ownership of the new work and of their membership in 1More4Christ.  God is faithful!

Church

While I didn’t expect many to show up for the Christmas Day Sunday service, we had a good turnout with several families showing their support.  God is good!

All Together

It was wonderful this Christmas to have the entire family together again.  At one point we were all in different countries, but now we’re back.  Thanks Lord!

Christmas Meal

On Christmas Eve, everyone was running around to get stuff into the over for our Christmas eve meal.  It was both tasty and enjoyable to spend time together preparing and laughing.  Does it get any better than this?

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christ…

The presence of piñatas at parties and on the streets is a sign of Christmas or “Reyes” in this culture.  It seems like every night a piñata is being broken somewhere in the neighborhood.  It’s a time of talking, eating and, yes, playing together.

...Fiesta there

The daughter of the pastor in the first church we helped to organized had her 15^th birthday this weekend.  I remember when his girls and ours were only a few years old playing together.  My how time passes…

Fiesta here... and...

Our Sunday morning service ended with piñatas for kids, youth, women and men.  We’ll I decided to be one of the first volunteers for the men.  You’d think that after so many years in Mexico, I’d know how to do this…

I stand at the door…

This seems to be the season where people are much more open to talking about changes, so I trust that I can be faithful to the opportunities that I’m given.

Come to see us!

I looked at a recent picture of where Tracey and Kiana are at and then took a picture this morning where Keila and I are.  You decide where you’d rather be…

1More Music

The worship team from 1More kicked off the outdoor activity and did a great job staying focused and involving those who attended.  Great job, youth!

1More N Concert

Our youth put together a program and invited other youth groups to join us in worshipping God through music.  Nallely (right) represented our church by leading the program.  She did a great job energizing the youth on Saturday on the covered basketball court.

Remembering

In September we baptized 7 people who are now members of the congregation.  On this Sunday half of the group showed up to get their certificates.  We applaud their commitment and their love for God.

IN Concert

The church on the Hill put together the program with their youth musicians.  It was inspiring, fun and met the needs of the youth.  May there be more of these.

Up the Hill

We took our youth on an outing to attend a youth concert put on by our sister church on the hill.  We walked there and enjoyed the program and renewing friendships.

Family Time Away

Spent the week with the family and it was good.  I’ve missed our time together, so it was great to have the time away to just enjoy the company and the place.  Thanks for your prayers.

New Bible study & Filling Up

We’ve begun new Bible study classes on "Emotional Health" taught by Pastor Francisco at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays, just before the service.  God is good to fill our prayer house with a good group of believers.

Our morning service is beginning to fill up too.  Just when I thought we had lost some steam, believers showed up anticipating to study God’s word and worship him.

Sisters

These two sisters live in the area where we are starting a new work.  On Sunday, they participated in the service teaching the congregation the new verse to memorize for the month.  They are grateful to God for all he’s done for them.

New Teachers

Jon is one of our new teachers of English and guitar.  Here he is teaching students how to strum.  While we only had two students come, we trust more will come when the weather is better.

The New Place

We began classes Saturday afternoon in a cage.  That is, the structure set up for a temporary storefront outside of the apartment of one of the members of our church.  While it was cold and also “Buen Fin” (equivalent to Black Friday in Mexico) we managed to start.

The Handout

 
Our new church planting team went to the local elementary school and middle school in “Bosques” (Forest) to hand out flyers inviting students and parents to drop by on Saturday to take music classes and English classes.  There was lots of interest.  Thanks team!

A house of cards?

When I got back to the church, I was greeted by a friend who told me that things had not gone so well in the church.  He began to detail the different incidences that caused conflict.  I sat back carefully and took it all in and then said, “I’m glad it’s happening now while we can work together to get back on track.”  God is in charge, so I’m not worried.

Jim and Linda

Jim and Linda have been a God-sent for our family during this difficult time of readjusting our lifestyles.  They have offered Tracey, and me, a place to stay while Kiana gets better.  Besides inviting us to eat with them, they’ve often gone out of their way to help us out.  May God richly bless this exceptional couple as they’ve served so many.

K.’s impact

While visiting Kiana, she introduced me to her friends of which at least 2 she was teaching to play the guitar.  Both played songs for me and showed me just how good of a teacher Kiana is.  We played songs together for a short time and enjoyed lots of laughs.

Time for K.

I spent a few days visiting Kiana and enjoyed seeing her again and talking with her.  Her friends at Selah, the girls, were her biggest blessing.  While each day presents a new hard challenge, I’m praying that God gives her the strength to push forward to health, well-being and strong faith.

A Win for T.

 

After last week’s U.S. Presidential elections results, I asked some locals (Mexicans) what they thought of the prospect of a new president.  Well, many were scared and concerned about what this might do to Mexico.

Continued HELP

Jasmin comes from the mother church and has helped our congregation over the years in the area of teaching keyboard.  At the end of this year, she’ll decide whether to continue on or to make new plans.  Please pray with us as we wish her the very best in her decisions.

Time for fresh “juice”

With oranges in season, I just had to get a couple of kilos and juice some.  Prices? 9 pound for a dollar.  This is also a great time of the year for “fresh” activities as we open up our normally “in-house” events to the public.  Our Family Festival saw wonderful results and new contacts made.  Next is our Youth Christmas Concert on December 10.  Pray with us as we practice and reach out.

How did we reach out?

The ladies, mostly, practiced a skit for the kids to see.  The skit had an invitation at the end to accept Jesus in their hearts.  They did a wonderful job of keeping the kids’ interest.

More Games?

What did the youth games look like?  Well, here’s just a small sample of the games they played during our Family Festival.

What to do with Halloween in Mexico…

For the past 3 years, we’ve created an alternative for our families to the quickly growing Halloween following in Mexico.  Hooked up to Day of the Dead, Halloween has caught on down here.  So the congregation rented a covered basketball court where we had our “Family Festival.”  A short program of group games, songs and a skit as well as lots of fair-like games for kids, made by our youth is also offered.  This year we opened it up not only to our families, but to the community.  We had a great turnout, seeing parents play games with their kids with lots of homemade goodies for prizes.  

Take a look at what we did…

When it’s all about “getting-out-there”

Jonathan is part of the mission team with a desire to use all of his talents to reach people for Jesus.  He’s excited about being part of the team to start a new congregation.  He’s in charge of publicizing our new efforts.  Here’s his first invitation to English and music classes.

Hard Road Ahead

Luis is a single dad with one son living in Mexico and of Central American descent.  He is our mission leader and is setting the stage for the church to participate in a new project of starting a congregation in another part of the community.  We have a team of four who are spearheading this planning stage.  Pray for God’s wisdom in Luis.

Gaming

Looking for new games to play isn’t always as easy as it sounds.  This week, the youth played a new game called, “Confederate Rugby.”  It took a little time to get used to and is similar enough to team handball which they've played before.  They enjoyed it and all were able to play.

Arrow to the Heart

Marco is a father who has to work on weekends, so isn’t very often able to join us during Sunday services.  This week he came prepared to share from the Bible a message that God wanted the congregation to hear.  He did an incredible job.

Band of Brothers

We’ve got a great group of men who love to play music.  While most of them participate in the weekly men’s group, I invited them to join me in leading worship on Sunday.  We practiced only a few times, but had a great time leading others in praising God.  They are examples of those willing to follow Jesus at any cost.

Men’s meeting

This last week, our men’s group gained some steam and members as we sat down to a group of 7 men listening and studying the doctrine of the church.  Amazing!

Men’s Band-aid

In an effort to touch people where they enjoy serving, we organized an adult men’s band that will lead worship this next week.  While our songs have been heard before, they’ll be quite different with the ones playing.  We have 3 guitarists, a bass player and a drummer.  Wow, how exciting!

Starting from scratch

The area we picked for the new work is near one of our home Bible studies.  The group is one of the largest ones we have and is very excited about the possibilities of having church services in their area.  This is just one picture of the group’s meetings.

Scoping the area

We visited the area where we want to start a new work and took some time on a Saturday to see where people meet and what things look like in the area on the weekend.  There was a tiny open air market “tiaguis” out that day.

Starting a NEW congregation

On 10/21/2016 we created a new team to begin examining the possibilities of starting a new church in a distant part of the community.  We sat down to examine what comes first and who would be involved.  Please pray for Jonathan and Luis as they spearhead the effort by the 1More4Christ congregation.

From the SHOE BOX

Upon talking to Marian’s dad, we decided to work to keep up our contact with each other.  It just happens that in this past month, I renewed my contact with another one of my former disciples in Mexico City when I first arrived many years ago.  Here’s a pic of the three couples in our “youthful” days. 

It’s a FULL-HOUSE

Our leaders meeting last night was moved to one of the homes. We barely fit.  But aside from getting business done, it was inspiring to see so many involved in ministry and actively wanting to better it.

It’s a GIRL

18 years ago, I took Marian’s parents to the hospital and waited for news of her delivery.  Her dad had to go off to work, and I stayed.  Well, they broke the news to me, and I called her dad at work.  Who would have thought that I’d be the first to receive the news after her mom?

Feeling YOUTH-FULL

While this picture may look normal to you of youth playing, take a closer look.  This week I had to get into the game to even the odds and ran right through the group to the other end, got tagged and couldn’t stop.  When will I learn that I’m just not equipped for this anymore?

A busy Sunday

 

While Gerardo preached in our service in Los Heroes, I went off to preach in our sister congregation in Tizayuca about 1 hour away.  Near the end of the service the church introduced Maria de Jesús V.S. as their new worker.  If you remember, she worked with us until recently when our new pastor came on board and the church directed its funding to him.  

GETTING help

Kiana has been struggling with her health and has done some local assessment to better her condition.  We trust that her medical visits along with future plans to stabilize her health materialize.  Please pray for her continued strength, optimistic perspective and a heart so seek God in all this.