Posts Tagged mabts
[ unhurried ]
May 14
Sophia & Samuel
May 7
Sophia will be 4 in July. Samuel will be 2 in October. Our kids have changed our lives in a lot of ways. Not only have they worn us out, God is using them to draw us closer to each other and closer to him.
Here’s a shot of them after a few minutes of making mud pies.
Bent Tree / Opening Nite
Apr 21
I am in an amazing period of learning in my life. I get to sit under professors that guide me and challenge me for several hours in the morning and then in the afternoon put those things into practice as we work with Hispanics. One of those places in which we put into practice what we’re learning is Bent Tree.
Bent Tree is an apartment complex in which we are working. We had our first service/interest meeting a few weeks ago. I was fairly certain no one would show up. I was envisioning us gringos staring at each other for the evening. I was wrong.
Five adults and five kiddos showed up. Three families were represented. It was a blast. We’ve had two more services since then and a few more come each time.
We’re working our way through Charles Brock’s Buenas Nuevas Para Ti.
Bent Tree
Mar 23
This evening we will be kicking things off at Bent Tree.
I have spent the past month getting to know the Latino families that live in the complex. There are several from Guatemala and Mexico.
Tuesday evening is kind of like an interest meeting. We’re not calling it that, but that’s basically what it is. It will help us to gauge if the families there are interested in God. It will help us to know if we should invest more time there with the goal of planting a church. We are asking God to use us to plant a church there.
Daniel
Mar 11
My wife and I served in Lima, Peru for two years prior to coming to Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. It was an amazing experience and God taught us a lot of things that continue to have an impact on our lives and ministry.
We did a lot of traveling in the Andes Mountains when we lived in Peru. On one of these trips we met a man named Daniel, a village doctor. Daniel seemed good-natured, but was very skeptical of who we were and what we were doing in Peru. The following day our team leader, Mike, visited Daniel again and gave him a New Testament. We assumed that was all we would hear of him, but we were wrong.
The next morning Mike returned from town with some exciting news. He told us that as he was walking through the village Daniel ran out to meet him. “His face was beaming!” Mike said. He told Mike that he had read through the New Testament the night before and realized his sin and need for Jesus. Daniel had given his life to Christ!! The team was pumped, but God wasn’t done yet.
That night we had scheduled town meetings in two neighboring villages. In these meetings we handed out New Testaments and taught people how to study God’s Word. Daniel, our new brother in Christ, came along with us. At the first village, Daniel shared his testimony and how God’s Word had changed his life. Twenty-five people put their faith in Christ!! At the second village, he shared his faith again and over twenty more people trusted Jesus!! God used the seed we planted by sharing his Word to bring over forty people into his kingdom!
In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul said “My job was to plant the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God, not we, who made it grow. The ones who do the planting or watering aren’t important, but God is important because he is the one who makes the seed grow.” The Corinthians had made the mistake of forgetting that it was God who gives the increase. It is important that we recognize that we are simply vessels or tools that God uses. When someone builds a house, the hammer is not praised, the man who built it is. We are the hammer, God is the builder.
Commissioning
Mar 9
I had the privilege of attending the commissioning of 61 missionaries last week. The International Mission Board currently has over 5 thousand missionaries across the world. In the coming year, however, they have to draw back. They lack the resources to maintain the current deployed workforce.
Some are able to go. Like these.
Four couples from Mid-America Baptist were appointed with this group. Two will be going to South America, one to Romania, and the fourth somewhere else.
A Selection
Feb 25
Here are a few of Sophia’s latest letter learning activities.
Amanda has a great community of moms at MABTS housing. They have been an immense encouragement to her as she learns how to be a mom that walks with Jesus.
[ to be filled ]
Feb 11
My life feels like a process of losing myself, so I can find myself. Losing my life in order to find it . . .
I am giving up my rights, dreams, preferences, ambitions. Not just to be willing to surrender those things, but to actually do it.
Funny thing is when I empty myself of me I find myself being filled with what really matters.
Above all I am giving control of my life to God. He has ransomed me and has every right to move me, transform me, discipline me. Giving myself to him occupies the highest priority in my life.
I am also giving myself to my family. God has placed Amanda, Sophia, and Samuel under my watchcare. It is with them that I experience life, the simple and profound, the mundane and extraordinary. My whole life is completely wrapped up in them. Taking care of them is second only to walking with Jesus. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. They go hand in hand.
I am pouring myself out for my neighbor. In this stage in my life my neighbor lives 10 minutes away and speaks mostly Spanish. God has placed compulsion and call in my heart to make myself available to him to plant a Hispanic church.
Candy Land
Feb 9
Pretty much no one likes losing at Candy Land.
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Especially Samuel. If he just hadn’t drawn Gramma Nut . . .
Signage
Feb 4
I’m no graphic designer, but the Young Adult department at Bellevue Baptist Church asked me if I’d design some posters for their new year emphasis a year long journey through the Scriptures.
I designed four options. They chose the first two.
