Thanks SMU, OU, & Bama

Over the past two weeks, we had 50 folks from the RUF chapters of OU, SMU, & Alabama. You might be asking, what did the students think? I think this pic of some of the students from SMU perfectly captures the sentiments....



These RUF teams helped with demolition at the Larco church, conversation clubs at the National University, with SALI, and with our own university ministry. It was a great two weeks of fun, hard work, and great memories. Thank you for your time & your partnership with us.








Special thanks to Gerardo, Pablo, Anna, Elizabeth, Jose, Alberto, & Cesar who helped out with various facets of the conversation clubs.

Easter People in a World of Fridays

"Without Easter, Calvary was just another political execution of a failed Messiah. Without Easter, the world is trapped between the shoulder shrug of the cynic, the fantasy of the escapist, and the tanks of the the tyrant. Without Easter, there is no reason to suppose that good will triumph over evil, that love will win over hatred, that life will win over death. But with Easter we have hope; because hope depends on love; and love has become human and has died, and is alive for evermore, and holds the keys of Death and Hades. It is because of him that we know--we don't just hope, we know--that God will wipe away all tears from all eyes. And in that knowledge we find ourselves to be Sunday people, called to live in a world of Fridays. In that knowledge we know ourselves to be Easter people, called to minister to a world full of Calvary's. In that knowledge we find that the hand that dries our tears passes the cloth on to us, and bids us to follow him, to go to dry one another's tears. The Lamb calls us to follow him wherever he goes; into the dark places of the world, the dark places of our hearts, the places where tears blot out the sunlight....and he bids us shine his morning light into the darkness, and share his ministry of wiping away the tears. And as we worship, and adore, and follow the lamb, we join, already, in the song of Revelation 5.11-14, the song that one day the trees and the mountains and the whales and the waterfalls--the whold world, reborn on Easter morning--will sing with us:

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain...
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength
and honour and glory and blessing!

To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honour and glory and power
forever and ever, Amen."

~ N. T. Wright, Following Jesus.

Here's to the Lamb & His continuing mission in & through us. Amen!

The Missional Grandma

Here's a great story about an elderly lady being all 'missional' while being robbed!

This just goes to show you that you don't need to go overseas to be a missionary!

HT: Common Grounds Online

SMU RUF visits RUF Peru & the Mission

This week we are honored to have the RUF group from SMU led by their campus minister, Chad Scruggs. Eighteen SMU Mustangs have made their way here to work alongside us in the work of the mission. Particularly, they are helping us in the construction project in our Larco church, our university ministry, and in our language school.

Here's a pic of Chad with some of our kids.
Today, we headed out to the National University to have our first of two conversation clubs. This is part of our continuing effort to serve the university and build good relationships there. In the past, we have sponsored lectures from university professors from the states in the Physics Department and in the Economics Department. This week we are working with the Language Department.


The idea is to provide English conversation clubs so that Peruvian students can practice their English (a much desired skill), but also so that they can get to know American university students and what it is like be university students in the states, and vice versa. We are also using this as an opportunity to invite students out to a special RUF meeting on Wednesday night where Chad Scruggs will preach and we'll hear testimonies from both Peruvian and American students.

Here are some photos of the events of the day.











This last picture is a pic of Dr. Temoche and me. He is the head of the department and was very excited to work with us and to receive us. He took pictures and even video with his cell phone! We were warmly received in more ways than one. The university students were very excited to get to practice their English and make friends, but our room was also 90+ degrees as well. Day Two tomorrow.

Please pray for the relationships that we are building both with the university students and the National University, that doors for the Gospel would be opened and remain open into the future. Pray especially for our meeting Wednesday night.

Pics from RUF

Here are some pics from a recent RUF meeting. We usually start of the meetings discussion some topic in small groups, generating thoughts and questions about the topic that will be addressed that night in the Bible study.

These are some of the faces of our people here. Enjoy!

Discipleship Group

Here's a pic of our small discipleship group that meets on Monday nights at 7pm. From left to right: Jennifer, John, Alicia, Donald, Juan, Martin, Rebecca, & Alan. We're working our way through a study of basic Bible doctrine. Last week, we looked at Genesis 1 and God's good creation. This week, we looked at man's condition and the salvation that is provided by God by grace through faith.

This study is led by a couple of our students, Donald & Juan. Please pray for them, the students, and me as we journey through this study seeking to root and ground these university students and others in the Gospel of Christ.

It's Hot!!!

There's no getting around it: It is HOT here! I came home a few weeks ago from RUF and entered my room. You can see from the photo that at 11:53pm, it was 84.6 degrees in our room. I know I'm a wimpy modern person and my grandparents did just fine without it, but I love my air conditioning and we don't have it here!

February / March is our August / September in the states. Even though Trujillo is the city of the eternal Spring, it does get quite toasty here, especially if you are in the sun. Our kids are enjoying visits to the local pool as they try to keep cool. I've never appreciated ice like I do now!

Anyway, just a thought for my friends who are enjoying cool / cold weather back home. I just talked with Chad Scruggs, the RUF Campus Minister from SMU who will be bringing a group of 18 students here on Saturday. He told me that Dallas had a layer of snow on the ground this morning.

I just can't believe it!

Bono's Challenge

Michael Patton over at Parchment & Pen has an interesting article on U2's frontman, Bono, and his charge against American Evangelicalism. The article analyze's the lyrics of "Crumbs from Your Table" off their album, "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb."

Here's the concluding thoughts: "Whether you agree or not with Bono’s assessment of America and the Evangelical church is a matter that is worthy of much discussion. At the very least, it should give us pause. This song provides a vivid understanding of how many in the emerging church and the postmodern world are frustrated with what they believe to be hypocrisy and neglect of important matters such as mercy, in favor of their “signs and wonders.” Bono’s enduring questions present themselves with much clarity: Is America a nation that can stand before God and say that they have done their part in coming to the aid of those in need? Is the church going to talk about “signs and wonders” or are they going to create a “wonder” from resources they already have, even if it is just the “crumbs from the table.”

McDonald's Comes to Trujillo

Our kids are excited about this.

"After ten years in the Peruvian market and with a $750 thousand investment, the US fast food chain McDonald’s inaugurated today its first restaurant outside of Lima (Peru's capital) located at Mall Aventura Plaza in the city of Trujillo (La Libertad)."

I guess what is interesting about this (other than our kids being excited about it) is what it says about Trujillo turning an economic corner. With two malls opening in the last six months, the arrival of Papa John's, KFC, & Pizza Hut, Trujillo is starting to have a bit of an economic boom. As many of you know, Trujillo is a city of around a million people--the third largest in Peru.

Says the general manager, “We have chosen Trujillo to open our fist restaurant outside of Lima because it is a city that has registered an impressive economic development thanks to the efforts made by its people and authorities”.

This restaurant "would create 80 new jobs and would offer the most complete McDonald’s restaurant with a playground (a children area with the familiar crawl-tube design with ball pits and slides), two dessert centers, a McCafé and two special rooms for birthday parties."

At any rate, FYI. I guess I'm a little excited too. I never thought I would be at a place in my life where I thought McD's hamburger's were real hamburger's--and would actually crave one, but in comparison to what passes for hamburgers around here, we're all lovin' it.