Reformed University Fellowship & Perú Mission

Final Report

2008-09-09T11:40:00.002-05:00

Dear friends & supporters,

Here is a final report of our time in Peru, including a letter of thank you from one of our Peruvian students and future campus minister, Pablo.

Click here to download the pdf newsletter (2.3MB).

Re: support. A number of our friends & supporting churches have asked about continued support of our ministry during this transition from Peru to Canada. Note: we are receiving a stipend for a few months from Peru Mission to help with this time of transition.

First of all, if you have signed up for automatic withdrawals, you need to contact the Peru Mission accountant, Rebekah Johnson (865-684-4580/ rebekahjohnson@perumission.org) in order to cancel this service.

Secondly, this document explains four ways in which donations can be made to the New City Church Planting Movement in Calgary, including making donations by mail, online by credit card, via electronic funds transfer, or by stock donation. This document is a pledge card.

Thirdly, if you choose to send in support with a check, mail the check to:

Mission to North America
1700 N. Brown Road Suite 101
Lawrenceville, GA 30043-8143

Office: (678) 825-1200
Fax: (678) 825-1001

1. Make your check out to “MNA.”
2. In the memo line, write “John Ferguson.” MNA prefers to list the church planter on the check rather than the account number.
3. 100% of your contribution goes directly to this project! There are no fees charged by MNA for these services.

Many thanks to our supporting friends and churches who have made our ministry in Peru possible. Your financial support, prayers, visits, calls, care packages, emails, and cards helped to carry us through and to sustain us in the work with RUF & Peru Mission. It has been an honor to be in partnership with you for the cause of Christ’s Gospel and Kingdom. We are eternally grateful!

Great Slideshow!!!

2008-08-29T14:40:00.001-05:00

Our wonderful friend, Allen Bradford, made us this video slideshow of our time in Peru. Thanks, Allen, for the many pics and memories!!!

Despedidas (parte dos)

2008-08-13T12:19:00.006-05:00

Last night we had a wonderful time at Gerardo & Ysabel's place. They gave a despedida for us with some of the students that we were closest with (some couldn't make it). Enjoy....

Despedidas

2008-08-13T12:06:00.002-05:00

We've been having some despedidas (goodbye times with friends). Here are some pics....
Here I am with my pastor, Jaime. He is giving us a 'recuerdo' or a souvenir to remember our church home in Peru.

Here's a photo of Kevin holding the recuerdo. The inscription is from Ps. 121, "The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in."

Here's Heather with her gift CD from "Lenin's Band" that she has been wanting.

Heather having a good time with some of her chicas.

Our family was prayed for by pastors Gerardo Castro, Bill Bradford, Allen Smith, and Jaime Avellaneda

For more pics, check out Allen Bradford's Flickr photo album. Thanks for the shots, Allen!

Wise Words My Peruvian Friend....

2008-08-08T11:54:00.005-05:00

"So this I find, that both unshared joy and joylessness are capable of killing the soul slowly. Therefore I must share my joy in God with others or else my soul will wither when the morning dawns on me."

These words were written by my friend, Francisco, who lives in Lima, Peru. He received his Ph.D. in engineering from Texas A&M. We actually overlapped a bit at TAMU, but we didn't know each other. He visited my home church, Westminster, after we left, and some folks told him that we were down in Trujillo, Peru. When he returned, he looked us up and came for a visit in Trujillo. He has a great heart for the Lord, has just recently joined the presbyterian church in Lima pastored by MTW missionary, Mark Barry, and I'm excited for the help Francisco will be to the future of Christ's kingdom here in Peru.

Francisco, thanks for all the great conversations! And thanks for sharing your joy with me.

Be sure to check out his blog.

Last Sunday @ Larco Church

2008-08-08T11:30:00.002-05:00

Here's a couple of videos my bride took of our church service last week (find here and here).

The first clip is of me preaching in Spanish. Good one, because I butcher the word "probablemente." Oh well. It took me about 5-6 years out of seminary to learn to preach with little or no notes. But Spanish cured me of that freedom, at least as it pertains to preaching in Spanish.

The second clip is of some of the music during our worship service. Our friend, Allen Smith, has done a great job of music development.

So that's a little taste of Sunday morning in Peru. Wish you all could be here to experience it firsthand.

Good words from a good friend....

2008-07-29T23:52:00.003-05:00

I should have published this a while ago, but as they say, better late than never.

Doug Serven, RUF Campus Minister at Oklahoma University (incidently, my second favorite college football team), blogged about his trip here over spring break. Thought you all might enjoy his take.... Read his entry here.

Team from Plains Pres, Zachary LA

2008-07-09T09:44:00.004-05:00

The youth group from Plains Presbyterian Church in Zachary, LA, is down for the week helping with construction projects at our Larco Church. The team is led by my friend, Campbell Silman, who served with me in the South Texas Presbytery. Here's a pic of the team at our house for dinner.

Here's a couple of pics of Jason & Colton helping out on the worksite (sorry about the quality, they are from a cell phone).

----

This photo is from an earlier team (spring break) that we took of Wes with me cell phone. We did this at the time--as blackmail--to show his wife of the crazy things he would do from time to time (like stand on rickety, home-made ladders from dizzying heights swinging hammers from precarious positions giving little thought to life and limb and posterity). Needless to say, Wes survived. But we thought we'd embed this photo here because Wes is in the States on furlough and he can't physically harm us :)

You and I Both Need This

2008-07-07T18:05:00.000-05:00

I came across a promo of Paul Tripp's new book, "Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy." It is a study of David's psalm of repentance, Psalm 51, spread out into 52 devotions.

Here is a video promo:

[HT]

Working on a New Blog

2008-07-07T18:01:00.004-05:00

The benefit of being down with the flu and having a laptop that you can play with in bed is that you still get to have the illusion of being productive. Last Friday night at the end of my first 24 hours in bed, I had a bit of a creative bug. So, if you might be interested, I've started a new blog that doesn't have to do with ministry issues, more along the lines of my random thoughts about life and grace. You can find it here...

http://kicking-the-darkness.blogspot.com/

Enjoy.

Our Two Year Stint with the Coolest Mission in the World (IMHO)

2008-07-05T14:25:00.005-05:00

The month of July marks the end of a two-year stint with Peru Mission. We have arrived at the difficult decision to shift gears in our life of ministry leaving behind a mission that we love dearly, and embracing a new challenge that we would never have dreamed of. We have accepted a new assignment on a new mission field- we’ll be moving from way down south in Peru, to way up north in Canada(!).

A brief summary: As we've thought about where we should invest ourselves in this next stage of life, we came up with 4 criteria: We wanted to be (1) in an important urban center; (2) near a major university; (3) in a post-modern / post-Christian context; (4) where the PCA (our church) is thin or non-existent. As we thought about the ways in which God has been shaping us and forming our thoughts along these criteria, I have accepted a call to be a part of a multi-site / multi-congregational church planting movement in Calgary, Alberta (we received a recommendation from Mission to North America’s Church Planting Assessment Center in June).

We looked at a handful of other options—including in our beloved home country of Texas—but none matched up with our desires like Calgary did. Calgary is (1) a beautiful city of over a million people with ~20,000 moving there every year; (2) home of the Univ. of Calgary—36,000 students; (3) post-modern and as several Canadian pastors have told me—very post-post-post Christian; (4) has only two PCA churches with about 200 people attending. In some major cities of Canada, over 40% of the people are atheist. Further, the fastest growing religious categories by rate of increase between 1991 and 2001 are Paganism (+281%), Native Spirituality (+175%) and Islam (+129%). Calgary needs the Gospel: only around 10-12% of the city attends a Christian church of any kind, and that number is shrinking rapidly.

We are excited and scared at the same time, feeling that this will be the biggest thing we've attempted to do for Christ's Kingdom to date. We have grown a lot, learned a ton, and we really feel like we are more prepared to do this now in ways that we wouldn't have been able to do several years ago. So we ask for your continued prayers.

So it's with a mixture of sadness (to be leaving such a fine mission and to be saying goodbye to our beloved Peruvian friends) and anticipation for continued use in the mission field. We are proud of what we have been able to accomplish here as well as the ways we've been able to serve Peru Mission. We couldn't have done it without the prayers and support of our friends around the world. Thank you.

The immediate future: We'll be moving back to our hometown of Bryan/College Station around mid-August to begin development for this new project.

Some of our supporters have asked us about continued support & partnership. The short answer: Yes! August will be our last month employed with Peru Mission, and then we will be in full-time fundraising mode for Calgary. There will be a few months gap until our mission board / paperwork, etc., are all in place to process gifts & receipts. We will keep you posted.

Thanks for being a part of our lives and the work of Christ’s kingdom. It is a privilege to be in this together with you.

Grace & Peace,
John & Heather Ferguson

Banff National Park, an hour outside of Calgary

New Students at UCV

2008-06-17T22:46:00.003-05:00

Last night, we had a dozen students over from UCV, or Cesar Vallejo University. Our Peruvian campus minister, Gerardo, is working on an additional degree there and has to teach some courses as well. Through his influence there, we are gaining access to new students.

Please pray for these new students as we seek to enfold them into the campus ministry and as we seek ways to meaningfully speak the Gospel to them and through them to other students.

Conferences

2008-06-17T22:14:00.008-05:00

Thank you all for praying for the conferences that we had with university students here in Trujillo and in Cajamarca.

Dr. David Doughty & Dr. Gary Whiting of Christopher Newport University came here to help us with our relationships with local universities by providing lectures in their areas of expertise (Doughty--Physics & Whiting--Ecology) as well as lectures on the relationship of science and faith.

We kept the men busy with lectures at the National University of Trujillo and Cesar Vallejo University in Trujillo, and then we bused 7 hours into the Andes mountains to connect with Dr. Alonzo Ramirez in our Cajamarca branch of Peru Mission. There, the professors gave lectures at the National University of Cajamarca as well as the local church. Throughout the week, these men spoke to crowds of upwards to 150 students and faculty. They were an amazing help to our ministry here in both enabling us to serve the universities and show that we take the universities seriously, as well as demonstrating that Christians can be scientists and leaders in their fields. As one student to Dr. Ramirez, the thinking among many Peruvians is that you cannot be a scientist and a Christian at the same time.

We had a little fun as well. In Cajamarca, we went hiking at Cumbe Mayo (a rare treat that we don't have the ability to do in Trujillo). Beautiful countryside. Here are some pics, but of course they don't do it any justice.

At the end of the week, Gerardo and I felt a little worse for wear, but we had a great time.

Thank you, Drs. Doughty & Whiting, for your service to our work here and for they way you demonstrated Christian integrity in your fields. Thanks to all the students who worked hard to make this possible, and thanks to all of you back in the states who prayed for the week. re

Guest Lectures at Local Universities

2008-06-01T21:52:00.003-05:00

Wow, has it really been that long since I’ve blogged? I’m terribly sorry. Let me try to fill you in a bit.

After the whirlwind of the spring break trips, the month of April was a fairly normal, back to the nuts and bolts of ministry month. I was officially received into the Presbytery here (a long time in coming!), I taught our RUF large group meeting several times, preached in our church in Larco the week before our new pastor was installed, and participated in a number of our small groups while working on philosophy of ministry stuff with Gerardo, our campus ministry.

May was an interesting month. He had an unexpected trip back to Houston for the funeral of Heather’s brother. We also took our family on a vacation to Machu Picchu, now one of the official Seven Wonders of the World. It was amazing and you can see more about our trip on my wife’s blog. Now where preparing for a number of short term teams that will be coming in the next weeks.

Last year, Dr. Doughty taught to a standing-room-only @ UNT
Last year, Dr. David Doughty of Christopher Newport University came and assisted our ministry by giving several physics lectures at La Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, including an additional talk on “How a Physicist Sees God” at our university ministry. He is back again for another series of lectures, and this time he brought a colleague, Dr. Gary Whiting who will be giving some biology lectures as well. Both men will be speaking both at UNT and at La Universidad Cesar Vallejo under the auspices of our university ministry. Please be in prayer for us this week as we’ll head up to Cajamarca on Wednesday to do the same thing there with the Cajamarca branch of Peru Mission. I’ll post pictures and updates in the coming week.

Thanks SMU, OU, & Bama

2008-03-25T15:14:00.007-06:00

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

2008-03-23T16:07:00.002-06:00

"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

2008-03-12T22:15:00.003-06:00

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

2008-03-11T16:06:00.007-06:00

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

2008-03-04T11:38:00.005-06:00

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

2008-03-04T11:30:00.004-06:00

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!!!

2008-03-04T11:21:00.003-06:00

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

2008-03-04T11:10:00.004-06:00

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

2008-03-04T10:59:00.003-06:00

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.

ER & The Atonement...Wow!!!

2008-02-17T15:33:00.006-06:00

Kingdom People posted this powerful clip from the television program, ER. The scene is a man dying of cancer speaking to a well-intentioned, feel- good- let's- ask- questions chaplain. Exasperated, the man exclaims at one point, "I need answers! I want a real chaplain who believes in a real God and a real hell....I want someone to look me in the eye and tell me how to find forgiveness because I'm running out of time."

These quasi intellectual games of relativism are all fun and games until we are on our deathbed facing what comes next. How do we face it?

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners..." (1 Tim. 1:15)."

This is what makes Christianity unique. Instead of turning us inward to look for answers in our personal black holes, Christianity points us away from ourselves and to the Lord Jesus. He in a class all by himself. He alone can give comfort and courage in the face of death because death no longer has the last word.

To all other to all other "answers," there is only one thing to say: "Get out! Get out!!! GET OUT!!!

US dollar drops to 10 year low in Peru

2008-02-15T13:23:00.001-06:00

"With its tenth consecutive decline in value on Monday, the US dollar dropped in appreciation against Peru's sol to 2.908 by the end of the trading day.

"It was reported that this is the lowest the US currency has been valued since July 1998, when the dollar was worth 2.909 soles."

livinginperu.com

Waiting on God

2008-02-11T20:50:00.000-06:00

A favorite author of mine (and now blogger), David Tripp, has some winsome things to say about waiting on God...

Double Bows

"This side of eternity you and I are called to wait. We're called to recognize that the most important, most essential, most beautiful, and most lasting things in our life are things over which we have no control. No, these things are the gracious gifts of a loving Father. He never is foolish in the way he dispenses his gifts. He never plays favorites. He never mocks our neediness. He never plays bait and switch. He never teases or toys with us. His timing is always right and the gifts that he gives are always appropriate to the moment. He is kind, faithful, loving, merciful, and good....Somewhere in your life you are being called to wait. In your waiting, you are being given an opportunity to deepen and strengthen your faith. "

Read the full entry here.

Peru Mission Bulletin -- Twin Lakes

2008-02-11T20:35:00.000-06:00

Here is a copy of our latest Peru Mission Bulletin.

New RUF Semester in Full Swing

2008-02-11T20:07:00.000-06:00

We've had four meetings of the new semester in RUF, and things are off to a good start. We are having around 30+ students attending, Geraldo has taught on the New Year and New Mission that Jesus came to launch in fulfilling the old promise of God (Luke 4:18-21). Last week I had the privilege of teaching our RUF group on the call of Abraham and the old promise that God set in motion to bless this world through Abraham and his descendents (Genesis 12). [Here's a few pics my wife took of the evening....]

Having taught in our seminary in Spanish (or more accurately, Spanglish!), this was my first opportunity to teach RUF in Spanish, that is, my first time to teach without a translator. I think I had everyone's attention, but I'm not convinced that they weren't straining trying to figure out what this gringo was trying to say. After, several folks said that they could understand about 90%, so I guess that's not a bad start. I still have far to go, but we're making progress!

Please be in prayer for our group. We are having around 30 students attending, and this year is in many ways a transition year with some of our previous leaders no longer in the university.

Tuesday, I'm launching a small group on sexual purity--a much needed study here as in the States. Wednesday evening, we're launching a new discipleship group that will ground folks in the basics of Christianity. This study is broken into 3 stages and students can progress through it and complete it in about 8 months. And of course, please continue to pray for our Spanglish!

A Simple Prayer of Trust in the Darkness

2008-02-01T12:58:00.000-06:00

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have the desire in all I am doing.
I hope from that desire,
and I know that if I do this
you will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore I will trust you always,
though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

- Thomas Merton

[HT: Kingdom People]

RUF Starts Back Up

2008-01-21T23:06:00.000-06:00

Friday night we started back up with RUF on our regular Friday Night meetings. We had around 35 students out plus a handful of our SALI staff. Please pray for us as we launch small group studies in the weeks to come. Here are some photos of the first night. Enjoy!

How Well Are You Counseling You?

2008-01-21T22:26:00.000-06:00

Paul Tripp has been very infuential in my life and ministry over the years. He has written a book called "Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands" that I think everyone should read and digest.

He also has a blog which you ought to subscribe to with your Google Reader.

He drops nuggets of wisdom like this one all the time....

No one is more influential in your life than you are because no one talks to you more than you do. You're in an unending conversation with yourself. You're talking to yourself all the time, interpreting, organizing, and analyzing what's going on inside you and around you....

What do you regularly tell yourself about yourself, God, and your circumstances? Do your words to you encourage faith, hope, and courage? Or do they stimulate doubt, discouragement, and fear? Do you remind yourself that God is near, or do you reason within yourself, given your circumstances, that he must be distant? Do you encourage yourself to run to God even when you don't understand what he's doing? Or do you give yourself permission to back away from him when you are confused by the seeming distance between what he's promised and what you're experiencing? Are you your own best defense lawyer, laying out arguments for your innocence in places where you're actually guilty? When others talk to you, is your internal conversation so loud that it's hard to concentrate on what they're saying?

Here's the question. How wholesome, faith-driven, and Christ-centered is the conversation that you have with you every day? Do you remind yourself of your need? Do you point you, once again, to the beauty and practicality of his grace? Do you tell yourself to run toward God in those moments when you feel like running from him?
Would you be comfortable with someone playing a public recording of the private conversation you have with you every day?

Read the entire post here.

Assimilating Scripture

2007-12-31T20:34:00.000-06:00

Eugene Peterson has a very helpful book, seductively entitled, "Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading. You can check it out on Google Books & Amazon. Vintage Peterson, it is chock full of great quotes, like this...

Christians feed on Scripture. Holy Scripture nurtures the holy community as food nurtures the human body. Christians don't simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolized into acts of love, cups of cold water, missions into all the world, healing and evangelism and justice in Jesus' name, hands raised in adoration of the Father, feet washed in company with the Son [p. 18]

Do you have a plan to read and assimilate Scripture for the coming year? Whatever plan you have, whether focusing in on a few books and seeking to master them, or reading through the whole, commit yourself to seeking to know the glory of God in the face of Christ and assimilating this book. Check out these plans here and here and here.

Need some extra motivation? My son, Jason (8 years old), read through the NT in 2007 using the 5x5x5 reading plan. This is his advice:

"Make sure that you keep on schedule, and if they are any verses you like you should memorize them."

Last Meeting of 2007

2007-12-26T17:57:00.001-06:00

RUF/ SSA finished off the year by celebrating a Christmas dinner together. We ate chicken & rice & panatones, and we capped off the evening with a fun game nominating students for noticeable virtues. A fun time was had by all, and it was a great way to end the year. We took over 170 pics, but here is a little slide show of about 50 of them.

Special thanks to Gerardo & his wife, Isabel, and the leadership team of RUF for making this an enjoyable year.

SALI Graduates

2007-12-26T14:53:00.000-06:00

Our San Agustin Language Institute just graduated its first class of five students. These folks have been studying for years to get to this point, and we are very proud of them.

Ana Haro Chalón
Carol Ponte Roncal
Cory Luz Marina Vásquez Valles
Juan Eduardo Quiroz Aldave
Miguel Placencia Velarde

Thanks to all the staff who have poured into this branch of our mission over the years.

This Can't Be What It's All Cracked Up To Be

2007-12-26T10:57:00.000-06:00

From the Founder's Ministry Blog:

"Tom Brady, the 3-time Super Bowl champion quarterback of the New England Patriots was featured the week in a 60 Minutes interview with Steve Kroft on CBS. Brady is already a sports legend in one of the citadels of professional sports in America, Boston. His current team is 15-0 and is poised to finish the season undefeated, something that hasn't been done in the NFL in 35 years. He has won the Super Bowl MVP twice and been named to the Pro Bowl 4 times. He also was recently named the Associated Press' "Male Athlete of the Year."

"He has dated actresses and supermodels and makes millions of dollars a year. He has been called America's most eligible bachelor. By most popular standards, he has it all. That is why I was struck by hearing him make the following statement during the interview:

"Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, 'Hey man, this is what is.' I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, 'God, it's got to be more than this.' I mean this isn't, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be."

"When Kroft asked him, "What's the answer?" Brady responded, "I wish I knew. I wish I knew. I love playing football and I love being quarterback for this team. But at the same time, I think there are a lot of other parts about me that I'm trying to find."

Read the article.

Peru Mission Christmas Newsletter

2007-12-19T20:33:00.002-06:00

Here is our Peru Mission Christmas Newsletter in jpg.

To click on the links, check out the newsletter here.

December 2007 Newsletter

2007-12-04T20:39:00.001-06:00

Prayer Requests

2007-11-27T13:54:00.000-06:00

* Praise for the apologetics class I have been teaching in Spanish which will conclude this week (which also explains the scarcity of posts on this blog). It was a good exercise for me, and I trust, very useful for our students. Pray that these students will be effective witnesses and defenders of the faith in Peru.

* Pray for continual acquisition of the language. We are conversant, but not fluent, and I think it is pretty ugly if not torturous! Since language is our primary tool, mine definitely needs sharpening and I need much more skill.

* Pray for personal holiness. This whole journey has been what my wife calls 'fast-track sanctification.' God is growing us in many ways, but we still need to grow in love, patience, trust & joy (and probably a lot of other areas that we don't know about!)

* Finally, pray for our university ministry here. Geraldo (the main campus minister) and I will be working over the Christmas break on our plan of action for the upcoming year. We will be trying to gather students into small groups, develop our philosophy of ministry, and become more effective in outreach. Pray that God would go before us, give us wisdom, and enable us to speak the Gospel in meaningful ways to the students here.

Free Audio Book: Jonathan Edwards

2007-11-04T21:13:00.001-06:00

Not a few of you will be interested in this. In addition to having an All Saints weekend sale (which expires tonight, lo siento), the good folks over at Christian Audio.com you can download the audio book of Jonathan Edwards' Religious Affections (unabridged). Fortunately, as Edwards might say(!), this offer doesn't expire tonight. During the month of November, you can download this classic work of New England spiritual theology for free. You'll need this code: NOV2007.

"God is glorified not only by His glory's being seen, but by its being rejoiced in...."

Anonymous The Coward

2007-11-04T20:27:00.000-06:00

I hate even saying anything about this, but since "Anonymous" left the comment on my wife's blog, I feel compelled to answer. I normally don't respond to folks who leave comments but don't have the dignity or valor to back up their comments by affixing their names, but I'll make an exception here.

Here is the comment made about the Christian missionaries that was left on my wife's blog [without editing]...

protestant men dressing up as Catholic priests in a culturally Catholic country. Liars all of them. Such dishonesty should not be tolerated by those claiming to be men preachng Chirst. Deceit such as this can only be the work of the Prince of this World.

Think twice before taking on a collar! There is no need to hide you are or even by sight try to decieve the locals.

A couple observations...
1. We know that "anonymous" is a hypocrite because he said, "There is no need to hide [who] you are...." Thanks for your immaculate example.

2. Who is hiding? We are as open as we can be about who we are. Check out the websites. Read our Confession of Faith. Visit our churches. Attend our seminary classes. No one is trying to be Roman priests. Nothing is hidden.

3. Since when, "Anonymous," have you been given insight into our hearts? You charge us with deceit & dishonesty, and call us liars. Wow. Now this, to use your words, "is the work of the Prince of this world." I'm assuming that you call yourself a Christian (unless you've jettisoned that as well). So much for assuming the best about fellow believers! Have you taken the time to ask us why we do this? You may not like it, but don't attribute motives and slander us. THAT is shameful, demonic behavior.

4. Until recently, Christian ministers have always been identified by ministerial clothing, Romanists, Orthodox, & Protestant. Many Protestant ministers outside of Baptist and Pentecostal circles still "take on the collar." And there is good reason to continue this practice. For those who might care to be informed on this, the Rev. Jeff Meyers (presbyterian minister) has two excellent posts of this here and here. Again, "Anonymous," you are spouting your ignorance.

5. If you have bones to pick, leave the comments on my blog and leave my wife alone, especially if you don't have the guts to leave your name.

6. And finally, "Anonymous", you simply need to repent. And I'll be glad to post your apology along with your name and extend grace and forgiveness.

For my other readers, I'm sorry about doing this here. I have mixed feelings about doing so. I hope you understand.

Prayer Requests

2007-11-03T23:45:00.001-06:00

* As some of you know, my father is in the middle of a battle with cancer. He is about 20 days into his first round of 26 treatments with radiation and chemotherapy, and he is fairly weakened from it. Please pray for strength, endurance, faith, & healing. It is frustrating for us to be so far away, though I may be able to travel to the US in December when he is supposed to have surgery to remove a tumor.

* While not nearly as serious (and I feel a little silly requesting this in light of what my dad is going through), I have had an upper respiratory infection since the middle of September. It bothers me mostly in the morning and at night, though I have coughing fits during the day too. Our friend from Illinois, Dr. Doolittle, examined me about two weeks ago when he was here and said that there is no evidence of pneumonia. At any rate, I have need for strength, endurance, faith, & healing as well.

* In the previous post, I mentioned my seminary in Apologetics that I'm teaching. A lot if not most of the concepts would be challenging to communicate in English, let alone Spanish. Pray for my language acquisition and continued development, and pray for my students as well that God would grant them insight, a love for the Gospel, and greater abilities to engage our culture as they participate in proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ.

Reformed Biblical Seminary

2007-11-03T23:21:00.000-06:00

I want to take just a moment to get you all up to speed about our Fall semester with Reformed Biblical Seminary (or, Seminario Biblico Reformado). The semester kicked off on Sept. 30th with a convocation service at our church in Larco. My ol' friend and classmate from Texas A&M, Wes Baker (pictured to the right), preached on Jesus as our model Shepherd.

Right now we have a handful of classes. Wes is teaching Liturgics (Worship), Allen Smith is teaching Hebrew 1, Bill Bradford is teaching Greek & Reformation History, and I am teaching apologetics.

Apologetics is a course on defending the faith against objections. I am enjoying it, though it is eating my lunch! Most of my time every week is spent studying, writing out my notes, translating my notes, reviewing my translation with my conversation partner, and teaching. My Spanish is very ugly, I know, so I've told my students that part of the design of the course is to increase their sanctification, especially in the area of patience.

Speaking of our students, I have anywhere from 5-10 students, depending on the day, week, holidays, etc. Several university students sit in on the class as time permits, including one non-Christian. One of our desires is to see God raise up future ministers and campus ministers, especially from our campus ministry, so please pray accordingly.

Here is a photo from the commencement service....

From left to right: Allen Smith, Bill Bradford, Yours Truly, & Wes Baker.

Heather's post is here.

Screwtape is in NYC?

2007-10-27T01:35:00.000-05:00

I've never really wanted to go to NYC, that is, until now. The Screwtape Letters are being performed on stage by the celebrated Max McLean (be sure to click on the video for a sneak preview). McLean is the voice behind various editions of the Listener's Bible, The Valley of Vision, and Classics of the Christian Faith.

The Screwtape Letters is the classic work of CS Lewis, Oxford literary scholar and author of numerous books including Mere Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia. In The Screwtape Letters, a senior demon, Screwtape, gives demonic advice to his newphew, Wormword, about how to keep his patient--who just became a Christian--on the wrong path.

"My dear Wormword, You mentioned in your last letter that the patient has continued to attend one church, and one only, since he was converted, and that he is not wholly pleased with it. May I ask what you are about? Why have I no report on the causes of his fidelity to the parish church? Do you realise that unless it is due to indifference it is a very bad thing? Surely you know that if a man can't be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighbourhood looking for the church that 'suits' him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches."

At any rate, I'm glad that Max McLean has this opportunity to bring this classic to life. Providential blessings! This could be enough to get me to say, "I 'heart' NYC!"

[I do hope this will be available to a broader audience in some format.]

Arequipa, Part 3: What to do with Mary?

2007-10-26T23:49:00.000-05:00

While visiting the Monestary of Santa Catalina in Arequipa, I came across a great room of three halls (in the shape of a Cross) lined with art work from over the last several centuries. Some of it was simply breathtaking. (The above photo would be at the foot of these three long hallways).

My pictures didn't come out very well because we were not permitted to use a flash, but you can see here an interesting set of paintings. The one above is a picture of God creating the world, and the one below it is a series of paintings about the Garden of Eden. Now take a closer look at the second painting....

Do you notice anything curious? Or perhaps suspicious? The picture portrays God the Father instructing Adam & Eve regarding the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil. But who is that behind the Father? Here is a close up...

That's right. The Blessed Virgin Mary. What is she doing there? in the Garden of Eden at the creation of the world? My Bible doesn't say anything about that.

My (American) Roman Catholic friends will tell me that this is simply a misguided artist and this isn't official Roman Catholic teaching. But I think Rome sends mixed signals. For example, the RCC Catechism 971 says, "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship." Then in the next breath it says that the devotion given to Mary is different than the adoration given to the Trinity.

And then there's folks like Scott Hahn, the poster-child for protestant converts to Rome. He is everywhere acknowledged as one of the great communicators and popularizers of Rome's teachings. I have his book, Hail, Holy Queen, and have been reading it. Listen to what he says, "God is a family...God's covenant family is perfect lacking nothing. The Church looks to God as Father, Jesus as Brother...What's missing, then? In truth, nothing. Every family needs a mother. For a family is incomplete without a loving mother." Hence, Mary. [pp. 19, 27; italics added.]

He goes on to speak of her "mystical marriage to God who is at once her Father, her Spouse, and her Son" (p. 38). You'd almost get the notion that she is the third member of the Trinity. But, he didn't say that, did he? He didn't have to. If we worship the Father & the Son, why not worship the Mother? Why not give her divine attributes if she is a part of the divine family? In reality, lots of folks do. They understand perfectly clearly what is being said.

It is not uncommon to talk to folks here in Peru who treat Mary as the third member of the Trinity. Or better yet, as the mediator between humanity and an angry Father and angry Son. BUT, the above picture and endorsed and celebrated Roman teachers are indicative of the omnipresent tendency within Roman Catholicism to exalt Mary.

Or take the example of the influential St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787), bishop and Doctor of the Roman Church. From his book, The Glories of Mary, (which I also have and which can still be bought on Amazon; it has a Five Star rating, BTW!) in which he teaches among other things the omnipotency of Mary (p. 96), he offers this prayer in a section of teaching called, "Mary is an Advocate Who is Able to Save Everybody",

"We are great sinners, but God has enriched you with mercy and power far greater than our iniquities. You are both able and willing to save us; and the more unworthy we are, the more we shall hope in you in order to reach heaven ourselves and to glorify you there...You have only to open your lips and ask your son. He will deny you nothing. Pray, then, O Mary, pray for us!"

Or his prayer from the Catholic Forum:

"I worship thee, great Queen...; most of all do I thank thee for having saved me from hell, which I had so often deserved. I love thee, Lady most worthy of all love, and, by the love which I bear thee, I promise ever in the future to serve thee, and to do what in me lies to win others to thy love. In thee I put all my trust, all my hope of salvation."

[Aside: How is it that Martin Luther was condemned as a heretic and anathematized, and Ligouri is celebrated, canonized (made into a Saint) by Pope Gregory XVI in 1831 and made a Doctor of the RCC in 1871 by Pope Pius IX? Come on, Rome!!!]

Now, for the average Protestant, or for that matter, for any Christian who takes the Scriptures seriously, this is beyond just plain silly. This is pretty much a textbook case of, say, blasphemy. This makes every fiber of our being cringe. When will the Pope B16 come out and quash this nonsense??? Of course, the answer is he can't, at least without losing his power base.

So what do we do? I think most Protestants swing to the other extreme and have nothing to do with Mary, the mother of Jesus. I think this is a mistake. Just like Christians love and honor St. Paul, or St. Peter, or St. Augustine, or St. Anselm, or St. John Calvin, so we can love and honor Santa Maria. Jesus loved her and honored her. And there is no reason we cannot do this. Just because people abuse her (and I do think the above would qualify for this--I think she would be embarrassed!) doesn't mean that we should leave her to their abuse. We need nothing less than a Reformation of true honor and true love for Mary.

If you are interested, I recently read a simple, balanced, & sane approach to the subject of Mary. It is called The Real Mary: Why Evangelical Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus by Scot McKnight. He says from the start that this is a book about Mary for Protestants, though I'm convinced that it would be a welcome relief for weary and misled Roman Catholics. I enthusiastically recommend it.

"Why write a book for Protestants about Mary? Here's why: Because the story about the real Mary has never been told. The Mary of the Bible has been hijacked by theological controversies whereby she has become a Rorschach inkblot in which theologians find whatever they wish to find. In the midst of this controversy the real Mary has been left behind. It is time to let her story be told again....Because the real Mary always leads us to Jesus."

Mary is indeed blessed among women, she whose soul glorified the Lord and whose spirit rejoiced in God her Savior (the Magnificat, Luke 2). Any serious Christian can and ought to join their voice in calling her blessed.

Arequipa, Part 2: The Monestary

2007-10-26T23:03:00.000-05:00

While in Arequipa, I did a little exploring. I came across the Monasterio de Santa Catalina. This was a convent founded in 1579 under the Dominican order and is considered to be one of the most important and impressive religious monuments in
Peru. It resembles a small village behind walls in the middle of the city with lots of nooks and cranies. It was interesting to imagine what life must have been like.

The convent was largely a mystery until 1970 when local authorities made the convent install modern infrastructures. Interest was sparked and it was opened for tourism. Originally, more than 200 nuns were sequestered here, though now only around 30 live in the convent behind walls and away from the public.

For $30, I got to wander around by myself for about 3 hours, taking lots of pics, and enjoying some solitude. Must have been nice!

I loved the contrast of the buildings with the beautiful clear blue skies of Arequipa.

This was how they washed clothes!

This is one of many rooms where you could kneel on one of the comfy kneelers and prayer to a statue (if you are into that sort of thing, and are so inclined).

This is a typical kitchen with charred walls.

This is a typical room, though this one was atypical in that it had chairs and a desk.

Below is a picture of the confessionals. This is where nuns would confess their sins to priests who were on the other side of the wall. This is the closest they would come to outsiders and to the sound of a man's voice. I wonder how popular these confessionals were?

Arequipa, Part 1: Language School

2007-10-26T22:26:00.001-05:00

We moved here to Trujillo without having attended language school in order to learn it the old fashioned way. I'm glad we did it this way, but we did miss out on being able to focus only on Spanish for a period of time. Here in Trujillo, my time is divided among (1) Peruvians, (2) the interns with our SALI language institute and also with various meeting with the mission team, and (3) my family. So easily two-thirds of my life has been spent with "the Gringos" and hence in English.

In the middle of September, my wife and the Mission Team gave me permission to head to the south of Peru to spend two weeks in intensive language school. I attended the Casa de Avila language school which met outside everyday in a bright, sunny courtyard with near perfect temperature (lower 70s and clear blue skies)!

Here is a picture of Marta & me. She was my house mother from whom I rented a room. She was super sweet and very interested in our work as a mission.

As a somewhat jaded & discouraged Roman Catholic, she kept asking me when our Mission was going to come to Arequipa to help the people of Arequipa. Every morning for breakfast, she asked great questions about what we believed and what the Bible said and about the Gospel. She was frustrated because in her experience, her church doesn't really teach anything and it is impossible to have a conversation with a priest to ask questions. Our breakfasts always ended too quickly. She was a great encouragement. She sent me off one day saying, "Learn more Spanish so you can teach us better!" That memory sustains me often.

Here are some pics of the Plaza de Armas. Nearly every city in Peru has a downtown plaza with a Roman church or cathedral, restuarants, government building, etc. Arequipians are very proud of theirs. It is truly one of the most impressive that I have seen.

And to close with, here are some pics of my spanish teachers. Every day, I had an hour and a half with one professor, and then another hour and a half with another professor. We always went over this time, and I received almost four hours a day of instruction, five days a week for two weeks, or for a total of about 40 hours. I think it was well worth it to be able to escape English speakers and immerse myself and clarify some very fuzzy thinking in my mind with this language.

Thanks Janette & Juliana!

Colton's B-day

2007-10-26T22:11:00.000-05:00

This is really late, but as promised, I'm going to post some pics of Colton-boy's Bday. We had a great time ushering in his 8th birthday as you can tell....

It's hard to believe that we don't have any 7 year olds left in the house. We are so proud of him. He has really grown and matured a lot in this year.

Heather, who has been blogging circles around me, has entries here and here for his bday (in case you haven't seen her blog).

Back in the Saddle...

2007-10-26T21:41:00.000-05:00

Hey folks,

I know, it's been waaaay too long since I've blogged here. I'm sorry. Life has been pretty much turned upside down in the last month and a half. I went in mid September to Arequipa for two weeks of intense language study before the beginning of our seminary classes (the main tidal wave that has hit my ship!).

I'm teaching a course on Apologetics, that is, the defense of the faith. I'm teaching it in Spanish! Kinda of. Its pretty ugly, I suspect, but its happening.

My wife is in Santiago, Chile, this weekend for a missionary wives in South America conference. She is there with Jami Baker and Allen Bradford as well.

So, along with hanging out with the kids this weekend, I plan to get some updating done on the blog. I know that if you don't update your blog, you lose your readership. I hope to get you back, so stay tuned....

Did You Know...Shift Happens?

2007-09-16T10:56:00.000-05:00

Another version of it can be viewed here.

Teaching at RUF

2007-09-07T09:24:00.000-05:00

With Geraldo gone in Lima for the last several weeks, I have filled in with the teaching & preaching responsibilities. The first week I taught on Mark 2, the passage where the paralytics friends lower him into the house where Jesus was, and Jesus both healed him physically & spiritually. I talked about the new hope & transformation that Jesus brings.

This past week, I spoke from James 4 and Psalm 39 and the shortness of life. We picked up the two images the Scriptures give us in this passage--that of a vapor and of a breath--and reflected on what our lives meant in light of these two metaphors.

Here are some pics from last week. Enjoy.

Heather Campbell & Pablo Quiroz Battling It Out
Heather & our new SALI intern, Jamie Elkin.
Crowd Mixer Led by Pablo
Yours truly, Clara Lee, & Percy
Life is a Vapor
Celebrating Joshua & Pablo's Birthdays

Justin boy is 12 years old....

2007-09-06T11:21:00.000-05:00

Well, since today is Colton's birthday, I was reminded that I hadn't posted anything from Justin's bday party a few weeks ago so I better do it before I get in (more) trouble. Justin is 12 years old, and as they say here, No puedo creerlo--I can't believe it!. So here goes (I'll post pics of Colton's party after we have it!):

Here is a picture of Justin vanquishing his 16 year old foe at Twister.

Here is the female contingent and Abby sporting her prize for winning a game.

Here's Justin with his buds opening a present.

Here are some participants getting their game-face on.

And this was a crowd favorite: Ninja, Warrior, & Indian (Kinda like Rock, Paper, & Scissors, but more fun).

Happy Birthday Justin! We love you!!!

Earthquake Update

2007-08-28T18:03:00.000-05:00

Hey folks,

With the money that we collected from folks in the states and here in Peru, our Mission was able to give $3381 to aid in the relief work among those affected in Peru.

Clara Lee & Pastor Jaime Avellaneda from Peru Mission just came back from a trip to some of the areas in southern Peru affected by the recent earthquake. Here is a brief report from Clara:

Dear all,

A brief report on the relief trip we took to Chincha this weekend, exactly ten days after the earthquake. The worst of the cleanup has already taken place, but I believe we were able to deliver help to some people in real need.

Jaime coordinated our relief effort together with the brothers at Los Olivos church in Lima, which has been collecting donations. He rented a bus and purchased about $1000 US worth of blankets, plastic sheets, diapers, food and water, and adding in the food and clothing donations collected at the church there was barely enough room for us to fit in.

We decided to go to Chincha because one of the brothers at Los Olivos had a sister there, and they were able to coordinate with a group of neighbors and families in need to gather at her house. We left Lima about 6:40 am and traveled down the coast, past lots of sand dunes and ocean views. A few sections of the road were damaged and we had to travel on a single lane, but the traffic was well regulated and we did not have any major delays. We began to see damaged highway rails, walls and rocks when we got closer to Chincha. Driving through the town itself, there were collapsed structures everywhere, and some tents outside where people had taken shelter.

We arrived around 10:30am at the sister's house, finding about 20-30 families (nearly all women and children) gathered outside. We carried pre-packed sacks of groceries and blankets into the house for later distribution. Jaime preached a short message to those gathered. Knowing of the region's devotion to local saints, he preached rather strongly about the futility of idol worship - gods who cannot see or hear - and asked the group to repeat John 14:6 after him, "Jesus said to them: 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" The crowd was responsive, but we can only hope they will have more chances to hear God's word being preached. There are very few evangelical churches in the region.

I asked the sister's husband whether other help had arrived, and he said the gov't had delivered some food and supplies. It appeared the people were getting some help, and access to water had been restored, but of course much more help would be needed to reconstruct people's homes. He told me that about a third of the homes in Chincha had collapsed. (Pisco, further south, suffered much more destruction, and currently is receiving most of the aid.)

Afterward, we decided to drive out to the pueblos jovenes, since aid was being distributed out of Chincha's Plaza de Armas and we did not want to duplicate efforts. We drove through several neighborhoods, first going from house to house, but quickly discovering that wherever we went people would gather and form a line, requiring us to distribute directly from the bus. For the most part the distribution was orderly; we tried to only give to women so that we would be more likely to reach families rather than individuals. Those who were elderly or carrying a baby were sure to receive a new blanket. Several of the people told us they had not received help out in the pueblos jovenes. Everyone was very excited about our gifts, and curious about who we were since we were traveling in a Lima city bus!

Finally around 2pm we had distributed everything we had. We had to turn away 5 people at the last distribution point, where the largest crowds had formed. However in the end I think we must have given something to at least 200 families, maybe more. The most popular items were the blankets, plastic sheets to reinforce shelters, and diapers! Food was also in high demand; clothing was not as needed.

At one point we crossed paths with a bus giving "Atencion Medica Gratuita", to whom we gave our donated medical supplies. They asked me where we had been, so as to know which areas were getting help and which still needed it. We also passed a few other gov't trucks distributing goods. What we saw confirmed the news reports we'd been hearing: that a lot of aid was arriving, enough to keep people from being destitute, but not enough to meet all of the need, and not in a very organized manner. Those who were lucky enough to have a bus pass by, and who ran to get a place in line, received aid; but it was difficult to know whether those who needed help the most were being reached.

All in all it was a good day, fortunately without any danger or strife, and with the amount of goods we distributed we gave some help, whether it be a lot or a little. It was a twelve-hour day counting the four hour trip out, four hours of distribution, and four hour trip back. When we got back to Los Olivos, we had a short "debriefing" session, during which the brothers from Los Olivos expressed a desire to continue to go back, get to know the people a little better, perhaps preach more and raise up a church. Jaime and I were a little more cautious, knowing how much it takes to start a church plant, but we all remain open to God's calling for future involvement with the area, especially how to contribute the additional funds we've received toward reconstruction.

You can view my photos at this link: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=7fd7gr5.5uum7v9l&x=0&y=-wrn7db. I took about 200 photos in all, but cut this album down to 125. Perhaps we can send some shortened form of this to our supporters.

Grace & peace,
Clara Lee

On a lighter note...

2007-08-20T22:03:00.000-05:00

Our friend, Sara Joy, sent us this video. We haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Not only is it funny, but it captures a sense of what we feel like trying to use all our meager Spanish to communicate. Enjoy....

Earthquake Relief Fund

2007-08-20T14:50:00.000-05:00

Hey folks,

We are sending out a request to join Peru Mission in collecting aid to send to the earthquake victims in central-south Peru. It was reported by Peru's National Civil Defense Institute (INDECI) that "16,669 homes have been destroyed. Reports are for the areas of Ica, Lima, Junín and Huancavelica. It was also reported that 9 highways, 8 hospitals, 4 churches, 2 schools and 2 hotels have been destroyed."

Below is some information on how you can help. Our plan is to send the first wire of funds from the states this Thursday, followed by another wire 10-14 days later. Thank you for your participation, and please continue to pray for those affected and for the Gospel & the Church of Jesus Christ to shine at this moment.

Grace & Peace,
John

[You can view the original Peru Mission e-bulletin here.]

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

As many of you know, a massive 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck Peru Wednesday evening at 6:40pm, killing hundreds in the southern cities of Pisco and Ica. One church in Pisco collapsed during a memorial service, which alone has left an estimated 200 dead.

The quake thankfully did little damage in the capital city of Lima 90 miles away, a city of nearly 10 million where many more might have perished. The mission's own RUF pastor John Ferguson, with his wife Heather and their children Colton, Jason, Justin, Kevin and Miranda, and our SALI director Caleb Sutton, all happened to be in Lima at the time and experienced some of the panic that occurred there. In northern Peru where our mission works, we felt the tremor, but did not suffer any damage.

The quake thankfully did little damage in the capital city of Lima 90 miles away, a city of nearly 10 million where many more might have perished. The mission's own RUF pastor John Ferguson, with his wife Heather and their children Colton, Jason, Justin, Kevin and Miranda, and our SALI director Caleb Sutton, all happened to be in Lima at the time and experienced some of the panic that occurred there. In northern Peru where our mission works, we felt the tremor, but did not suffer any damage.

The people of Peru are responding to the disaster and sending aid to the affected regions. As a mission, we will also be sending aid through the local church and/or the National Evangelical Council of Peru, which has already taken steps to collect needed items. If you would like to give to our brothers and sisters in need, you may send your contributions to the following address:

Christian Missionary Society
Re: Earthquake Relief Fund
PO Box 53363
Knoxville, TN 37950-3363

We will pledge to use 100% of any contributions received by Thursday, August 23 toward buying emergency supplies for those left without water, electricity or shelter, and 100% of any contributions received afterward toward ongoing care of the victims of this natural disaster.

Thank you again for your prayers.

In His Grace,
the Peru Mission team

We're all fine after the Earthquake in Peru

2007-08-16T10:59:00.000-05:00

We wanted to give you an update on the 8.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Peru last night. As of this writing, some 337 have been confirmed dead and some 1,350 injured, mostly from the region south of Lima. The death toll is expected to rise.

We have just arrived back home from Lima where we spent a few days on vacation. We were in Lima last night on the 6th floor of an 8 story hotel when the earthquake struck. We were getting ready to go out to eat at Chili's (our favorite home away from home restaurant in Lima and a little taste of Texas!) and Heather had just entered the bathroom to freshen up. I was checking out the news on the TV when the bed started shaking. My first thought was that a couple of our kids had started started wrestling on the bed. That's when Kevin yelled, "It's an earthquake!"

It was pretty freaky. I gathered the kids to stand under a door frame. We probably should have made a run for it outside but the building was moving so much that I didn't think my five kids could have maneuvered the six flights of stairs (plus Heather had been sick throughout our vacation). Things were falling off shelves, lights were swaying, our legs felt like jelly--as if we were on a boat that was rising and falling, and we had sensations of being dizzy and disoriented. I can only imagine what the building looked like from outside.

The whole thing lasted about five minutes, maybe longer, maybe less. At one point it eased and I thought it was passing, but then a second more powerful wave hit. That's when I started getting scared not knowing how this was going to play out. As soon as it was over, we ran down the stairs. On the way down, we saw plaster that had fallen from the ceiling. Most buildings didn't suffer damage in Lima, but some lost some windows, some small concrete pieces & rubble had fallen, especially where buildings connect to each other.

FoxNews is reporting that this quake struck about 90 miles SE of Lima and 25 miles down. A couple little cities called Ica and Pisco took a severe hit where most of the casualties occurred. We had planned on visiting this Ica to see the famed sea lions that live on the coast there, but we never got around to making the arrangements for that leg of the trip so we ended our trip a day early.

For those who don't know, we live in Trujillo which is about an hour flight north of Lima (or a nine hour bus ride which we took last night), so most of the tragedy is occurring on the opposite side of the country from us.

For more info, check out these news reports: FoxNews Photo Essay, Breitbart, 24 Dash & CNN.

Thanks for the emails & voice messages! Please pray for Peru, & especially for the Church of the Lord Jesus in central and southern Peru.

Joy's Eternal Increase

2007-08-08T17:29:00.000-05:00

My friend, Allen Smith, sent me this amazing message by Sam Storms, called, "Joy's Eternal Increase." It was given at a conference on Jonathan Edwards and this message is about Edward's biblically-shaped thinking on Heaven. You simply need to listen to it. I've listened to this sermon three times now and it continually causes me to hunger for Heaven.

I'm becoming more and more convinced that Christians need to recover a sense of where we are going, or more accurately, where the Biblical Story is headed: the New Heavens and New Earth. This must fill our horizons and thrill our imaginations. [That's one of the reasons I recently read to our kids Randy Alcorn's book, Heaven for Kids. This is basically a condensed version of his book, Heaven.]

Storm's message makes the last chapter of his book, One Thing. I have recently acquired a copy of it. I'm sure the rest of the book is good, but this chapter alone is worth the price of the book.

He says, "The essence of heaven is the vision of God and the eternal increase of joy in Him." And, "Heaven is characterized by the increase of joy. Heaven is not simply about the reality or experience of joy, but its eternal increase. The blessedness of the beauty of heaven is progressive, incremental, and incessantly expansive."

"They will see His face" (Rev. 22:4)

The Late Bishop Newbigin on Thinking Correctly About Election

2007-08-04T23:15:00.000-05:00

“No one can say why it is that one was chosen and another not, why it is that here the word came with power and the Holy Ghost, while there the same word carried no regenerating power. The answer to that question is known only to God. But if we cannot know for what reason one was chosen, we can most certainly know for what purpose he was chosen. He was chosen in order to be a fruit-bearing branch of the One True Vine, a witness through whom others might be saved. He was chosen in order that through him God’s saving purpose may reach to others and they too may be reconciled to God….

“While the ultimate mystery of election remains, one can see that the principle of election is the only principle that is congruous with the nature of God’s redemptive purpose. And we can also see that wherever the missionary character of the doctrine of election is forgotten, wherever it is forgotten that we are chosen in order to be sent, wherever the minds of believers are concerned more to probe backwards from their election into the reasons for it in the secret counsel of God than to press forward from their election to the purpose of it—which is that they should be Christ’s ambassadors and witnesses to the ends of the earth—wherever men think that that purpose of election is their own salvation rather than the salvation of the world, then God’s people have betrayed their trust.” ~ Lesslie Newbigin, "The Household of God"

Links That You Should Check Out

2007-08-04T10:36:00.000-05:00

Christians Worldwide Too Busy For God: "[I]t may be the case that (1) Christians are assimilating to a culture of busyness, hurry and overload, which leads to (2) God becoming more marginalized in Christians’ lives, which leads to (3) a deteriorating relationship with God, which leads to (4) Christians becoming even more vulnerable to adopting secular assumptions about how to live, which leads to (5) more conformity to a culture of busyness, hurry and overload. And then the cycle begins again."

Apologist says Church is Producing Atheists: “It [i.e., "Apologetics" - 1 Peter 3:15] should not be left to professors or specialists, such as C.S. Lewis. It needs to be incorporated into everything we do as the Church from cradle to grave.”

Signs of the Times: Church-Hopping in a Consumeristic Culture: the rise of "consumerism and narcissism" — when people expect to customize every experience to personal taste.
[HT: SermonAudio]

David Fairfield notes that each of the top 5 church planting churches in America are reformed. "...their theology is a particular kind of reformed theology, it is reformational not just reformed. This distinction is important. To use reformed theology as a cul-de-sac in our churches is to move against the entire point of God’s work in this world. Good reformed theology is going to be church planting, kingdom driven, multiplying, culture engaging, and grace centered or it is not good reformed theology."
[HT: JollyBlogger]

What informs JK Rowling's "Harry Potter" Series?

2007-08-03T22:05:00.000-05:00

Probably taking a risk in posting this, but this is for my friends who are in on this conversation. Check out this opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal:

It has been widely observed that J.K. Rowling owes a creative debt to Christian fantasists J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis (apart from their fondness for initials). It's odd now to remember that, at the same time, some parents have objected to the magic depicted in the Harry Potter books as a glorification of satanic practices. For "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" confirms something else apart from the well-thought-out-ness of Ms. Rowling's moral universe: It is subtly but unmistakably Christian.

For some good stimulation, check out this informed lecture by Rev. Jeff Meyers on "What Should Christians do with Harry Potter?" (comes with an nifty power point).

Also, this October 2000 Vancouver Sun interview is interesting in light of Book 7:

Are you a Christian?

“Yes, I am. Every time I've been asked if I believe in God, I've said yes, because I do, but no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than that, and I have to say that does suit me, because if I talk too freely about that, I think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books.”

July 2007 Newsletter

2007-07-30T18:41:00.000-05:00

Our One Year Anniversary in Peru

2007-07-30T14:03:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe, but we've made it to our first anniversary in Peru. Has it really been a year? That's what the calendar says! In some ways, it seems like a lifetime--we have learned so much (my wife calls it "fast-track sanctification").

I've put together a little slide show video of the sights, sounds, and faces of our university ministry here in Trujillo (~04:55). Thanks to all for your prayers and support.

My wife also did one that is more family-centered. Check it out....

Sorry about the quality. We had to reduce the quality to fit it onto the allowable MB upload. Perhaps future posts will be better.

Celebrating Peru's Independence Day at the Orphanage

2007-07-30T13:37:00.001-05:00

On Friday, we went out to the orphanage, Hogar de Esperanza, where Heather leads a weekly Bible study for the house mothers. On this day, the kids had a program and a parade to celebrate Peru's Independence Day.

One great memory: A local Peruvian pastor gave a devotional. He asked the kid's, "Who liberated Peru?" And they answered in unison: "Jesus!" (That was simply awesome.)

The kids made typical foods from the coast, jungle, and mountains of Peru. They took pride in their creations.

One of my favorite outfits was this cute little kid dressed as a chef.

Our kids enjoyed getting to see where Heather has her study and where the kids lived as well as meeting and playing with many of them. I think Heather is going to start taking them out there every Wednesday to play with the kids while she is in her study.

And our kids received an unexpected lesson about true heroism: We are thankful for the Millers, members of a PCA church, who saw a great need here and founded this orphanage and, as your run-of-the-mill average Christians, are engaged in the battle to push back the darkness with the Light of the Gospel.

Kevin Turns 10!!!

2007-07-30T13:18:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it. My second son, Kevin (aka "K-pac") turned 10 this past week. I am so thankful that God has given him to our family. He is a sensitive, caring, and fun covenant child.

Kevin received some cool gifts for his bday, including a sword and a big-boy 10-year old gift that he has been waiting for some time to receive: his very own pocket-knife.

After his birthday party in the afternoon with his friends, we celebrated by eating some great pizza at our favorite Italian restaurant, Lil' Tescana's.

Kevin, may the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make His face shine upon you and always be gracious to you, may the Lord lift up the light of His countenance upon you and give you His peace. And may you keep your eyes focused upon Him and grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Peru is...Peru needs....

2007-07-17T09:22:00.000-05:00

Allen Bradford has put together a nifty little presentation that helps gain a sense of the feel and the mission here in Peru. Enjoy....

Inconceivable!!!

2007-07-16T12:39:00.000-05:00

[the link is fixed]

Anyone who has been around my teaching ministry knows that I have found more useful illustrations from The Princess Bride than from anywhere else in pop culture. Here is an update on the actors some 20 years later (has it really been that long?).

So this one goes out to all my former students who fondly remember our response to the Gospel in the memorable words of Wesley, "As you wish."

It is true: Age happens to all of us!

[HT: Between Both Worlds]

The Mission is Growing

2007-07-14T01:03:00.000-05:00

The Bradford's have put together a collage of photos showing how our mission is growing. Here's a current picture that I borrowed (thanks Bradford's :) of our growing team, and God willing, there may be others in the near future.

And check out this nifty slide-show that the Bradford's put together explaining our ministry in northern Peru.

One of the Reasons why the Reformation Was (& still is) a Necessary Task...

2007-07-13T23:01:00.000-05:00

Some Christians are expressing shock and hurt that the Pope is being, well, Roman Catholic. But Baptist minister Al Mohler is not offended by the recent statement by Papa Ratz re-stating his view that the Roman Catholic church is the only true church.

Says Mohler,

"I appreciate the document's clarity on this issue. It all comes down to this -- the claim of the Roman Catholic Church to the primacy of the Bishop of Rome and the Pope as the universal monarch of the church is the defining issue. Roman Catholics and Evangelicals should together recognize the importance of that claim. We should together realize and admit that this is an issue worthy of division. The Roman Catholic Church is willing to go so far as to assert that any church that denies the papacy is no true church. Evangelicals should be equally candid in asserting that any church defined by the claims of the papacy is no true church. This is not a theological game for children, it is the honest recognition of the importance of the question.

The Reformers and their heirs put their lives on the line in order to stake this claim. In this era of confusion and theological laxity we often forget that this was one of the defining issues of the Reformation itself. Both the Reformers and the Roman Catholic Church staked their claim to be the true church -- and both revealed their most essential convictions in making their argument. As Martin Luther and John Calvin both made clear, the first mark of the true Church is the ministry of the Word -- the preaching of the Gospel. The Reformers indicted the Roman Catholic Church for failing to exhibit this mark, and thus failing to be a true Church. The Catholic church returned the favor, defining the church in terms of the papacy and magisterial authority. Those claims have not changed.

I also appreciate the spiritual concern reflected in this document. The artificial and deadly dangerous game of ecumenical confusion has obscured issues of grave concern for our souls. I truly believe that Pope Benedict and the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith are concerned for our evangelical souls and our evangelical congregations. Pope Benedict is not playing a game. He is not asserting a claim to primacy on the playground. He, along with the Magisterium of his church, believes that Protestant churches are gravely defective and that our souls are in danger...

I actually appreciate the Pope's concern. If he is right, we are endangering our souls and the souls of our church members. Of course, I am convinced that he is not right -- not right on the papacy, not right on the sacraments, not right on the priesthood, not right on the Gospel, not right on the church.

The Roman Catholic Church believes we are in spiritual danger for obstinately and disobediently excluding ourselves from submission to its universal claims and its papacy. Evangelicals should be concerned that Catholics are in spiritual danger for their submission to these very claims. We both understand what is at stake.

In addition to a Baptist's thoughts, here are some thoughts by presbyterian professor, Sean Lucas, who gets to the heart of the matter when he says...

For Roman Catholics, the only way to preserve unity is to point to apostolic succession, a line of ordination that goes back to the apostles. For Protestants, the means for unity is also apostolic succession, but it is a succession of commitment to the apostolic message and mission (Ephesians 2:11-22; Matthew 28:16-20).

And here's a perspective by an Orthodox minister on Papa Ratz's assertion:

Universal Primacy has a way of offering a [false] guarantee that transcends the cross [which can never be transcended]. No matter how badly we fail, the de jure Primacy of the Pope in every local Church, guarantees that no one can really mess it up. I think that is neat, and the product of human imagination. {brackets in the original quote}

No doubt, lots of folks--Christian & non--have a hard time hearing what Rome says today and taking her seriously. Perhaps a little humility might be in order, especially when she reflects the world & other religious entities so closely.

[HT: The Internet Monk, Between Two Worlds & Once More With Feeling.]

SALI's Casa de Café Part 2

2007-07-13T14:35:00.001-05:00

Well, our SALI staff did it again. We had a fantastic coffee house event Thursday night that featured talented musicians from our SALI staff, students, and university ministry. When my wife and I arrived (fashionably late), there were tons of people--well over 100.

Here is a video of some of our friends. This is the only video captured--too bad because we had some great talent.

Enjoy these pics of our students, staff, & friends.

Special thanks to Joe Bateman for taking most of the photos (except, of course, the ones in which he appears with the ladies!).

SALI's Casa de Café

2007-07-10T23:16:00.000-05:00

Peru Mission has created a service for the community in our language institute, called the San Agustin Language Institute, or SALI. It also serves as a big fishing pool by which we can create contacts and relationships with people in the community. SALI now averages about 225 students every month. Every once in a while, we have extra events. This Thursday we will have another Casa de Café which reminded me that I still needed to post photos of our last one (about a month or so ago).

We interacted with lots of our students from both SALI and our RUF who came out to experience a little bit of the ambiance of an American coffee shop. Some of our friends had a assembled a great little band and gave us an authentic taste of Peruvian culture and music. Enjoy the video.

At this event, we also said goodbye to many our SALI staff who have been with us over this past year. The students really loved these teachers, and we already miss them. It is not the same without them. They have left big shoes to fill!

Thanks Brian & Janelle!

2007-07-10T22:07:00.001-05:00

A shot of all of us together on their last day here. We ate at Big Ben at the beach called Huanchaco.
Well, by now our good friends Brian & Janelle are back in the good ol' US of A. Here is a shout out to them expressing our deep joy for their willingness to spend the last 5 weeks with us in Peru. They were students in our RUF chapter at Texas A&M, and are now some of our best cheerleaders in the work down here in Peru. In addition to that, they were representatives of our home church in Bryan, TX, Westminster Presbyterian. Here is a shout out to our home church as well. Thanks for sending them to us and for the encouragement that you were through their ministry to and among us. Grace & peace!

Guest Blogger: John Calvin

2007-07-10T21:48:00.000-05:00

“There is within the human mind, and indeed by natural instinct, an awareness of divinity....To prevent anyone from taking refuge in the pretense of ignorance, God himself has implanted in all men a certain understanding of his divine majesty. Every renewing its memory, he repeatedly sheds fresh drops...of a sense of deity inscribed in the hearts of all.” (1.3.1)

“...this conviction, namely, that there is some God, is naturally born in all, and is fixed within, as it were in the very marrow....[This] is not a doctrine that must first be learned in school, but one of which each of us is a master from his mother’s womb and which nature itself permits no one to forget, although many strive with every nerve to this end” (1.3.3).

"For how can the thought of God penetrate your mind without your realizing immediately that, since you are his handiwork, you have been made over and bound to his command by right of creation, that you owe your life to him?--that whatever you undertake, whatever you do, ought to be ascribed to him?" (1.2.2)

~The Institutes of the Christian Religion,

If you ever get the hankerin' to read through Calvin's Institutes (and every Christian should before s/he dies), you might find Tony Reinke's site helpful. He is blogging his way through the institutes, has some cool graphics and nice summaries of Calvin's thoughts.

Another Baby!!!

2007-07-10T20:32:00.001-05:00

No, not us! (We know that is what you were thinking :)

Geraldo & Isabel have had their new baby, Lesley Melanie. She will be called simply "Melanie." Geraldo is one of our seminary students and I work directly with him in our university ministry here. He is a great guy with great gifts. He is a good teacher/preacher and really connects with the university students. I am excited to have him (and his adorable wife) with our team.

Here is a picture of Elisabeth (one of our student leaders) with Isabel & Geraldo a few weeks from the date that Isabel "dio la luz a su bebé" [literally, "gave light to her baby." This is the way we say it in Spanish].

This is a picture of Heather holding teeny-tiny Melanie, together with Isabel.

And this is a picture of Heather with Melanie's big--and I might say, "mighty proud"--sister, Melina.

CBU & Relationships

2007-07-09T16:16:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned in an ealier request for prayer, I had the opportunity to meet with some students of Comunidad Bíblica Universitaria (CBU) at Cesar Vallejo University (a school of some 5-6K students). CBU is a student-led Bible study and the only other evangelical witness to the university campus besides RUF. They have been meeting each week this semester to study the Bible. Usually, each student takes a turn researching what the Bible has to say about something, and then they meet together and talk about the results.

They wanted to learn more about what the Bible said about "being unequally yoked" and they graciously agreed to invite me to speak on this topic. I had joked about this being great way to win friends and influence people because this topic is essentially about whether or not it is permissible for Christians to marry non-Christians (and by default, to date them). For those interested (and can read Spanish), here are my notes/handouts:

At any rate, they all listened intently, probably no doubt straining to understand this gringo's Spanish, but they all seemed very interested about what the Bible has to say about this, and they asked very good questions at the end. Like in the States, fears pervade about being single, the lack of candidates, and whether God is good and can be trusted.

Please pray for these students, for the Gospel to flourish here in the campuses of Trujillo, and the fruit of the Gospel to produce godly young men and women.

The 4th of July...Peruvian Style

2007-07-04T22:44:00.001-05:00

Well, our day started off when my friend, Brian, and I went to UNT for our Holiness of God study only to find that the faculty had barred the gates of the university closed with banners and a planned protest march. (I'm told that the best university profs get paid $500 per month--I think I'd protest too.)

Pretty exciting. The national police were out and everything. Then one of the protesters started speaking over the loud speakers about how all the North Americans are cheating Peru because their businesses are not paying taxes or their fair share of taxes, and if they would, then the government could pay the professors more. My eyes started darting back and forth as I realized I was the only obvious North American around (Bryan doesn't count since he could pass himself off for any number of nationalities!). We then headed over to SALI for our study, and Pablo invited a friend of his off the street who wasn't a Christian. Interesting discussion. We also had a new young lady join us so that made 8 or 9 students in our study!

Janelle accompanied Heather to the local orphanage, Hogar de Esperanza, for their weekly Bible study on the Fruit of the Spirit.

In the afternoon, Justin finished his first Spanish cycle/ book with our teacher, Noemi. He's been working on this for about eight months and scored a perfect 100 on his final exam (thus shaming his parents!!!).

In the evening, we had some of the other missionary families over for some homemade chili and fun. Here's some of the kids playing around.

Janelle also gave her presentation for her Master's thesis in Architecture on Peru Mission.

Afterwards folks enjoyed some trivial pursuit, a movie (Eight Below), cookies, laughter and and lots of fun jumping on the trampoline [Did you know the spanish word for trampoline literaly means "elastic bed"?].

Oh yeah...we did have some fireworks.

Well, sort of. They were on the TV from one of those CDs that plays various types of scenes on a loop. But hey, they were fireworks, kinda-sorta, nevertheless.

And that's our July 4th celebration...peruvian-gringo style.

Prayer Requests

2007-07-04T08:29:00.000-05:00

We could use your prayers for the following:

* Every Wednesday, Heather leads a study on the Fruit of the Spirit with the house mothers at a local orphanage called Hogar de Esperanza. This is a constant source of encouragement for these ladies.

* Every Wednesday I have our RUF study on La Santidad de Dios [The Holiness of God]. We have a great group of 7-8 young people. Please pray for their growth in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

* I have an opportunity to speak Thursday afternoon to the young people at CBU, a student-led evangelical Bible study. The topic I have been asked to address is "Relationships & Being Unequally Yoked." What a great topic to win friends and influence people!

* This weekend, I'll be teaching on the 9th Commandment at our local church during Sunday School. I regularly butcher the mother tongue of these folks!

* I'm having a lot more one-to-one meetings with students. The other day, I had an hour & 45 minute conversation with one student about wine, Jesus, & the Gospel. Depending with whom I am speaking, I can understand about 60-75% of what is being said.

And did I mention that this is in SPANISH?!!

Happy 4th of July. I think we are going to celebrate this evening with some friends and some home-cooked chili!

The Recent Busy-ness of Summer

2007-07-03T23:40:00.000-05:00

Summer with Peru Mission is often filled with visiting teams. The Bradfords just returned from our work in Cajamarca with three short-term mission teams. You can read about their activities with First Pres Jackson, MS, Trinity Pres Statesboro, GA, & Woodruffroad Pres Greenville SC, , here, here, and here.

Here in Trujillo, we have recently been busy with teams from Trinity Presbyterian in Jackson, MS, and Old Peach Tree Presbyterian from Duluth, GA.

Also, some new friends, Chris and Bonnie from Redeemer Pres in Athens, GA, came along with Old Peach Tree. Chris and Bonnie skipped out on a tour to Chan Chan to accompany me to our RUF small group study on the Holiness of God at the National University of Trujillo.

Here is a pic of Chris and me with some of our students, Juan, Santiago, & Edward.

Links You Should Check Out

2007-07-03T15:20:00.000-05:00

Here are some links that you should check out for life and ministry:

* The folks over at 9Marks have put together another excellent collection of articles for their July/August 2007 newsletter. One article that is simply a must-read is by David Powlison called "The Theraputic Gospel." What is the theraputic gospel? It is the one proclaimed in many pulpits across America, one that is...

"structured to give people what they want, not to change what they want. It centers exclusively around the welfare of man and temporal happiness. It discards the glory of God in Christ. It forfeits the narrow, difficult road that brings deep human flourishing and eternal joy. This therapeutic gospel accepts and covers for human weaknesses, seeking to ameliorate the most obvious symptoms of distress. It makes people feel better....Repentance from unbelief, willfulness, and wickedness is not the issue. Sinners are not called to a U-turn and to a new life that is life indeed. Such a gospel massages self-love. There is nothing in its inner logic to make you love God and love any other person besides yourself. This therapeutic gospel may often mention the word "Jesus," but he has morphed into the meeter-of-your-needs, not the Savior from your sins. It corrects Jesus’ work. The therapeutic gospel unhinges the gospel.

*Along similar lines, The Internet Monk reminded me of an article I had read years ago. If you haven't read William Willimon's article, "It's Hard to be Seeker-Sensitive When You work for Jesus", then delay no more. He says,

"Jesus is not simply about meeting my felt needs; he is also about rearranging my needs, not only about fulfilling my desires; he is also about transforming my desires. Jesus is wonderfully nonchalant about so many of my heart-felt desires. It's amazing how many of my needs (material affluence, security, sexual fulfillment, happiness, etc.) appear not in the least to interest Jesus. Many of you can testify that Jesus, the better you got to know him, did not fulfill all your needs but sometimes gave you needs you did not have before you met Jesus!"

*Tim Keller, as usual, has great things to say about "Talking About Idolatry in a Postmodern Age."

I ordinarily begin speaking about sin to a young, urban, non-Christian like this:

Sin isn’t only doing bad things, it is more fundamentally making good things into ultimate things. Sin is building your life and meaning on anything, even a very good thing, more than on God. Whatever we build our life on will drive us and enslave us. Sin is primarily idolatry.

* And lastly, over at Worship Matters, Bob Kauflin posted a video of Ryan Ferguson (why yes, we are related-- Gal. 3:26-29) dramatically reciting Hebrews 9-10. YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!!! (It's about 11 minutes, but worth every second.)

This should (1) serve to encourage us in memorizing the Scripture, and (2) forever shame our laziness in thinking its not worth the effort to memorize Scripture, and (3) inspire us to try to tackle more than a verse here or a verse there.

Where God Often Works...

2007-07-02T14:22:00.001-05:00

This quote has often sustained my wife and me through the years since 1996 when we first came across it. From George MacDonald in, I think, The Curate's Awakening.

"Because you don't see what can be done, you say God can do nothing--which is like saying there cannot be more within His scope than there is within yours. One thing is clear: if He saw no more than lies within your sight, He could not be God. The very impossibility you see in things points to the region God works in."

Or, as St. Paul put it, "And my God will meet all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus." ~ Philippians 4.19

2007-06-30T12:04:00.000-05:00

"Glorified"
by John Piper

As far as any eye could see
There was no green. But every tree
Was cinder black, and all the ground
Was grey with ash. The only sound
Was arid wind, like spirits' ghosts,
Now gasping for some living hosts
In which to dwell, as in the days
Of evil men, before the blaze
Of unimaginable fire
Had made the earth a flaming pyre
For God's omnipotent display
Of holy rage. The dreadful Day
Of God had come. The moon had turned
To blood. The sun no longer burned
Above, but, blazing with desire,
Had flowed into a lake of fire.
The seas and oceans were no more,
And in their place a desert floor
Fell deep to meet the brazen skies,
And silence conquered distant cries.

The Lord stood still above the air.
His mighty arms were moist and bare.
They hung, as weary, by his side
Until the human blood had dried
Upon the sword in his right hand.
He stared across the blackened land
That he had made, and where he died.
His lips were tight, and deep inside,
The mystery of sovereign will
Gave leave, and it began to spill
In tears upon his bloody sword
For one last time.
And then the Lord
Wiped every tear away and turned
To see his bride. Her heart had yearned
Four thousand years for this: His face
Shone like the sun, and every trace
Of wrath was gone. And in her bliss
She heard the Master say, "Watch this:
Come forth all goodness from the ground,
Come forth and let the earth redound
With joy." And as he spoke, the throne
Of God came down to earth and shone
Like golden crystal full of light,
And banished once for all the night.
And from the throne a stream began
To flow and laugh, and as it ran,
It made a river and a lake,
And everywhere it flowed a wake
Of grass broke on the banks and spread
Like resurrection from the dead.

And in the twinkling of an eye
The saints descended from the sky.

And as I knelt beside the brook
To drink eternal life, I took
A glance across the golden grass,
And saw my dog, old Blackie, fast
As she could come. She leaped the stream-
Almost-and what a happy gleam
Was in her eye.
I knelt to drink,
And knew that I was on the brink
Of endless joy. And everywhere
I turned I saw a wonder there.
A big man running on the lawn:
That's old John Younge with both legs on.
And there's old Beryl, and Arnold too,
Still holding hands beneath the blue
And crystal sky: No stoop, they stand
Erect. No tremor in their hand.
The blind can see a bird on wing,
The dumb can lift his voice and sing.
The diabetic eats at will,
The coronary runs uphill.
The lame can walk, the deaf can hear,
The cancer-ridden bone is clear.
Arthritic joints are lithe and free,
And every pain has ceased to be.
And every sorrow deep within,
And every trace of lingering sin
Is gone. And all that's left is joy,
And endless ages to employ
The mind and heart to understand
And love the sovereign Lord who planned
That it should take eternity
To lavish all his grace on me.

O God of wonder, God of might,
Grant us some elevated sight,
Of endless days. And let us see
The joy of what is yet to be.
And may your future make us free,
And guard us by the hope that we,
Within the light of candle three,
Your glory will forever see.

[DesiringGod.org]

Foretastes of Heaven

2007-06-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

At times, the pain and evil and sadness and brokenness of this world are so evident and so acute that it seems overwhelming. Can we take news of another tragedy? Is there strength to support those loaded down with grief? Will this insanity ever end? Things are not the way they are supposed to be. And so we cry out, "Come Lord Jesus. Come quickly! Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven."

And for those with eyes to see, there are moments of beauty and heroism and sacrifice and intimacy and near perfection that leaves us breathless and longing for more. We see things that give us hope that sin and death do not have the last word. These are foretastes of the answer to our prayers and the longings of our hearts. These are glimpses of the coming day when Heaven and Earth will be one and the Lord Jesus will set everything to right.

I thought about these foretastes when I read this article of "The Lion Whisperer."

The Scriptures give us so many promises to sink our teeth into: The Prince of Peace will one day usher in His Kingdom of Peace in all its fullness. There will be no more harm or killing, no more tears and longing for something else. Only ever-deepening and ever-increasing joy as we live together on God's green earth exploring God's great universe and enjoying creation, each other, and our Creator just the way things are supposed to be.

Our hope is not to escape this world and live as detatched, disembodied entities. God's design is to spread His blessings wherever there is curse. As the hymnist has put it, Jesus has come to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found...

Reconiliation. Redemption. Renewal. Regeneration. Reinvigoration.

...far as the curse is found...

Restoration. Rescue. Recovery. Release. Rejuvenation.

...far as, far as the curse is found....

Replenishment. Rekindling. Repair. Replinishment. Rebirth.

And it all begins with the announcement of the Gospel of the Kingdom: the Lord of Creation took on flesh and lived the life that we should have lived, and died the death we brought upon this world, and He is now risen! Death could not hold Him!

When the Lord Jesus announced that the Kingdom was at hand at the beginning of His ministry, He was saying that "I have come to heal the world." Reconciliation and the forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed to every creature under heaven. The announcement of Good News is to be taken to every corner of this world. And this same Good News tells us that the Return of the King will usher in the full healing of this sin-cursed creation. The wine will flow fully, the healing of the nations will occur, and the increase of His reign and our joy will know no end.

Heaven and Earth will be one.
And that is the way things are supposed to be.

Addendum: Heather--ever the animal & especially the feline lover--says that she wants a white tiger in the New Heavens & Earth. "They're just big kitties," she insists. "And I want one to bury my face in its fur."

Another Baby!!!

2007-06-21T18:02:00.001-05:00

No, not us!!! Our friends and fellow missionaries with Peru Mission, Allen & Sandi (and Abigail and Adeline), have had their new baby. Her name is Mary Allen. You can see the new arrival on their blog.

Congrats to the Smiths, and praise the Lord for another covenant kid! (How many does that make now on our team? Oh, I can't keep track!)

Thoughts on Parish Life

2007-06-21T14:19:00.000-05:00

Doug Wilson has some interesting thoughts on parish life. He writes,

"The church is not the parish, and the parish is not the church. At the same time, the church thrives at the center of the parish, informing and discipling those who live their lives in the parish. Life in the church involves word andsacraments while life in the parish involves auto mechanics, farming, retail shops, schools, along with all the other stuff men and women do.

"But the denominational system, as it has developed in America, has greatly undermined our capacity even to think in terms of parish, which in turn means that we have lost even the concept of true community. The closest approximation we have of it is found in good churches where the members of the congregation worship together, love each other, and share the occasional potluck. This is good as far as it goes, but it must be acknowledged in all honesty that it does not go very far. We have truncated our churches, and have detached them from the soil."

Healthy parish life is one of the things that Peru Mission is aiming for in our churches. Wherever Jesus plants His church, He claims that parish for Himself and commissions His church to announce the Gospel of His Kingdom which brings about renewal and redemption of not just individuals, but communities and institutions as well. Check out our philosophy of ministry to capture an idea of what we want to accomplish here with our parish churches.

the ME church

2007-06-21T13:50:00.000-05:00

...where its all about you!

So here's the question: watching the video, do you laugh or cry?

And no collection is complete with out this...

Our First Small Group Meeting (Totally in Spanish!)

2007-06-20T14:29:00.000-05:00

Pablo, Carlos, Obal, Estela, Me, Edward & Santiago (my friend Brian was in attendance, but had to leave early for another meeting).
We had our first small group meeting this morning to discuss the book, "La Santidad de Dios" ["The Holiness of God"], and what the Bible has to say about this topic. I'm very encouraged with our students. We met in a cafeteria on the campus of the National University of Trujillo for about an hour and forty-five minutes. They all asked great questions and had very good comments. We continued to talk on our way out of the university as well. I think all of them are excited about this study and grateful for this oppurtunity. I am very encouraged and amazed at this group of jovenes/ young people that God has formed. And I still can't believe that I'm doing this in Spanish. Who would've thunkit?

Please keep these folks in mind and in your prayers over the coming weeks and months. I expect God to teach us some great things and to change lives. Who knows what God will do with this study and with and through these young people? I certainly don't, but I think its going to be very exciting. Thanks for making it possible.

A New Small Group on The Holiness of God

2007-06-19T19:29:00.001-05:00

When I was a college student, I read through one of the most influential books in my life. It was a book called, "The Holiness of God," by RC Sproul. (If you haven't read it, stop everything right now and purchase this book on my recommendation!) God used this book at a very crucial time in my life when I was wrestling with what the Scriptures taught about God and His sovereignty. I don't remember how I came across it--probably my friend Wes Baker recommended it. Nevertheless, it was a very influential book in my life as I began to understand something of the holiness of God and the depths of my sin and the incredible grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and his absolutely necessary death on the cross to secure my standing before ths holy God.

This book is among those "Top 5 Books" I would take with me to a desert island.

I purchased some copies of the book in Spanish to eventually use in our ministry here among university students. I gave a copy to my conversation partner, Pablo, and we were going to read through it together and develop some questions for an eventual small group study. We were up on the campus talking about the book the other day when Estella, a new Christian and an old friend of Pablo's whom I had previously met, stopped by. I told her about this book that we were reading (in my broken spanish) and told her that I thought she would benefit from it very much. Pablo threw out the suggestion that she join us and be a guinea pig for us as we try to develop some questions. She was very enthusiastic.

Pablo and I thought about it some more and thought we'd invite Obal too (the student president of RUF here) and he gave us an enthusiastic response as well. I just received a phone call from Pablo and he said that he just invited two or three more folks to join us as well, so I guess this means that I have my first official small group study over one of my favorite books with a group of university students here in Trujillo, Peru.

What does this mean? Well, at the very least it means that we need your prayers. Pray that this book will have the same or even better effect on the lives of these students as it had on me. And I could use a few more regarding my language acquisition. I still have to use that Spanish dictionary far too much. Thanks! We'll keep you posted.

The Lord of the Feast

2007-06-19T19:02:00.000-05:00

This past week, I had the privilege of preaching in our Friday night RUF meeting on passage from the Gospel of John where Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding feast at the wedding in Cana where he and his disciples and his mother had been present.

I opened with a reference about Murphy's Law and its somewhat humorous if not sarcastic view of the world like, "If it's too good to be true, then it probably is," or, "If something can go wrong, it will go wrong," or, "Things always go from bad to worse.

This wedding was definitely a case of something that could go wrong (running out of wine) actually going wrong (bringing shame upon the host) and things rapidly deteriorating. We might add another law to Murphy's catalog: "The wine always runs out" (with special thanks to Fred Harrell).

Mary tells Jesus that the wine has run out and he responds by saying, "Woman, what does that have to do with me. My *hour* has not yet come." I think Jesus was thinking about his own coming wedding day (Rev. 19) and what it will take for him to secure the wine that will never run out. The Bible speaks of the coming day when the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all people's, a banquet of aged wine (Isaiah 25), and of the coming day when the mountains will drip new wine and the hills will flow with it (Amos 9). Jesus speaks about his kingdom as a feast (Mt. 8, et. al).

Why do I think Jesus was thinking about this day? Well, he says somewhat abruptly that his hour had not yet come. In the Gospel of John, "hour" always signifies the coming death of Jesus. Jesus was thinking about what it would take to secure the wine that never runs out for His people on the Great Day of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

At any rate, I enjoyed teaching this passage to an audience of around 60 folks (including some of our SALI interns). I 'm still developing my thinking on the significance of Jesus having the jars filled with water that were used for jewish ceremonial washings. At the very least, Jesus is saying that the old ways of cleansing are being replaced by his way of cleansing. He secured the purity that sinful people need to stand in the presence of a holy God. What I'm still thinking through is the connection this has, if any, to wine being symbolic of his blood. Remember his words at the Last Supper: This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

A Note to Our Ministry Partners

2007-06-19T18:53:00.000-05:00

Peru Mission recently changed accounting firms so our address for sending in support has changed as well. Please send any support to the following address:

Christian Missionary Society
PO Box 53363
Knoxville, TN 37950-3363

You will be mailed a receipt promptly. If you have previously given to the ministry, you should have received a letter or you will receive on shortly telling you about this change. Thanks for your participation. We couldn't do it without you!

Our Friends the Franklins

2007-06-19T18:25:00.000-05:00

Some of our good friends from our home church and former students in our RUF ministy at Texas A&M are visiting us for a month. Actually, Brian & Janelle Franklin are on an extended short-term missions trip.

Brian is a Ph.D student in US history at Texas A&M, and Janelle just completed her Master's in Architecture from the same great university (though she is more likely to say "War Eagle" than "Gig'em Aggies," but we're working on her. Thankfully, our kids are oblivious to all things Auburn!--Don't tell Janelle I said that!)

Brian is working on various projects with our SALI language school, and Janelle is working on a church design for our Arevalo parish. They are both working on their Spanish, though Brian already knows a lot. He's practicing with my friend, Pablo, and Janelle is taking lessons from our Spanish tutor, Noemi. Probably their toughest task, though, is living with the Fergie's for a month. We're a loud bunch, but our kids are loving having them here.

Check out Brian's life and Janelle's too as they chronicle their experiences here. Also, check out Janelle's thesis project which was to design a church /clinic /school for Peru Mission.) They are a breath of fresh air to us and we are grateful for thier willingness to come alongside us and the mission for this month.

The Old Man

2007-06-19T17:51:00.000-05:00

As some of you may or may not know, I celebrated another b-day several weeks ago. Yes, I know, it is hard to believe, but I hit the big 3-7. I'm certainly feeling my age a bit more these days. I think it must be something of the combination of living in a foreign country trying to learn a new language (the perpetual fatigue-headache is lessening!) and raising five covenant kids.

At any rate, my b-day didn't pass without a healthy dose of humility. I was up on the campus of the National University of Trujillo and was chatting with some students. One girl asked me how old I was, and I told her to guess. I braced myself to be flattered. That was a mistake.

She thought about it for a minute and said, "Cuarenta y cinco años" (45 years old). Trying to not to look too deflated, I said in an encouraging voice, "No,try again." She then said, "¡Cincuenta anos!" (50 years). What do you do in a situation like this? Slightly embarrassed, I said, "37." She said, "Oh! I thought you were older because of the little gray hairs on your chin." I nodded my head knowingly and thought its probably about time to start mourning the passing of my youth.

I told my wife about the incident and she encouraged me by saying that these gray hairs are evidence of wisdom and maturity. (That's why Heather is a great wife.) But it is getting harder and harder to pretend that I'm a recent college graduate, especially when twenty-somethings refer to me as a father figure. Oh well.

Here is a picture of a surprise birthday celebration (Peruvian style) that my friends in RUF gave me after one of the lectures on the campus (see the following blog entry).

Mis amigos gave me a song and a cake to share with the attendees of the lectures.

Here I am with Isabel and Geraldo, Pablo, Calin, & Obal. They (read "Pablo") tried to play a trick on the Gringo by telling him that it was a tradition for the birthday person to take a bite out of the cake. I was immediately suspicious (after all, I wasn't born yesterday!), and I had seen a birthday celebration or two and had never seen this, but I'm on the spot with a bunch of folks looking at me so I thought, Sure, why not. I'll be the butt of a joke and do something crazy. So I opened my mouth and at that moment felt Pablo's hand conspicously on my neck. Then I knew what he was up to! Doesn't he know that in my old age that I am skilled in getting even?

Pysicist Gives Lectures at University & RUF/SUSA

2007-06-18T22:48:00.000-05:00

We recently had a short-term missions team from Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church in Virginia visit us for a week. They worked with VBS in our church in Wichanzao all week. They had previously visited and helped our RUF ministry in Mexico City and campus minister, Peter Dishman. Peter in turn told them about our work here in Peru. They did a little research, made plans, and spent a week with us.

A highlight for me was being able to host Dr. Doughty of Christopher Newport University and The Jefferson Lab. With the help of our campus minister, Geraldo, and several of our key students (¡muchas gracias a todos los universitarios nuestros for su ayuda!), we were able to organize a series of lectures at the National University of Trujillo--the largest campus in Trujillo.

Here is a chalk board sign at the entrance of the university advertising the lectures (click to enlarge).
As a physics professor who works at the Jefferson Labs, he gave two lectures: (1) One lecture was on "The Search for Gluonic Excitations at Jefferson Lab" (for you science folks out there, it was quite impressive); (2) the other lecture was on "Cosmological Intelligent Design." Both lectures drew upwards of 75 or so students. We invited these students plus tons more through flyers to the final lecture on Friday.

Dr. Doughty teaching to a standing-room-only with the help of Dr. Alonzo Ramirez
Friday night at our university ministry, Dr. Doughty gave a final lecture entitled, "How a Physicist sees God." Here are some pics from this event:

A packed house on Friday night, we had to open the doors for overflow!

We were glad to see many new faces out to our university ministry (even the chairman of the physics department showed up), and Dr. Doughty did a wonderful job of presenting the Gospel. His talk revolved around these three themes: God as an Artist; God as a Master Chess Player; and God as a Compassionate Perfectionist. Many thanks to Dr. Doughty & his entire team for their willingness to come and minister among us in our parish churches and with our university ministry. May God add His rich blessings to your labor!

Back in the Saddle?

2007-06-18T19:02:00.000-05:00

Okay, after many frustrations and disappearing blog entries, etc., I have converted my template to see if this will help. Sorry for the absence of posts recently. I'll split the blame with the the host.

Hopefully with this change, the blogs and updates will be flowing a little more frequently. I'll try to update this blog with recent events and activities.

Sunday People Living in a World of Fridays

2007-04-29T20:16:00.000-05:00

"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 no 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.

TableTalk: Grief

2007-04-19T21:26:00.000-05:00

Ligonier Ministries has put out a very helpful little monthly magazine called TableTalk. In light of the insane tragedy at VT, they are making their April 2007 issue on (providentially) "Grief." Click here to read and to share with others. Good stuff.

Is everything sad going to come untrue?

2007-04-19T18:28:00.000-05:00

At one point in the Lord of the Rings, Samwise Gamgee asks Gandalf, "Is everything sad going to come untrue?" There seems to be so much sadness in the world lately, especially with friends who are hurting and grieving. I have found myself asking along with the Psalmist, "How long, O Lord...." Perhaps as never before, I have prayed along with the Apostle John, "Lord Jesus, come quickly."

I was reading this afternoon in the Gospels and was struck anew at not only WHO Jesus was, but also WHAT He did. Over and over, the Gospel writers tell us that Jesus went around healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead. And people were amazed and glorified God and said things like, "We never saw anything like this!"

One of the things that struck me afresh was that in the life and ministry of Jesus, He was directly assaulting the kingdom of darkness, which is just another way of saying that He was assaulting everything that is wrong with this world. Think of Jesus' miracles in two ways: Each was both (1) an act of restoration, and (2) an act of anticipation. Jesus was both reversing the curse and ushering in the Kingdom of God. Jesus was at once assaulting the way things are in their current state of being not they way they are supposed to be, AND making them the way they are supposed to be. Jesus gave those He ministered to a foretaste of Heaven.

All this to say that Jesus brings us back into Paradise which now flows from His throne. Jesus has already caused His blessings to come (in His incarnation and ministry) and will cause them to come in all their fullness when He delivers the Kingdom to His Father, and Heaven descends and Earth and Heaven become One.

So, will everything sad become untrue? If we understand the ministry of Jesus, we can say "Yes!" Not that it becomes untrue as in it never existed, but it becomes untrue in that evil does not have the final word. How do we know this?

Simple. The Resurrection of the Son of God proves this. "We never saw anything like this."

This will be said At the Restoration of All Things, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away" (Rev. 21)

Be of good hope my friends. One day, Jesus will answer our prayers of "How long, O Lord..." with the answer, "No longer!"

Keep praying for Knox Anderson

2007-04-19T15:30:00.000-05:00

As some of you know, our 18 month old little friend, Knox Anderson, covenant child of John and Rachel Anderson and our WPC family (John is the Asst. Pastor of our home church and one of my best friends), continues to need our prayers after suffering a near drowning. My wife has posted this link to keep our contacts up to date.

Is It Really Worth It?

2007-04-19T15:10:00.000-05:00

From one of my heros, Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758):

"Let every thing have the value now which it will have upon a sick bed: and frequently, in my pursuits of whatever kind, let this question come into my mind, "How much shall I value this upon my death-bed" (Works, Vol. 1, xxxiv).

Ponder this in light of James 4:14, "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."

2007-04-10T21:59:00.000-05:00

Let me introduce you to my friend, Geraldo Castro. Geraldo is one of our seminary students who is also serving our mission and the church as a campus minister. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Isabel. They have one child and one on the way. As you can see from the picture, Geraldo is also an Aggie! Well, actually he is not sure what an Aggie is, but I did get him to introduce the Aggies who were here over Spring Break as being from the greatest university in the world! Whooop!

Please pray for Geraldo and for the university ministry here. God is doing some great things. Two weeks ago, we had over 60 students out for our Friday night Bible study, and last night, we had 25 students out for a Bible study in Genesis. Pray for me as I come along side him, learn about the universities here, meet with students, and seek to speak the Gospel in meaningful ways to this culture.

Seminar on Vocation

2007-04-10T21:03:00.000-05:00

My good Peruvian friend, Pablo (university student, spanish partner, maybe on day future campus minister, and definite future president of Peru!), recently organized a conference for university students in general and evangelical students in particular on the topic of vocation. He asked me to present a seminar on "Serving God in our Vocation." Providentially, I had recently studied Gene E. Veith's book, God at Work, with our SALI interns and heard the associate pastor of Providence Reformed PCA, Chris Smith, teach on the topic to our congregation while he was here on a short term mission trip and who generously lent me his notes.

At any rate, Pablo said we had between 100-130 students in attendence throughout the day long conference, so we were excited to see his leadership skills and influence at work in organizing and putting on this conference. If you are interested, here are my notes. (Plus, I made a nifty visual presentation on Apple's superior-to-powerpoint software, Keynote, which, if I must say, was quite impressive. I'm trying not to become a Mac snob, but it sure is hard!).

Thanks for your prayers

We Need Your Prayers...

2007-04-10T19:19:00.000-05:00

* Pray for more contacts among university students. Summer Break is over here and the university students are heading back to school tomorrow, so I am heading out with campus minister, Geraldo, and some of our student leaders to the local campuses to pass out flyers and invite folks to our Friday night Bible study.

* Pray for the Bible study at the orphanage. One of our RUF leaders, Elizabeth, works at the local orphanage and she invited Heather to come out and lead a study for the house mothers who work there. Pray for Heather and for Allen Bradford who will help from time to time and for the house mothers who will gather for study every Thursday AM. This will be an all-Spanish study on the Fruit of the Spirit, so Heather needs your prayers.

* Pray for our one-to-one meetings. Heather and I are having increased opportunities to meet with university students, folks in our churches, and students from SALI. This is good because it is stretching us, and also frustrating because of our limited Spanish. We are definitely feeling greater dependency upon God to work through us, which is another way of saying we are seeing and feeling our weaknesses more than ever, which is a good thing.

* Pray for our Spanish acquisition. We are simultaneously encouraged and discouraged with this. Language is a primary tool, and our tool is very dull and rusty. At the same time, we are understanding more and many of our Peruvian friends tell us we are progressing. Nevertheless, beg God to grant us quick aquisition as we seek to be more useful instruments in His hands. I've been praying that we would make such advancements as would be evident to all around us. Please join us in this.

Teaching Opportunities

2007-03-06T21:15:00.000-06:00

We're having some pretty cool teaching opportunities recently and a few more just on the horizon. Last week I led a Bible study from the parables of Jesus for a group of students who have come to our Friday night studies and are interested in further discipleship. Afterwards, the students asked some great questions and we had some very good discussion. My friend, Caleb Sutton who works with our language institute, did a fine job of translating for me.

I had an interesting discussion beforehand when I was chatting with several students. One of them asked me about baptism (yes, here too!)--and I panicked! The reason for it was not the difficulty of explaining different views, etc., but simply because I feel my Spanish is so insufficient for the task. I found myself wanting to say so much more than my limited vocabulary could provide. We stumbled around for a while. The great thing about folks here is that they are so patient with me and encouraging.

I'd appreciate your prayers on a couple more opportunities. This weekend, I have an opportunity to give a seminar on the topic of Vocation to university students here in Trujillo and leaders from around Peru of a student led Bible study ministry called CBU, or Comunidad Biblica Universitario. My good friend, Pablo, has been publicizing this on the campuses around Trujillo. Also on Saturday, I will be teaching on the topic of Deacons for a group of men at our church in Larco.

As well, I'm teaching a Sunday school class on the Ten Commandments ("Los Diez Mandamientos") for our church in Larco. I should finish it sometime in May. Here is a pic (thanks Allen B.!) from our class with our pastor, Ricardo Hernandez, translating for me. I'd appreciate your prayers for this as I try to apply this to Peruvian culture (of which my understanding is still so young). I enjoy these opportunities to teach, but it makes me long for the day when I will be able to do it in Spanish.

And finally, here is a pic of Heather sitting in the back row (!) with a new friend from Cananda, Susan. I post this (Heather doesn't know it yet and will probably delete this post as soon as she does), but I welcome any thoughts on what she might be thinking. My guess, "No, my husband did not just say that!"

What is your guess as to what she is saying?