A New Small Group on The Holiness of God

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

"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

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?

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

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?

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."

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

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...

* 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.