We had a great service this morning! We didn’t meet our goal of 200 people but the Lord blessed us with 130 and 87 in Sunday school. And the best part, 7 people were saved!
Well, we are now headed off to the beach for a few days for a little break with the Holmes family, missionaries to Venezuela.
We will post some pictures and video of this morning’s service and our trip later on this week.
It finally happened. Tonight I was robbed. I wish I had a cool story, like I was high-jacked and gun point, beaten up, and left for dead (no not really). I was just cleaning the Church and preparing for our big day tomorrow when someone decided that they needed my motorcycle more than I did. I had parked it inside our gate at our Church with the handlebars locked, and someone with a lot of guts came inside the gate and stole it. There’s a phrase they say here that I have grown accustom to this past year, “así es la vida”, which means “that’s life.”
On a better note, we are expecting God to do some amazing things tomorrow. We have a goal of 200 people in attendance. I can’t wait to see what He does! I also can’t wait to teach my SS class. I’ll be teaching on “All The Glory Belongs to God” from Psalms 8. Please pray souls will be saved and lives changed.
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Yesterday was an incredibly unusual day for me. It started off pretty normal, but then… After language school, Bekah went home and I went to the airport to see Josh Rhye and Paul Hutchins off. They are from one of our supporting churches, Faith Baptist Church in Lagrange, GA. and were down here scoping out a project we may be doing in late fall.
Well anyway, they were leaving at 2:45pm and at about 2:00 they asked if I wanted to go with them. They offered to pay my way so that they would not have to stay at the airport from 3:45pm til 1:30am. Not being able to speak Spanish, it would have been difficult to get around. They wanted to go out to eat (at Tony Roma’s, which we don’t have here!! nor anything close) and they also wanted to see a little of the city. It took a lot of begging (no not really) but I said yes.
The really awesome part of the story is: now I can see that God was all in it!! Down to the little details.
Bekah and I found out last week that we needed to go to Lima to get the kids Social Security cards in order to file our taxes. So, as soon as they asked me to go to Lima, I started thinking… I called Bekah and told her to rush their passports up to the airport immediately, that I was going to Lima. She was a little confused because we had no clue what the process would be to obtain them. We didn’t know if you had to have both parents there, if you needed an appointment, or what kind of documentation was needed. We knew nothing!
Long story short, Bekah calls to find out what is needed. She finds out that we need official, original birth certificates from both the US and Peru, and that Friday was not a good day to come.
Not Possible! Praise God, I serve a God that can do the impossible! And I love to watch Him do it! It ended up that I had Bekah email me scanned copies of their documents and after much prayer, I went to the embassy. I talked with a couple of different people this morning, they let me explain what I needed, and they accepted the the copies and we were able to finish the process!!
Thanks Josh, Paul and Faith Baptist Church for all that you did. Thanks for the hotel room, the flight, the traveling money, and Tony Roma’s 
And most of all, thank you God for your awesome provision and control.
But there’s more!! This is a long one I know, I’m Sorry!!
Two other really cool things happened. While we were flying to Lima, there was a lady stuck between Josh and I. She, Silvia Rucks, just so happened to be the second in command at the United Nations for all of South America. We had a blast getting to know her, and listening to some of what she had seen and done for the past 25 years working with the UN. I might be crazy, but I could picture as we were talking to her how God just might use here in our near future to get some drugs in the country for our next medical clinic.
Last thing and I’ll shut up. On the ride back to the hotel from the airport last night I was able to meet Victor Manuel Quiroz, my taxi driver. The Lord opened the door for me to talk with him (who is a devoted Catholic) for about two hours about Jesus. He did not end up confessing Jesus as Lord, but he was really interested in all that I had to say and promised that he would start reading and studying his Bible for himself without the help of the Catholic Church. Please remember this man in your prayers.
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This is a little note from my mom. Thanks for the prayers!
“Jeremy the Dr called and I have no growth. Don’t really know what caused the hearing loss but I will just have to get a hearing aide one day. Thanks for the prayers and love ya’ll very much.”
I don’t deserve this!
When you hear these words someone is normally having problems. I was counseling a couple last night and these words didn’t actually come from their mouths, but I know they were thinking them. How? because I’ve thought them. I think them on occasion.
Well, after hearing a message last night and meditating on God’s word, I want to tell you what I don’t deserve.
I could go on and on…..
Phil 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say Rejoice.
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This came from a friend of mines blog, Keith Shumaker, who is a church planter in Burkina Faso.
I wanted to share with you something that I developed on the different levels in a church. I guess the only bad one would be the first one.
1. The First Level – Those who do-nothing
Churches are full of these types of people. They are good people. They have been saved. They just haven’t engaged themselves in the work. Or maybe I should say they haven’t been lead to follow. They haven’t been challenged. Pastors and missionaries get frustrated because our churches are full of people who do basically nothing. I know and understand the frustration all to well. But I have realized that the problem isn’t really them, it is a reflection of leadership. Yes, it is a reflection of my leadership. I will say that 60% or higher of church members are in this category.
2. The second level – Followers
These people will make up about 25-30% of the church. Every church needs followers. They are workers. They do exactly what they are instructed to do. They don’t mind working. They just can’t see the need. They need to be told exactly what to do.
3. The third level – A solitary visionary
Most of the time churches have very few visionaries. These are people who can see a need and get the job done. These people are a great blessing to a pastor or missionary. They take a load off of the leader. Their struggle is that they normally work alone. They aren’t able to lead others to action.
4. The fourth level – A leader – A visionary that leads followers
Most of the time, unfortunately the pastor/missionary is the only one in this category. A pastor can be a success if he is a success at this level. His goal should be to train and go to the next level but many stay here. If a missionary wants to be a success he has to be a good leader but he must move on. He will not leave an indigenous church if he is only a leader with followers.
5. The fifth level – A leader of leaders – A visionary that leads other leaders
For a missionary to be a success, he must one day arrive at this level. There are a few pastors that have arrived at this level but most truly haven’t. Most missionaries, unfortunately, haven’t arrived here either. I am not saying that I have arrived here. Actually, I am striving to train true leaders and I am not sure if we have gotten there yet. I have some good followers and I have a few third level people but not many.
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I have a personal prayer request. Last week my mom, Bonnie Hammond, woke up and was not able to hear out of her left ear. She went to the doctor and they told her that she had lost 60% of her hearing in that ear. They told her that there was one of two things that could have caused the hearing loss, that they know of. One, a viral infection (but when that happens they said it normally affects both ears); and the second one being a brain tumor. She goes in tomorrow for an MRI. Please pray God would get glory through this situation and that she would be healed.
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I have had a few different people write me about the ESL classes that we are doing. They have asked why, and how. Well, I’ll let you in my secret. I don’t care if they learn English! I want them to learn of a God in Heaven that loves them and died for their sins. We started the English classes to meet people, build relationships and share the gospel. Yes, we do teach “Conversational English” and we do have a curriculum that we try to follow, but our main objective is not teaching them English. I’m a church planting missionary, not an English teacher (as you can tell). I started the ESL to show them their need of a Savior.
We have not even finished two full weeks since we started the classes and we have already had 115 people come to classes with seven visitors who have come to at least one Church service. These seven people have all heard a very clear presentation of the Gospel, and I know His word will not come back void! Please pray that more would come and souls would be saved.
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