University Evangelism

This from Bill:

Lena and I began the past year with a strong emphasis on University ministry. Here, in Peru, we call Chi Alpha, La Red Universitaria de Las Asambleas de Dios -- the University Network of the Assemblies of God. It's been an exciting experience for both of us. Lena is doing multiple evangelistic Bible studies with students from various campuses, and both of us have taught at churches and national youth leaders conferences about how to start a campus ministry. The pictures above and below are of us teaching on Evangelism. These pics were taken at the "Christ - Light of the World" church in Trujillo, which has six small groups on 5 campuses! I'm a big fan of using a white board, instead of PowerPoint slides (because I like the organic nature and the intentional emphasis on content over form). After I teach, I take a picture of the white board and invite the students to do the same. Looking at these boards reminded me of what a great time we had! After taking the college students and leaders through some basics of university evangelism, we hit the streets and had a blast talking with people about Jesus. I was very proud of Will, my younger son, who (with unassuming warmth and friendliness) is an incredibly effective evangelist! 

For this event, we were joined by our friends Shawn and Melissa Pallotta, who (along with their kids) have a very prophetic ministry. Shawn and I taught on making godly decisions.

Some of the evangelism themes we covered included: 

1) The power of your personal testimony (Rev. 12:11). 
2) Basic components of the Gospel (1 Cor. 15). 
3) Apologetics -- explaining why the Christian faith is reasonable (that is, it's requires faith, but not blind faith). Also, Jesus claimed to be God, therefore he is either a Liar, a Lunatic or the Lord (hint: it's the last one!)

4) The best 3 questions to do Evangelism: If you died tonight, do you know where you would go? If you were in front of Jesus and he asked you why he should let you into heaven, what would you say? And, the best question of all: How can I pray for you?

Peruvians love their late night soccer matches, which provides a great way to make friends and share the Gospel with your neighbors. These pics are of Colton (above) and Antonio Pallotta (below) playing.

Colton and Antonio also teamed up for some street evangelism, outside the C&T Restaurant.

Sinless

This from Lena:

I was in the market today and noticed as one of the vendors bowed her head to pray before she ate her lunch.  I was touched at her reverence, and asked her if she was a believer in Jesus.  I wasn’t really looking for a witnessing situation—just a moment to connect with a Jesus lover. 

The conversation continued, and I asked if she was an evangelical believer.  She said no, but that she was a Christian.  I had never met people here before saying that they were Christian, but denying being an evangelical, apart from an occasional Catholic.  I asked her what she perceived the difference to be, and she informed me that she doesn’t sin anymore.

Really.

I told her that First John was a great book in the Bible, and that it says that he who says he is without sin is a liar, and the truth isn’t in him.  She looked shocked, and questioned my version of the Bible (just for the record, she was King James only, but in Spanish).  She was new to this path, but not very shaken by my challenging words, and invited me to come to her church so I could understand better.

I left my new friend, telling her that I wasn’t interested in an argument, and I encouraged her to get into the Book herself, so that she could start to sift things that are taught in regard to the true teachings of Christianity.  I was afraid to push her—I have heard stories of people starting out with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, or the Mormons, and becoming disillusioned when they realized that what they were learning was not true, and throw all of it out together.  I left a bit deflated, and angry that someone had routed a soul’s honest attempt to follow Christ as a repentant sinner.  Now she is “sinless.”  I feel sorry for her family and friends, who now have no way to speak into her life, as she is currently completely free of sin!

Peru is a minimally literate country.  Latin America in general is not a print-rich region of the world, but compared with the rest of Latin America, we fall toward the very bottom.  This creates vulnerability among our believers, because many of our brothers and sisters here have never read an entire book of the Bible---and I am talking about faithful ones!  These are the 20% who do all the work, lead the worship, and facilitate cell groups.  So what happens when a false teaching comes along?  The heresy sensors don’t go off, and the church is often fighting off bad teaching.

Bill and I are passionate about Peruvian believers becoming strong in the Word.  This is one of the reasons Bill is teaching in the seminary this year, even though it comes at a high cost in time and effort.  We need pastors and leaders who handle the Bible well and teach their people to read it and study it for themselves.  This is also a reason why I am doing an English conversation group based on the life of Christ aimed at university students (nonbelievers and believers combined).  We want to get people into the Word by all means possible until it penetrates—separating even the bone from the marrow.  It never fails to do the same for me!

Lena teaching university students about discipling new believers in Argentina

Bill giving our first pitch to Peruvian youth leaders on the importance of university ministry

A Severe Pruning

Our journey into missions started with a bang!  We had prophetic words from God, incredible excitement, great vision deep in our hearts, and an assurance that God was up to something big!

We had no idea what we had just stepped into.

I won’t bore you with the details, but I can tell you this--- I was not prepared for the gut-wrenching trial that we were about to step into.  We went through relational trials, legal trials, relational trials….did I mention relational trials?  I loved our new world, and at the same time, I feared it, that it would take me out before our adventure had even had a chance to take root.  Never in my life had I undergone what I will call such a severe pruning.  The kind of pruning where you look at the bush you just hacked and wonder if it can survive with so few leaves left.  

We landed back in the States like people jumping off a train—still rolling, rolling, rolling.  You stop a second to ask yourself if you can get up or if you need to wait for the ambulance.  You find that, yes, you can get up, and you start doing normal things.  I painted the house for two months straight.  I was very, very happy to just paint the house, if you know what I mean. 

We came back to Lima, not sure how we would be there.  We got settled in, and things felt pretty good.  It felt pretty normal.  Bill and I both started pressing in to the Lord, finding that place with Him that is the bedrock of everything that we build—just a place of communion.  I started praying in the Spirit a lot.  I started seeing branches sprouting on my little bush of a life, and before I knew it, I felt good.  Really good.

Severe pruning over.  Thank God it is over!!

But I will tell you, that as scary as it was for me, as deeply pained as I felt, I can tell you that the branches that are growing back are thicker and healthier than I have ever seen on my little bush.  When all my precious leaves were taken from me, and I sat barren for what seemed like such an unbearable time, wondering if I would ever be the same again, something was happening deep inside of me.  In the middle of excruciating pain, we can quote the passages of hope, but we don’t usually feel them.  It takes such a long time, but one day, it is there.  It is over, and we are not the same.  We are better.  We weren’t sure we would even survive, but there it is.  Buds are everywhere.  EVERYWHERE!!!  THANK GOD, THANK GOD!!!  EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!

I am so thankful to my God the Gardener,  who watered my little bush faithfully, put some manure down in the right season, and waited patiently for his work to be seen. 

A Tale of Two Histories

Willy, at age 7, is the budding Evangelist in the family. Recently, he was playing in the park and mentioned Jesus to his friend. The boy said, "Who is this Jesus guy you keep talking about?

Willy replied, "Don't you know Jesus? He's God. He made us and the world and everything!"

The boy responded, "God didn't make us. We came from monkeys and the big boom!"

Willy, never having heard of the big "boom," was as perplexed as his friend who had never heard of Jesus. Willy came home and told the rest of us, "That kid really needs to learn about Jesus, because he thinks we came from monkeys."



It's like Charles Dicken's "A Tale of Two Cities," in which the city was the same, it was the perspective of the people that was different. In this case, you don't have two "cities;" but rather, two "histories." THE original history is Willy's, who has been brought up to believe in a loving God who protects him and wants what is good for him. The fruit of that is that Willy is a generally happy kid. Why be afraid when God is on your side? The other history is that of the other boy, who was brought up to believe in unexplainable physical processes that have the power to create or destroy--entirely without love or reason. As such, the other little boy has a surly and cantankerous outlook. The explanation for where we come from shows on the faces of each child.

I'm proud of Willy for sharing about Jesus and, even though he climbs like a monkey, he didn't come from one. Below is a letter Willy wrote to Jesus, back when he was just starting the first grade. It reads, "Dear Jesus, Thank you for coming into my heart. Love, Will." Ironically, he spelled "heart" as "hert." If you pronounce it "hurt," it would be just as true.

A Tale of Two Bibles

In a fete of generosity, I purchased new Spanish-English Bibles for Hannah, Colton and myself. Shortly thereafter, I noticed Hannah carrying her old Bible. She explained that she had recently shared her faith with a girl and that she felt the Holy Spirit nudge her to give the girl her Bible. I was proud of Hannah for sharing her faith, but scolded her for giving away a new Bible. I said, “Hannah, that Bible was expensive and we have cheap Bibles at home that we buy to give away.”

A week later, I was in Iquitos with a medical team from the Timberline church. Some members of the team began to witness to a young man who was studying English. He said that he wanted to read the Bible, but that he couldn’t afford to buy one. He then said that what he really wanted was a Spanish-English Bible so he could read the Bible and improve his English. I, of course, had my Spanish-English Bible in my backpack. But, if I gave him my bilingual Bible, how would I explain it to Hannah? I decided to suck it up and take my lumps. I gave the guy my Bible. (In the picture, here, I’m showing him verses on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.) I saw Hannah a few minutes later and confessed quickly. She was very gracious. Later that week, I saw her having her quiet time. (She’s very faithful in her devotions.) I noticed she was reading a new Bible just like the one I had given her. I asked, “Where did that come from?” She smiled a wry smile and said, “Mom bought it for me.”

To see more pictures from the Timberline medical mission, visit http://picasaweb.google.com/BillandLenaPics/200907TimberlineMedicalMission#

Taxi Tales

One of the really wonderful things about life in Lima is that a person can get into a taxi at whatever moment, and launch into a conversation about practically whatever topic you like, and you will find a willing conversation partner. Enjoyable for most, but a jackpot for those of us who like to talk about Jesus!!

One day, I was on my way to a meeting with my pastor’s wife, and met a taxista with whom I had a great conversation. I have found myself, in the last 6 months or so, speaking strongly about the nature of salvation to those I witness to. I have gotten the rather strong impression from several people that they got that whole holiness thing confused—that they somehow have the impression that they have to get their lives together first, and then they will be good enough to go to God, do the church thing.

It is easy to talk about the Lord here—and even more so, because I am a missionary. When I get into a taxi, I often get asked, “Why did you come here from your country?” My reply is almost always “The call of God!” That leads really easily into a little history of our call, and talk of spiritual things.

This particular day, I found a taxi driver who had gone through some difficult life challenges recently, and we talked extensively about the nature of salvation, how no one is good enough to merit salvation-how we are all sinners, in need of a savior. He began to weep, and as he drove, he asked if there might be a prayer or something he could pray to make a decision for Christ. I honestly thought he was joking, or had done it before, but he assured me that he had never prayed a prayer of salvation before. I couldn’t believe it! What an awesome moment.

We made arrangements to take him to church, but as happens often with follow up, that was the last I saw of him. Of course, the best is if we can manage to tie people into a congregation, but we must leave these things in the hands of the Lord when things don’t go according to plan, as we would like. But what an awesome moment! Makes a missionary girl all smiley inside!!

The honeymoon is over

I left my hotel, after getting only 4 hours of sleep. I was groggy and a little cranky. My usual taxi driver couldn’t make it, so he sent a replacement. He asked if I was a priest. I told him that I’m a minister—a type of priest who gets to get married and have kids. He asked if I was Catholic. I said no, that I’m evangelical. (In Peru, non-Catholics are evangelicals or Christians. It’s painful for me that Catholics do not consider themselves to be Christian.) He proceeded to tell me about how he attended a seminary for three years, preparing to be a priest. In the end, he chose to get married, have kids and become a taxi driver. He’s been driving the same route for more than 50 years!

As we chatted, I decided to ask him “The Big Question.” The Big Question is “who is Jesus.” My friend H.L. Hussman says that you can believe a lot of things, but if you get this question wrong, you won’t make it into heaven. It’s the ultimate witnessing tool. The taxi driver answered the question, saying, “Jesus is always on my thoughts.” There was no mention of Jesus as savior or Lord. For the majority of Peruvians, Jesus is a 2nd tier player in the Pantheon of the gods. It seems, at times, in latin culture that Christ’s main purpose is to remind us how important it is to suffer. (The Pantheon was that place in Greek and Roman mythology where the gods would hang out—sort of like Starbucks, but with better prices.) The big player in the Peruvian pantheon is Mary. Peruvians have a saying that the wife is the real boss of the house. As such, Mary has the final say in what goes down in heaven. Hanging from the taxi driver’s mirror was a picture frame with a picture on each side. One side had a photo of a European statue of Mary in the style of the middle ages. She was, of course, white and about 11 years old. (It galls me that people here believe it’s better to be white. Dark skinned people are, to them, of lesser value. Mary, as a Jew, was not white!) The statue was wearing a huge crown and robes that would have made Luis XIV sweat gallons. On the other side was a photo of a plaster statue of Jesus. He was also white, with long blonde hair. He was NOT wearing a crown. Instead, he got to wear clothes made for a girl. He was, and ever shall be, about 3 years old.

This is the point where my honeymoon with Peru was over. Usually, I’m very cordial and gentle when confronting paganism. But, after a year here, I’m also frustrated. It appears to me that nobody is speaking the truth here. Paganism is so ingrained in the Peruvian identity that to speak against worshipping a statue is to speak against who they are. Jesus came to save us from these lies! I showed him the picture of Mary and asked, “What’s this?”

He said, “It’s the mother of God!”

I said, “The mother of God never wore a gold crown or fine robes.”

He laughed and said, “Yea. She’s really important. She intervenes for us with Jesus. She gets us what we want. When my daughter was born, there were complications. I went to Mary and she intervened, making Jesus give us what we wanted. My daughter was born healthy and now she’s a doctor. All of this good fortune was due to Mary. You have to pray to Mary to get what you want.”

I said, “Don’t you fear God? God has made it clear in the Bible that we are not to worship pagan idols. Of the 10 commandments, the first is that there is only one God and you should worship him alone. God is very offended that you would worship Mary. She is a saint, worthy of honor, but she is human. She is saved by Jesus, just like you and I. She is not omnipresent. She doesn’t hear our prayers and she doesn’t have the authority to tell God what to do. This is nothing more than paganism and it is very offensive to God.”

He said, “Yea, but she sure worked for me. She gives me good luck all the time. That’s why I keep that photo there. She keeps my car running and all my kids have grown up to be professionals.”

I said, “I think God had grace one you and you’ve chosen to give the credit to Mary.”

He said, “Yea, I hear what you’re saying, but I think it doesn’t matter what a person believes—it’s just important to believe something.”

I replied, “My friend, that’s loco. If I believed the street was made out of water, it wouldn’t be true.”

He said, “You’re right there.”

I continued, “God has already told us what we’re supposed to believe about him. He has made it clear that there is only one God and that we should not worship anyone else. He has told us clearly that no matter how good with think someone else is, we are not to worship or pray to that person. God is offended by that. I don’t want to believe things that are false, just because they suit my personal tastes. I want to know God for who he really is and have a real relationship with a real person. That’s what God wants too. That is why he gave us the Bible. But in Peru, the majority of Catholics don’t want to read the Bible and they don’t want to know what God has said about himself.”

He agreed, saying, “You got that right! Catholics never want to read the Bible.” He continued, pointing to a pocket area in his dash, “I’ve got a New Testament right here.”

I replied, “I’m glad to see that.”

He said, “Yea, I had a chemical engineer from Nasa in my taxi once. He tried to tell me that we’re nothing more than dirt and chemicals, but I don’t agree. That guy was an example of how people make up crazy things to believe.”

I said, “You’re right, which is why it is so important to read the Bible and know what God has said about himself.” I then flipped the picture frame over and pointed to the picture of Jesus. I asked, “What’s that?”

He shouted in great triumph, “It the little boy, Jesus!”

I replied, “That is not the little boy Jesus. That is a plaster statue from Europe. Besides, Jesus isn’t a little boy, he’s an adult.”

“No!” He replied, in surprise, “He’s a little boy. It’s important to pray to the little boy, because he gives me what I want.”

I said, “He’s not a little boy anymore. He’s an adult. In fact, he’s a lot older than you are. I would hate it if my father adored a photo of me from when I was three years old, rather than having a real relationship me. I’m not a kid anymore. I’m an adult and I have adult relationships. We can’t just worship whatever we want. Jesus wants a real relationship.”

He said, “Yea,…whatever.”

That is where the conversation ended. We were at the airport and it was time to get out. With one simple word, he disregarded everything I said.

That is how many, though not all, conversations end here. Whatever. It’s painful, but it is not the end of the story. I remember a time when a friend in High School invited me to a Charismatic prayer meeting. She said, “People pray in tongues there.”

I told her, “No thanks, I’m satisfied with my current spirituality.” I was completely involved in drugs and the partying lifestyle. I had no spirituality. But I remember that invitation. God was wooing me. In Rev. 3:20, Jesus says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” My friend’s invitation was one knock on the door. A few knocks later, I opened the door. People ask us, “What do you do in Peru?” My answer: Knock.

Talking on the bus with Creta

Last night, I rode on an overnight bus trip from Lima to Ayacucho. I was seated next to Creta. (Her mother named her after Greta Garbo, but didn’t know how to spell it.) Creta told me that she was a devout Catholic and that her son wanted to be a Catholic missionary. It’s easy in this situation to think that either the person doesn’t need to hear the Gospel or that he or she would be unwilling. In terms of sharing my faith with her, it felt like a dead end. Then the Holy Spirit spoke to me, saying, “Ask her, How is your faith?” You would expect the question to be, “What is your faith?” Listening to the Holy Spirit, even when the question makes no sense, is a good idea. So I asked her, “How is your faith?”

She answered, “Well, I’m Catholic, of course.”

That didn't answer the question. I continued, “How is your relationship with Jesus Christ?”

She said, “Profound!”

Profound is a great answer, but it didn’t leave me feeling like we had actually connected. She went on to say, “I attend Mass and, as I told you before, my son wants to be a missionary.”

In terms of evangelism, this type of response is a smoke screen. People who are in love with the Lord, speak of their love and their gratitude for his free gift of salvation. Those with a strained relationship, speak of punching the clock and of the devotion of some other family member (like her son). Her answer did not convey a “profound” relationship with the Savior. As we continued talking, I found myself telling her the story of when Jesus appeared to me and spoke with me (which is too long to recount here). She said, “Thank you for saying that, because I have doubts about Christianity. I don’t feel the presence of God or anything when I go to church.” She continued, saying, “I don’t believe that God talks to people or that you can really know what the truth is.” This confirmed what I suspected. Her relationship with Jesus was something less than profound. I pressed through her smoke screen, asking if she had read the Bible.

She said, “Very little.”

I then began to explain that we know that Jesus is the Messiah because he fulfilled the prophecies that God told us beforehand; i.e., that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, that he would be a descendent of King David, that he would suffer and die, and that he would rise from the dead. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t know that Jesus is the Messiah, because they have never read or heard of God’s promises and how He fulfilled them. I shared with her that the Bible is an authority that doesn’t change and is the record of the Apostles’ teachings. She was very interested. I shared with her the story of Lazarus and the rich man. In the story, the rich man is suffering in “hell, where he was in torment.” (Luke 16:23). Luke continues to quote Jesus, in 16:27-31, saying that the rich man begs Abraham to “send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

“ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”

This passage tells us that miracles are not the key to faith—the scriptures are. The scriptures have the power to change our hearts and open our ears to hear God’s voice. I shared Hebrews 4:12, which says that the word of God “discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” I told her that there are many ways to hear God’s voice or feel His presence, but that none of them surpasses the power of God’s word. The conversation went very well. She was engaged, interested and challenged. Originally, I was put off by her smoke screen, but this experience confirms that it is a bad idea to believe that a person’s smoke screen is the final word in personal evangelism. Because of the Spirit's encouragement, I pressed through the smoke screen and she thanked me for it.

It was already midnight and most of the people on the bus were asleep. When the morning came, I was sick from weaving through the mountains. I couldn’t pursue our conversation, for fear of throwing up. When we got off the bus, I didn’t see her again.

I believe that Creta wants to believe in God and feel his presence, but she is full of doubts and has nothing to combat them with. She did not believe that she could understand the Bible, because she had been taught against it. Our goal as witnesses of Jesus is to speak the word of God to those who haven’t heard it and to encourage those who can to read it for themselves. The Apostle Paul says in Romans 10:17, that “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” This is saying that when we speak the word of God, sharing the message of Jesus with people, the gift of faith is ignited in them. Creta needs the gift of faith.

Please pray for Creta, that the word of God will get inside of her and transform her heart and mind. Pray also for me, that I’ll have many more opportunities to share God’s word.

A funny story of my friend Joe Zickafoose

Having written about the loss of my friend, Joe Zickafoose, I want to share one of my favorite stories. Joe and I were leading worship during a XA meeting at the University of Louisville. There was a new student there that night—whom I will refer to as Tad. There was a pause between songs and Tad began to call down the judgment fires of heaven on every sinner on campus. He listed all the possible sins of college students and screamed out, “O God, let them burn in hell! LET THEM BURN!!!”

I interrupted and said, “Let’s break into groups of three and pray for one another.”

Joe and I ran to Tad. He looked at us and said, “Hey, I know where I’ve seen you guys before! It was in my vision. You guys were on the right and left side of Jesus.”

Joe and I looked at each other, then blurted out at the same time, “Which side was I on?”

Tad’s head bobbed like a person who had just gotten off of a corkscrew rollercoaster. He was struggling to focus and said, “Uh….uh…you were on the right and you were on the left.” We looked at each other and, again, blurted out together, “Your right or Jesus’ right?!”

Tad now looked like a guy who got off the rollercoaster and was about to barf. He said, in highly nervous tones, “Uh, uh, I don’t know!”

So, if there’s any doubt about where Joe is, I have good reason to believe that he’s at Jesus’ side.

(A couple of months after this encounter, I saw Tad again. He said that he felt God calling him to XA because the people in the group were misfits and social outcasts who needed his help. Thankfully, he was apparently called to help another group and never came back.)

Thanks to Marc Cauthon (http://deliriousjayhawk.blogspot.com/2008/08/joe-zickafoose.html) for the photo.

The Taxi Driver, the Checkout Girl, and the Rooftop Rescue

I have been in awe lately at how hard it is for the human nature to get a grasp on the core message of the gospel. I was talking to a taxi driver about the fact that Jesus died for his sins, and that he just had to receive the gift of salvation, and begin walking with Jesus, and He would do the rest--make him clean. He had such a hard time getting his head around that idea. There are no "few things" we need to clean up in advance, no preparations to be made. Just Jesus and a naked soul, waiting for the rescue on top of a house that has been flooded and will never have people living in it again. That simple, and that hard, because we so want to save our image of ourselves as capable, independent, righteous. But we are not.

A few days later, in another conversation about the Lord in the checkout at the supermarket(this is a lot easier here than in the States. I LOVE THAT ABOUT THIS COUNTRY.) , the girl asked me if I was religious. I told her that I was a sinner who was saved by the sacrifice of Jesus for my sins. I like that answer a lot better than, "Yeah, I'm an evangelical."

I really want to say to all the world that Jesus came for the sick, and not the healthy, and only those who can see their own need for help can receive it. Praise God who saved me from the consequences of my sin!

And if there is some precious soul out there who reads these blogs but who has not yet given their life to the Lord, please understand that there is nothing you can do to help or heal yourself so that you are ready to recieve Him. You are on the top of the flooded house, and if you don't let Him rescue you, the results are obvious. Please let Him rescue you.

He is coming soon.

This entry is from Lena:

About a month ago, I saw a rather home-made movie of the testimony of a Peruvian man who was brought back from the dead. His descriptions of heaven and hell were so real. I felt such an urgency to warn people. Heaven is awesome, and no one who goes there ever wants to come back, even with loved ones back here on Earth. This is hard for us to imagine, because our view just isn't quite big enough to keep eternity in our hearts and minds all the time. Frankly, we don't think enough about the reality of hell, either. It is so uncomfortable, even stressful to think of what really is at stake when we share the gospel.

Not long after, some missionary friends of ours were moving into their new place. I felt the urge to share the gospel with their new maid-- a young lady with a baby--smiley, pleasant. But I thought twice, because I didn't want to look like I was trying to out-missionary anyone, and I was certain that they would begin sharing with her soon.

About a week later, we received the news that she had gone to the hospital, and within just a few short days, she had gotten very ill and died. I couldn't believe it, and more than that, I couldn't believe that I had missed my chance over perceived territory issues (which I am quite certain were nonexistent--really awesome folks).

I wish this was a happy note, and that I had led her to the Lord. But I believe that every day, we are passing people who only have a short time left. Mostly, I think of Peruvians in this, as their health care is such a thing of faith from first to last. There are no guarantees of the medical community going to great lengths to save a life here where there is a lack of funds. Even when there are... you get the picture.

The truth is that this very week, Bill's brother and a very dear friend have their lives hanging in the balance, and they have great health insurance and the best the States can offer.

I did take the opportunity to witness to my taxidriver this week, though. He was amazingly open, but unwilling to make a commitment to the Lord. I warned him that Jesus is coming back soon, and in that moment, all who have not made Him Lord will perish. He was well-warned!! I am not willing that any should perish.

And if there is anyone out there reading this who has not yet given their life to Christ, I need to tell you that you are in serious danger. You must be found safely under the protection of Jesus Christ if you are to escape Hell and find Heaven. You do this by surrendering your life to Jesus, admitting that you can not pay your debt of sin, and receiving his gift of salvation. There is no other way to get in. Only through his sacrifice. Please do it now, because you do not know when He is coming back-- to the whole earth, or just for you.

Blessings to all of you, our friends! may He help us all to walk awake to the fact that He is coming back soon.

Witnessing in Cusco

One blessing of being in Peru is that the people are open to talking about their faith. When the First Christian Missions Team was with us, our time in Cuzco and Machu Picchu turned out to be a significant ministry experience. Everywhere we went, the Lord opened doors of witness for us. The team brought Bibles and we gave many away--showing people important verses and explaining that salvation is the gift of God. The team encouraged me to be more aggressive in personal witness. Two guys I talked with were our guides for the Machu Picchu tour and the Sacred Valley tours--one named Renato and the other, Augusto. Both are of Quechua Indian descent--the mountainous people most closely associated with the Inca empire. Both mentioned worshipping "Mother Earth" while we were there. I asked Renato who Jesus was in his life. He said, "He's a great guy, ... a really great guy."

I said, "Yea, but is he your Lord?"

Renato said, "Yea, ... a lot of the time."

I laughed and said, "I think this whole thing works a lot better when he is your Lord all of the time."

Renato said, "That's really difficult because I'm Quechua."

He was implying that it was incongruent to be a Native American Indian and to also be a Christian. There are two reasons why he thinks that. First, the Spanish conquered the Quechuas and tried to assimilate them--changing their names, their worship practices, their theology, culture and language. The Spanish failed. To this day, the Quechuas lead double lives. They speak Spanish in the market place and Quechua in their homes. They are Catholic in name, but continue to follow the ancient worship practices of their ancestors. To Renato, to become Christian means becoming Spanish. Since the Spanish conquistadors were very cruel and failed to exemplify proper Christian living, becoming like them is not an acceptable option for him. The second reason is Jesus, himself. Romans 9:33 says that Jesus is "the stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." Since Jesus demands exclusive worship and the identity of the Quechua Indians is integrally tied to their worship of the sun and the earth, it is painful even to be confronted with the name of Jesus. I tried to share with him that Jesus created us (not mother earth), and that when we worship him we do not lose our identities. Jesus loves the Quechua Indians. Nonetheless, he is the "name above all names," and does not permit us to even play games that imply we are worshipping the earth or the sun.

He listened, then said, "You know, when I was a teenager, I attended an evangelical youth group."

I thought this was interesting, because it implied that he wasn't a closed to the idea as he had implied previously. I said, "Why'd you quit?"

He said, "Because they were all hypocrites. They sang worship songs in the youth group, then went out drinking afterward."

I told him, "A lot of people talk about being Christian and others can see that they're not, but their failures don't change the truth. Jesus really is the Messiah and we can't tell the Lord that we didn't serve him because other people were phony."

He agreed. He would have talked more, but our train came and the rest of the team were already on it. It was one of those scenes where I had to run and catch the train before it left the station.

Please pray for Renato and Augusto. I think about the book of Revelation, which tells us that there will be people from every tribe and tongue worshipping Jesus. I want Renato and Augusto to be two representatives from the Quechua Indians in that glorious choir.

A Taste of Home

The youth missions team from First Christian Assembly of God (in Cincinnati, Ohio) just left. First Christian is our home church. As such, their departure has caused my heart to be flooded with emotions. We had a fabulous time when they were here. We painted part of a Latin American ChildCare school and did street evangelism (while handing out invitations to attended an evangelistic service) in three different districts of Lima. We also did street witnessing in Cuzco. There were 13 teenagers and 5 adults. The adults were already friends. Of the teens, 9 or 10 were the children of our friends. They were all like a sweet taste of home. It was a joy to hang out with people who knew us and with whom we could express our thoughts and emotions. It was also a thrill each time someone on the team had a great witnessing experience. I'll be adding pictures of their visit, and the work they accomplished, over the next few days. For now, I want to thank God for old friends and the chance to advance the Gospel. I also want to eat the Cheddar cheese they brought, spread over a nice hot bowl of Cincinnati Chili.

Sharing the Gospel & 2 prayer requests

Here's the text from our latest email update:

One of the blessings and curses of being a missionary is the fact that I stick out—but God has a way of using that. Last week, I was in Piura to preach, to make friends and take pictures of the kids in our Latin America ChildCare school. I was leaving the church, when I was stopped by two teenage boys walking down the street. One of them spoke, while the other just listened. The one who spoke asked, "Is that church Christian?"

I said, "Yes."

"Are you a missionary?"

"Yes."

The area I was in was not entirely safe. There are gangs there and I was afraid the two teens were going to harass me. Instead, he asked, "Why did Jesus come to the earth?"

"To pay the price of our sins. Sin separates us from God, but God loved us and wasn’t willing to be separated. So, something had to be done about the sin. That’s why Jesus came—to pay the debts we had incurred by sinning."

He continued, "If God loves us so much, then why is there suffering in the world?"

I said, “That is a great question. It’s not really easy to understand from our perspective. The short answer is that, for now, suffering is part of having the ability to love freely. God wants to have a relationship of love with real people, not just with robots. So, people have to have the right to make choices. When people make a choice to sin, they set off a chain reaction that hurts innocent people. God could stop it and take away everyone’s ability to make choices, but he couldn’t really have a relationship of love that way. Nobody wants that. But, it’s important to remember that this place, along with the suffering, is not the end of the story. Jesus said he’s building a mansion for us in a place without suffering and that he is coming back to take us there. But in order to go, you have to be his disciple. Is Jesus your Savior and Lord?

The two young men stared at me and fumbled to find an answer. So I continued, “Are you in a relationship with Jesus where you show your love for him by obeying him?”

One young man looked down without speaking. The other said, “No.”

I said, “Do you want to confess your sins to the Lord and ask him to be Lord of your life?”

“How do you do that?”
That is the very question all missionaries want to hear! I said, “You say, ‘Lord Jesus, I know that I’m a sinner, but I want to walk with you. I’m asking you to forgive me, to save me and to give me your Holy Spirit.’” I then asked, “Would you like to pray that prayer right now?”

They both looked down, silent. I waited, but they wouldn’t look up again. That’s a common way of ending a conversation in Peru. I had to change the subject. I told them that the church I was at was having a concert that night and I invited them both to come. They smiled and asked what time, then they left. I don’t know if they came, because there was a huge crowd at the church that night. I don’t even know their names. So I’m asking you to pray for them.

I have a second request. This week, we’re hosting a team of youth from our home church in Cincinnati. Please pray that the whole team will have conversations like the one I had with those young men. Pray for safety, salvations and life impacting ministry for all.

Thanks for being part of our team!

4 salvations

I feel very blessed today. I preached two services this morning. Preaching in Spanish requires a lot, since I have to write the sermon in English, translate it, have it corrected by a friend (Thanks Pablo!), then read/memorize it. Today's sermon came off well. The best part was the end, when 4 people gave their lives to the Lord. I was a bit shocked, since my altar call wasn't very emotional. So, I said, "This is for first timers only, not just for those who feel guilty when I preach." The four looked at me, their hands still in the air, and shook their heads yes!

Thank you, Jesus!

He kissed me--Croc guy - Part 2

The guy with the Croc obsession is back. This is the guy who, when he sees my crocs, yells, "What beautiful shoes!" and then tries to slip his foot into them while I'm wearing them. I ran into him in the business district of town. I was waiting to cross the street and he was standing next to me. The intersection is huge, with five streets intersecting and hundreds of cars and busses. When I saw him, I immediately looked down to see what shoes I was wearing. They were tennis shoes that he couldn't slip into. He was wearing slip on loafers that he'd cut off in the back, to make them like clogs (or Crocs). I'd been thinking about him since our last encounter. He walks miles upon miles, aimlessly, every day. He is a small, thin man with prematurely gray hair and the voice of a child. He is mentally challenged, innocent and possibly gay. I tried to think of what Jesus would do with a mentally challenged guy who kept trying to put on His sandals and I concluded that Jesus would not be afraid of him or treat him with indifference. So, I greeted him. His name is Renato and our conversation went like this:

I said, “Hi.”

He said, “Ohhhhhh, what beautiful glasses!”

“What's your name?”

“Renato.”

“My name is Bill. It's nice to meet you.”

It was clear that he had no idea who I was, or that he'd tried to climb into my shoes twice before. I extended my hand to shake his hand. He grabbed my hand and shook it eagerly, saying, “Thank you! Thank you! It’s nice to meet you too.” Then he kissed my hand and, before I knew what was happening, he kissed my cheek. I spoke to him firmly, as though I were speaking to a child and said, “No kisses, Renato!”

I tried to ask him where he lived, because I've seen him all over town. But, at my level of Spanish, I make a lot of mistakes. So, rather than ask “where” he lived, I asked “how.” I laughed inwardly, because I really was asking within, "How do you survive?"

He answered, “With my Mother and brothers.”

I asked, “So, do you just walk on the street all day long, every day?”

“Yes.”

Then he looked at me and said, “You’re face is so beautiful…you look like Jesus!”

The street light changed and we began to cross the street. I said, “Thanks. Jesus and I have a really close relationship and I like looking like him on the outside, but I’m more interested in looking like Jesus in my soul.”

He stared at me, like a person trying to see through a window and said, “The Spirit of God is all over you!”

I said, “Yes, Renato, I’m filled with the Holy Spirit. Do you have a relationship with Jesus?”

He replied, “Oh yes! I take Jesus in every day” and made the motions of a person taking communion. He was wearing a blue, plastic rosary like a necklace.

He said, “Where are you from?”

I replied, “The United States.”

He said, “The Papá (the pope) is there!”

“Yes,” I said, “he was, though I think he’s back in Italy now.”

At this point, we were standing in the middle of the cross walk, where he had stopped. We were in that space on the street between two opposing directions. It was clear that Renato had to go in another direction. I said, “I want to pray for you. May I?”

He said, “Oh yes!”

I had no idea what to pray for. I wondered, “Is he just mentally challenged or are demonic forces at work in his life?” I decided it was too soon, too public, and too in-the-middle-of-the-street to cast demons out of him. So, I prayed for God’s blessing in his life and for total healing of his body, mind and soul in the name of Jesus.

He was extremely grateful. He shook my hand and kissed it two or three times. He tried to kiss my cheek, but I held him back and said, “No kisses, Renato! No kisses!”

Then he asked, “Can I kiss your feet?”

I held him back and said, “No kisses!”

After that, he stepped into a river of people flowing down the side walk and I don’t know where he went. I do know that God loves him and (mentally challenged or not) God has a plan for his life. When I see him again, I will try to continue the conversation.