The Church & Politics

Chris Anderson, over at My Two Cents, gives several excellent arguments regarding the role of the church in American politics over the last 30 years. Frankly, I agree with him. Chris has summed up nicely what I always wanted to say on the subject.

 

Piper, Obama and Reproductive Rights

Let Piper speak for himself……

 

Exalted Among the Nations

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” ~ Psalm 46: 10 – ESV

The phrase “be still” literally translates “cease striving”. In today’s American culture, “cease striving” seems to be an impossible task. In today’s Mexican culture, that task is equally difficult. We started off this morning with a time of worship and prayer, which reminded me of the Lord’s words in this Psalm that He “will be exalted among the nations.” Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi echoes the same thought that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth” (2:10). At times, we are so bound in our narrow view of the church. Its borders do not end in NE Ohio or the U.S., but spans globally beyond cultural, political, and ethnic barriers that we have been accustom to hide behind. His fervent love for His church is not just American affection and the causes we like to get wrapped up in, but it includes every people group, every culture, and every language.

The heavenly worship that John describes in Revelation 4 and 5 is a worship that is focused on the Most High God, His holiness and those giving glory, honor and power to Him have no concern to such barriers. These were just some of my impressions of our time of worship this morning.

I will attempt one more post before our return flight on Friday. This will contain a brief overview the final training strategy and giving them their books.

We are looking forward in getting home, though leaving this gorgeous weather will be difficult. Today’s forecast: 68 degrees and sunny.

 

The Truth in Church Music

This video post really expresses my heartbeat when it comes down to the issue of church music. I believe Paul nails it in his letter to the Colossian church:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)

The singing of corporate songs which pleases and honors God rests solidly upon the teaching of truth and how that is displayed in the life of the church and whether or not the lyrical content of those songs are accurately reflect this Truth and teaching about God. This will be my last worship post this week while I am in Ensenada.

 

Ensenada Update – Tuesday Sessions

Good Afternoon-

It has been a busy of couple days and will give you a brief update regarding yesterday, Tuesday, February 25. I also apologize for the poor grammar & spelling in this post. I have limited time.

The topic of discussion and training was the post-conversion follow-through in the development of a Christian. An article by Corcoris’ on Biblical Follow-Up and Acts 2: 42-47 were key elements in our Socratic discussions. Acts 2:42-47 outlined those elements:
1. Baptism
2. Instruction (vs. 42 – “…they continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine”)
3. Fellowship
4. Breaking of bread/Lord’s Supper
5. Prayer

Discussion headed in the direction of the centrality of the local church and how para-church organizations cannot fulfill all of the functions and biblical mandates, especially the area of baptism.

Our afternoon discussion was centered on identifying the cores elements of the Gospel and how many of these elements were presented to us at the time of our conversion. Scripture references that were central to this discussion were 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 and Ephesians 2: 1-10.

Though these sound like elementary teachings, these are basic foundation blocks is on going establishment of the church, not only in Mexico, but in the US. As time together progressed through this material, I became more evident to me that our churches in the States in state of repair, much like the condition of wall that Nehemiah found upon his arrival to Jerusalem.

When doing ministry in a foreign setting, planning is necessary, but so is flexibility. (We have given Mexico the nickname of “Flexico”.) We made an unplanned stop at Pastor Ernesto’s new church plant, which is currently going the First Principle study, Becoming a Disciple. This study followed a study on How to Know God. We spent about 20 minutes with them, encouraged them to continue in the faith and prayed with them. That definitely was a highlight thus far to our trip.

Lastly, we had the opportunity to have a late meal at a local restaurant with Octavio Jimenez and his wife. Octavio is a very godly, Biblically minded man who is the very glue that has held this movement of churches together in Ensenada. Octavio has been nothing but encouraging and helpful as we prepared for this trip as well as previous trips. We will be have dinner again with them prior to our departure, this time at their home.

I hope to make another up regarding our training today later this evening or early tomorrow morning before our day begins.

Grace & Peace

Scott

 

Good Morning-

Yesterday was an eventful and busy day as lengthy and productive conversations in establishing a training strategy took place, fish tacos were consumed for lunch and a visit to Ron’s favorite taco stand – Tacos el Poblano…. another Ensenada jewel. The food at the stand was delicious and the ambiance, well, let’s say it was unique.

Doug Shiplett from BILD International was extremely helpful in help us formulate a training strategy. One of his concerns throughout the day was that the Mexicans take ownership in this project and whether or not certain techniques would function well within the Baja culture. The last thing we want to do is replicate an “American” program within a culture that has no chance of working. Our goal is not to “Americanize” their ministry (much like the colonial missions of the 1800s and1900s), but to give them quality biblical tools that will transcend the Mexican culture and further establish and strengthen churches in Ensenada. On a couple of occasions, these pastors help guide us over some of the cultural hurdles to give us better clarity as this strategy was being developed. It was pretty awesome to see this unfold. I will avoid the details of this strategy in this blog, but a detailed written report will be made available to the congregation at Grace Church, Lord willing.

As a side note, over the past several years and now with my second visit to Ensenada, I am now more convinced that “missions” is best conducted by indigenous leaders/trainers rather than sending someone foreign to the culture and language. The sooner a work can be transferred into the hands of local pastors, the better. That is why I like this set up we have here in Ensenada. We are in for a week or two, couple times a year, to work along side of the Mexicans, who have a better understanding of their culture and language than I will ever have with my two years of high school Spanish language.

Today, we begin our training in Becoming Established in the Gospel and this afternoon we will present each pastor with four MacArthur books, in Spanish of course, as a gift from Grace Church congregation. I definitely will post on this.

Grace & Peace-

Scott

 

In lieu of the 2008 Election results….

Psalm 146: 3,4 (NASB)~

Do not trust in princes,
In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.
His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;
In that very day his thoughts perish.

 

The Weekend

I am scrambling to get something down here as my time is short.  On group arrived from Ohio on Saturday without incident.  That evening our students were invited to an informal worship service on the beach which helped in the blending of the two cultures.  Though Saturday was long and tiring, it was a good beginning to what I anticipate as a good week.

Sunday was an incredible day for me.  The worship at Prince of Peace was awesome.  Their praise band was on of the tightest worship bands from a local church that I have heard in a long time and the all people, children, youth, young adults, married with children, empty nesters, and senior saints, participated.  It was lively and they wanted to worship the Almighty.  Simply amazing!  You can bet I will post a commentary on this, hopefully this week.

Sunday afternoon was reserved for a boat tour of the harbor and sight seeing in the tourest section.  Another opportunity to interact with our Mexican hosts.

My apologies for no pics.  Time is short this morning and breakfast is being served as I type.  Hope to post more.

 

Days 2 & 3

The past several days have been busy.  Pastor training was completed this afternoon with a tentative strategy in place to begin a national network for church planting in Mexico.  One of the items that we discussed was the need for training materials in Spanish that can be used immediately and affordable to the average Mexican.  So a plan of attack was developed and hopefully this can become reality quickly.  The elders at Grace Church will be receiving a written report regarding details of this training hopefully early next week.

This morning Ron began our session with a time of praise.  Each person expressed his/her sincere appreciation for our time and willingness to come and teach, especially Ron & Roger who have been faithful in returning to Mexico over the past five years to order a system of training church pastors and key leaders.  A question was asked why we would spend extended time, energy and financing, and dedicate ourselves in continuous visits to Mexico.  We simply replied that we are doing our part in representing our local churches in fulfilling the Great Commission, and that is the example we would like to leave behind so that the local churches in Ensenada catch the vision of the Great Commission.  That was probably one of the more encouraging moments in ministry that I have experienced.  It was truly humbling.

Now for the important stuff…..tacos, fish tacos that is.  I experience my first fish taco.  My travel companions played up the drama real well.  If you like deep fried fish and you like soft taco shells, then you will like fish tacos.  I Skyped my son Caleb last night and he wanted to know if I received food poisoning from the fish tacos and puked all night.  The answer to that would be “no”.  The taco stand was situated right on the street corner.  You simply walk up grab a taco and Coke, and chow down.  When you are done, signal for another one, and bam, you got another one.  You pay after you are finished. A buck a taco, what a bargain.  Mexican version of fast food. The best part was the ambiance.  Eating a fish taco and breathing diesel fumes.  Ya can’t get that in the States!  There is no doubt we will visit that stand again before the end of our time in Ensenada.

We head back to San Diego tomorrow to meet the rest of our team.  Please be praying for a safe and timely flight.  I know the frequency of these updates will decrease.  I hope to post one time next week before our departure home.

 

Hola from Mexico

We have arrived safely in Ensenada. Flights were uneventful, though there was a two hour delay in Houston due to mechanical issues with our plane. We boarded another plane and off we went. I figure landing safely in San Diego makes for an uneventful trip. Our border crossing was uneventful as well with a gorgeous drive along the Pacific coast.

Tomorrow we will begin three days of intense training of local pastors in the Ensenada area. I will attempt to update daily. Please be in prayer as our group of high school and college students will leave Cleveland on Saturday.  We will meet them in San Diego and head back to Ensenada together.

The picture is a scenic view of the sun setting on the Pacific Ocean.

Grace & Peace