Preaching at Cañas

Last Sunday I had the opportunity to preach at the "Iglesia Monte Hobeb Quiterrizí. It was a delightful experience. The church is made up of indigenous (what we might call "indian"...native Costa Ricans) residents of a reservation. We encountered the pastor a few weeks ago as we were distributing the Gospel of John with a volunteer group from the U.S. He was extremely friendly and wanted my name and phone number. Little did I know that he was going to ask me to preach in his church. No. It's not a Baptist church. Actually, it's Church of God. The congregation numbered around 30, at least half children. Their worship style was pretty much what we would call charasmatic. Mitzi and were familiar with the songs, although we don't know them without a song book or sheet...and we couldn't quite get the words as they sang them...partly because it was Spanish, but mostly because there were so many different keys being sung that it was hard to make out the tune or words. And typical of Latin American churches, they had a sound system (in a room about 25x25)which they turned up pretty loud. The pastor's 8 year old son played the drums. He has the system down, just not the beat. A man played the guitar and led the singing. Don't get me wrong. I'm not making fun of them or being critical. They were worshipping. It didn't really matter if they were on the same key or not, because it wasn't a concert. Each one was expressing himself.
I preached...well, I still have to read most of my sermon in Spanish...and the people were very attentive. Costa Rican people are very polite. No doubt they appreciated the fact that my sermon was probably about half as long as they were used to. I hope they got the point. There was a smattering of "Amens"...as I said they are very polite.
Before we left,the pastor (who isn't indigenous) said to pray for them because there is still a lot of brujería (witchcraft) among the people, and like many indigenous peoples, alcoholism. He wispered this, so it may be that some of the people who attend church are involved. That isn't all that unusual. It's not uncommon for rural people to just sort of mix "Christianity" with what they already have.
When we left, we gave the pastor and his family a ride (They don't have a car.)and as we were driving up the steep dirt road, a lady from the church was walking along with her little girl. We gave her a ride too. She would have had to walk about two miles...almost straight up...to get home. Any of us walk two miles to church?

The heat is on.

I'm not one to see a demon behind every bush, but at times like this it just seems like the enemy is working overtime. A few days ago I sent out a prayer request about a young pastor who has just been accused of taking money six years ago. Makes no sense why at this time. It was a situation where there was accounting for funds every day and there was never any discrepancy. The young man is doing an excellent work leading his church, which is reaching people for Christ. This has the potential of causing him to have to leave the church in order to earn money to pay a lawyer.

Then...last night another faithful worker...a man who is leading several groups, including at least two churches was rushed to the hospital with what appeared to be a heart attack, although I haven't heard the latest report.

All this comes at a time when there is significant Kingdom advance in certain areas (the areas where these men are working) and the potential for a great deal more. It may be coincidence, but it sure does seem like a frontal attack to me.

Satan has had control of these areas for a long time. His territory is being invaded. The people he has deceived are seeing the light, the truth. It's no wonder he is upset and on the attack. This is happening in more places too. Several of our potential or active leaders are having various problems...health, housing, job, discouragement, just to name a few.

Please lift up Jose, Jeremy, Gilberth, Sabino in particular. Pray for their protection and strength in the Lord. Pray for God's grace to sustain them and give the power to continue on. Also pray a special protection...some call it a hedge of protection...but whatever you call it, pray that they will be protected from the advances of anything or anybody that would try to drag them down and render them ineffective.

May God be glorified in the victories of his chosen.

Good News-Bad News

You know the "good news, bad news" phrase. Well, I've got good news (praise) and bad news (reason for petitions). Which do you want first? Ok. The good news. Recently a volunteer group worked in the Puriscal area distributing the gospel and making contacts (see earlier pictures and article). Many good contacts were made, and, as always, the task is to follow up on them. Our prayer was for God to raise up national believers to work with new groups in that area. It appears that He has done that. The pastor of a church in a nearby town has the vision of training church members to go to the villages and lead Bible studies. Pray that we can wisely work with this church in starting new groups and developing leadership.

Now...the bad news...well, it appears that way now, but only God knows the final outcome. He can take what appears to be bad and turn it to good. Oh. You want to know what I'm talking about. Ok. The young pastor of a new and growing church has been (falsely) accused of embezzeling money from an employer where he worked six years ago.
Why now? Who knows? An attack from the enemy it seems. The pastor says he can prove his innocence, but the system here is that an accused person is guilty until proven innocent. If the charges aren't dropped, in order to hire and pay a lawyer to defend him, a process which could take years, he and his wife will have to leave the church and move to where they both can get jobs to earn enough to pay the lawyer. Please pray...first that the family will have faith and strength; secondly that the church will be strong and supportive; that if this continues, God will provide leadership for the church; that the charges will be dropped, and soon, before he has to resign and move his family.