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Dominican Republic Trip- Day 7

July 27, 2011 by admin

Today was my first of two travel days to visit my Compassion International sponsored child. The day began with breakfast with Brad and another American pastor here in the Dominican Republic. It was neat to hear how the English speaking church has become both a haven for missionaries serving here and an outreach to English speaking Dominicans and Haitians in the community. It is great to hear of church strategies that bring different ethnic groups together. The American church has much to learn about ethnic diversity in worship.

This morning, I spent some time finalizing details for the pastors’ conference, which starts on Friday. I am praying that this will be an exciting and encouraging time for the pastors. I have finalized session topics for the conference. One Friday night, I will have two practical sessions covering: The Ministry of Presence (John 11 ) and Equipping Others for Ministry (Ephesians 4:11-16 ). The Saturday sessions will shift to a more theological nature. The session topics include: Radical Dependence on the Holy Spirit in the Christian Life and Ministry (John 15 ), Biblical Exegesis (Ephesians 2:1-10 ), Gospel Narrative: The Storyline of Scripture (Genesis 1 , Genesis 3 , John 1 , Romans 1-3 , Revelation 21 ), and Preaching the Cost of Discipleship (Luke 9:57-62 , Luke 14:25-33 ). The conference will end with a time of prayer for spiritual strength and empowerment based on Ephesians 3 : 14-21. I am excited and humbled by the opportunity to invest in these pastors.

The trip to Santo Domingo was a little over 4 hours by bus. I learned today that the Dominican Republic might be the pothole capital of the world. I was able to sleep on the bus ride due to some help from David Crowder Band and Shane Everett on my iPod.

Santo Domingo is an amazing yet sad city. It is amazing because it is the place where Christopher Columbus first landed in the western hemisphere. Tonight, I was able to go see his house, the place where he first landed, and the oldest church in the western hemisphere. It is a sad place due to the exploitation that happens here through the prostitution industry.

Prostitution is considered a legal occupation in the Dominican Republic. It is sad to walk down the street and see teenage girls walking with old men. While on the street visiting historical sites, I was asked multiple times by people if I wanted their services. It is heartbreaking to see these people selling themselves in order to survive. These girls are in this position because they have no other way to make money and live in this society.

The story of the Dominican Republic remains the same the more of the country that I am able to experience. Behind the lights, tourism, and historic monuments, stands a society full of hurting people who need help escaping from the dark place where they find themselves. This restoration is found first and foremost in the gospel, but it is also found in putting feet to the gospel message through community restoration!

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Dominican Republic Trip- Day 6

July 26, 2011 by admin

Today was a day of planning and exploration. It began by going to see the Jesus statue that stands on the mountain over the city. It is made by the same sculptor as the statue in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, but it is smaller in size. The statue of Jesus with His arms spread open wide over the city stands as a strong example of what God wants to do here in Puerto Plata. God wants people to embrace the gospel, which was clearly given when Christ’s hands were spread out on the cross. Jesus stands over a city with much need and hurt and offers freedom from sin and a welcoming into a relationship with Him that is greater than whatever circumstances we may find ourselves.

I spent some time this afternoon working on the pastors’ conference. Brad and I worked on a flyer for the conference and went to find a place for the conference to be held. We are inviting a select number of pastors to stay in a hotel for a retreat this Friday through Sunday. This will be a time of prayer and study of God’s Word. I am serving as a discussion facilitator for the conference. Brad is allowing me to be the primary person in shaping the direction and vision for this conference. I will be staying in the hotel with a translator leading the conference. I am still seeking the Lord for further confirmation about what He would desire me to teach in order to best minister to these pastors.

I have struggled with the idea of leading this conference because I know that I have nothing of my own to offer to these pastors. I am praying that the Holy Spirit would fill me and empower me in these days. I believe that the Lord wants to use this conference as a life-changing experience for these pastors during these days. I want the Holy Spirit’s words through me to fill our time together because only He can truly minister to the hearts of these pastors.

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Dominican Republic Trip- Day 5

July 25, 2011 by admin

Today was a day of further exploration of the Jenkins’ ministry here in the Dominican Republic. I began the day by visiting the sites where the water was brought to the village and the village where the homes for the Haitian refugees were built. It was great to be able to see the smiles on the faces of the people in these villages!

The missions’ strategy of the Jenkins in the Dominican Republic is community development and restoration. This strategy is employed by helping people and their communities not by merely giving handouts but through empowering them to grow through partnership in projects. The communities, in which they minister, are those communities who are willing to invest in what has been given to them. The goal is that the people would take an active interest in their own community through the projects that are being done.

This afternoon, I had the opportunity to visit one of the rougher areas of town. This is called “Aguas Negras,” which means black water. This is an area of town right on the shore of the ocean where drugs and prostitution are common. The name comes from the fact that the water running into the ocean is black due to sewage. This was an area where the Jenkins worked earlier in their ministry. This was a place where there was obvious love from the people who were living in a place that no one would desire to live.

The longer that I am in the Dominican Republic, the more God is teaching me that joy is found not in money, fame, possessions, and popularity, but it is found in Him alone. God moves through broken people in broken places to put them back together to display His glory! I am blessed and encouraged today that God would choose to work through a broken person like me.

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Dominican Republic Trip- Day 4

July 24, 2011 by admin

Today was a restful day of recuperation after what had been a busy week for the team. It was a blessing to be able to spend the day with Brad and his family in addition to their ministry team in the Dominican Republic! God is truly using the Jenkins’ family in amazing ways here for His glory!

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Dominican Republic Trip: Day 3

July 23, 2011 by admin

Today was a day of rest for the teams. It was great to be able to spend some time with Brad and his family. I feel like the Dominican Republic is becoming less foreign and unknown to me the longer that I am here.

The people are so friendly and welcoming, which makes it easy to feel like home. I am still struggling with the language difference. Not speaking Spanish makes me feel like I am out of the loop in conversations. This evening at my hotel, I turned on the TV to an American station just to be able to hear people speak a language that I could understand. It did not matter what they were discussing. All that mattered was that there were words that I understood coming from their mouths.

The day ended with a service with the youth group from St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham. This was a time of thanks and a foot-washing service. It was very impacting for me to sit and watch this service. A service like this is one of the moments that I remember most clearly about Brad’s youth ministry in the States. As I sat and watched students respond to this clear picture of humility and service, I was encouraged to seek the Lord for a way that I can model this form of servant leadership for my students at home.

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Dominican Republic Trip: Day 2

July 22, 2011 by admin

Today was the last day of ministry for the two teams that have been here this week. I had the opportunity to spend some time with both teams helping them with their current ministry projects.

I began the day at a VBS program that St. Luke’s Episcopal Church from Birmingham was leading. This was in a community called “The Valley of the Pigs.” These are people who live directly downstream from a garbage dump and live off of the garbage dump. There is a pig farm that forms the other side of their village opposite of the garbage dump. This was one of the worst places that I have ever seen. The smell was horrible and the living conditions of the people were staggering. The entire time I was there, I could not get the image of gehenna out of my head. I need to do more research on this Greek word and topic, but I have heard preachers comment that one of the words that Jesus uses for hell in the Greek New Testament is gehenna. It is said to refer to a garbage dump outside of the city where bodies are burned and there is a terrible odor. The image of hell, as pictured in this description filled my mind, as I spent the morning at VBS.

I also had the opportunity to help distribute debugging pills to the children at VBS and throughout the community. These are pills that Brad distributes on a bi-monthly basis that work to kill internal parasites. There is a doctor from UAB here with the Birmingham team, and I had an opportunity to discuss these pills with him. He said that all most every person that he has seen over the week that he has been doing medical clinics has had stomach issues and pain. He said that these pills offer the people temporary relief from their symptoms.

We were also distributing water purification devices to people who had attended the seminar. These are 10 gallon buckets that have a clay pot placed inside them. Within the clay pot are layers of charcoal and silver, which serve as a filtering device for the water. These water filters are said to filter 95% of the bacteria and harmful substances from the water. At the seminars, people are taught the science of water being a source of disease and are presented with the truth that Jesus Christ came to provide living water. This is a material that I am going to get to help further shape and develop while I am on this trip.

In the afternoon, I went to the Mustard Seed House for disabled orphans. This was a very sad place. There was one child there who was 2.5 years old, but he weighed only 12 pounds. He had been neglected and malnourished prior to coming to the orphanage. It is truly heartbreaking to hear the stories of these children. It was amazing to me that almost all of these children had smiles on their faces despite their disability and the difficult place were they were in life.

In the evening, we went to the community where the houses were being constructed to have a dedication service. This was a great service. It began by taking some time for all of the people who had worked on the project to write Bible verses and prayers on the walls of the house. This was a great picture of grounding the building of the house in the Word. Then the pastor of the Reformed church in the community preached. He thanked all involved in the project and began to proclaim the gospel to the community. He said that with the Word of God being the formation and grounding of these homes that Satan would not be able to have a foothold.

During the dedication ceremony, the church sang some hymns in Spanish. The more that I travel and see the church around the world; the more that I feel like the typical American definition of church misses the point. In America, a building, numbers of people, and a denominational affiliation define a church. In this context, similar to the underground church that I was able to be a part of in China, church was the people of God gathered to remember the Word of God and to proclaim the greatness of God. The American church must begin to be defined biblically and not culturally.

I ended the day at dinner with Brad and his family at Burger King. It was nice to have a taste of the United States to end the day. I am praying that God would continue to place me in a spirit of listening to Him so that He can show me more and more of what He is doing for His glory in the Dominican Republic!

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Dominican Republic Trip: Day 1

July 21, 2011 by admin

Today has been a crazy day. As soon as I got off of the airplane, I was immediately doing ministry. Brad has two different teams from the United States serving with him until this weekend. Today was a day where Brad spent most of our time showing me the projects that God has given them and checking in on these teams. I am coming in what has been a hectic week, but in the midst of the chaos, God is clearly at work.

God opened doors for me to have gospel conversations with two guys on the plane on the way to the Dominican Republic. It is always encouraging to see who God places in my path for His glory.

The work of God that I saw today in the Dominican Republic consisted of exploring projects and helping these teams. One team has been building some houses for Haitian refugees, who lost all of their possessions in a recent fire. There will be a dedication service this weekend to present these families with these homes. The other team is working on building a fresh waterspout to send clean water into a village where people were having to walk 700 meters for water.

I am struck by the poverty and depth of need in the Dominican Republic. These new houses that the team is building are single rooms that are about ten feet by ten feet. These homes will hold anywhere from 2 to 8 people. I was also amazed from discussing needs with Brad to discover that prostitution is legal here. There are twelve-year-old girls who work in the prostitution industry and sell themselves for $3. This breaks my heart!

All of this need and poverty is going on while thousands of western tourists come to this island in order to go on vacation. These tourists do not take the time or have the interest to see the true side and need in the eyes and lives of the people.

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Book Review: The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life

May 9, 2011 by admin

In The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life, Joan Chittister makes the church calendar and the importance of liturgy come alive. This is the seventh book in Thomas Nelson’s Ancient Practices Series, which focuses on different spiritual disciplines. This series is strongly influenced by primary voices in the Emergent Church Movement such as Phyllis Tickle and Brian McLaren. In my opinion, the return to spiritual disciplines of the monastics and the early church is a helpful part of the Emergent Movement.

As a Southern Baptist, the church calendar and liturgy were two areas which were very unfamiliar to me. Chittister has a very strong Catholic influence. This came through in some aspects of the book. The focus on church festivals centered around Mary were concerning to me personally. However, I was very encouraged with how Chittister approached the role of the saints as serving as examples of how to live the Christian life. Chittister’s descriptions of the different elements of the church calendar were short yet helpful to the reader.

Why would someone, who is not a theologian, want to read a book on liturgy? This is the unspoken question in the minds of readers throughout the book. Chittister does an excellent job of addressing this issue. She clearly connects the role of the church calendar and liturgy to phases in a Christian’s growth in their personal walk with Christ. This made me want to more intentionally incorporate the church calendar and liturgy in my own personal devotional life.

I would recommend this book for thoughtful reading. The theological persuasion of the author clearly influences the book. Like with any other book, readers should be careful to read with biblical discernment in order to filter truth from error. After reading this book, I think that it would be helpful for more non-liturgical Christians to adopt the rhythm of life that is experienced through the church calendar and liturgy.

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Book Review: SoulPrint: Discovering Your Divine Destiny

May 2, 2011 by admin

Our world is in an identity crisis. We are constantly looking to celebrities, children, relationships, looks, and many other things to base our identity on. In SoulPrint: Discovering Your Divine Destiny, Mark Batterson effectively presents the biblical antidote to this identity crisis. As believers, our true identities are grounded in our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Through SoulPrint, Batterson encourages his readers to personally evaluate the past, present, and future decisions that have been essential in identity construction. He discusses the process of sanctification, in which a believer becomes the person who God created them to be. This exploration is done primarily through a study of the life and decisions of David. Through the chapters, Batterson makes David come alive to the readers. Through the life journey of David, readers are taught the importance of having a holy confidence in God, making spiritual markers of God’s faithfulness, reflecting in times of preparation and discouragement, being authentic, and avoiding times of temptation. Batterson ends the book by painting a picture of God giving believers a completely new identity in heaven.

This is a very encouraging and challenging read. Batterson encourages readers to become real about the things that have formed their identity and a passionate call to surrender their identity completely to Christ. Batterson’s writing style and constant examples make SoulPrint a very compelling read.

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Book Review: Throw It Down: Leaving Behind Behaviors and Dependencies that Hold You Back

April 27, 2011 by admin

In Throw It Down: Leaving Behind Behaviors and Dependencies that Hold You Back, Jud Wilhite challenges believers to evaluate the struggles in their lives biblically and seek to surrender themselves fully to the work of the God who saves. This is a very personal book for Wilhite in which he shares his own struggles in this area.

Throw It Down is a challenging book, which consists of testimonies of struggle and victory interlaced with a biblical argument for freedom. Wilhite relies primarily on the people of Israel’s journey out of Egypt in the Exodus as a parallel to a believer’s journey from dependency to freedom. The New Testament applications of the Exodus narrative, such as Jesus being the Passover Lamb, help to ground this story in the message of the gospel.

Wilhite continually drives his readers back to an utter dependence on the power of God through the work of the Holy Spirit to lead them to victory from the places of struggle in their lives. This is an excellent book that effectively leads readers to embrace the power of the Holy Spirit, who sets prisoners free due to the death of Christ on the cross to purchase their freedom. This is a call to walk in freedom from addiction and struggle that is very practical in nature yet grounded in biblical truth.

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