Last Day in Coracora

Today is our last day in Coracora. We will begin the long journey back to Lima this afternoon.

Yesterday we spent several hours at the orphanage playing with the kids and talking with the house parents. We shared the gospel with the house parents. They were all very deeply entrenched in Catholicism. Catholicism is not only the religion of the town, but it is completely interwoven with the political and business aspects of the town as well. You cannot turn anywhere that you do not see it. More about this later.

We had a great night with our Bible study group last night. As I told you yesterday we have found and man who will continue leading the group. Yesterday afternoon we were also able to work out a location for the group to meet. Praise God.

The situation is very fragile because all of the people meeting in the group are new believers, but we do not trust in human strength. We trust in God who is able to do far more than we could ever ask or think. We have given Andres, the leader, a schedule of Bible passages to lead the group through until we can send another team back to Coracora. Pray for him to understand the passages and lead well.

Pray for our safe travel. I look forward to seeing you and worshiping with you again. We are blessed.

I love you church...

Mark

I´m Learning Lots

Our Bible study last night was fantastic. We had our regular people and about 6 teenagers from the orphanage and a house parent showed up also. I got to share the gospel with all of them and give them a little thing to take home with them so they could remember the gospel.



Here were our basic two goals that we wanted to accomplish while we were here. First, to find a place for the Bible study to continue after we are gone. We have been meeting in a little lobby outside our hotel room. The group can´t meet there if we´re not staying in the hotel. We´re close to finding a place but haven´t yet. Second goal, to find a person who will lead the Bible studies after we are gone. We have found this person. His name is Andres. Bobby and I are paying for him to go to an IMB sponsored and led training in a town somewhat nearby at the end of November. I´ll tell you more about him when I return.



This morning we met a man named Isaias. He heard we were here and Andres brought him to us. I learned that he was a part of a Baptist church that tried to get started aseveral years ago, but this church folded because they could never find a pastor. And that is the number 1 challenge that we will face. Finding a Peruvian pastor who will come to Coracora or training a person to become the pastor. I will speak more about this when I get back.



God bless and thank you for your prayers...



Mark

Monday Morning Update

Hey church...

Bobby and I have really enjoyed our time so far. We had a lady last night at our Bible study who was very close to receiving Christ. Her name is Islena. We didn´t want to pressure her so we told her we would follow up later this week. Hopefully she´ll come back to Bible study tonight.

As Bobby and I talked together this morning, we both agreed that the absolutely critical part that will make this thing go is to have a man who is willing to lead while we are gone. If this is to become a church eventually then someone will have to step up and be the pastor. This is our main prayer focus now. There´s a lot of details that I will tell you when I return that would take forever to write.

We´re going to visit the orphanage here in a few minutes. Blessings church...

Mark

God Is Working

Hey First Baptist...

We´ve had a good day and a half so far in Coracora. God has literally been bringing people to us who are wanting to study the Bible and be part of a church.

I led Bible study last night using the story method I had been doing on Wednesday nights at FBC over the past month. It went really well and we had some awesome interaction with the people who came. This morning at 10am we met again and talked about baptism and what exactly a church is.

We met a lady this morning while we were eating breakfast. Her name is Janet. She sat down to eat and overheard our conversation (she speaks a little english). She just moved to Coracora one week ago and had been looking for a Bible teaching church. Guess what? She couldn´t find one because there isn´t one here, so she came to our Bible study and she´ll be back again when we meet tonight.

Keep praying hard because God hears your prayers and he works as we ask him. I love you all church and I prayed for you as you met together for worship this morning. Do you know what a priviledge that you have???

Blessings...

We´re in Coracora

We made it in the middle of the night last night, found our hotel, and got a few hours of sleep. I got up and read some Scriptures this morning. I read Psalm 96 about the worship of God and the call of missions. Check it out.

We have already reestablished contact with a man named Dante that a previous group made a relationship with. God literally brought him right to our lap first thing this morning. So we´ll be doing a Bible Study tonight with him and with another person we met to work in the restaurant beside our hotel.

I looked out over the town from my hotel window (good view) this morning and took some photos and videos. It is so heartbreaking to me that this place has no, zero, zip evangelical Bible preaching churches. They don´t have access to the gospel. I thought about Jesus as he looked over the crowd and felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Lost.

¨Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.¨ Psalm 96:3, 4

I´ll check in later.

Arrival in Lima

Mark called me at 7:30 am and said they arrived safely in Lima last night around midnight. They were an hour and 1/2 late leaving Miami because of mechanical problems but it was smooth sailing the rest of the way! It's a good thing God gave him and Bobby strong, healthy backs because the taxi driver taking them from the airport to the IMB housing hit a pothole and ripped the tire apart. So, Mark and Bobby were changing a tire on the side of the Pacific coast at 12:30 this morning!! Thank you God for their safety!!
He could not get any internet access but he said he hopefully could find some in Cora Cora. They were on their way to the bus station this morning for the 18 hr. trek of the trip! (Let's pray they don't lose any tires on the bus!!!)

Thoughts on Discipleship

The church has been given one task...to make disciples of all nations (peoples).

I (Mark) have been thinking a great deal lately about discipleship. I have a ton of thoughts about it swirling in my head, but I want to comment briefly on what I feel is the state of discipleship in the 21st century American church. My feeling is that many Christians feel this way...

"Discipleship is for the super-Christian."

Have you ever thought that? You have to be a cut above the rest to really qualify for the label "disciple of Jesus."

Simply put...a disciple is a person who is actively engaged in becoming like his or her master.

Here's where the 21st century church struggles greatly. As I observe the landscape of church life in the 21st century, for the most part, I see that today's church is a passive event where you sit and observe. That will not make disciples. It cannot.

I am leaving for Peru shortly. I am excited. We are looking to make disciples of Jesus there. I want discipleship and missions to be at the very heart of everything we do because it is at the heart of what Jesus commissioned us to do. (Matthew 28:18-20)

For you to interact with...

1. Do you feel like discipleship is for the super-Christian or for everybody?
2. Looking back over the last 5 years, would you say that know you have become more like Christ, or stayed about the same, or gone backwards?
3. Any other thoughts you have about this post/discipleship...

To leave your answers click on the "comments" link below.

Blessings...Mark

Next post from Peru!!! (as soon as I can find internet)

Sunday Preview: The Greatness of God – part 4 – Glory

Isaiah 42:8 says, “I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.”

We don’t often think of jealousy as a positive quality, but in this case we see God’s jealousy for his own glory. It is loving of God to desire to see himself glorified for the Scriptures tell us that we find the fulfillment of our life’s purpose when we are glorifying God with our lives.

Here’s some other Scriptures we’ll look at this weekend
• Isaiah 43:7, 21
• Isaiah 48:9-11
• Ephesians 1:4-6
• 1 Peter 2:9

The message of these verses is that God saves us for his own glory. Wow.

See you Sunday…

Mark