E.T. is phoning home

Well, we are no longer illegal aliens! Immigration approved our request to extend our visas with little fight, which means we are no longer traveling in unmarked and inconspicuous vehicles, with aliases and fake mustaches. Needless to say we are thankful for this news, but we are not out of the clear yet. We are still waiting for our work permit paperwork to make its way through the bureaucratic channels. There is not any real concern about the actual permit, only the fee that it carries. We are upbeat and praying that God will show grace by allowing us to get the waver for a second time. Please pray with us as we trust in the Lord to provide; as soon as we know, so will you!

This past week we have been on the go with the team from North Shore Baptist Church. They have been doing a terrific job and have ministered to hundreds of people through medical and dental ministries, vacation Bible school, school devotions, hospital visitation, etc. Their nightly ministry in the past has been two weeks of evangelistic crusade meetings in two of the circuit churches, but this year they have been doing discipleship meetings. The team is leading small group lessons and discussions with the focus of making disciples! The church members of Buff Bay, Orange Bay, and Mount Vernon have been faithful to attend each night and are enjoying growing in God's Word and fellowshiping with one another. This is the first time for many of the church members to have classes such as these (each group is age and gender specific) and they seem to be eating it up. Please pray for these discipleship meetings that they will continue when the teams leave and that the disciples of Jesus Christ in Buff Bay will be motivated to make other disciples, thus fulfilling the Great Commission given by our Lord and Savior.

SWAG

For those who like watching award shows, attending conventions, or are simply obsessed with The Office, you probably know what SWAG is. However, for those in the dark, let me fill you in. SWAG (Stuff We All Get) are the trinkets given away in award shows to the presenters (a quick search on TMZ.com may allow you to find out what the presenters to last night's Grammy Awards walked away with; I am sure that it was at least a TAG Heuer watch, Swarovski crystal, and a new Bentley). On the convention floors it includes the free frisbees given out by the booth next to yours. However, you do not have to be in showbiz or be a corporate salesman in order to get SWAG; you can just be a missionary!

On Friday we welcomed the initial team from North Shore Baptist Church in Queens, NY. The rest of the team will be arriving on Thursday of this week. It is like having family come into town. We have known many in the church for about 5 years or so. Kirsten and I have worshiped with the saints at NSBC numerous times and have been encouraged greatly by their ministry in the Big Apple. The church is also a supporting church financially, practically, emotionally, and spiritually. One of the ways they do this is by bringing us SWAG! To be honest, Kirsten and I actually pay for most of the stuff through various online dealers but then send it to Queens to be packaged and brought down. This allows us not to have to pay 17.5% sales tax on top of hefty shipping and import fees. Goodies such as taco seasoning, books, MATERNITY CLOTHES (for a quickly growing mommy), and other odds and ends completed this year's SWAG.

The stuff people sent down for us is great, and we are incredibly thankful for it all! But the point of this post is not to talk about stuff but about God's grace shown through the faithfulness, kindness, and love of the saints. God's provision for us in the ministry is mind-blowing. There are too many examples to list although we make it a practice to try to name them anyway (Psalm 40:5). For those that sent items down for us, we are humbled by your thoughtfulness, and we give God praise for your generosity. Even more important than stuff are the people. As I said already, spending a month hanging out and serving God and his people with our dear friends from NYC is a tremendous blessing, encouragement, and privilege.

Please pray for the ministries throughout the next 3 weeks. The team will be doing extensive, in-depth discipleship training which we are praying will lead to much fruit over the long haul. The team will also be doing medical ministries by way of hosting general medicine clinics around the church circuit as well as a dental clinic to extract teeth for free. (Last year the dentist extracted around 500 teeth in five days!) Please be in prayer with us for the ministries, those ministering and those being ministered to that all that is done will be for the glory of God and the good of his Church!

Making Moves

It is official; we are celebrities. Okay, not really, but we were on national radio and TV this week! The Buff Bay church was asked to play host to a live broadcast for a national radio and TV station. The service was sent out live over the airwaves while the television broadcast will come this upcoming weekend. Kirsten tickled the ivories as usual while I opened the live broadcast with prayer before ducking out of the service to preach in one of the other circuit churches. I thought it went really well, but I got some strange looks when I screamed into the microphone, "GOOOOODDDDDD MOOOOORRRNNNINGGGGG, VIETNAM!" Honestly, if you were on live radio, wouldn't you do the same?! If we can find the video we will post it for your viewing pleasure, but if not take our word for it, the service went well and Christ was exalted! Please pray for any subsequent broadcasts that they would be used to draw people to Christ to the glory of God!



The other major movement in life over the past couple weeks has been a new undertaking of mine. I just completed my first week of classes toward an Masters of Divinity degree at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky (www.sbts.edu). There are two primary goals for beginning this program. First, I hope to be able to use the classes as a way to grow in effectiveness and ability in our current ministries. Second, this begins a longer process to enter into long term vocational ministry. Here are some ways you can pray for me as I begin this program: 1) personal spiritual growth, 2) time management skills as we balance a busy schedule, 3) practical use of the information in the immediate context of our ministry, 4) greater delight in God, his Word, and his Church!

Lastly, we did watch the Superbowl last night. Kirsten once again picked the winner. If you recall we had a little Superbowl bash last year with some friends from NYC as they were here for a month of ministry. We were without our friends this year, but we made due. We were able to watch on a big screen (a large white sheet) and share some of our culture with local friends. It was a good time to talk and enjoy the game (despite the Steelers and the Black Eyed Peas' shoddy performances).