First Baptist Church Arnold sponsored a Church Planting Seminar at The Timothy Project Campus in Palmillas Mexico.
Sunday July 4
The seminar is over and God was glorified. In spite of the continuing rain and, except for brief moments, being without electricity and running water, the training continued as scheduled. Brother Ben did a fantastic job demonstrating to the students how to identify and nurture new leaders and how to facilitate Bible studies. There was an amazing amount of participation. The students left with enthusiasm and excitement anxious to put their new skills to work.
The sun finally came out Sunday morning as we were preparing to leave, but the electric was still unreliable, therefore no water could be pumped into the pipes. On our travels back the boarder we saw a lot of hurricane damage. We had one detour because of a washed out bridge and that put us behind schedule almost 2 hours, but, even with that detour, Jack and Sheri were able to get Ben and I to the airport in plenty of time.
Thanks so much for your prayers. Without your prayers discouragement and frustration may have set, instead God’s purpose was carried out.
Please continue to pray for our Mexican brothers and sisters that, as they apply their new skills, new leaders will be identified and more Bible studies will begin. Please continue to pray for Jack and Sheri Thomas who are now serving as faith based missionaries at The Timothy Project Campus in Palmillas, Mexico.
Friday July 2
This week First Baptist Church sponsored a Pastor / Church Planter seminar at the The Timothy Project Campus in Palmillas Mexico. Brother Ben Hess, church planting strategist for the Missouri Baptist Convention, is leading the seminar. Ben has spent several years as an IMB missionary/church planter in Kenya Africa. I know of no one who has a better understanding of how to plant church and develop church planting leaders.
Getting here on Wednesday was a bit of an adventure, our plane was the last one allowed into Harlingen, TX before the airport was shut down because of Alex. Our drive from Harlingen to Palmillas was a challenge as well, the wind was fierce and the rain was torrential. By the time we hit the mountains, about 1-1/2 hour from the campus, we had gotten ahead of the storm but that would not last. We arrived in Palmillas at about 10:00pm and the storm hit here about 1:00am on Thursday and the wind and rain has continued ever since. About noon on Thursday we lost electricity and we were not able to get reach of all the brothers to tell them not to come until further notice; about 3:00pm some of them started to show up. With only brief discussion we decided to proceed with the seminar without electricity. Without electricity; no lights and no pump, no pump=no water. We have been pulling buckets of water out of the well for washing and “bucket-flushing”.
Some of the other brothers arrived about 9:00am today (Friday); others are not able to make it because of rain and flooding. The seminar is running a little behind schedule, it was supposed to start yesterday afternoon, but God will get done what He wants done.
It was a little exciting about 1:00pm, the electricity came on but that thrill was short lived, just now, 1:50pm we lost it again. The local brothers tell us that we may not get reliable electric until next week.
Please Pray that despite difficult conditions that God will be blesses and these dedicated men and women leave with an excitement about what they have learned and an enthusiasm about getting back to their villages and applying it.