Many readers of this blog know that about a year ago I finished my full-time ministry commitment with the local church, and that since that time we have devoted our time to various ministry and mission activities. I was recently asked about how it was going and about some of the things we have done, and so I took a few minutes to review the activities for the last year (2010-2011). Because others may also be interested, here is a summary of the ministry and mission activities.
Activities in the U.S.
I have had the privilege of speaking (preaching and teaching) in nine congregations in the U.S. (four states), including an interim work with a congregation that was between preachers. I have continued to provide ministry support for the local church as requested. In addition, I have presented two leadership seminars, preached for several mission emphasis Sundays, provided consulting for churches and leaders, and preached an evangelistic series.
Foreign Mission Work
With regard to mission work, I taught a series of classes at the Pan-American Lectureship in Tegucigalpa, served as a class teacher for two seminarios at Baxter Institute, and preached at four congregations in Honduras. In addition, I served as guest speaker on the national television program in Honduras, La Biblia Abierta (The Open Bible). In Guatemala, I preached and taught at four congregations and a Bible training institute. In Guatemala, I presented a leadership seminar, a family seminar, and spoke at a drug rehabilitation center. I served as a keynote speaker for the Latin American Leadership conference in Houston and enjoyed visits to the Memorial and Northwest congregations. This month, I am scheduled to present leadership development lessons at five congregations in Colombia. We have invitations to Chile, Uruguay, Ecuador, Peru, and Guatemala, and we are trying to work these into our schedule for 2012 and beyond.
You can see that God is keeping us busy! We are also continuing work on the production of New Life Behavior videos for use in prison work and I write regularly (including a series of devotionals on every chapter in the New Testament) and maintain the website. I also serve as chairman of the board of directors of Association Amicus which oversees the mission work at Baxter Institute and the JMA Clinic in Honduras.
As always, we would be happy to share the good news of what God is doing in this world, both in ministry and missions, with your congregation. Contact us for details.