Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Pray for Ethiopia

Please pray for our leadership conference trip to Ethiopia Aug 25 to Sept 3. Click on the following to see an online slideshow that will help you pray.

View this video montage created at One True Media
Pray for Ethiopia

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Which Doctor? Or Witch Doctor?


In the Los Lotes barrio of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, people have had two types of doctor to visit. One is a medical doctor who also is a pastor—Dr. Hamer (at left). The others are witch doctors, who deal as much in spiritual matters as physical ones.

So when someone has a problem, he must decide “which doctor?” A witch doctor, or the other guy? At least until last month.

About a year ago Pastor Hamer started praying for the Los Lotes barrio. It was a spiritually dark area, for there were 12 witch doctors there.

Hamer began to prayer walk the area. One time he invited some of his pastor buddies from other areas to prayer “drive” the area late at night in a big truck. The truck’s wheels started spinning for no apparent reason (no sand or mud or water and certainly no ice!) right in front of the home of one of the witch doctors. As the truck stalled, his buddies bailed out, and most wouldn’t come back.

Six months ago Hamer decided to send the witch doctors a letter. In it he boldly proclaimed that they had three choices—

1. Trust Christ and renounce their wicked ways
2. Leave the barrio
3. Die

Yes, you read that right—repent, relocate or retire (permanently).

Soon thereafter two of the witch doctors got very sick and ended up in the hospital at the same time. Surprisingly, they asked Hamer to come visit them. He faithfully shared the gospel with them. One trusted Christ. The other refused, and he died before morning.

Needless to say, this caused quite a stir in the black magic business in Los Lotes. Several witch doctors moved out. When Pastor Gary Willett and his daughters Sarah and Abi arrived at the beginning of their e3 Mission Trip, only 3 were left. At that point, however, no one on the team knew anything about this.

One day an older man came hobbling up to the church, which also is Hamer’s home (at left). He was in pain, and had come to visit Dr. Hamer, knowing that he also was a pastor. He could hardly move as he hobbled in with this cane (on ground in picture). Hamer introduced him to Gary, who shared the gospel with him. After he prayed to receive Christ, Hamer shared that he was one of the witch doctors! One down, two to go.

Later in the week Gary had the chance to lead German and his wife Sinthia to the Lord. He is 73 years old . . . and has been practicing witchcraft for over 50 years! Two down, one to go.

The last work day of our campaign Gary and Hamer met a man coming out of a building as they were walking. Hamer excitedly told Gary “that’s the last one!” They stopped and shared the love of Christ with him, but he did not make a decision. Please pray that God will bring to pass what Hamer has been saying since the team first arrived: soon there will be none.

Ethiopia.

We are hosting a leadership “train the trainer” conference in Ethiopia Aug 26 to Sept 1. The goal is to train 400 trainers from 35 denominations how to train others how to plant churches (using our First Steps curriculum) and do evangelism (with the EvangeCube). Please pray that God would use this training to greatly expand His kingdom there.

Eagle Scout Project.

Our 15 year old son, Philip, is working on his service project for his Boy Scout Eagle rank. He decided to collect eye glasses and then do an eye clinic on one of our church planting campaigns to Bolivia.

If you have old prescription glasses you want to donate, or new or used reading glasses, please let him know.

Also let us know if you’d like to go with us to Bolivia over Thanksgiving to distribute these glasses as we plant new churches. It would be a great way for your family show your thankfulness to our loving Lord by showing His love to the poor of Bolivia.

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen

Bolivia: Glimpses of God's Glory

Bolivia Prayer Warriors--

Thanks for praying for our Bolivia e3 Mission Trip. Here are more glimpses of God's glory. As you watch, please pray for God to raise up 30, 60 and 100 fold followers of Christ from the new believers. Click on the link below to see Glimpses of God's Glory in Bolivia.

Glimpses of God's Glory in Bolivia

Bolivia: What a Blessed Week

July 01, 2006

Bolivia Prayer Warriors—

Our team arrived home last night, but Pastor Enzo has another big day today. He flew to Sucre this morning to teach about 40 Quechua leaders how to use the EvangeCube and give them an overview of our church planting training. Please pray that the Head of the Church will use this training to build His church.

Thanks so much for praying for our Bolivia campaign! Ray summed up our week very well: “God is working in a special way down here.” He did that in answer to your prayers—

· 1,612 professions of faith (1,297 in the 12 work areas and 315 in executive outreaches that Ray and Mary did in partnership with Campus Crusade)
· 9 new churches were planted
· 10 churches strengthened (3 areas in which we worked and 7 mother churches of the new areas)
· 1,026 follow-up contacts made (79% of the professions of faith in the 12 work areas)

Behind these stats are hundreds and hundreds of God stories. Here are a few of them.

School Kids. Pastor Gaylord, Scott and Ellie were back at their host home/church for lunch after a morning of visiting homes. “Some kids are outside” someone said, so 18 year old Ellie jumped up to go talk to them. Others followed after a minute or two, ­­and were surprised at the sight they saw—Ellie surrounded by 50+ kids who had just gotten out of school. God drew dozens to Christ as Ellie shared the gospel with them. Hallelujah!

Outdoor Cathedral. Jason, Andy and Sarah were overjoyed when over 170 people came to the evening meetings in their brand new area. Since they had no building, they met in an open field. For the main service they met under a tree strung with a few light bulbs. Then they broke up into groups. Jason took the 70+ kids under a lone streetlight along a dirt road. Andy taught the 35+ youth as they sat on the soccer field illuminated by headlights from two cars. Hallelujah!

Students. We thank the Lord for the 12 students He placed on our team. It was a joy for the parents on the trip (Bob and Samantha & Greg and Bryannia, for example) to see their kids sharing their faith fearlessly, as 12 year old Samantha is doing in this picture.

Name My Baby. As Richard and Sue worked in an area, they received a request that was a first for us. One of the ladies who trusted Christ asked Richard to say a prayer of dedication for her 3 month old baby. Then she asked him to name the baby! So he named him “Fabio Enzo Plata.” “Fabio” after the national believer who helped share the gospel with this new mom, and “Enzo” after our Bolivia national director who loves and serves the Lord.

Walk to Church. Lindsay, Kara and Philip worked in an area with lots of kids. When Kara learned that many kids attend church without their parents, she voiced the question most of us think: “but how do they get to church?” Living in the US, we assume everyone drives to church. But in most countries of the world, if a person can’t walk to church, they don’t go to church. That’s one key reason why we focus on planting new churches in barrios around the world.

Special Thanks to Troy for being our team translator!

Want a Video? One of the unexpected blessings of the trip was Ky. After he signed up to go, we found out he is a videographer. Ky’s passion is to do evangelism, and then capture ordinary people being used by our Extraordinary God to accomplish eternal things. He’s making a video of our trip, so please let me know if you’d like a copy.

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen for Team Bolivia

Bolivia: Open Door and Hearts

June 26, 2006 10:32
Santa Cruz

Thanks for praying, Prayer Warriors. Here are some glimpses of God’s glory that He has revealed in response to your prayers.

1. Saturday morning we prayed for God to introduce us to persons of peace—people who are influential in their neighborhoods who will introduce others to Christ. Many of you have been praying that for us, too. God answered this prayer in L.S., Glenda and Sammie’s area within an hour of their arrival! In one of the first visits, God opened the door to share the Gospel with Alejandro and several others in his household. He prayed to receive Christ, and then told the pastor “I own this restaurant here. You are welcome to meet in my restaurant.” This was a blessing to this new little church, for it now meets in the courtyard of the home of a member of the mother church.

2. Carlos owns a mechanics shop that fixes lots of taxis near the church with which Andrew, Mei and Tanya are working. He prayed to receive Christ yesterday, and welcomed Mei back for a follow-up visit. Could he be a person of peace who could introduce many taxi drivers to our Lord?

3. This afternoon Juanita decided to head back to the meeting place where she, Doug and Melissa have been working. She was feeling a little queasy, and hoped some rest before the evening meeting would help. As she neared her rest place, a man and his son asked what she was doing in the neighborhood. As her team started to share with him, he asked them to come to talk to his whole family. Actually, three families were gathered together for a family reunion, and all 12 trusted Christ!

4. One team was headed to a follow-up appointment, but stopped to take a picture of two parrots in a front yard. Out of the house came a scolding grandmother, saying we should have asked permission. She started in Spanish, but finished in English, for she is a tour guide. The team apologized, and asked if she had ever seen an EvangeCube. Her scold turned into salvation as she prayed in English in her own words to put her faith in Christ. As they were leaving, she shared that she had been the tour guide for a Christian children’s organization for 12 years.

5. Jason, Andy and Sarah are working in a brand new area. Tonight they had 170+ at their evening meeting, including over 40 youth! God has created a great hunger for Him in that area!

These are but a few of the glimpses of God’s glory we are seeing as God answers your prayers. Please continue to lift our team to the throne of grace. Please pray especially for—
· Ray Berryman (on right in picture), who over the next 3 days is doing 15 evangelism and discipleship meetings with Campus Crusade for Christ to business leaders, police officials, university leaders and professors, doctors and other influential groups
· Discipleship for all the new believers
· Good health—people are getting worn out
· The Head of the Church to continue to build His Church here

Bolivia: Black Market Miracle

Santa Cruz, Bolivia
6.25.2006

About a year ago Pastor Hamer had a vision for going to the jungle. He explained today that he has a burden for a very primitive tribe who don’t even wear clothes. The challenge was a way to effectively present the gospel.

One day he was accosted on the street by a drug addict wanting to sell something in a little cardboard box. It obviously was something he’d stolen somewhere. He said no, but the peddler persisted. “Look, it’s only one Boliviano,” which is about twelve cents.

Pastor Hamer again brushed him off, but the addict took the contents out and showed him the pictures on it. One was of Jesus on the cross, so he decided to go ahead and buy it. It was an EvangeCube!

Hamer took it home, but couldn’t figure out how to use it. So it sat on his shelf.

About 6 months ago Pastor Hamer got caught in a flash flood. He found himself walking through waist deep water. He had more presence of mind than I would in such a dangerous situation, for he looked down and saw a piece of paper floating by . . . and it had some of the same pictures as that Cube thing on his shelf. It was one of the tracts we use on our campaigns!

God was answering his prayers in some unusual ways!

Pastor Hamer went to work. He translated some of the tract into the language of the tribe in the jungle. But he still had not figured out how to use that Cube thing.

Then about a week ago he met Pastor Enzo, our Bolivia coordinator. When he heard we were coming, he asked for a team and found out we had enough on our team to add his new church plant to our list of areas. Then when Pastor Enzo went to train his church members at the last minute, he pulled out an EvangeCube! They finally would get to learn how to use that Cube thing.

Then the circle was completed yesterday, when Gary and his daughters Sarah and Abi showed up to work with Hamer. As they sat down with his church to plan the evangelism, Gary pulled out the same tract Hamer had noticed floating in the flood!

God is very creative as He answers prayers! Pastor Hamer now has two tools to share the Gospel here in Santa Cruz, and also in the jungle.

Please continue to pray for our team and the areas in which they are working. We are trusting God to work as creatively this week as he did with Pastor Hamer (but we can do without the floods!). Yesterday 289 people prayed to receive Christ! Join us in thanking Him for the great first day He gave our teams.

Please pray especially that God will raise up people to disciple the new believers.

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen for Team Bolivia

Bolivia Mission Trip begins

June 24, 2006
Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Heavenly Father—

You are omniscient—You know everything about where we are and what we are doing. Thank You for bringing all our team safely to Bolivia. Thank You for bringing Melissa in this morning, who had missed a connection in the States on Thursday and was delayed a day. In spite of 2 cancelled flights and a very late flight, You brought all the rest of the team here on time Friday. Thank You.

Thank You for getting all the teams connected with their host churches last night and this morning. All except one team is now out with their churches, getting ready to begin evangelism this morning.

Lord, we pray for unity among the teams today. Bridge the cultural and language gaps.

Lord, we pray for You to introduce our teams to those Your Spirit is giving faith to trust Christ.

Lord, we pray that You will introduce us to persons of peace, who will introduce our teams to whole neighborhoods through their family and friendship connections.

Lord, we pray that You will bring great glory to Yourself this week as You pour Your Living Water through the US and Bolivian teams, and splash all over the people in the areas where the host churches are planting new churches.

All this we pray so that You will be more famous in Santa Cruz, in Bolivia and around the world.

Amen.

Mike Jorgensen for Team Bolivia