Trouble on Tuesday?

Sunday: most teams started day worshipping with their host churches, then headed to new work areas in afternoon. Beautiful day in this beautiful place.

Biggest obstacle so far came last night for a few of us who walked 2 blocks from the hotel to get some dinner. They were having what looked like their equivalent of the Macy’s New Year’s Parade! It was wall to wall people. People were so packed into the narrow colonial streets that there was no distance between the paraders and the spectators. Everyone was belly button to belly button. Only difference was that the paraders were moving and the spectators were standing, or at least dancing in place.

This morning I had the joy of going with two of our teams to their host church (Mary/Joyce/Geanie team and Scott/Sherry team). Scott challenged the members to work with us this week, and Sherry sang “Amazing love, how can it be, that You my King would die for me?” For some reason it brought tears to my eyes hearing that song sung so sweetly in this place.

So picture joyful teams in a beautiful place on a perfect weather day . . . but then imagine a dark thundercloud of caution drifting over the horizon.

As the service ended, a missionary came up and whispered to me “be careful on Tuesday. Be very careful on Tuesday.”

She went on to explain that more transportation strikes and blockades are being threatened for Tuesday. “Don’t ignore them,” she cautioned.

“Are they between cities, or in Sucre?” I asked.

“No one knows. Just don’t ignore them.”

I assured her we would be very, very careful, as we do with all our precious teams.

Please pray that everything will remain as tranquil as it now looks to us. Pray that the hand of the Almighty will continue to envelope us with protection and peace.

Please pray 1 Timothy 2:1-4 for our team—

--That God will direct the decisions of leaders here in a way that enables people to live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and reverence, and

--For many to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

Thanks, Prayer Team.

Mike Jorgensen for Team Bolivia

Team Arrives in Sucre

Team Bolivia arrived safely and joyfully in Sucre—North American team, translators and Bolivian church planting coaches. More transportation strikes here, so please continue to pray.

Met with the pastors and leaders of the churches hosting our teams. They have 5 neighborhoods and villages where we will be working side-by-side with their church members.

We have several goals this week. One is to help these churches as they form LifeGroup-style home Bible studies in these 5 neighborhoods. Our prayer is that they grow into new churches within a year or two.

But an even more far-reaching goals is to provide more “on-the-job training” for our Bolivian church planting coaches. We hope they head home at the end of the week here saying “this is simple—we can do this with our own people—we don’t have to wait for the next North American team to come.” Please pray for that impact.

Please also pray for us as we acclimate to the 9,100 ft altitude here in the Andes.

Thanks for praying.

Mike Jorgensen for Team Bolivia

PS One of the mottos of our home church (Chase Oaks Church) seems especially appropriate here--see Tshirt below--

Scott / Sherry Team

Sherry singing "You are My King" in morning service.



Scott exhorting church members to work with us this week.

Mary / Joyce / Geanie Team

Deedra / Marisa / Caroldean Team

Doug / Catherine / Lori Team

Philip / Lettie / Andrew / Woodlyn Team

Bolivia Updates

Prayer Team—

God has answered your prayers for Bolivia. Here’s a quick update.

1. In spite of a sinus infection, a difficult translator and lots of political drama, the leadership conference last week turned out to be a huge success. The organizers switched translators on the second day. Pastor Enzo and Chris Horton taught the sessions that I missed while out sick. We ended up with 168 people registered, many more than I expected.

2. At the end of the conference the pastors indicated they have 12 areas in which they want us to work in June with our team. That is a big hallelujah, for it is substantially more than the 5 areas in which we worked last year. So the vision seems to be spreading.

3. Our challenge is that we only have 16 on our team from the US, enough for 6 or 7 teams. The Bolivians certainly can do the work without us, but we'd like to have a team of at least 2 from the US to go to each area where they have requested help. So we continue to pray for more people for our June 6 to 15 trip. [Click here if you’d like to go with us.]

4. The election yesterday in Santa Cruz was generally peaceful. There was some scuffling in the huge neighborhood of Plan 3000, where supporters of the socialist president tried to stop the people from voting. We have helped plant several new churches in Plan 3000. There was almost an 85% vote in favor of autonomy for the state of Santa Cruz.

Please continue to pray that God will expand His kingdom of light in Bolivia.

Lookin’ for Chicken Soup

After I wrote the blog entry below, I decided “I gotta get out of this hotel room . . . how ‘bout some lunch? Chicken soup would be good.”

So I headed toward a couple nearby restaurants. But almost everything was closed. Its Labor Day here.

About the only place open was a little hole-in-the-wall chicken place. They have a diverse menu—whole chickens, half chickens, white meat quarters and dark meat quarters. Plus white starch to round out your plate: potatoes, rice or spaghetti. But no chicken soup.

So maybe that’s what got me thinking about chicken soup.

Anyway, this picture came to mind of God making this big kettle of chicken soup. He’s like my Grandma Bess, who never used a recipe. She poured stuff in her palm, or sprinkle spices in the pot, because she knew exactly what was needed and how much.

God doesn’t use a recipe because He’s so creative and knows exactly what He wants it to taste like, and what’s needed to get that taste. Plus every batch is different.

We’re not the chef of what’s going on, He is. We’re ingredients He uses. He decides if He wants the oregano or rosemary or thyme or peppercorns or cloves or broccoli or ginger. If we’re ready and available, He may put us in this or that batch of soup He’s got cooking. Or not. If we crumble or rot or split open or fall on the ground, He may pick something else that day. Or not. He decides.

Things definitely are cooking in Bolivia. And it sure smells good.

Bolivia: From Bad to Worse?

Last night I surrendered the conference here to the Lord, translator and all. To tell you the truth, I had it all worked out in my mind how today was going to be glorious.

But it wasn’t anything like I thought.

As Pastor Enzo, our Bolivia National Director taught the first session, I felt worse and worse. Back in Dallas I had some upper respiratory gunk. I hoped it was allergies, which would disappear once I left Texas. But the gunk has persisted here. I felt weaker and weaker, even as the conference folks were very enthusiastically learning how to use the EvangeCube. (See pictures below.) So Enzo grabbed a taxi for me so I could come back to the hotel to rest.

I was strongly tempted to whine. Woe is me, in a far foreign land with a nasty head cold. But James 1:2-4 kept ringing in my clogged head—

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing

So I’ve been laying here “counting it all joy” and looking forward to growing through this—

**The turnout for the conference has exceeded expectations. Over 100 attending.

**In the midst of political turmoil here, believers are excited about evangelism, discipleship and church planting. One pastor from Potosi (3 hours away) brought 15 from his youth group to be trained!

**The conference will go on great without me. Enzo could do the whole thing, and not need a translator. And Chris Horton came along to help teach. They both do as well, or probably better, than I do.

**I am not indispensible. (I know that all of you already knew that, but I have to keep reminding myself of this fact.) Jesus commanded us to make disciples to carry on the work with or without us.

So, no, the conference did not go from bad to worse. It just went to “different.” But I guess that is what surrender is all about—being willing to accept what He does.

Please pray for God to bring glory to Himself as He raises up laborers, and leaders of laborers, for His harvest in Bolivia. Please also pray for the Head of the Church to show us exactly who to work with when our team comes in June.

PS I don’t know how the translator situation turned out. I left before Chris started to teach.

Leadership Conference Pix

Bolivia: Tough Night at LDC

Tonight was perhaps the toughest session I’ve ever had at a leadership conference. We had a great turnout—many more than I expected.

What made it tough was the translator. He made jokes as I talked, sometimes not even explaining what I said before he made the joke. He also talked at a different pace even when I was very animated. In other words, he might have been saying much of what I was saying, but it was coming across very differently than intended. I could tell from the faces of the people that they were confused most of the time.

Please claim this promise for tomorrow’s sessions—

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

I have surrendered this situation to the Lord. I do not want to discourage or embarrass this man, for translating is difficult. I know I could not do it well. But we also have a responsibility to effectively communicate to those who are taking their precious time to participate. We also need to prepare the churches and their people for campaign and team coming in June.

Thanks for praying.

What Did You Like About The Bolivia Trip?

Here's how some of our Mission Trip participants answered this question.

This has to be the most rewarding thing I have ever done. I saw a baby church plant another church and thriving only 8 months later. I will be sure to use up my 5 year visa in a big way. I love the Bolivian people and will do my best to partner with them to reach as many people as possible. Thank you JESUS! ~ Kip Childers / Fellowship Orlando

This trip was very interesting. It was very different from my last trip with e3. Being dramatically stronger in my faith, I have come to value what e3 does more. It was so encouraging to share the gospel and see lives changed. ~ Ellie Crossman / Fellowship Orlando

While planning this trip with e3 came with short notice, completing the campaign has left a profound, eternal impact. As I daily saw dozens of souls added to the Kingdom, I was reminded of the extravagant, unconditional love of God. During this trip, I didn’t just sense the heart of God . . . I felt it. ~ Canita Brent / Crossing Place Fellowship / Franklin, Louisiana

I am one who had reservations about taking this trip for a number of reasons: separation from our children, our safety, cultural differences, fear, leaving my “comfort zone”, work, etc. It took about 24 hours for the Lord to melt those away after I was used to lead the first 19 people to Christ. Seeing lives changed, relationships built, barriers broken down, families drawn closer together, are memories I will cherish until I see them again in heaven. The pastors, their families, translators, national, etc. are now counted as friends. I pray, Lord willing, that I may reunited with these friends again soon! ~ Mark Poole / Fellowship Orlando.

This trip has been rewarding at many different levels; from sharing the joy of watching grandfathers, daughters, husbands, wives entire families coming to know the Lord, to seeing Nationals grow as they learn to evangelize and teach others about the Bible. Watching my preconceived barriers and cultural differences melt away as you truly fall in love with your new brothers and sisters in Christ. By the last night, everyone is crying and hugging one another and you do not want to leave. ~ Catherine Poole / Fellowship Orlando.

Sitting underneath our cabana and watching the children’s group and then looking forward and seeing brand new believers doing a disciple lesson. Then the new believers were helping the people who just came. One lady was helping three ladies who could not read by reading the lesson to them. I saw God working and could not help myself. I just started praising Him. It was an incredible evening. ~ David Parsons / Fellowship Orlando

The moment that I will always remember is when I asked a group for 4 teenagers if they wanted Jesus to come into their lives and one of them said, “I want to have Jesus in my life, but I don’t know how”; so I said “that’s what we’re here to tell you.” He came to every evening meeting and even presented the cube to the schools on the last day. ~ Luke Parsons / Age 14 / Fellowship Orlando

The first day we shared the gospel with a young mother whose husband usually goes away for the week to work and comes home only on weekend, like most men in this neighborhood. She is lonely and has a drinking problem. As we were sharing with her, she told us that she was lonely and had family problems. During the prayer she began to cry. After the prayer she confessed her drinking problem. She came to the evening meetings and by the last day had finished the second lesson with the help of other ladies in the neighborhood church. (She doesn’t read.) She quit drinking the day she gave her life to Christ. The change in her countenance was obvious. The sadness was replaced by a joyful appearance. She has a new life in Christ. ~ Jenny Parsons / Fellowship Orlando

My most memorable moment was when the wife of a man was jumping up and down because her husband accepted Christ ~ Ben Parsons / Age 10 / Fellowship Orlando.

My most memorable moment was when we came across a man who was a recovering alcoholic. He changed his ways after the unexpected death of his wife months prior. Since then, he became sober and began reading his Bible every day, but still has had many questions about salvation. Our team had the honor of answering his questions along with eventually praying the prayer with him. Following his prayer, we presented the cube to his employee, who also received Christ. ~ Kyle Parsons / Age 18 / Fellowship Orlando

On the third day of evangelizing, we encountered a woman who was about 60 years old. She was raised in church and believed in God, but she hadn’t truly accepted Jesus in her heart until we were done talking to her. God definitely used us for His work. After accepting Christ, she shared with us that she recently had open heart surgery. She further divulged that her husband was not a believer and refused to read the Bible or go to church. God gave her the courage to accept Jesus and came to our Thursday night service. I do not know where her faith will take her, but I know God is working in her life. ~ Andrew Bonfiglio / Fellowship Orlando

The Don Bosco team had witnessed to his grandfather who made a statement of faith. Jose Roberto was only 7 years old, but also prayed to receive Christ. Two days later, we were witnessing to an older man who was very hard of hearing, Jose Roberto was playing nearby and came near us. The older man was beginning to pray, but still had a hard time with the words. Jose Roberto went right up to the man’s ears and repeated the words of an acceptance prayer – just 2 or 3 words at a time. The old man heard what was spoken by Jose Roberto – already a missionary at 7! ~ Robert McGough / Friendship Baptist / Poteau, Oklahoma

Bolivia Hallelujahs

God answered your prayers. Here’s how He displayed His glory as He worked through our team in Santa Cruz last week—

26 US team members working with . . .
. 139 Bolivia believers from several mother churches starting . . .
. . . 8 new baby churches and together they saw . . .
. . . . 990 professions of faith and then worked to have . . .
. . . . . 97% follow-up contacts (compared to POFs in neighborhoods)

While these stats are exciting, they do not communicate the depth of life change God was doing in people’s lives. For example, Bob talked to a man on a park bench one day. I don’t recall his name—let’s call him Juan. Bob learned that Juan had returned home to Bolivia from Spain to avenge the murder of his brother. A week before the same man had robbed Juan’s father. A couple days before Bob first met him, Juan had found the other man . . . and killed him. As Bob shared that God loved him and had sent His Son to die for him, Juan prayed to receive Christ.

The next day Bob saw Juan again on the same park bench (pic at left). Juan had decided to turn himself in to the police. When I met Juan and shook hands with him his hand was trembling. What a horrible situation he was in. But now he had the Comforter living inside him.

This week is even more important than last week.

Please pray for Juan and all the other new believers this week. Many will be making decisions about whether to walk with Christ, or turn back to their old way of life. Pray that they will take those first baby steps toward following our Savior. Pray also that God will raise up committed disciple makers to help them on their Jesus journey.

Don’t Want to Leave a Lame Example

Funny story. Great illustration.

There are two dogs that live at the house where Steve, Bob and Kyle are helping start a new church. The big one has a bad leg and gets around on 3 legs.

Bob shared with our team this morning that the little friend dog has 4 good legs. But it walks on 3 legs just like the big dog! It has been “discipled” to settle for only part of the blessings God designed it for. Literally and figuratively it is following a "lame" example.

We don’t want to leave behind a “lame” example for the precious people we have been serving here this week. Our heart cry is to model in a balanced way what the Apostle Paul did in his ministry. We’ve summarized his ministry with this diagram—

The big challenge is to leave them with an effective model for making disciples. Chris Horton and I interviewd many pastors this week with whom we have worked in the past. One told us that “our big challenge here is most pastors’ idea of ‘church.’ To most it is simply having a service of sing, preach, give and go home.”

We have modeled one on one discipleship as our teams returned to visit new believers in their homes. In the evening meetings we focused on teaching new believers how to study their gift New Testaments. Several new believers this week learned how to do evangelism by tagging along with our teams.

Next week is the most important week of the campaign. Yes, we return home on Saturday. But how they follow-up with the new believers next week--the model that they adopt after we go--will make all the difference in the world.

Please pray that those we have served this week will be gripped with a Holy Spirit “addiction” to obey Christ’s command to make disciples.

Team Bolivia

Saddest Meeting of Ministry

Yesterday evening I had perhaps the saddest meeting in my 16 years with this ministry.

Background

In 2004 our team of Steve, Joe, Taylor and Wallace worked in El Quior. Over 120 people prayed to receive Christ. They did not have a place to meet, so they asked new believers to host Bible studies in their homes. 7 new cell groups started that week.

About 8 months later I returned to Santa Cruz. I heard that the 7 cell groups had multiplied to 11, so we visited on a Saturday afternoon. They had just gotten permission to meet in a school in return for a promise to paint some classrooms.

On that surprise visit I saw some wonderfully surprising things. About 40 adults were doing discipleship lessons in the shade of the school building. 100+ kids were involved in various activities under the trees. The church was alive and healthy.

Bad News Last Night

Yesterday I was eager to revisit the church. In the evening we were close by, so we stopped by the church. It was dark, but we could see the outline of a huge building. The building was dark, but the light in the pastor’s house at the back of the property was on. We knocked on the gate.

As we sat down to talk, sadness rolled in like a damp fog. “This morning we had 2 adults and 15 kids in our service,” the pastor replied to our questions. “And in the afternoon service we had 9 adults and 20 kids.”

What Happened?

Only God knows. But I have some questions.

The church was planted with the vision for focusing on discipling new believers. No building? No problem! The discipleship continued in homes. It even multiplied in homes even though (or maybe because?) they had no place to meet.

At some point did the focus change to a building and programs? On that second visit, I met a missionary couple. They had not been present during the first 6 to 8 months of that new church—they were on furlough back in the States. They were not there when the 7 groups grew to 11 home groups.

After that visit, I began to get their newsletters. They asked for money for a building. They told what programs they were leading. No mention of discipleship. No talk of equipping local believers to do the work. Did the vision change?

Last night the pastor shared how they started to give out food every week. Then they implemented membership cards to control who got the food. Then they added more rules to stop people from bringing multiple cards to meetings.

Buildings and handouts are not bad in and of themselves. The question I have is “did the church die because the vision died for obeying Christ’s command to make disciples?”

But Wait, There's More

“But wait, there’s more.”

When I hear those grating words on the TV commercial with the bearded guy, I lunge for the remote to mute whatever infomercial he’s doing that day.

But those words were pretty sweet here in Bolivia.

Yesterday I saw Pastor Luis, whom we worked with last year. A year ago our team of Kip, Greg, Jocelyn and Mike worked with Pastor Luis as he planted a new church. Pastor Luis is a missionary from Argentina, and he already had started the work. But we had the opportunity to serve him and his team for a week as they planted “Iglesia Biblica Missionara” (Missionary Bible Church).

This morning I had an exciting assignment—I got to preach in that church. Here’s a picture of the adults attending this morning after the kids and their leaders went to do Sunday School. About 60 adults attended, plus 5 leaders and 30 kids. God is at work. This church is thriving. Hallelujah!

“But wait, there’s more.”

This week this one year old church is planting a new church! It has picked an area about 40 minutes away where it is working to establish a new church. So Kip, from last year’s team, and Scott and his son Sam, are again serving Luis and his team. God is at work in Bolivia!

Please pray for Jesus to fulfill His promise in each of the 8 places we are working this week: “I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Scott / Ellie / Canita Team

Morning prayer time before heading to areas

Steve / Bob / Kyle Team