A Building Does Not a Church Make

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

God is consistently providing Leah and me with the grace we need to persevere in this work. We are down to one final trip out to Salvatierra before we begin packing up our house in Sucre to return to the landlord and packing up our suitcases to return to the States for a time of rejuvenation with family and friends. He has been faithful all the way!

Prayer Necessities:

1. Pray particularly for Humberto, the only adult male believer in the Salvatierra church. He is gifted by God with leadership, but he is struggling with drunkenness lately. Please pray that he will accept who he really is in Christ, a victor over sin, and that he will choose to follow Christ over the pressure to drink from his buddies.

2. Please pray for Leah and me as we prepare to disciple these believers on one last trip. Pray that we would be faithful to work hard and to faithfully demonstrate to these new Christians what it really means to be the church.

3. Pray that we would be able to make travel arrangements to arrive in Puerto Maldonado, Peru, in mid-March for a meeting with national believers on our team. Pray that our time there would be an encouragement to all and that we would exalt the name of our Lord as we meet together.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

This trip was a lot different for us than our normal trips to Salvatierra - mostly because we didn't spend it in Salvatierra. As we were on the way there, we called Mariluz to tell her we were coming, and she said that she and her family and another one of the believers and her family were in a bigger town about 10 miles away from Salvatierra. They would be there for a few weeks as their children got started back to school after summer vacation. (Remember, Bolivian summers are the opposite of American ones, so summer vacation here typically runs from late November to early February.)

The name of the town where the kids go to school is a little difficult to pronounce, so I'll just call it Big Town. It has a pretty nice hotel by rural Bolivian standards. We had a room with three twin beds, private bathroom with toilet and shower (no hot water, but that's not necessary in the jungle heat), a ceiling fan and, best of all, freedom from mosquitoes! (The room is pictured here to the right.) We also had the use of the kitchen and a refrigerator, which was a luxury and an absolute blessing, as we got to drink cold water throughout our entire stay! Needless to say, we couldn't stop thanking the Lord for His goodness.

Leah and I discussed what to do and decided that, since our primary responsibility is the discipleship of these new believers, we should remain where they were. We counted the money we had brought with us and discovered that we'd have to cut our trip short by two days in order to stay in the local hotel, but it made more sense to do that than to return to Santa Cruz for more money.

Over the course of our ten days in Big Town, we taught three stories from the book of Acts, beginning with Jesus' ascension and the Great Commission from Acts 1 and Matthew 28, respectively, and ending with the description of the early church from Acts 2 and 4. On our next trip, we have six more stories from acts and then plan to teach some from 1 Corinthians. We also spent a lot of time with Mariluz and Humberto and their sons.

We also got into a long conversation with one of the believers who is an elder of the local evangelical church in Big Town. He told us his testimony, which is a story of God's provision and sustenance even in the face of persecution. It was a great encouragement to hear how our brother came to know Christ and to learn of his faithful testimony ever since.

But then he told us one of the saddest stories I've ever heard. The church in Big Town was thriving, growing in faith and obedience to the Lord. A church from the US was sending large amounts of money for the upkeep of the church building they had built there, and the pastor of this church began keeping some of it for himself. Our friend was the church treasurer and a new believer. Knowing that the pastor was using the money, he asked the American church how the money should be spent. Their answer was that the $1100 they sent (which is a LOT of money here) should be applied towards the roof, the pews, the lights, and the communion table inside the building and then, if there was a little bit left over, perhaps that could go to help some sick and/or needy person in the church. When our friend told the American church about the pastor's mishandling of the funds, it eventually caused a church split that, to this day, causes problems among the brothers here in Big Town. And that bitter division has even had a ripple effect that has affected the new church in Salvatierra, as they encounter some here who are critical of other believers.

I'm not excusing the pastor's actions. He was clearly wrong in taking money that didn't belong to him but to the church. I'm also not excusing the church split, as these believers must learn to be more concerned with the unity of the body than with anything else, including their own hurt feelings.

But what bothered me so much about this story was how the American church wanted the Lord's money to be spent: On a building first and then, if there were any left over, on the needs of the believers. Now contrast that mentality with the early church's:

"There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need." (Acts 4:34-35)

The estimated real estate holdings of churches in the United States is $232 billion dollars! Additionally, churches spend another $2.1 billion dollars annually on utilities and maintenance for those same buildings. Have any of you ever looked at your church's budget? Most churches spend the majority on their building. Now compare that with the amount spent on benevolence. It's typically a very small proportion.

Do you see the difference here? If it's convicting to read that verse, I think it should be. Is a building really necessary? Can't God's church just as easily meet in one another's homes? Or is it better to cling to an expensive building that requires ongoing payments (whether mortgage or insurance or utilities) while we neglect the very real needs for food and clothing and roof repairs and health care among our own brothers and sisters?

I think it's a good reminder for all of us that we are not the owners of our own money but merely managers of God's. I think we should be asking ourselves if this really how He would want us to spend it. And, if not, how can we change to manage His money correctly?

The Urubicha church singing "Trust and Obey" in Guarayo

Sharing in His Sufferings

Mariluz making chicha in her home

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

Leah had a Skype call with her church that I had the opportunity to listen in on, and it was a wonderful encouragement for the both of us. Many members of the church read passages of Scripture to encourage us to persevere to the end, and it was such a blessing to hear! We've been under what we think is a spiritual attack, and the call was so timely. Our Lord is so good!

Prayer Necessities:

1. Please pray for Leah and me as we return to Salvatierra for 10 days. We are teaching stories from the book of Acts, and we truly desire for this new church to really grasp what it means to be the church. Pray that they will understand how to be under the headship of Christ, how to truly be brothers and sisters to one another, and how to love one another.

2. Pray for Leah, my parents, and me as we seek the Lord together regarding clarity in His vision for my future. Ask that we would all be in agreement in what He says and that He would grant His wisdom to each of us in hearing from Him.

3. Be in prayer for the people of Taramarca and Ayuma. Though we are no longer working in those villages, we do miss and love those precious brothers and sisters in Christ. Please pray that God continues to work among them and that, when they hear His voice, they would not harden their hearts but would obey.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

Each of our trips to Salvatierra has brought different challenges. Our first trip, a two-day affair with our bosses for the purposes of getting acquainted, brought the adjustments of meeting new people and hearing a new language (my third new language in three years on the mission field). The second trip, just over a week long, gave us heat and endless requests. In the afternoon, it was so hot and with so little air movement in our jungle house that it was almost hard to breathe. And the villagers asked us for everything from money and food to daily rides into town in our truck (whether or not we had intended to go to town). The third trip was supposed to be just over two weeks long but was cut short by illness and, because we left our truck in another town to avoid crossing a river swollen by rains, we got to experience - three times, no less - a ten-mile hike in jungle conditions, once with a backpack full of gear.

Finally, on this latest two-week trip, we got to experience a plague of mosquitoes and trying to find dry places to sleep in a house with a leaky roof. Let me just tell you one thing: These mosquitoes did not play. They are carriers of dengue fever and other dreaded tropical diseases and, despite lathering myself in insect repellent and wearing a long-sleeved denim shirt, they often still managed to bite me through my clothes!

After we returned to Santa Cruz for a period of rest after the trip, I developed a rash and then a fever. My doctor diagnosed me with a mosquito-borne virus that took about a week to fully resolve. And somewhere between sitting in a cloud of mosquitoes and trying to sleep through a 102-degree fever, I started thinking about suffering. Prior to coming to the mission field, I had rarely experienced physical suffering. Sure, there was the occasional illness or injury, but I never before had to walk ten miles in 95-degree weather to buy food or bathe in a pesticide to avoid nasty little insects or experience the joys of tropical illness. Life in the South American jungle takes physical suffering to a level that I had never experienced.

And that reminded me of what the apostle Paul said about suffering:

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead" (Phil. 3:10-11).

Let me repeat that: "I want to know... the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings."

Now Paul didn't say that lightly. That was a guy who definitely knew something about suffering. In the book of 2 Corinthians, he gives a list of what he went through:

"Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches" (2 Cor. 11:24-28).

Yet he still wanted to know the fellowship of sharing in Jesus' sufferings. But why? Was he masochistic? Why on earth would he want suffering?

Because, through those sufferings, he would become like Jesus and, somehow, attain to His resurrection.

Here's the way I read it: Those sufferings eventually destroy the fleshly part of us, that oh-so-stubborn part that wants to do only what I want and not what He wants, and allow me to be transformed and resurrected into the new (wo)man that I really am.

Sufferings come in many forms: Physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. They can seem small or enormous. They can come directly to us or vicariously through something that happens to a loved one. But they all serve the same purpose: To make us like Christ.

A sister in Christ recently shared this passage of Scripture with Leah and me:

"And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I entrusted to him for that day" (2 Tim. 1:11-12).

And when that dear sister shared that with us, it occurred to me that I can echo those words with Paul. I have been appointed as a herald, an apostle (one who is sent), and a teacher of the gospel, and that is why I have these particular sufferings. Yet I am not ashamed, and I know that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him.

These sufferings, however mild, are not in vain.

And, wow, there is no better cause of suffering than being sent as a herald, apostle, and teacher of His Gospel.

That's how I can buy into what Paul says in Phil. 1:29:

"For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him."

It has been granted to me to suffer for Him. People are granted wishes or scholarships or independence. Things that are granted are never bad things, only good ones. They're gifts, not punishments.

I hope I can remember that when I face the mosquito swarms again in the coming weeks.

Three adorable local girls in Salvatierra