Our church has had the opportunity to be involved in sending a family on multiple short-term trips to Ecuador in the past year. Through their faithful effort, we have learned more about the work of Gospel and about the continued need for the Gospel. Ecuador has been in the news in recent days following what seems to have been an attempted coup last week.
A Girl and Her Gun
True Woman Conference Giveaway!
In a little over a week I will be on my way to the True Woman conference in Fort Worth, Texas. If you aren’t familiar with this conference, it is worth your time to check out. The entire premise of the weekend will be on encouraging the thousands of women in attendance to pursue godly womanhood—biblically defined, true womanhood. In order to promote the conference, True Woman has provided some bloggers with 2 conference passes to giveaway to our blog readers. You, dear reader, have the opportunity to be one such recipient!
Missions Wednesday: Spain
Spain holds over 39 million people, yet this population is projected to decline in coming years. Like the rest of Europe, increased secularism has led to a decline in the birth rate of this once strongly Catholic nation. Catholicism is still considered the official religion, and equality for others (Jews, Muslims, Evangelicals) was only granted in 1992. 40-50% of the Catholic population are considered inactive, so while religion seems to be a strong force, it is often in number only. Once a country of religious discrimination, secularism now prevails.
Understanding the Great Commission
We hear it all the time. Christians need to be about the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). We should care about Jesus’ commands to “make disciples of all nations.” But what exactly does Jesus mean when he says to “make disciples.” I’ve heard a lot about making converts and how many “decisions” were made at a recent revival or evangelism outreach event. I can’t help but wonder, when I hear those statements, that maybe Jesus had something far more involved in mind when he gave us this great commission.
Missions Wednesday: Singapore
Often when we think of countries that are effective for the Gospel we only think of ones that define themselves as Christians. How could a country that only claims 15% of its population as believers be a place of key ministry training for leaders in other countries? Singapore is one of the world’s wealthiest countries. Located on the southern tip of Malaysia, Singapore has nearly 4 million people packed on this large island (and several smaller ones). The rest of Singapore’s population are Buddhist (majority), Muslim, non-religious, or other religions.
Joining the Everlasting Song
The other day I was listening to Together for the Gospel Live by Bob Kauflin. While leading the musical worship he said something that struck me. He said, "we may just be beginning our song this morning, but we are joining a greater song that is already going on." When we sing our praises to God, we are joining with the saints around the throne of King Jesus. That made me weep.
Hope Found in an Old Story
I always forget how much I love reading the Gospels until I begin reading them again. And then I am struck with the richness of the story. God came to earth. Even grander than that, he came as a little, helpless baby. We get to read this story on the other side of history. For the characters partaking, they don’t know how it will all unfold.
Friday is for Food (a little late)
This weekend we had a marriage conference at church, which is why this post is a little late. I signed up to bring a dessert to the Friday evening session. Pretty easy, right. Well, I had been planning on making pumpkin bars all week because it's fall and it's a very "fall-y" food (even though it is 90 degrees and doesn't feel like fall). I went to Kroger on Thursday night to get my ingredients. I searched all over the baked goods aisle to no avail. I could not locate the pumpkin for the life of me. Finally I asked the stocker where the pumpkin was and he said "we don't have it yet. It's seasonal."
Missions Wednesday: Rwanda
Many of us are not so far removed from the 1990’s to remember the horrible genocide that took place in Rwanda between the Hutus and Tutsis. I was young during the turmoil, but in college I was awakened to what happened while watching the movie Hotel Rwanda. As I learned more about the slaughtering of a million people I was even more surprised to hear that eighty percent of Rwandans are identified as Christians. Even though many would say they are followers of Christ, they have been plagued by years of hatred of fellow brothers and sisters simply because of their ethnic heritage.