Over the next week I will be sharing a five part series of blogs from my latest trip to Bogota, Colombia.  I hope these blog challenge us to respond to the call from the heart of Christ..."let the little children come to me!"  Join me as I share what God is doing through the ministry of Chris Poole as he works in the city of Bogota and share some of the opportunities Relationships for Christ Ministries has to serve the people of that nation.

Living The Jesus Dream

Chris went to Bogota on a short term mission trip and came back changed forever.  He is not the first and certainly won't be the last.  Many men and women throughout the history of World Missions have responded to the call of Christ, sold their belongings, left family and moved to the mission field. 

I am reminded of a story about some Yale graduates years ago that heard a missionary tell of the need for brave young men and women to take the gospel to unbelieving cultures.  They set aside a bright future as a graduate from one of America's finest universities and the "American Dream" to accept the call to missions.  I get emotional as I write this because as I recall none of them returned home as they all gave their lives on the mission field.

I have to admit that some of the emotion comes from being a parent of a young missionary.  Our son Brenden serves at Project Samuel in Zambia, Africa.  Chris and Brenden prove that the Missions Spirit didn't die out with the last century!  Young men and women all around the world are setting aside the "American Dream" for the "Jesus Dream" and the spirit of love and compassion that Christ showed on His cross is being reflected on their crosses.

Sometimes these “Jesus Dreamers” go with a good idea of what they will do and sometimes they don't know what they are going to do at all...but they go none the less.  I am so proud of the young me and women that I know that burn with a desire to do something...something for the Lord! 

I just have to stand up and remind us all that we cannot let them go it alone!  Whoever that young missionary is in your life, you have got to be there for them!  If you are a leader in ministry, you must make a way for those that have accepted the call to live the “Jesus dream” to do whatever God has called them to do.  If you are a parent, it is time to believe in your children and support their call completely.  If you know a missionary on the field, they need your emails, your prayers, and your support...not once but as often as you can! 

You know, one of the things I have come to realize is that for me, the "Jesus Dream" has changed.  Oh, I still get to go to the field every once and a while. (Not enough Lord.  Just want to go on the record with that!)  For me now, the "Jesus Dream" is more about helping some young missionary live their own calling, rather than going and doing myself.  Maybe that is where you find yourself today.  Perhaps living the dream for you is to help young men and women of God like Chris and Brenden do what God has called them to do!  If that’s the case, I hope you live your “Jesus dream” every single day!

Over the next week I will be sharing a five part series of blogs from my latest trip to Bogota, Colombia.  I hope these blog challenge us to respond to the call from the heart of Christ..."let the little children come to me!"  Join me as I share what God is doing through the ministry of Chris Poole as he works in the city of Bogota and share some of the opportunities Relationships for Christ Ministries has to serve the people of that nation.

Scared To Death

There are times when God allows you to see what he is doing in a fresh new way, and if you are not careful it can scare you to death!

During my recent trip to visit Chris Poole in Bogota, Colombia I had the pleasure of meeting Jose, the director of Funcacion Mundo Nuevo, the organization that runs the orphan homes in which Chris works with Road To Bogota Ministries a division of Relationships for Christ Ministries, Inc. Jose is a man of vision and trust me when I tell you he needs a lot of it to creatively meet the challenges he faces. Soon after meeting him, Jose, Chris, Matt Bullen and myself sat down to get to know each other. It didn't take long to realize I was in the presence of a kindred spirit.

Jose began to share the needs of the children and his foundation, which struggles each and every day under difficult conditions to not only care for, but bring love, hope and Christ to children who up until the point they come through the doors of the foundation, had none of the above. One by one he began to tell me about the problems and issues and then share with me a solution that he called "dreams".

A house for "child moms" so they can learn parenting and life skills, and live with their children until they are of age themselves...at this point just a dream. Transitional housing for orphans that have "aged out" of the program but want to attend college or trade school and really make something of themselves...another dream. A weeklong camp for all the girls and boys that reside in Jose's homes, a camp where they can get out of the city and see something they have never seen, have fun, but most of all learn about Jesus and experience his love from American missionaries serving on a short term trip...just another dream.

"Wait a minute! That last one...that sounds like something we can do something about! Okay God...you are scaring me!" I thought.

Why don't we do something about it? It would take about $10,000 and a dozen volunteers and we could put on a camp these kids would never forget. They could experience an awesome worship service, some great teaching, feel loved by everyone there, have lots of fun...GOD YOU ARE REALLY SCARING ME!

No, I am not too scared to attempt raising $10,000 to take these children to camp. I have done that before and besides some of us or our churches for sure, could meet that need all by ourselves. I am not afraid to take twelve short-term missionaries to Colombia. (I took thirteen to Zambia one time and if I can live through that, I can live through anything!) I am not afraid that the kids won't show up and have a good time. (That is the one thing I am sure of.) I am not afraid they won't meet Jesus...or that Jose won't keep his end of the bargain...but still…I am scared stiff!

Do you really want to know what I am afraid? I am afraid of missing what God is doing! I am afraid of not getting on board with the great new ways he is reaching people…like taking people like children in Bogota to camp! But more than anything, I am afraid that I will write this article and some of us will read it and it will be little more than "white noise". You see, when you hear about the awesome things God is doing in Bogota...Nicaragua…Jamaica…Zambia...or anywhere else in the world it SHOULD scare us...it should scare us to go on with our lives and not be a part of it!

Over the next week I will be sharing a five part series of blogs from my latest trip to Bogota, Colombia.  I hope these blog challenge us to respond to the call from the heart of Christ..."let the little children come to me!"  Join me as I share what God is doing through the ministry of Chris Poole as he works in the city of Bogota and share some of the opportunities Relationships for Christ Ministries has to serve the people of that nation.

Taking It To The Valley

As we looked over the city lay sprawled out below us I couldn't help but be moved by the sheer numbers of all those people, many of which lived every day in need of a loving savior that could rescue them from not only the conditions of their lives, but the conditions of their hearts. I know that you could probably look over any city in America and say the same thing...or any city in the world for that matter, but I wasn't just anywhere, I was in Colombia...Bogota, Colombia.

I admit that up until this past week I didn't know many Colombians, let alone many lost ones, but I knew of one in particular and I began to call her name out in prayer, fully expecting that the sovereign God we serve would bless her, change her, and use her to bring healing instead of pain.  That simple prayer turned into a prayer for the whole sparkling city below us; a prayer that revival would break out and that the Spirit of the Lord would have his way.  On the mountain, with the magnificent view and the city stretched out below, it was easy to believe that God would answer.  It is easy to believe on mountain tops!

I was in Colombia visiting Relationships for Christ Ministries newest missionary, Chris Poole who heads up Road To Bogota and lends support to those who serve the orphans of Bogota. Chris and our friend Matt took me on a whirlwind tour of the facilities in which he works with some of the most disadvantaged children of Bogota, and we were looking at ways in which we could partner with local ministries to help these children know both the truth about Jesus Christ, and his love as well.

The next day we moved from the mountain to the valley as we traveled to one of the poorer neighborhoods and toured an intake facility that receives children recently removed from abuse, drug addicted parents, and neglect.  You see on the mountain it is easy to believe God can answer your prayer, but in the valley you deal with crowded homes, government regulations, petty officials, a lack of money, and needs that greatly overshadow the resources you have.  In the valley, where the rubber meets the road, that is where the battle is.  That is where the need is.

Over the last three days I have seen hundreds of little children from newborn, to unwed child moms, and the needs have all been the same...hope, love, nurturing...in short, Jesus in the arms of someone who cares.  Someone who puts the prayers of the mountain to test in the valleys of life!

It has been a busy time at Project Samuel, but very fulfilling! We have children on the project, at last!  Our first six came on April 11, so we have spent the last few weeks getting clothes, shoes, school uniforms and food, food, food!

We now have twin girls, seven years old at the project.  They are Susan and Sylvia, and what a pair they are, full of laughter and smiles from the beginning.  In addition, there is Dorothy, 9, who still  suffers some from homesickness, but seems to be getting better everyday.

Zavier is 12 years old and the perfect little gentleman, never a problem, and very gentle of spirit.  Castro, who is 9 years old, came to us in poor condition both physically and emotionally. He has recovered physically and has become part of our noisy, happy gang.  Webby is 9 years old and small for his age, but somehow manages to be the leader of the pack.  Isaac, who is also 9 years old, is our newest addition.  He is very bright and seems to be accepting of all the others.

At this moment, I am spending my last evening, before a trip back to the U.S., watching them play soccer in the yard.  The sound of the children laughing and playing is one of the special gifts from our good Lord and it makes me so aware of why I want to be here.

I offer a special thank you to each and every person who gave to make this vision a reality.  It would not have been possible without the faithfulness of God and the generosity of those he moved to contribute to Project Samuel.  I wish you could be here to share my joy in this moment.  And truly...we have only just begun!

The past month here in Bogota has been great for our ministry! God has definitely been working! We have seen a big change in the home San Gabriel that we conduct our Saturday services in. Before most of the kids, boys and girls, were very unruly and honestly looking for anything to do because they were "bored". We have been talking with them about basic life skills and applying Christian principles to them. The skill we have been talking about include: patience - dealing with worries, frustrations, and necessities.

We have also kicked off our English classes in Santa Maria! Now not all of them want to learn English, but we have a class every Wednesday with 6-10 girls that are trying hard to learn a second language in order to further their studies in their down time. We have started with the alphabet, basic sentence structure and basic verbs. They have a hard time with pronunciation and that is where I help them the most. A lot of the girls now are saying, "I wish I didn't make fun of your Spanish pronunciation!" The class is a lot of fun and a great time for us to bond with the girls!

We have also spent a lot of time with the young mothers or soon to be mothers and their children. They have just gotten a new teacher a few weeks back and thank Jesus she is a Christian! She loves having us spend time with the girls, whether its just sitting around talking, sharing funny stories about life or sharing a word God has given us for them. The girls enjoy when we come to see them and talk with them and our visits there have gone from once a week to sometimes three times a week! And of course we love to play with and love on their babies afterward!

I rreceived a BIG surprise  last week in the nursery! My Goddaughter, Louisa, that was moved to another home while I was in the United States in March has returned! I had been searching and doing all I can to find her for 2 months, trusting if it be God's will she would return, and sure enough I walk upstairs to have her jump into my arms and rub her nose against mine! The thoughts going through my mind at that moment were words my pastor has always shared with me, "favor follows faithfulness."  Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support!  Thank you for your faithfulness!  On the front lines, Chris Poole!

It is so awesome to be working alongside Missions Possible here at Project Samuel.  Missions Possible, like Project Samuel, is a department of Relationships for Christ Ministries, inc., and recently they brought a team of missionaries to Zambia to work on building a roof for the next children’s house at Project Samuel and filming a new Project Samuel video.  James  Clayton, a world class carpenter, missionary and founder of Carpenter Ministries inc. arrived at project Samuel ready to do something for the people of Zambia and the orphans at Project Samuel in particular.

During Brother James’s stay at Project Samuel, He managed to put the entire roof support up and install the roofing tin.  He taught our guys how to build trusses on the ground using a pattern and then install them on the house to speed up the time spent on each roof.  He also worked with our guys on installing the lathes between the trusses and the tin, along with ridge caps.

Seeing the roof on the house is a huge motivation to me and the Project Samuel team.  It is just another sign that God is at work all around us and that nothing is impossible if his people come together and unify.  Besides, this is a giant step for Project Samuel because as the first children’s house is now occupied with our first eight children.  It is time to finish another house so we can bring on the next eight children!

I remember Brother James preaching at one of the local churches and he quoted the scripture in Genesis 11:6 where it says, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.” God knows that if we as the body of Christ would unify, nothing can stop us.

As I got out of the car after arriving at the Project the only thought on my mind was, “where were the children”.  For the first time in over twelve trips I had a different purpose in traveling to Zambia and visiting Project Samuel.  In times past I pulled up on site to see construction or to check on some part of the development of the Project, but for the first time since 2005 I was coming to see Project Samuel "do" what it was called to "do", touch the lives of orphaned children!

As I rounded the corner of the children's house there stood Christina our House Mom and playing at her feet were two cute, little, 7 year old twins, Susan and Sylvia, the first two orphans to arrive at Project Samuel.  There is no way I can describe the joy of seeing so many years of praying, working, fund raising, and plain ole worrying come to fruition.  Christina introduced me to the other two children that were there at the time, Dorthy a quiet 9 year old and Zavier, an 8 year old boy full of energy and a love for football (soccer). Over the next few days two more children would come to live in the children's home, Webby, a 10 year old boy and Castro a 12 year old.

It was Castro that especially touched my heart.  Scott and I went to the home where Castro was staying to interview his caregiver, his maternal grandmother who was taking care of several other orphans besides Castro.  The living conditions were some of the worse I have seen in the village and in spite of the fact that Project Samuel was like heaven in comparison, Castro couldn't help the sadness he felt leaving the only person he had know since his mother’s death.  For several days Castor walked around in silent sadness, struggling to adjust to a new family in a new home.  Everyday Christina, the house mom would update me on how Castro was adjusting.  The first couple of nights were hard ones, but after a week he was running and playing with the others...still a little quiet, but not as sad as before!

The word tells us that we are justified and receive salvation through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, and like us these little children are rescued through faithfulness...your faithfulness.  In fact, I have come to realize that that is just one more way in which we are found to be Christ-like...being faithful. Thank you so much for your faithfulness to this ministry.  And like Christ, let us all be found faithful to the end...till the last child is given a home and the last soul receives the rest it so desperately needs!

Congratulations on bringing children on site! Watch the latest Project Samuel video here!

Hey everyone!!  Check out the upcoming benefit for The Road to Bogota Ministries hosted by Amanda and Brittany Glazner.  We are so excited about all the wonderful things they are doing to support Chris and his ministry to the orphans of Colombia.  Hope you can all come! Be sure and click here to check out The Spring Sing!

Outside of relationship with family, deep personal friendships bring us the most satisfaction in life, not withstanding our relationship with God of course.  Many of us struggle to make a few “best” friends over our entire lifetime, but when we do, they bring new dimensions to our lives like surround sound brings to good music.  It’s a shame, but most often it’s not conflict that causes us to lose closeness in these relationships, its communication.  Over the years and several friendships, I have found that there are few different challenges to communication in strong, personal friendships.

The first seems to just be a fact of life you can’t help.  We get busy with life, family, work, ministry and the sundry other distractions that cause us to fail to connect often enough to maintain this type of relationships.  Obviously we are going to focus on our relationship with God and family when crunched for time and we well should.  But that often leaves little time for “the guys” or “the girls”. Best friends I had in High School have long gone on to their busier lives and I to mine.  I have found that my closest relationships of the past fifteen years have been at work, primarily because time could count double.

The next challenge is more like a trap we find ourselves in; we just simply take those types of relationships for granted. It’s like a natural order of things; the more we know and feel comfortable with a friend, the more we take them from granted. Recently, I have decided to take a little extra time to encourage my close friends…tell them how important they are to me.  There was a time not too long ago and I would forget to add at the end of that text…”I appreciate you” or “you have been on my mind”.  Some of us guys struggle to tell our friends we love them (although brotherly love is one of the more talked about themes of the New Testament).  There are friends that if something happened to them there would be a gaping hole in my life, yet I often fail to tell them that.

The other challenge is more like a sin we fall into.  We fail to walk out our love with our friend in our communication with them.  A few months ago I was at a conference with a friend and one day between sessions we were in the lobby setting at a table and joking around with each other.  One thing was said that led to another (I don’t really remember how it started) but my friend jokingly said I was jaded and I said he was spiritually formal.  Another friend who was there quickly agreed with me and what was said as a joke became a concern for my first friend.  Immediately I told my friend I was joking, but I could tell he only half believed me.  Today I finally broke down and told him that as far as I was concerned, all joking aside, my comment was unedifying to him and unprofitable for us to talk about, borderline hurtful… and it was sin to me.  When we cross into serious territory and we realize that something is offensive, causes pain, or wounds, even if said in jest, we sin if we don’t quickly make peace with our friends.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a friend or stranger, it only takes a few words and a couple of seconds to ruin someone’s day.  Do that enough times and you can ruin a close friendship.  The Bible has a great admonition about not letting the sun go down on our wrath.  Basically it is saying deal with today’s issues, seek restoration immediately, and don’t let your offenses carry over into tomorrow.