Sunday, October 4, 2015

Ministry in a Dry and Weary Land–July 2015

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Psalm 63:1
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

A Month Down South

IMG_8868This past July I served with about eighty other brothers and sisters in Christ as we preached the gospel, hosted a community soccer tournament, ran conferences for the youth, and ministered in some of the roughest areas of the country. God taught us all the amazing power of prayer as He worked amazing things and protected us time and time again.

Drought and Strife

Unfortunately for El Salvador, not only is the country experiencing a severe drought. We spoke with many farmers who had their entire crops dry up and die, leaving them waiting and hoping that they could plant again before the dry season. Food prices are going up in the impoverished nation at the same time that the violence is spiking. People in the country are concerned for their lives and the prospect of violence. One man we met even wears a mask to work and sent his family away because of the threats he’s received from gang members.

It’s a tragedy what is happening there, and it’s the result of the idolatry of the people. Empty religion and tradition has done nothing to change the hearts of the people, and you can see and hear the emptiness. Yet through all of this there is hope, because in their desperation people are waking up to their need for the Lord. I have seldom seen such openness when we’ve gone to preach the gospel.

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Open Doors

Near the beginning of the month, we were planning to minister outside a school after the students were let out. As we were trying to figure out how to accomplish this I started talking to two men who were standing in a pick up truck outside the school and explained what we wanted to do. “That will never work,” they said. “You have five minutes until the busses come and pick up all the students. Let’s go inside and talk to the teachers.”

They led us inside, and we explained what we desired to do. The teachers were initially hesitant, but somehow the Lord opened the door for us to actually go inside the school and present dramas and the gospel later on the same day. I was floored; God opened the door for us.

As we waited for our opportunity in the town square nearby, we spoke with a group of young men from an accounting school about the gospel and the hope in Christ. None of them had come into a relationship with Christ, but three of them expressed that they desired salvation by the end of our conversation. Right as we had to leave to minister inside the school, a leader from our church arrived and continued the conversation with the young men, answering their questions and leaving them his contact information. That’s God’s timing.

The ministry inside the school was so successful that the teachers asked us to come again later on in the trip. In fact, we were able to minister the gospel in 5 different schools from the mountains of Honduras to a massive public school in the nearest city that holds about 2,000 students.

The Next Generation

A few days before we arrived in Central America, a gang member – a youth from our area came to Christ. We immediately gave him a job helping with construction and members of the church came around him to begin discipling him and encouraging him in the faith. We got to speak to members of his family – all nonbelievers who were amazed by the change in him. They said, “We thought he would be dead because of what he is doing.” The testimony of this youth is showing his family the power of God for salvation.

By the end of the trip, another gang member attended our youth service and two members of our team were able to preach the gospel to him as well.

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In Honduras, I had the pleasure of working alongside a young man named Alex. At 15 years old, he goes with us up into the mountains to preach the gospel in the villages, but he was very shy about it. During one of our presentations in a village, I pulled him aside and told him, “Hey, we’re going to share the gospel with someone as soon as we get done with the program here.” He looked at me with wide eyes, “Ok.”

He seemed hesitant when we walked over to speak to the first group, but he willingly shared his testimony of everything God had done for him. By the time we got ready for a massive soccer tournament, he asked me if he could share his testimony in front of the crowd of hundreds that had gathered. With the amount of time we had to prepare, he didn’t have the chance to do so, but it was amazing to watch him grow in boldness over just a few days. Pray that he will grow in his faith and continue to be bold.

Finishing Well

With so many pastors and leaders falling into sin around the world and ruining their testimony, I’ve realized now more than ever how hard it will be to be pure and holy until the day Jesus comes for me. I am not perfect–I am, like anyone a footstep away from falling into terrible sin. I would love to tell you that I am strong, but the truth is, I am weak–I am just a vessel of God made of clay, though I hold His treasure inside. The scriptures warn us with this: “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”

May it be said of all of us that we fought the good fight, we finished the course, and we kept the faith. Pray that God would help me to finish my race well.

- Paul