The following link will take you to a video of the men who lead singing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyUMoBGWUh0
Norberto Ross, born in Cuba, and now a Costa Rican citizen, is a musician by profession. He teaches music at a local school. He is meeting with those men who are interested in song leading and is teaching them new songs. They in turn teach the new songs to the church.
Most of the men who were elected as leaders five years ago had gotten too busy with work and ended up not being able to attend business meetings. So, a new group was elected that includes those who can attend: Roberto Ulate, Norberto Ross, Daniel Delgado, Kenneth Matarrita, Daniel Montero, and me. Ignacio Soto, the Brenes brothers and Andrés continue to be involved in helping in their respective areas, which don't involve attending business meetings. The new group made a commitment before the church that they will be fulfilling their responsibilities as leaders. Namely, they will be helping with organizing the different areas of work.
Freddy Ramírez, the husband of one of the ladies, was baptized! Freddy had been a visitor for four years. Bob and Geoff were present when he married Jessica Soto in January, 2010. Well, he has finally made the decision. Freddy and Jessica just celebrated the arrival of their second child. Sebastian was born on August 22. We rejoiced recently with Freddy's entire family as the newborn was presented to the church.
We have been reaching out to quite a few people and putting long hours into counseling and personal Bible studies. The results are difficult to see. We keep focused on glorifying God so that we don't get tired. In other words, we do the work because God deserves it; not because we expect results to be motivated. Norberto has been a tireless worker with me. He is so excited about the Lord and the healing he has received, that he can't help but reach out to relatives and co-workers. I have spent a few hours helping him minister to his brother and his brother's spouse. One of his co-workers is attending the Men's Support Group and we have spent time with him too.
On a more reflective note… we have been using what I call a relational approach to the work. People receive influence through relationships. The Word is shared with people who listen to you because they see a transformation in your life. Authentic transformation occurs as a result of a personal relationship with God. The importance of personal relationships cannot be overemphasized, as the Scriptures reveal all too clearly the need for each member to be vitally connected to the body. The connection is organic not organizational.
This is why I devote so many hours to personal work and to developing a personal friendship with some of the men. And the effort has paid off. A few have been influenced who are in turn influencing others. There is no formula; there will never be one. I have heard of movements who thought that they discovered the right formula, and tried to franchise it. This resulted in a lot of growth initially. However, a lot of control had to be exerted to make sure that the right formula was being applied and the whole thing collapsed.
I am aware that the organizational aspect of the work needs to be improved, though. There is a need for more efforts in this area. There is a need for the church to reach out to those who are not covered by the "relational umbrella." This is why an "organizational umbrella" will be implemented in the near future, so that those members who are not regular in their attendance will be reached out to and encouraged. The good thing is that the "relational umbrella" created the conditions, namely, willing workers, who are already prepared and motivated to organize themselves to do this work.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
July 2011
The church in Heredia continues to fulfill its God given purpose.
See assembly figures for July at: http://carlosulatecostarica.blogspot.com/p/statistics.html
There is a school break during the first and second week of July. Many people were gone out of town on the second Sunday of July. This explains the low attendance on that Sunday.
The work is difficult. It involves helping others in their healing process. Still others are not yet aware of their need to heal. Many who allow us to draw closer to them, are truly growing, and helping others do the same. The teaching and the preaching are focussed on learning to see God as a Father who is truly present in the good and in the bad times. A lot of effort is devoted to the development of a personal relationship with God, so that all of us may feel truly loved by Him. Those members who learn to see the Lord as the only source of true and perfect love, are the ones who grow spiritually and become effective in their influence of others. They keep me busy with contacts. The transition from influencing a member and then influencing others through him or her has been successfully implemented. This work doesn't provide dramatic numeric growth, but it provides the foundations for leadership and future church planting.
A group from the Cedar Hill Church, Texas, was here for ten days. They were led by former missionary Ron McClung, and one of the elders, Rob Frankee. Their presence generated quite a flow of visitors to the church building. Anticipating this, the local leaders had planned a series of gospel meetings to be held during four nights. I preached two of the nights and Ron preached the other two. There were attendances of 80 and 100 people. 10 members came forward asking for prayers to be restored, and two teenagers were baptized.
The ones baptized were Adonis, son of Roberto and Noris Ulate, and Brenda, daughter of Alexis and Frida Mora. They are 17. Since they have been in the list of teenagers, their baptisms can not be interpreted as an addition of members.
See assembly figures for July at: http://carlosulatecostarica.blogspot.com/p/statistics.html
There is a school break during the first and second week of July. Many people were gone out of town on the second Sunday of July. This explains the low attendance on that Sunday.
The work is difficult. It involves helping others in their healing process. Still others are not yet aware of their need to heal. Many who allow us to draw closer to them, are truly growing, and helping others do the same. The teaching and the preaching are focussed on learning to see God as a Father who is truly present in the good and in the bad times. A lot of effort is devoted to the development of a personal relationship with God, so that all of us may feel truly loved by Him. Those members who learn to see the Lord as the only source of true and perfect love, are the ones who grow spiritually and become effective in their influence of others. They keep me busy with contacts. The transition from influencing a member and then influencing others through him or her has been successfully implemented. This work doesn't provide dramatic numeric growth, but it provides the foundations for leadership and future church planting.
A group from the Cedar Hill Church, Texas, was here for ten days. They were led by former missionary Ron McClung, and one of the elders, Rob Frankee. Their presence generated quite a flow of visitors to the church building. Anticipating this, the local leaders had planned a series of gospel meetings to be held during four nights. I preached two of the nights and Ron preached the other two. There were attendances of 80 and 100 people. 10 members came forward asking for prayers to be restored, and two teenagers were baptized.
The ones baptized were Adonis, son of Roberto and Noris Ulate, and Brenda, daughter of Alexis and Frida Mora. They are 17. Since they have been in the list of teenagers, their baptisms can not be interpreted as an addition of members.
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