COURAGE

"COURAGE is not about knowing the path.
It is about taking the first step." *

Isn't that the hardest part, taking the first step; whether towards a conflict, accepting a change, pursuing an unlovable person, considering an opportunity that seems so beyond our abilities, etc.

"If you go the wrong way—to the right or to the left—
you will hear a voice behind you. It will say,
“This is the right way. You should go this way.”
Isaiah 30:21

When we find the courage to take the first step, how equally important it is to know that God will guide us. We hear His whispers of what to do & we have a choice . . . to ignore them, to ponder them, or to take action and step out in faith. The reward comes in finding that He is in control and His ideas, possibilities, and plans are so much better than our own finite minds can imagine.

"LOVE each other, be deep-spirited friends.
Don’t push your way to the front;
don’t sweet-talk your way to the top.
Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead.
Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage.
Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand."
Philippians 2:2-4

"I believe there is only one truly courageous thing we can do with our lives: to love unconditionally. We aren't called to save the world, not even to save one person; Jesus does that. We are just called to love with abandon. We are called to enter into our neighbors' sufferings and love them right there."* May you be encouraged to love with abandon right where you are.

* excerpts from "Kisses from Katie ~ a story of relentless love & redemption" by Katie Davis.
An exceptional & inspirational book, which we highly recommended.

life in rural Mexico (part 1)

So what does the day to day life look like when you live in rural Mexico . . . here's a window into our world . . . here are the sights and reality beyond the map.

That circle at "We Are Here" on the map above, let's zoom that in a little bit . . . here's a view from the neighboring hill (picture below). Down below is our village, a quiet fishing village and Mexican tourist destination. The local population is around 350. During the busiest times of the year (Christmas & the week around Easter) this location can swell into the thousands, with tourists and locals alike. Many coming from larger inland cities (i.e.: Tepic and Guadalajara). The local economy balances between the fishermen and their catch of the day and tourism, including boat tours, hotels and restaurants.

view of our village

main street in town, lined with restaurants & several hotels

the fisherman's boats & pelicans taking a siesta before the evening catch

local hotel down the street from us

There are two seasons here . . . rainy season and dry season. There is a unique situation here during dry season (December-April) of which many snowbirds settle in. Some stay for a week, while others stay for a few months. Mostly coming from the northern US and Canada and mostly retired, this population adds another colorful layer to the happenings of the village.

Here in town, there are 3 small markets for buying "groceries" (mostly bread, milk, eggs, rice, beans, limited veggies, chips, soda, beer, and canned items). Each market is a brick building measuring about 15 ft by 40 ft or smaller. You can buy fresh tortillas at the Tortillería. You can also find fresh coconuts and fruit smoothies at a local store. But if you are patient and wait for the right jingle being broadcast from a vehicle or exclamation from a person, you also have delivery service. Something very common in Mexico, big or small town, are the services that pass by on the street. One jingle is the propane gas supplier, another the purified water supplier, and others could be sweet breads, vegetables, mattresses, tamales, furniture, cleaning supplies, fresh squeezed juice, or homemade cheese.

one of the small markets

Other services, such as garbage, mail, and the internet are much more unreliable. Sometimes garbage collection comes with an actual garbage truck (with compressor) other times it's a few guys with a truck and a large bed with sides and everything is thrown in until it's full. There are times they come a few times a week and other times where we have waited a few weeks. One thing we have learned is that when you hear the cowbell (their method of notifying you of their arrival) we need to get their attention at the bottom of our street or else they will simply drive by.

Mail service is available, however it comes to town about every 8 days and is delivered to a liquor store on the edge of town, which is not open very often or at least when you think of dropping by. You can pay a small fee for a post office box at the post office, which is in the next town, and they will call you when something is delivered. Mail sent between Mexico and the U.S. can take from 3-7 weeks and may not ever make it. So not the most reliable. In fact, we had something shipped from Mexico City to us last week via a shipping company and we got a call in the middle of the day from a guy standing in the plaza of Compostela (40 min away) asking us to meet him there to pick up the item. That was as far as they were going to go. Thankfully, we directed them to a friend's house and were able to get it on our next trip through Compostela.

Amazingly, internet service has improved drastically from when we arrived almost 3 years ago. Then it worked about 50% of the time, now it works about 95% of the time, except during the rainy season. The biggest challenges being the effects of humidity and salt air on wires and equipment and the base level of services and equipment offered from the telephone company. Being that we have two teenagers relying on the internet for their schooling, we are so very thankful to have an in-house I.T. expert, namely Chuck. Without his expertise, we would be in a world of hurt. His time spent keeping us humming along could almost be a part-time job.

our I.T. department

The next town closest to us is about 8 miles inland. It is about a 15 minute drive, depending if you get stuck behind a tractor, a herd of cows, etc. This is also where the closest traffic signal is. Here there are a few more options for finding groceries and services. One of the markets here makes biweekly trips to the big city, 1.5 hours away, so if there is something you can't find you can ask them to get it for you. The economy here is mostly agriculture with poultry and beef processing plants in town and many farms in the surrounding area. This is where Alistair goes to school, and also where one of our leaders lives.

nearest traffic light on the main highway as you enter the next town

the market mentioned above, pictured here on the right with the green awnings

The next biggest town is about 30 minutes south. Here there is a mix of tourism and local industry. There is a weekly outdoor market here that offers local produce, art & crafts, jewelry, and much local color. There is a German deli and a Japanese restaurant here. You never know what you might find around the next corner. This is also where we go to church.

Mision Cristiana ~ where we go to church

Then there is the BIG city . . . Puerto Vallarta. This is a 1.5-2 hour drive south. The main highway is a two lane road, so depending which slow pineapple truck or 3 trailer tanker truck you get behind it might take a bit longer. Here you can find the familiar American retailers (i.e.: Costco, Walmart, Home Depot), large fancy resorts, the airport, cruise ships, small universities, shops, restaurants, and around 210,000 locals.

Life here in our village is so full of contrasts. You have a home where there is no running water next to a three story luxury home. You have the local farmer traveling between his fields on his horse, while being passed on the road by a swift and enormous tour bus. The roads full of potholes and speed bumps and rocks and dirt along with the trash burning on the side of the road, while taking in the incredible view of the vast ocean.

local home just down the street from us

just across the street from the above house

Despite the contrasts, everyone hums along with a great zeal for life and all that it brings. You find an emphasis placed more on the internal rather than the external. The heart of survival is really . . . the heart. Loving each other not for what we show on the outside but rather for what is on the inside.

to be continued . . .

Pastors Conference ~ October 2015

20th Pastors Conference in Nayarit, Mexico

Thank you for praying for this last pastors conference here in Nayarit. God worked mightily in this conference to heal, encourage and build into the lives of each pastor, their spouse and into us. This very special group (pictured above) enjoyed an incredible week together, building relationships, being challenged by phenomenal teaching, worshipping without hindrance, and relaxing in this peaceful environment. Since the conference, we have heard about many pastors meeting together to talk about the material and to advance the women's recovery material that was presented for the first time at this conference. We were very thankful to have Don DeTar, Pastor Sam Paschall and Pastor Sam's oldest son, all from Mission Hills Church in San Marcos, CA, come to teach and help with the conference. Pastor Sam taught part of his spiritual formation course which was richly received by all the pastors. We hope this material, along with additional material that we are working on, will provide a solid foundation for pastors here who don't have access to theological education.

For over 2 years now, we have been reading, researching and editing a curriculum that we hope to make into a workbook to train churches in helping women recover from past abuse. This summer, Nancy, one of the team members from San Marcos, CA that served here in July, started working on material for us after she returned to the U.S. We are very grateful for her input, help, and continued partnership. For this conference, we invited Anayanzin Castillo to teach about sexual abuse of children. Anayanzin has extensive experience educating and ministering to people who have suffered from abuse, and we are looking forward to working together with her as we continue to develop this vital ministry. Despite being so close to the U.S., Mexico (as well as other Latin American countries) lacks most of the church resources (i.e.: Christian counselors, books, training for pastors) that are so readily accessible in the U.S. We were thrilled to see a number of women talking to Anayanzin long into the night after she spoke. There is also now a great desire for her to come teach at many churches here in the near future. The need is great, and we are very thankful for how God has supplied these additional contributors to our growing team.

Anayanzin presenting

On Tuesday night, we presented material from the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. Pastor David Hernandez challenged everyone during this workshop about how they could make their church "The Hope of the World". Bringing in these outside resources to pastors has been extremely useful in helping them to see with greater vision what God wants them to do in their community. We are very thankful that the Willow Creek Association allows us to use their materials to equip these pastors.

Video session "The local church is the hope of the world."

Leadership Workshop

David Hernandez leading the workshop

This new location for the conference proved to be very fruitful, in that we all stayed in 5 cabañas (cabins) all located within one property. This made the conference feel more unified and peaceful. Since we held the conference in a "low" season, there were no other disruptions which had often been problematic at previous conferences. All of the pastors seemed to soak up this serene atmosphere. As a result, we were very gratified to see more pastors taking a leadership role in the conference by leading worship, praying for other couples, and taking charge in the kitchen (as we had no paid cooks this conference). The greatest joy we have is seeing pastors taking ownership in the conference itself, as our goal for the future is for this ministry to be completely Mexican led and funded. With this group of 30 pastors, plus some 20 others who were not able to attend this time, we are excited for this next year of ministry.

All of this would not have been possible if it were not for YOU our partners! Many of you have been supporting us for more than 5 years now, and we are so very thankful for your sacrificial giving that has made all of this possible. As we said in a previous update, if you take all the pastors who have been received training and encouragement at the 25 conferences, since 2005, we've held in Mexico (over 1,000 pastors) and multiply that times the average church attendance (40-60), over 50,000 people have been impacted by your prayers and support. We are greatly humbled by this and amazingly thankful for your partnership.

The pastors conference in pictures . . .

Pastor Sam teaching

Augustin, Miguel & Jesus

Armando & Yanuaria

Juan Carlos & Luz

Hot dog dinner

Pozole!

Juan & Ricardo

Pool time

Goodbyes and a long 6 hour trip home in the back of a truck.

How to sum up 6,000 miles on the road?

Great times with friends 

around the table.

First stop . . . In'n'Out Burger!

Soaking up every minute with 

Chuck's family.

How do you sum up over 6,000 miles of driving, fun visits with so many of you, and a feeling that there is never enough time to take care of things for family?

Well, it was BUSY and REWARDING. We were so thankful to be able to visit friends, new and old, and to be able to take care of a few things for family that were way overdue. There's never enough time to spend the kind of time we would like to, catching up with each of you, but we are thankful for so many of you who opened your homes and kitchens to us as we travelled all the way from Mexico, through Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, up to Washington visiting friends, families and churches sharing the ministry of the last year with so many of you.

"Beyond Limits" church service at
Mission Hills Church. A service
dedicated solely to special needs
adults. They donated funds to buy
wheelchairs for Mexicans in need.

Treasured memories with 

Colleen's family.

All packed & ready to head 

south of the border.

You know the commercial where they ask people who've just won a competition, the first thing they want to do, and they say go to "Disneyland" or "Hawaii"? Well, we had a few things on our list of "wants". Upon entering the U.S., our first want is to eat at In-N-Out Burgers. Check. Might sound weird, but Target is another desired stop and strangely therapeutic as you roam the aisles realizing that one store sells 90% of what you "need" at well over half the cost of what you are used to.

While the kids played with friends and family, Colleen and I met with a number of churches and organizations who serve in similar ways to Global Church Partners (GCP). We were thankful for the opportunity to learn, share each other's passions, and hope for future collaborators in our ministry to equip and animate churches in Mexico. We learned so much from meeting with folks doing huge things in education and non-profit leadership. We are praying for next steps in continuing to collaborate with these people. In all, we left with a greater vision for what could be and a better appreciation of who is already doing remarkable things in the U.S.

As you may recall from our spring newsletters, we had a large support-raising goal. This year's trip stateside seemed different from previous years, as we are probably more comfortable in telling our story and God opened up more opportunities to share with churches and individuals. We found these churches and individuals had a desire to help equip the Church outside of the U.S. We are so thankful for what you did to help us. Thank you for hosting events and inviting friends who might be interested to learn more about GCP. Incredible! And, just like every other step of faith we've taken, it wasn't until we were only 12 hours from home, here in Mexico, that we learned that just enough financial support had come in to almost cover what our current salary and payroll taxes are for the next year. Praise God! We still have many more ministry expenses to trust God for, but we are greatly encouraged by this "just enough" provision.

All in all, we were beyond grateful for the opportunity to have spent time in the U.S. this past summer. Being out of country gives you a greater appreciation for what we used to take for granted (i.e.: convenience, availability, resources, order, space, etc.). We value time spent with family and friends, as it is a rarity we soaked in every minute. We were overwhelmed by the doors God opened to be able to meet with so many of you. Sometimes spontaneity was the best method for reuniting with friends we haven't seen for decades. New partnerships began with churches and organizations that we would have never dreamed of on our own accord, which brings us back to our common theme of this year, "Just show up!" and God will take care of the rest. We are encouraged, energized, and looking forward with great expectation.

Transformed Lives!

What do you get when you have eager participants from 3 churches & 2 families, a town full of kids & youth, and non-stop energy & enthusiasm . . . TRANSFORMED LIVES! For a week in July, we had 10 people from Mission Hills church join us, along with 9 people from the church in Las Varas, the Hernandez family and ours join Pastor Oswaldo and his family in the town of Mazatan. 

Our purpose was to bring enthusiasm, encouragement, and ministry tools to Pastor Oswaldo and his church. The team from Las Varas led the GameLife Kids Camp, which we had every morning. This is so exciting because it was only last year that another Mission Hills team was here training the Las Varas crew in GameLife and now they are leading and training another church. Through games, crafts, snacks, bible stories, and songs the life of Jesus came to life for the 60-70 children that participated.

Each afternoon, the youth from our group and the youth of Mazatan joined together and played soccer, basketball, and volleyball. The Americans even taught the others to play football and ultimate frisbee. WOW, the competition was tough but also very amiable. It was a great time to get to know each other and sweat alot. Knowing our chances of losing the soccer match, we proposed that the loser provide dinner for the winners. So after the game, we brought hot dogs to the field, which were enjoyed by everyone. Amazing times spent building relationships, exerting alot of energy, and loving on each other.

One evening we showed the movie "God is Not Dead" in the plaza and invited the whole town. It was a good turn out and the kids went crazy when the bags of popcorn turned up.

As the youth gathered throughout the week, it was decided that on Thursday afternoon everyone would adventure on a hike to the local waterfall. Upon arrival at the waterfall, the attendance was quite low, but then a whole crowd showed up late after the local soccer team returned from an extra long tournament. What an encouragement! Here is where Pastor Oswaldo shared his story of how God transformed his life from when he was a youth in Mazatan until now. This was significant because many of the youth gathered didn't know this side of Oswaldo, only their parents were familiar with his story because they had lived it with him. So now a new generation was aware of how God changed the direction of his life. It was a powerful time!

Our last night was a family celebration held in the church. We had invited all of the children from the GameLife Kids Camp to invite their families to come to the church for dinner, slideshow, song presentation from the kids, and a message from Pastor Oswaldo. WOW, it was a packed house with overflow into the street. Oswaldo was moved to tears as this many people hadn't gathered in the church for many years.

The blessings of this trip were many. Most importantly, experiencing the joy and reward of working amongst an international team from 4 different churches. Although there are stumbling blocks and awkward moments to work through, the benefits are remarkable. Working, cooking, playing, worshipping, camping, learning, and understanding side by side compares to no other. Another blessing was seeing the transformation in Oswaldo's spirit, from discouraged and worn to renewed and exhilarated. His daughter now hopes to host weekly treks to the waterfall with other youth in town. Oswaldo is planning on hosting GameLife meetings for the children of Mazatan.

(These 3 amigos have been in ministry together now for 10 years).
Bottom row, left to right: Rebeca (Oswaldo's daughter), Nati (Oswaldo's wife), and Rafael (Rafael's son).

Top row, left to right: Pastor Oswaldo, Pastor Rafael (Las Varas), and Chuck

New Chapter and Direction

Over the past few months, we have navigated through a number of changes at Global Church Partners (GCP) and we think it is important for you (our prayer partners, financial contributors, and supporters) to be made aware of this. As with all transitions, we have sought out a wide range of counsel and prayerfully considered each new step. We are thankful that this process identified some weaknesses in our organizational structure, and so we continue to work on these areas. One of the greatest weaknesses identified was a lack of independent accountancy and financial policies. We are deeply grateful to an anonymous donor, who in December 2014, volunteered to cover the cost of hiring an independent accountant who is an expert in non-profit financial accountability and who has greatly aided us in organizing our finances in a clearer and more effective manner.

In December 2014, three Board Members resigned from the GCP Board. Currently serving on the Board is Rob Honer, Bill Robertson and Chuck Edmunds. We have begun a process to invite additional board members to serve on the GCP Board, but this process will take time as we carefully consider those who we call to serve in this capacity.

This last December also concluded the donation commitment period from some of our primary supporters for the ministry to pastors. In all, this support helped us train and encourage over 1,000 pastors at over 23 different conferences from 2005 to 2014. As with all our ministry partners, we are exceedingly grateful for the time we served together.

Our VISION forward . . .

PASTORS :: An equipped and encouraged pastor and family remain our principal area of focus as we see the benefits multiply into the local church, and from the church, into the community. From now until September, we will focus on bringing mentoring, training and resources to small groups of pastors. Our Mexican leadership is also planning the next pastors conference for October.

CHILDREN :: The need for children's ministry resources in many churches is great. Thankfully, through the growing partnership with a church in San Diego, we have established an independent children's ministry, GameLife, here in Mexico which only costs each church $20/year for curriculum. This summer, we will travel with the first church trained in this material and they will train another church to implement the same ministry in their area. In addition, we also seek to encourage rural churches to reach out to local schools, which are greatly underserved.

MICRO-FARMS :: Most rural pastors and their spouses work full-time jobs in addition to pastoring their churches. Our goal is to help pastors set-up small chicken coops for egg production and/or meat, or other small animal farms which can be maintained behind their house. The production goal is to replace one person's full-time income. 80 chickens producing 60 eggs/day would net $12 profit/day, which is the equivalent of a rural income. This would enable at least one person to focus full-time on ministry. Currently, we have one chicken farm in active production, and we hope to start at least 3 more this year. We are also working with the local veterinary school and the Heifer Project to connect these educational resources to rural pastors and their communities to help them increase their yield.

WOMEN :: Our interactions with pastors and their churches have helped us to understand the critical need for churches to be equipped to help women who have suffered from violence and abuse. We have helped women receive counseling and begin to establish a support network in their churches to help them recover from significant past abuse. Discipleship simply cannot take place without healing. We hope to translate material that will equip churches to address this issue.

Where do you live?

What's more exciting in school than a Field Trip! Recently, Alistair's class took a Field Trip with the purpose of observing what different houses are made of and how people live. This motivation coming from a recent lesson they had in class . . .

The lesson explain that houses are made of different materials, such as straw, wood, rock, adobe or brick. This does take you a bit by surprise when coming at it with an American perspective. I do remember American schools, through questionnaires, being concerned about whether you had somewhere to live or not, but there was never any question about what your house was made out of. In this lesson, students were learning that the way people live depends on the customs and characteristics of the places where they live. In Mexico, you could be in the big city in a big apartment building or in a small puebla in a hut and everything in between.

So, Alistair's class was shuttled from school in Las Varas to Chacala, the fishing village where we live. This is about a 10-15 minute drive. Ready to go!

We were able to observe the fishing boats & fishing nets sometime abandoned on the side of the road, thatched houses, hotels (big & small), cement block houses, restaurants on the beach, and more. The teacher had previously asked if Alistair would like the class to visit his house and he said, "Yes!". So next stop was our house . . .

Next stop the park . . .

The last stop was the restaurant that one of Alistair's classmate's family runs. They served us delicious ceviche with tostadas & soda. Then a few games on the beach & we were ready to head back to school.

But first, two of the boys took over for the fellow mariachi singer that was entertaining in the restaurant and sang a few songs themselves, which everyone loved.