Monthly Archive

Practice for the Sunday morning worship team was ending when we arrived. The team is currently shy some members due to moves and other issues. But these people love the Lord and play/sing their hearts out. The guy up front is Pedro. He is a classical guitar teacher. But he surely can light up that electric guitar.

Most of the songs we sing are new to us. They are from the Spanish church and for the Spanish church. Periodically we will sing translated American praise/worship songs. It is not near as difficult to keep up with those, though admittedly I am still not accustomed to the cadence of Spanish words and music. But no matter where it happens, we enjoy worshiping with the Body of Christ. God is calling out a people to Himself, dedicated to His will and His ways.

We count ourselves blessed to have a share in building the Body of Christ in Spain and among the Arabic world. Thanks for your prayers. May the Lord’s glory be manifest as He builds His invisible Church.

We had a great quadruple birthday party. Four of us MMC-ers have birthdays this month. Based upon my best calculations I am the senior of the four. The old dude gets the little green birthday hat. Siesta time (2pm-4pm) was a fun-filled time of sharing stories. We come from so many backgrounds. I really enjoy these times because memories are jostled. Good times indeed.

One of the satellite broadcasters that has requested our programs uses a 30-minute format. The other two companies have a 15-minute broadcast format. A group of us met today to brainstorm ideas for filling in the other 15-minutes. The meeting began with 4-Americans and 2-Brits.

The initial idea was to use Arabic music videos to fill the time slot. We determined that the pace should be energetic and exciting, fast and furious (maybe with a young host). Then came the ideas about using humor. There were ideas about using a computer generated avatar in place of a person. For about 30-minutes we threw around ideas of such concepts. Then one of our Arabic ministers joined the discussion.

His insights were invaluable. He understands the people. He has lived their needs. First: no jokes - they devalue the message. Muslims have high regard for “God” and when humor is used the message is lost. No avatars - it’s almost like using jokes. If a host is used he must be an adult for you will only reach youth with another youth. An adult reaches all for adults are respected.

The shows must demonstrate an extremely high regard for the God you teach. You must have a clear message and you must know what you talk about. There are also opportunities for basic programming on health, education, or marriage. He even spoke of the great need for a husband/wife team to speak on various topics related to marriage and family issues. In North Africa these topics are not studied or understood.

Though this particular Arabic minister is principally involved in our radio broadcasts, he gave invaluable Occidental insight to our Western minds. Every word used in the radio broadcasts are carefully and throughly considered. Every program is formatted to teach very specific Christian concepts. There is no time for light-heartedness. The message of the cross is not light-hearted.

My American mindset was gently but thoroughly rebuked today. There is much to learn about the Arabic way of thinking. Thank the Lord for our Arabic ministers. They are truly the ones who best reach Muslims.

Today we heard the story of a man who is vitally connected with the ministry of the Church in North Africa. His position is very important, particularly for seekers of the truth. He has a young family.

Last week a North African newspaper carried an article on the efforts of Christianity in their Islamic country. It was not in support of Christianity, of course. Due to this article this young leader’s full name and address were elsewhere made public. It is thought that someone who knows him very well must have done this deed.

He has asked for prayer and for the safety of his family. Most likely he will not abandon his post. 

It takes courage to be a believer on hostile soil.

May we all face such a choice.

 Yesterday our friends Dom and Tanya had a birthday party for their daughter Isabella. Tanya is expecting their second daughter any day now so she was not in the middle of many of the activities.

Friends began gathering at their home at 3pm. It took a couple of hours for all of us to get acquainted and dig into great times of fellowship. During this time the children, who hardley ever meet another kid they don’t like, began playing games, some of which I have never seen the likes of. Obviously most birthday parties I am familiar with are over within a couple of hours. But we had just started.

Around 5pm we all gathered around the cakes. Happy Birthday was then sung five different times: English, Spanish, Welch, German, and Afrikaan. I then enjoyed a cake that was baked by 10-year-old Carolyn. It was really good too. And then fellowship and more children’s games commenced. At 6:30 we parted with the party still rolling along. The sun still had at least two hours remaining.

The world is really such a small place. Gathered on that small acreage were brothers and sisters from all over the world who are in Spain for various business and missions reasons. But we had come to celebrate a two-year-old’s birthday. What a day! Happy Birthday Isabella!

We We pray regularly for the leadership of the North African church. Those leaders are always called by a pseudonym (a fictitious name). Once I queried whether we could post the names that we hear. I was given a positive nod to do so. But for the continuing sake of confidentiality and safety I still choose not to divulge those names.

Though they remain unnamed they are leading the churches of North Africa in extraordinary ways and oftentimes in very difficult and dangerous situations. These leaders will probably never speak to large crowds. They will probably never have large buildings with great attendances. They will most likely continue to meet in small, humble dwellings (as in the photo from Morocco) wherein the church will grow, oftentimes exponentially.

The Lord knows His own. He continues to call them by name. They hear His voice.

What a privilege we have - sharing the Gospel of Christ with those who await His call.

Over the centuries Europe has died to the claims of Christ. The people of Europe feel they have no need for the Gospel. The church is “official” and just about empty. Evangelicalism is viewed as a cult. Islam is on the rise above all religions. Missionaries face a difficult task in Europe. The spiritual battles are very real and loom very large before the missionary.

Other challenges face the missionary:

In other words, it takes $1.56433 dollars to equal 1-euro. The other day I had to make an ATM withdrawal. I requested 160-euros. The next day my bank statement showed a debit from that transaction of $256.44 with only a $1.50 of that as a transaction fee from my TX bank.

For missionaries who have to travel to meet the ever changing demands of ministry and society there are additional challenges. On this day cheap fuel is 1.12/liter. The calculations in US currency is a cost per gallon of $6.63.

And for those of us directly involved in Arabic ministry the challenges grow even more exponentially.

Missionaries need funding. The financial challenges are sometimes overwhelming. With tremendous spiritual battles throughout Europe, working within the 10-40 Window, and Muslim ministry, a high level of prayer commitment is demanded.

All missionaries that I know are in their field because of God’s gracious plan and provision. Please continue to pray for us. We may be the ones on the field but we are not here without our supporters standing alongside us.

As we were preparing our move to Spain, one of the issues was convenient, low-cost communications with our friends in the States. After researching several companies I felt we should try Skype first. Skype has many different approaches to internet telephony but I was intrigued by the up-front low cost as well as the ability to communicate via computer, Skype to Skype, for free. Video imaging is also free when connecting Skype to Skype.

As is typical for the internet there are times when connection speed is sufficient for clear communication with friends and family. However there are those many times when strange echos and other interferences somewhat prohibit us from getting anything intelligible in either conversational direction. One of the issues we spoke of with several supporters was the possibility of using Skype to communicate to larger groups. This past Sunday we were given that opportunity by our old Sunday School class.

One of our friends signed up with Skype, passed his connection information to me, we tested the system on a prior weekend, and we anxiously awaited to talk with this 40-something class. What a delight we had this past Sunday to once again see our friends via the internet and speak with them for a few minutes. And even though it was one of those bad Skype days we felt connected to a small group of friends for a few minutes and we were greatly encouraged by them.

A challenge: set up your own Skype account. Contact me with your screen name. Let’s talk. We will all be blessed.