Busyness, Busyness

Thank you for your prayers. Here are serveral items to pray for as we head into one of the busiest times of the year. Sunday morning I will be preaching the final message on 1 John. I began the series in February just over two years ago. Since that time I have preached 21 sermons. This will be number 22. I praise the Lord for what I have learned as I have preached. Most of all, I am grateful for the absolute security we can have in Christ as we demonstrate faith, love and obedience.

On Sunday at 7:00 pm, we will be starting the pastors' conference. The theme is The Preeminence of Christ in Ministry: A Christ-centered church. We are hoping to have somewhere betwen 50-100 pastors here for the conference. Please pray that they will be encouraged, inspired, and challenged to have a biblical philosophy of ministry. The conference runs from Sunday through Wednesday noon. On Monday night I will be preaching on the conference theme. The others speakers will be: Pastors David Cortez, Noé Mendoza, Julio Montes and Carl Herbster. Drs. AJ Giboson and Ken Casillas (prof at BJU) will also be speaking. Russell Raymer will be doing two one-hour sessions on church finance in the afternoons. One of the special "attractions" of the conference is the wonderful music (with choir and orchestra). Many Mexican pastors have never heard this kind of music. Pray that the musicians and music will exalt God and focus our attention on His Preeminence. Wednesday at 1:00 we will have the University graduation. Pray for the graduates as they go out to serve the Lord. Pray that the activities will be memorable and a blessing for these graduates. Although our graduating class is a little bit smaller this year than other years, we are grateful for those that have persisted and grown through their time here in Monterrey. On Wednesday and Thursday nights of next week we will also be having an outreach for teenagers out at the mission church in Santa Mónica. We are really not sure how many teens will be there, especially since we have a junior high located straight across from our location. Pray that the games and activities will draw young people so that they will hear a clear Gospel message. We also need the Lord's assistance in the followup. We are praying for the Lord's guidance concerning when and how we should begin Sunday services. Pray that the Lord will continue to provide for the basic material needs involved in starting up regular services (hymn books, keyboard, etc.). From there, I will be attending a class at NBBC from June 4-8. I am excited about the class topic: Preaching from the Old Testament. Since I teach four semesters of preaching, this subject will be a great help to me. Pray that my flights will go well and that my family will be safe during my absence. Pray especially for Susan as she will be alone and now has three active children to take care of.

Another major project that is taking up some of our time is the graduate school we are seeking to open here at UCLA. The first graduate degree we would offer would be in Education. Six of us travelled from Monterrey to Greenville from May 1-4 to visit with various administrative personnel at BJU. The wisdom and experience they shared with us was invaluable. We especially appreciated and enjoyed the amount of time that Dr. Phil Smith dedicated to us. We praise the Lord for their assistance as we seek to open a Spanish-speaking graduates school with a truly Christian philosophy of education.

We would also appreciate your prayers concerning our FM-3 (visas). We are having some difficulty in getting them. Although we fully expect to get them, they have delayed and charged more this year than they ever have. We would really like to have these documents before I leave for my NBBC class on June 3rd. Pray that these papers will come through soon. This has also led us to seriously consider obtaining Mexican citizenship. Since we have Mexican children and have lived in Mexico for several years, we can now apply for this. Each year the FM-3 costs us approximately $500. The one-time cost of applying for Mexican citizenship would be approximately $1000. Pray that the Lord will provide these funds. In so doing, we will save ourselves the annual cost and headaches associated with the FM-3 renewal process.

Thank you for your prayers. We covet them. This semester has been the absolutely busiest semester we have had since being here in Monterrey. We desperately need our Savior's presence, strength and grace to survive.