Deputation Message Part One

I spent July and August home in Cincinnati, essentially, on my deputation before continuing for two more years in South America.

Now you might believe that the best part was eating lots of Chipotle and Graeter’s Ice Cream!

However, I can’t say that was my favorite part (especially after my jeans got a bit tight!). The most enjoyable and fulfilling part for me was sharing about twenty times what God has done in Peru and what He is continuing to do in South America.

Every week, people would comment on my enthusiasm. But how can I NOT be excited about what God has done?

And so, I am going to publish here on my blog the basic message, in three parts, that I gave while at home. It was never the same twice, because until now, I have never had it written down word for word. Each week, I surrendered my words to the Holy Spirit, and now I surrender my fingers as I type once again, the wonderful work God has done in Peru…

Part One: My Call to Missions and Church  Planting in Peru

About three years ago, while preparing to go to Peru to serve cross-culturally for the first time, I shared with many people my call to go, and at the root of that call was a belief in a God who still transforms lives.

I believe in a God who TRANSFORMS lives.

I grew up in Southwest Ohio, and from the time I was seven years old, I knew I wanted to be a missionary. I knew that I had a call from God; I don’t remember a booming voice from heaven or anything, I just remember…knowing, and contentment in knowing I was going to be a missionary.

So as I got older, I knew what my call was, and when I was fourteen years old, I had my first opportunity to leave the United States and experience a missions project. I went to the Dominican Republic, and felt for the first time it was like to not understand anyone speaking around me. I saw destitute poverty for the first time. I did real evangelism for the first time. And through it all, God confirmed my call to missions.

As I stepped into high school, my focus was still missions. And as I went to college at Southern Nazarene University I knew I still wanted to be a missionary.

At SNU, I heard about Extreme Nazarene Ministries for the first time, and the church planting movement beginning in Peru through 40/40 missionaries—young, single missionaries going out in pairs (one North American and one Peruvian) to plant churches.

And I heard the story of a women named Vivian.

Vivian was from the jungle city of Puerto Maldonado, a mining town, where Vivian worked as…a prostitute.

And one day, a pastor and a missionary walked into a brothel. I know, it sounds like the beginning of a bad joke! But that pastor and that missionary wanted to get to know these women so that they could minister to them and the light of Jesus Christ could shine into their lives.

And they sat down to talk to Vivian. At first Vivian was tough, ready for a fight. Every question received a response as tough as a punch. They asked, “Vivian, do you like your job?”

“You think I like this? You think I like having people come in here and telling me what to do? No, I don’t like this, but this is what I have to do.”

The conversation continued, and they asked her, “Vivian, do you believe in God?”

“Yeah, sure I believe in God. But God isn’t going to come down here and pay my debts. God isn’t going to come down here and feed my son. No, I have to take care of me and my own.”

And they kept talking to Vivian. And somewhere during the conversation, she started to change. That wall she had built up started coming down. And toward the end, Pastor Freddy asked her if she wanted to pray. And Vivian said yes. She prayed to turn her life over to Jesus Christ, for him to transform her.

Vivian left her life of prostitution and moved to another city. And that doesn’t mean that everything was perfect after this moment, but now she knew Truth, and she was walking with Him.

God transformed Vivian’s life. Because we serve a God who still transforms lives!

And I heard that story, and God began to call me to Peru, to see His transforming power continue to move. So I started to pray. And the real moment I knew I HAD to go to Peru was inside an arena, attending a Christian concert with the youth group from my church. Thousands of people gathered there, in the middle of the Bible Belt of the USA. And I KNEW that every one of them had been given ample opportunity to hear the gospel, in a town with a church on every corner, while I knew that two billion people in the world have never heard the good news of Jesus Christ. The quote echoing in my mind said, “No on has the right to hear the gospel twice until everyone has heard it once.” (Oswald J. Smith)

In that moment, I knew I had to go to Peru, where a Catholicism that preaches salvation by works is polluted with ancient Incan beliefs, and so few know the truth of who Jesus Christ is and the transforming grace he offers to the lost.

In February of 2010, I arrived in Peru. Ministry in Peru looks a lot like planting seeds. We would go out and meet new people. And we would go out and knock on doors. So, any parents who told their kids not to talk to strangers, I did that everyday! It was my JOB to talk to strangers, and plant seeds. And sometimes we would plant a lot of seeds at a time, doing a big event, like a film showing in an open air plaza, and invite the whole town to come. We would share the message of the gospel with them and take down names and info for everyone, to be able to follow up with them. When we met new people, we would start Bible studies in their homes, and invite them to church.

And all of this really looked just like the Parable of the Sower Jesus tells in Matthew 13. Some of the seeds we planted fell on the path, and the enemy snatches it away before they have a chance to understand. Some of it falls on rocky places, where it can’t take root. Persecution comes at them in these small towns, and the fall away. Some of it falls among the thorns, and “the worries of this life, and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it out.” They start getting preoccupied with work, and hurrying around, and forget about Jesus, and don’t make time for his Word. But the REALLY GOOD NEWS is that some of the seed falls on good soil, where it produces a crop one hundred times what was sown.

There was good soil in Cusco, where God transformed lives.

Like Lucila and Roberto, in Oropesa, a town famous for their bread. This town just SMELLS good when you walk through it. And Lucila and Roberto are pretty well off for this town. Roberto is a driver and isn’t home much. And Lucila and Roberto were struggling in their marriage, and Roberto wasn’t around enough to be a good leader for their three sons.

And one day, the missionaries knocked on their door. They let them in and sat down to talk. And then they wanted to learn more about the Bible. As they did, their lives began to change. Their family was restored. They began attending the church, and quickly became leaders in the church.

And Lucila and Roberto had this piece of land. Land is pretty pricey in Cusco; because of tourism, land value is high. They wanted to sell it for $40,000, and probably could have gotten it. But they started talking to the missionaries about how much they want a Church of the Nazarene in Oropesa. And so they donated this land so that we could build a church in Oropesa.

In June, we built two churches out of Styrofoam blocks in Oropesa and Huaro with a group of short term volunteers from the US. And during the inauguration services for both those churches, the people were so excited. EVERY ONE of them said, “We have this new church! It is so wonderful, and so big, and we are so thankful! But now, WE HAVE TO FILL IT. The missionaries have done their work, and now we have to continue it. And in a year, we are going to need an even bigger church, one twice this size!”

God has transformed lives in these new, baby churches, and now they want to see it continue to happen in their families and communities.