Visit in Bernal (Dos) and Chau...

Visit with the church family in Bernal (Uno)

Last night, after visiting with the people of the Wilde Church, Steve and I headed over to the Bernal church meeting. This is a church in one of the tougher neighborhoods that is doing a great job of reaching young people (Jovenes). I really enjoyed meeting and talking with Jorge', Hugo and Luisa, Martin, and several other young men who are really growing in their faith and also sharing Christ with others.


Martin is the guitar player here, and he apparently taught his sister how to play the drums. It was great to see him use his talent and passion in the form of worshiping together! As you would expect with a church that has a lot of young people, the worship was a little faster, with more clapping and such. I recognized several of the songs from other worship events, and Steve also helped me understand what the words were saying. One young man spoke about an opportunity he had to talk about Christ with his older brother. Another young man shared about how much he is learning about God through studying the Bible with a friend. After about thirty minutes of sharing and singing, one young man welcomed everyone and said, "Now we will start our more formal time."

After a few more worship songs and prayers, Steve introduced me to preach. Again I shared about Colossians 4:2-6. Paul calls Christians to be devoted to prayer. Anything worth doing in this life is going to take devotion and hard work. I talked about how devoted people here in Buenos Aires are to soccer, and they all connected with that. We should be even more committed to praying for people we know who are far from God.

I talked about seizing opportunities to encourage and talk with people about Christ in the midst of their everyday conversations. You never know when God is going to give you an opportunity - for example....

This is Hugo, one of the main adult leaders in the church. He is well-respected and admired by all of the young men and women who attend there. He has had a great influence on many lives in this neighborhood. After I preached, Hugo walked to the front and basically said this - "Gary is right about being ready for an opportunity to talk about God. I just started a new job, and found out that at 9:00am, everything at work shuts down so that we can have mate (MAH-tay) and conversation. On my very first day at the job, my boss invites me to mate (MAH-tay) and says, "So, I hear you believe in God and that you're a Christian." I do not know how he knew this - but I couldn't believe that this was the first thing he knew about me! Gary is right - we must live good lives and be ready for opportunities to talk about Christ!"

I was amazed at how God again brought all the things together - testimonies, prayer, music, sermon - to focus on how we should be praying and prepared to represent Christ at any moment!

Near the end of the worship time, Hugo invited the church planting team headed to the city of Corrientes to come forward and give an update about their plans. Kevin High is sharing in this picture.

Please do pray for Kevin & Holly High (and their three kids - Levi, Hannah, and Amelia), and for Guggi and Cristina (and their four kids), and for Alice Peacock, and now Tatiana - as all of them prepare to move their entire lives to a new city and start a new work in Corrientes!

Visiting Wilde Church on Sunday evening...

After snacks, mate, and great conversation with Dave & Ruth Ann, I was shuttled to Wilde Church for another big event. Wilde (prounced "WHEEL-day") is the church family of Steve & Wilma Bailey. I knew this would be a shorter visit, since I was scheduled to preach again at another church AN HOUR LATER. All in great fun and terrific ministry opportunity!

The people of Wilde were also very welcoming and easy to talk with. I recognized several from the Home Group on Thursday night - Daniel, Ricardo, Elsa, Jose, and Ophelia. How great to already have some friendly faces here! I was impressed to see so many young people involved in this church - actually, they are at every church. God is raising up a new generation of churches, young leaders, and new believers here in this part of the city, and it is nothing but terrific!

Apparently, this church has its very own Cafe 4:9. A little insider joke for my home church family - a good thing for hospitality ministry. Sweet tea hit the spot. Just like at every church - every person kisses you on the cheek. It's considered rude not to greet someone with a kiss on the cheek. This isn't just the Christian greeting, it's the Argentine greeting!


Worshiping together was great, and many of the songs are starting to sound familiar. They hand out song books with the words for each song printed out so you can read them. Lots of young adults at this gathering too!


Steve Bailey interpreted as I preached on Colossians 4 again. In some ways, I think these people could come preach that sermon to us. Many of these people are reaching out to love others because of Jesus Christ.

Sunday morning visit with Berazategui Church...

This was easily one of the most memorable Sundays of my life. I got to visit three church families in Buenos Aires, and experience some wonderful worship, conversation, and encouragement with brothers and sisters in Christ. Today began with a drive to Berazategui with Dave Martin. Just a few days ago, I was privileged to serve with and get to know some of the people in this wonderful church at their food and clothing outreach. That previous connection made the chance to worship together very sweet. Apparently, a group from Delaware Grace Brethren had visited this same church about three years ago! Some of the people here remember Dustyn and Robin Vanzant. Very cool!


After about thirty minutes of greetings, conversation, and yes - Mate (MAH-tay), Gary McCaman welcomed everyone and we started to sing some songs together.



The guitar player for the worship team was Pablo. You might remember him from Friday night's dinner with Alice Peacock. Pablo was the only guy involved, and there were about eight girls that led the singing together. I was able to record some of the singing, and hope to have a worship/memory CD of all the great times in Buenos Aires.





During an interview with Team Corrientes, team member Alice Peacock asked that the people of Berazategui pray for them and for opportunities to share Christ. She read Colossians 4:2-6. Ironically, that was the EXACT passage of Scripture that I had prepared to preach on this morning! Obviously, the Holy Spirit had brought different people and different moments together with a common theme and message for all of us.
















After a wonderful update from Team Corrientes, I was privileged to preach on Colossians 4:2-6 - one of my favorite passages. I encouraged them to pray for their friends who are far from God. Colossians challenges us to pray and to be ready for opportunities to represent Jesus Christ to our friends and family. At the end, we prayed, and had many good conversations afterwards.

I showed many pictures of Jennie, Allie, and Luke - and I miss them very much.

The people in Berazategui have a very warm and casual gathering where people laugh and feel like they can be themselves. It is NOT a formal church - I wore jeans and a short-sleeved shirt. I did not want people to notice expensive or brand-name clothing. I wanted them to just see me and hear whatever God wanted them to hear. It was great to see Gary and Linda McCaman in their "element" - this is their church family here. Gary was the "emcee" of the worship event, telling jokes, and welcoming people and encouraging just about everyone. Linda was helping people left and right and passing around some wonderful warm mate. Good times. I will miss these wonderful people.

Neighborhood Bible School with Jose Marmol Church!

It looks like just another building in a small village on the south side of Buenos Aires. On Saturday afternoons, it becomes much more than a building.



The sign reads "Welcome, Kids, to Bible School 2007." Around 4:00pm here, kids from all over the little "visha" (small, poor village) arrive and start to play and sing. When this ministry started, they would play soccer and volleyball outside as kids arrived. Now, they use this building, owned by one of the fathers of a girl who participates in the church at Jose Marmol.


With the help of about a dozen adult and teenage volunteers, the Bible School fills the neighborhood building with games, singing, laughter, and all-out fun. Somehow, they roped me and several other guys into the games. They also asked me to introduce myself and say hello from the Delaware Grace Brethren Church. Most of the kids here are from families that do not attend church. Seems somewhat similar to what our church does with backyard Bible schools.



Tito, one of the lead elders at Jose Marmol, is also on guitar and vocals for the kids' event. He has six kids, and almost all of them are involved in the ministries here - very exciting to meet many of them. You might remember his daughters Noelia and Marla from previous posts - we visited their worship service last Sunday (11/4/07) in the evening.

Retreat with Team Corrientes

The missionaries here are assembling a team to plant a church in the city of Corrientes. It is far north of Buenos Aires, but much of the training and meetings are happening now in B.A. This weekend, the team is having lots of time in prayer, discussion, and equipping for their upcoming mission. Steve Bailey and Eduardo and Gary McCaman have been working with these guys, and I was grateful to get to meet the team and hear more about their church plant in a very different city.

Front, from left - Alice Peacock, Cristina and Guggi, and Tatiana. Back, Holly and Kevin High.

Steve asked me to share something that might encourage or be relevant to this team for a few minutes on Saturday afternoon. We spent some time talking about Titus 2:6-10 and 1 Peter 2:12 - how our lifestyles might serve to gain trust and respect from others - especially when you're the new people in town. We had some prayer and some mate (MAH-tay), and I really enjoyed spending time with them again.

I did ask Cristina and Guggi and Eduardo to tell me some things about their background. Each one shared a little bit about how Christ has made the difference. I was fascinated to hear that Guggi really made a commitment to Jesus after listening to the music of Stryper back in the 1980's. Stryper is a Christian band with the kind of music Guggi really liked, but he noticed that they were much different and had faith. He started reading the Bible for himself, and the rest is history. He had no idea that God would eventually have a church-planting ministry in store for him down the road!



(From right - Gary McCaman, Eduardo, and me). Apparently, I was trying to signal something to our video tech crew, otherwise known as David Martin himself!

Um, Gary, what's an "alfajores"?

Yeah - you already read my previous post, and you're wondering what this word is, and how to say it.

Alfajores.

"al-fa-HOR-ace." (when you say that, gurgle your "H" and roll your "R"

"al-fa-kkhhHORdrdrdr-ace."

Here's what you're talking about...




It's like a Twix bar, actually. Only better.

If you've been to Russia, it's like a "Napaleon." Only better.

It's like a three-nilla-wafer sandwish with caramel and chocolate in between." Only better.

It's like a hot S'more off the grille. Only better.

I'm sure you can find them on eBay.com. You won't regret it.

Tonight, at Alice Peacock's, Pablo helped me buy some of these alfajores - the "Milka" brand with chocolate filling - and we ate some unbelievable ice cream with them. Muy Rico'! (tasty)

Kudos to Alice and Pablo for helping us experience the finest in Argentine chocolate decadence.

Actually, instead of "Kudos," we might use our new word.

"Alfajores!"