A saturday afternoon....

There’s a passage that says:
8b. give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
9. lest I be full and deny you
and say, "Who is the LORD?"
or lest I be poor and steal
and profane the name of my God.

Proverbs 30:8b-9


I thank God for the time when he keeps me in the middle ground. Comparatively, I know that I am wealthy by the world’s standards, but I pray continually that neither extreme becomes a driving desire in my life. Through the delay of the arrival of my belongings, and the shift in culture, I am learning what I really “need”. And truth be told, I still have more than enough. More than enough food, clothing, space (I’m sleeping in a king sized bed by myself), etc. What I do need is more of Him. I need a stronger thirst for righteousness, I need more opportunities to share life and life more abundantly, I need a stronger fire inside me energizing me to press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling which is in Christ… whether I have familiar faces around or not, whether I have my creature comforts or not, whether I see the fruit of my efforts or not…help me be faithful.

Today after our men’s bible study this morning, I was invited by a friend to go on a three-hour tour on a boat. This wonderful gift included a little snorkeling, light snacks but also a chance to interact with some tourists from the U.S.A. The funny thing is that I realized the stark contrast between our perspectives on island life (mine vs. theirs) even after only being here for two weeks. I don’t feel like a full-fledged visitor, and I am slowly settling into making this more my home each day.
While interacting with the group, I told them of the call that God placed on me to come to TCI to plant a church. Now a quick piece of info, a few of the staff members on this boat are regular attendees to the core group Sunday morning services. One in particular is a young lady whom I am going to have the privilege of baptizing tomorrow morning – LaMeisha (I may have spelled it incorrectly but phonetically it works). This was an ideal time to invite the other crew members to church (which I did) leveraging LaMeisha’s baptism as a catalyst for their attendance. Hopefully, they’ll turn out.

When we were out in the water just swimming around one of the tour members called me over and said, “you need to talk to this guy. He’s ready to accept Christ, but just not today. He said that if he makes a decision today but tomorrow morning wakes up and wants to sin he’ll regret having made the decision”. That was an honest answer and I responded, “If you don’t want to accept him today, that is your choice. But tomorrow is not promised and you could die tonight. Your decision to trust in Jesus for your salvation is based on what HE DID, not on what you do”. I don’t know whether he truly was ready to receive the Lord Jesus as his Savior, but I did embrace that opportunity to speak truth to this young man.

Oh, my prayer is that the Lord would do a great work in the lives of the men on island here. Similar to the African-American community back in the States, TCI is a society plagued by absentee-fatherism, promiscuity, and misguided men. As I wrote earlier about having a chance to speak into the lives of the youth, I pray that God would do a mighty work even in the young men (18 – 35 and more) and older men to stop striving with vain effort but to trust in Him to make them be the men they need to be.

Keep my focus on you Lord, so I can direct others to you.

Getting started....

“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up my childish ways” 1 Corinthians 13:11

This verse found after the oh-so famous love passage is often overlooked, but God used it as a spring board for a great discussion with our young men of the youth group tonight. Well, let me rephrase, with the young men who comprise the youth group. We have a rambunctious, athletic group of boys ages 9 – 13 (approximately, with I think one or two guys who snuck in on either end.) It was a productive night as we contrasted childish speech, thoughts and actions with those of men. My prayer is to use tonight as a launching point to help them step up and live out the faith they profess. Not just for the sake of “giving the right answer” but because the concept resonates with their spirit.

I had a wonderful conversation with one of the saints today as I stopped by her place of work randomly to grab some vittles when she said, “Pastor, do you know why you’re here? Because I prayed that you would come!” I said, “Oh, I thought I was just hungry! (smile)” But I do believe that we had a divine appointment as she shared her life of hope deferred as her husband works abroad, her children live with her mother in the US, and she is unsure as to what her next step should be. Being able to minister to people at their point of need is confirmation that I KNOW, that I know that I know that God has me at the right place at the right time with the right people of God.

I am learning to take everything one step at a time. On my mind I am continually thinking about: preparing messages, finding a music minister for our people, thinking about a long-term location for us to meet (although God has greatly provided for our needs thus far), and how to connect more men into the body of believers.

Since I have been here I have baptized one sister in the Lord, and God willing on Sunday I will baptize two more. I have heard accents from around the world and been face-to-face with people saying, “I know Jesus is calling me but I’m just not ready”. Yes, pretty much that phrase verbatim.

This land is ripe for harvest, I pray to You, the Lord of the harvest to send more workers into these fields of TCI, I pray for your Spirit to lead me as I seek to lead these souls to the life that you offer now and in the future, Jesus claim more people for your glory… and be glorified!

I made it to Turks and Caicos

Sorry to all of you ...my blog readers (as if I have a big following...hahaha) I have been in a whirlwind in my journey to island here in Turks and Caicos. And in my attempt to always have these long blogs, I err on the side of not doing any. But I know that you care, which is why you are reading, and so I am going to just post short and long posts.

I just arrived yesterday and since the train was late, I had to get creative about how to get to the airport in Miami from my friend house in North Palm Beach County. So, I caught a ride with this guy who works for American Airlines who was equally frustrated about the tardiness of the train. For me, I saw it as a chance to be a light to this guy. And it gave me a chance to practice my French (as he was a Frenchman!) Pretty cool opportunity that the Lord gave me.

I landed last night at around 9 o'clock. The Paatz family greeted me, along with Michael, all faithful servants of the Lord. We went directly to the youth group meeting where I met the 20 young boys who were jumping on the trampoline, eating chips and salsa, and shooting basketball in the front driveway.

I got home a little later that night and then got up this morning at 6:50 to hustle over to the men's ministry meeting. Then went to check out a potential location for our church to meet. After that I drove around town for the first time on the left side of the road!!! crazy. I only got honked at once. (smile). then I just looked around a little bit. Came home and made sloppy joes (Manwich - just for nostalgic purposes). Following that the afternoon was just hanging out on the beach and swimming a little... very little (the water was rough today).

I am excited for my new step in ministry here, and I am waiting on the Lord regarding meeting the right people and getting plugged into the community.

Thank you for praying with me for God's glory to be seen here in TCI!