The Timothy Project

As I have shared with the volunteer teams that come and work, the best support we receive as IMB missionaries is your faithful prayers for our ministries, your faithful support of the Cooperative Program, and your generous giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. As you know from being here with me, the support is tremendous and much appreciated.

Beyond this support, sometimes God leads people to make special gifts. Sometimes volunteer teams have provided funds for special ministry projects, have provided some assistance to a fellow brother or sister in Christ in need of medical attention or some other special need.  I have recently discovered that someone(s) have sent some special gift money to me via the IMB and I want to say thanks!  While I am well cared for by the IMB, special gift money is a blessing to have on hand when special needs arise that aren’t covered by IMB funds. The majority of that money goes to provide medical assistance to people in need. Sometimes it is used to buy ministry tools (video projector, etc.)  I am touched by the generosity of Southern Baptists who give to the CP and to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering and I am also thankful for the “extra special” support that comes from special gift giving.  I don’t know who has sent the money through the IMB, but I hope whoever it is keeps up with my blog and receives this special thankyou!

You might be wondering what has been going on the last few days. My blogging has been somewhat quiet.  I have been doing some catch up/clean up- my office was a mess after all the events of March and April.  I have also enjoyed some time to reflect on where things are and what we need to do to get where we want to go. In the midst of business, we can sometimes forget our main purpose and goal. For me, the main goal is to lead people to know and worship Christ, forming these new believers into new churches that will lead others to saving faith and gathering them into new churches as well.  That is why my ministry is called The Timothy Project based on 2 Timothy 2:2- planting churches and training leaders.

“Take the teachings you heard me proclaim in the presence of many witnesses, and entrust them to reliable people, who will be able to teach others as well.”

I have been so amazed this week as I have reflected on the growth of our new “churches”- people who have come to know the Lord just in the past few years. The quality (and quantity) of these people makes them for me “reliable people” and the challenge now is to help guide them to teach others as well.  Friday night we are gathering here at my house for a Acts Workshop- studying what the book of Acts teaches us about church and church planting. Please pray with me that it will be a fruitful experience, that God’s Spirit would ilumine our hearts and minds to understand His plans for the urban poor of the Cibao, that each of these churches will have a clearer vision of who they are and what they are called to be and do in their respective communities.

I appreciate your prayers! And I hope to have an exciting report of what we discover through God’s Word.

History fascinates me. I am reading Team of Rivals, The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, and I marvel at how people judged him erroneously and how history has come to judge him all these years later.  Sometimes we never know in the moment the lasting character of our lives and work.

As I looked over what happened today in history, I was struck by the introduction of the Personal Computer back in 1981- I was just graduating from high school! My, my how our lives have been changed!  The computer (and internet) is so vital in all that I do. 

But the change in the world that the PC has made isn’t nearly as radical as the change that Jesus Christ has brought. I think of all the people I know who have been radically changed- from the inside out and I am stand amazed! Thanks for continuing to pray with us that the transforming presence of Christ will touch the hearts of the urban poor in the DR and ignite an awakening to God’s presence and purpose!

Yesterday was an awesome day- I didn’t have any plans until later in the afternoon- just to spend time with the Lord and be at home.  By the afternoon I was feeling revived and refreshed. I tend to fill my schedule with so many things that I don’t usually get down time, and what free time I do have, I am somewhat stressed by the thought of what awaits me. This devotional thought today spoke to me and maybe it will speak to you too. Our time is the Lord’s and somehow he didn’t intend for us to be harried and stressed all the time. Perhaps we should re-evaluate our priorities and make sure the Lord is in charge of our agendas!

 “There is never enough time in the day for my work. We should have twenty five hours in each day.” But God gave us twenty-four hours each day to accomplish our tasks and oh how we chafe under the restraint. Then we try to accomplish more than time allows. We place ourselves under huge amounts of self-imposed stress.

As we do so, we also fight against God. We fail to recognize it cannot be God’s will to pack more into twenty-four hour day than will fit. Because we don’t like God’s time constraints, we push ourselves. We get up early. We go to bed late. Yet the list of work grows and stress grows too.

Look at what the Bible says, “It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors” (Psalm 127:2). The word “vain” means “deception.” It is a deception to get up early, to cram the day with activities, to retire late, and to see each day as a day of “painful labor,” only to repeat the cycle again. Why? You will not receive that for which you work. Because you are forgetting God, you are not using each day properly. Psalm 118:24 says, “This is the day the Lord has made.” Remembering the Author of time and setting priorities will reduce stress.

It is not an Easter Sunday I will soon forget. We gathered in the plaza of the Sundial in the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo, the oldest civilization of the New World. No fancy clothes, no fancy sanctuary, just a group of dedicated students and adults, weary yet blessed after working among the urban poor. Pepin, our beloved translator, brought his whole family to join us. We stood there, Americans and Dominicans bonded by Jesus’ love and God’s grace, and listened to John read the account of the resurrection. And then the LBC “Choir” sang How Great is Our God and How Great Thou Art- the tears were flowing down many faces, mine included.  I couldn’t help but think what heaven would be like when people from every nation and tribe will be gathered together singing praises and enjoying the presence of God together. Our God is great and that is why we do what we do to show the forgotten peoples of the world His love and grace.

I am so thankful for all our volunteer and prayer partners who pray and work with us to plant churches and develop leaders among the urban poor of the Cibao. You are a blessing to me and to all of us here in Santiago who work with you!

The LBC group got home safely and hopefully are resting up after a whirlwind spring break.  One young student shared the last night that it was the best spring break he could ever imagine! It is so awesome to know people who will dedicate their “vacation” time to serving God in the streets of La Joya and in The Hole of Baitola.  God is great and He is raising up a mighty generation of young people- let us keep them in our prayers!

It is hard to describe the emotions of last night- we watched the Passion of Christ with the community of Villa de Yaque. We had a HUGE turnout, and the visual picture of Christ’s sacrifice for us and the price of our sin is beyond words. My prayer for all of us is that we capture the love of God and the purpose God has for each of us, and for faithful obedience.

This morning we are heading to Santo Domingo to finish up with some sightseeing, souvenir shopping and refection. They will have an early service tomorrow in the Colonial Zone and head to the airport by noon. As always, I ask for prayers for safe travel and for clear minds and hearts to reflect on all we have experienced this week.  God is so gracious to allow us to work together in His Kingdom! I am so thankful for the Lexington group and for the families and the whole church back in SC that have sent them to us and supported us with their prayers!

The Big Event was certainly a big event! We had a large gathering- more than a hundred teenagers from the various ministry sites as well as people who live where we were gathered. I had solicitated the help of the city recreation department and they were a huge help. Their director came out to see the activity and was super pleased with everything and several of the sports technicians who helped commented on what a great activity it was. The director, Tony Pena, was a member of our first Baptist church here in the Santiago, won to the Lord through the ministry of the Potter’s and the Douglas’- both missionary families that lived in my very house. It was quite thrilling to hear him speak of their ministries and how they impacted his life. It made me wonder what the people I minister to will one day say of me!  Please pray for Tony- he is not active in a church and I really tried to encourage him to return to the fold- we need him and he needs the church!

The LBC team was great- it was a long afternoon with a lot of activity and it was easy to lose patience- I struggled with that myself. But everyone seemed able to stay focused on our true purpose and it went well.

We had some sort of gremlin in my generator and were unable to show the movie as a result. It must have been God’s plan- I think the rain had started before we would have finished the movie had we shown it which would have been difficult.  Alan and David gave my generator a once over back at my house and things worked fine so who can tell what happened. What I do know is that there was no power to the movie projector or to the sound system so we had to pack things up.  I will try to show the movie there next week.

Finally the team got to my house for dinner- we have been trying all week but the schedule and the rain prevented it. It was a great time to unwind and enjoy each others’ company and say thanks to our translators and cooks. We had a taco feast and a special Dominican Easter tradition- sweet beans. I wasn’t sure the team would like it but they certainly did. Pilar said she won’t believe anyone who says Americans don’t like beans again!

It has been a wonderful work week- great attitudes, great spirit for the work, the construction and the kids ministries were well received. I heard the families who got the new bathrooms were in tears today as the group left.  It is so neat to see God’s love in action! 

Please keep the team in your prayers tomorrow as they enjoy a morning at the waterfalls- for their safety and protection as they travel. In the afternoon they will be at Pastor Ramon’s house for a BBQ and then tomorrow night we will be back in Villa de Yaque to show the movie- please pray for the equipment to work as it is supposed to! I don’t want to have to cancel again!

It was a cool, overcast morning and we were concerned for the activities this evening (that they might be rained out:() BUT so far the skies are clearing and it is sunny! We are just about to begin the BIG EVENT- the youth competitions and basketballcompetition. After the medals are awarded, we will show the Passion of Christ at about 6:30pm. This is our BIGGEST event- letting people be visually reminded of what Easter cost Jesus and to be confronted with the person and sacrifice of Christ- pray for open hearts as the communities see this movie tonight. Pray for the LBC group as they finish up a long three days of work.

The comments have been so kind and appreciated! Thanks for following along with our activities and keeping us in your prayers!

It has been a good day- the rains threatened to come again but they held off! We had two very special services tonight in La Joya and The Hole. One of the guys said during dinner how much he liked the Hole which made me feel so good because it is a special place to me too. And John had a wonderful message in La Joya and he mentioned too that La Joya was sacred ground to him- and it is to me too! It is so nice to share these special places and people with my friends from Lexington!

The bathroom projects are close to finishing up and we hope to get the new wall in Los Santos painted tomorrow too- this is a working group! The kids were out in full force again today in both Villa de Yaque and La Joya and of course it is always special to work and minister to God’s little creatures!

Patrick getting his suitcase this morning was THE CAMERA EVENT- everyone had to have a shot! He certainly was well dressed today! David had a great birthday- Lynda’s group made up a special puppet show for him at lunch and then he got TWO Quarter Pounders for dinner tonight!

Tomorrow is good bye day to the morning crowds and the big event in the afternoon. Please keep the evening movie (Passion of Christ) in your prayers- it is a special opportunity to share the real significance of Easter.  Most especially ask God to hold back the rains until late evening at least- all weekend would be wonderful!

There are so many stories to tell! What I love so much about working with volunteers is how God uses them to touch people despite the language barrier, despite having just arrived and despite whatever other barrier exists between people of different cultures, or just people in general! 

Yesterday was about as smooth a first day as we have ever had- the construction teams were hard at it right off the bat, the children’s team had their group of kids and were busy loving, teaching and helping them make their crafts.  The afternoon we had a very fruitful evangelistic outreach in Los Santos- the worship service last night was PACKED with people even as the rain poured down outside. People don’t normally come out in the rain so I was totally amazed to see so many adults and youth come to the service.  We literally couldn’t all sit down and we have quite a few large pews in there! I think Thursday’s activity up at the airstrip above the community is going to be super well attended! Pray for our evangelistic witness that day! I have never had a volunteer team here during Holy Week (Semana Santa) because Dominicans have told me it wouldn’t be the best time for a project but from what I saw yesterday it may be one of our most fruitful efforts! keep up the prayers!

About 12:30AM, Patrick’s luggage arrived from Santo Domingo- I know he will be glad to see his suitcase this morning!

On a lesser important note, my car is back! I had to get a new battery yesterday in the midst of everything because every time I shut it down I had to jump start it. Just imagine how fun that was! And with the rain last night I had water seeping up around the base of my living room- I spent an hour mopping it up after I got home. We were schedule to have pizza at my house but Dominoes wasn’t even answering their phone so I made a quick change of plans to eat at the Chinese restaurant and was I glad of that when I got home and saw the water in my house!  Please pray like Elijah did, asking God to keep it from raining for the next few days!