The Timothy Project

Please join us at the new blog site- I am “blogging” over there with updates about what is happening here in the ministry of the Timothy Project.

For many months I have been trying to figure out how to change my blog url.  While I have worked with the Macedonia Project in the past, I have for several years been working in the Timothy Project, sort of an outgrowth of what I was doing several years ago. The Macedonia Project continues to exist, it is the mission strategy of the Dominican Baptist Convention and whenever possible, I support what they are doing. My assignment from the IMB is more specific, planting churches among the urban poor of the Cibao Region, which has led me to continue with what we started, focusing on training leaders who in turn will train leaders, resulting in multiple new churches.

All that to say, I have a new blog! marshadavidson.blog.com  Please visit me there- I will be monitoring both sites- I don’t want to lose any of you. I have added some new features to the other blog and my hope is that in the coming year, it will serve as a prayer guide as well as an instrument for reflective thinking on how to live out the Great Commission where ever we might be.

Remember: marshadavidson.blog.com

 

What an experience! My friend Linda from Big Pine works at the Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key, FL and invited us to come see the dolphins.  We had such a good time- we got in the water with “Talon,” he did some tricks with us, even gave us a ride with his dorsal fin.  We were all pretty jazzed up from that experience when we walked by the female, expecting dolphins on our way out and discovered a baby fin popping out! Well, after waiting nearly 2 hours, we had the incredible thrill of watching the baby dolphin pop to the surface and begin taking breaths and swimming. It was quite an experience.  We felt very priviledged for having witnessed this moment; chalk another one up for our incredible Creator!  And we are very thankful to Linda for having invited us and showing us such a wonderful time at the DRC!

Psalm 100 says: MaKe a joyful noise to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come before his presence with singing!  Know that the Lord is God! It is He Who has made us, not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.  Enter His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise!  Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name!  For the Lord is good; His mercy and loving-kindness are everlasting. His faithfulness and truth endure to all generations.

This short little Psalm says a lot, and offers us a wonderful guide for this Thanksgiving day. He is good. This month I have visited New England, Richmond, Roanoke (Virginia) and now the Florida Keys. What a beautiful world we have been given. I have marveled at the diversity and wonder of God’s creation. But more than the physical beauty, I have been awed by the beauty of God’s family. I have worshipped and visited in churches in all these distinct places and been amazed at how different we all are, and yet how rich is the community of faith.  I’ll tell you something: God’s church is just incredible! I am so thankful for all the churches I have come to know and love. I give thanks for you and your love for the Lord and for your missionaries!

I haven’t shared much about our ministry because I really don’t know anything about what is happening. I do want to remind you to pray for our leaders there: For Victor as he finalizes the purchase of the house in The Hole (which will be used as our church), for Sol in Los Santos as she leads worships and coordinates with our guest pastors/preachers, ann for the group in Villa de Yaque. Pray that each church will remain strong in their faith and participation in worship and Bible study. Pray for our new Christians in Guayacanal and Ponton de Navarette as well.

Most of all, I hope each of you have a blessed Thanksgiving day and that all of us will take time follow the advice of the Psalmist, entering joyfully into His presence with singing and with a thank offering. God indeed has graced us with a beautiful world in which to live, and has brought together people of faith in churches that truly serve as Light, making an incredible family of faith which is an awesome blessing for us all!

Well, now that I am in sunny Florida, the sun has gone in! Since I arrived, it has been cloudy and a cool 80 degrees. Go figure. But it is good to be in one place for a while and looking forward to Thanksgiving with my family, or part of them. I can be reached at 305.745.8919 or 603.493.6809. Would love to hear from you before I head back on the 27th.

It has been a wonderful weekend! The Shenandoah Valley is beautiful, and for someone who lives in a tropical climate, the color of the leaves, the brisk chill in the air is a treat! It has been great to visit with my former church family, Mill Creek Baptist Church. They celebrated Missions Sunday yesterday and we enjoyed an inspiring worship experience.  Catching up with friends and meeting new folks reminds me of the rich heritage we have in Christ. Tonight, we the ladies mission group meets and I will have a chance to share about the ministry in the DR. Tomorrow I head back to Richmond to fly to Fort Lauderdale and eventually I will head down to Summerland Key to spend time with my parents and also visit with Big Pine Key BC.  I imagine they don’t have the cool temperatures we are enjoying here so I will make the best of it! 

I will have limited access to email once I get to the Keys so you might not see an update until I arrive back in Santiago on the 28th, although I might surprise you if I gain access to the internet somehow.  If I don’t, I want to wish you all a happy thanksgiving! I will be enjoying the day with my parents and my sister’s family and I am confident it will be a great day. Enjoy time with your family and remember giving thanks for the blessings of God we enjoy daily!

It was a trip NOT to be remembered. I got on the bus in Framingham for Logan Airport (Boston) at 3pm and arrived at my friend’s house at 3am! I could have DRIVEN to Richmond faster than my flight time. What happened? I don’t know, other than we were delayed an hour and a half in New York, then once we boarded we waited on the plane for more than an hour, finally taking off around 1am. And then in Richmond of all places, at 2am in the morning, they didn’t have a gate free for us so we waited another thirty minutes or so to deplane. Like I said, a trip NOT to be remembered.

But once here on the ground in Richmond, things have been great. I haven’t been to Cool Spring since BEFORE they started coming to the DR so I got to meet a lot of family of my DR friends as well as see the youth and adults who come and work. It was exciting to share a follow-up report on their ministries of last summer.

Friday I head to Fincastle, where I used to live to visit with Mill Creek Baptist Church, my church family for 9 years. (I served on staff with them and they have been to see me in the DR too.) Then next Tuesday I head down to South Florida and The Keys to spend time with my parents and the folks from Big Pine Key Baptist Church.

Well, I have to admit that all the years living in a tropical climate has made me a wimp when it comes to cold weather. Last Saturday evening I spent shivering. I am happy to say that I think I adjusted well because since then I have been fine and have enjoyed the cool, brisk weather!

It has been great to see family and friends. I got to see my all nephews, visiting some up at Plymouth State Universtiy (NH). I worshipped with the folks at Hope Chapel in Sterling, MA where my brother is pastor. I look forward to having a team from their church come work with us this summer!

This afternoon I head to Richmond, VA to visit with the friends from Cool Spring BC. And from there on to Fincastle to see friends from Mill Creek. It promises to be an awesome week!

If you need a reply from me, please send email to my hotmail address (macedoniaproject@hotmail.com) because for the moment I can’t access my drmission.com account.  I should have access to email (though limited).  My phone number in Fincastle is 540.473.2252- you can reach me there from Friday until the 12th when I will drive back to Richmond to catch a flight to Fort Lauderdale where I will spend a few days and then head to the Keys to spend the last part of my vacation with my parents and sister’s family along with the my friends from Big Pine Key.

What makes today special? Well, for one thing, today is my and Rosanna’s birthday (Pastor Ortiz and Ingrid’s daughter)! My birthday seems to come closer together than they used to, although for Rosanna (who is 6 today) they take an eternity to get here!  Must have something to do about age.  What will happen today? I have much to do in getting ready for our medical project next week. The team arrives Saturday.  And late this afternoon I will enjoy a birthdfay dinner with my friends in Villa de Yaque. We will celebrate Carolina’s birthday too (hers was the 5th).  Tomorrow night I will celebrate with Ortiz’ family and Pastor Nicolas’ family, who has a birthday tomorrow.

I was interested to observe some events that have happened on this day in our past whic hI have included below.

This Day In History…

On October 9

1002 Leif Erikson landed on North America.

1635 Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, was banished from Massachusetts because he had spoken out against punishments for religious offenses. Williams had founded Providence, Rhode Island as a place for people to seek religious freedom.

1701 The Collegiate School of Connecticut was chartered in New Haven. The name was later changed to Yale. 1858 Mail service via stagecoach between San Francisco, CA, and St. Louis, MO, began.

1888 The public was admitted to the Washington Monument for the first time.

1919 The Cincinnati Reds won the World Series. The win would be later tainted when 8 Chicago White Sox were charged with throwing the game. The incident became known as the “Black Sox” scandal.

1936 The first generator at Boulder Dam began transmitting electricity to Los Angeles, CA. The name of the dam was later changed to Hoover Dam.

1974 Oskar Schindler died in Frankfurt, Germany. Schindler is credited with saving the lives of about 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust.

1983 Helen Moss joined the Brownies at the age of 83. She became the oldest person to become a member.

1985 The hijackers of the Achille Lauro cruise liner surrendered after the ship arrived in Port Said, Egypt.

1986 The musical, “Phantom of the Opera” by Andrew Lloyd Webber, opened in London.

1994 The U.S. sent troops and warships to the Persian Gulf in response to Saddam Hussein sending thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks toward the Kuwaiti border.

2001 Prosecutors in Miami, FL, announced that they would seek a prison sentence if O.J. Simpson was convicted in his road rage trial. Jury selection began for the trial just after the announcement.

If there is one thing upon this earth that mankind love and admire better than another, it is a brave man, — it is the man who dares to look the devil in the face and tell him he is a devil.
- — James A. Garfield

I am not sure the world really admires one’s ability to confront the devil and his lies. My own experience seems to suggest otherwise. I do know that it takes a lot of strength and courage to battle the devil’s schemes. And for that, prayer is essential. I was reading this morning in Mark 9, where the disciples of Jesus are puzzled because they couldn’t cast out a demon.  They come to Him in private, after Jesus has healed the boy and ask why.  Jesus responds, “This kind can only come out only by prayer.” 

What is interesting here is that Jesus and the three disciples (Peter, James and John)  were on the mountain, witnesses of Jesus’ transfiguration just a little while before this failed encounter.  In fact, Peter wants to stay there on the mountain top, but Jesus knows that can’t happen.  It amazes me that so soon after this incredible brush with supernatural power, Jesus and the three disciples are faced with another, equally authentic aspect of reality, human failure!  We hear Jesus scolding his disciples and teachers of the law, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long will I put up with you?” The disciples couldn’t cast out the demon and were arguing with the religious leaders, while the boy’s father was desperate for his son to be healed.

These scenes are so telling, aren’t they?  We can be thrilled one minute with a brush os God’s presence, confident in our faith as we perceive God working in our own lives and in the lives of people around us, and in an instant we are weary and discouraged as we come face to face with some ugly reality of everyday living.  From the mountain to the valley.  As much as I like the mountains (spiritually speaking) Jesus’ teaches us by His example here that our faith is put to the test in the down and dirty. His disciples were caught arguing with the teachers of the Law because they couldn’t cast out this demon. How frustrating and embarrassing for them to be exposed powerless before those who were regularly scoffing at them and their leader!  And it is true of us too- how often do we find ourselves as powerless before an unbelieving generation?  Thank goodness that it is we who are powerless and not Jesus (he does cast out the demon!)  And what do we learn? We need to pray with greater urgency and dependency, to be connected to Him who is the source of our power. 

“I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5  How true it is! 

Our believers are facing a lot of personal struggles as they seek to confront the evil that surrounds them. Please join me in praying for them, that they will become powerful in their fight against evil through their prayers and personal communion with Jesus.  It is only as we learn to stay connected to Him who is all powerful, that we can be bold and courageous enough to take on the schemes of the evil one!