Plant, Lead, Repeat

Hi -

A couple weeks ago I was discouraged when the leaders of the church I helped plant and lead for the past 4 years in Bogota decided to veto my proposition to commend Alejandra as a missionary to a small border town in Colombia.

Iglesia Parkway Leadership Team

The decision surprised me, because we had previously sent Alejandra to Puerto Carreño on an exploratory trip, and she loved it ...She made a lot of valuable contacts, and the town seemed safe (even though I don't think safety should be a main factor in determining where someone should serve), and yeah, I don't know... I guess I just thought that a lot of things about the location made it a great set-up in which she could thrive, and the gospel could keep going forth among many displaced Venezuelans... We even had the financial backing of a women's Bible study group, but... "no deal" was Iglesia Parkway's leadership team's final response.

...I didn't like the decision, but the underlying thing which I did like, was that the decision was official ...I like what that represents, because it shows that my opinion isn't the only one that matters, and that our church has correctly evolved into a plural leadership structure in which I am just a voice. I'm a valid voice, yes, but not the only voice... Christ Himself is the Head, and the rest of us work together in love.

In fact, I'm not even living in Bogota anymore, and instead, I'm based out of Cucuta (Colombia's largest border city with Venezuela), leading a church that is finally in motion, after having gone through 3 different stages of 3 different groups that each came together fast, and then dissolved just as quickly, as my sojourner friends went off to other cities looking for more opportunities.     

...This church has been a long time coming, but God has brought together a good group of us to worship Him and know Him more, and we're off to a good start.

Cucuta Church Bible Study

And by the way - besides this new church plant, there are two other groups that have emerged from Iglesia Parkway: one in the Center of Bogota, and the other up in the mountains. Would you please pray for each of these?

Some members from Iglesia Parkway, Family Church, and Iglesia Central Park

...Even though my main priority right now is to consolidate the church God has entrusted me with in Cucuta - Puerto Carreño remains on my heart as well, and in the beginning of November I'm going to take a friend down there with me, both to keep discipling him, and be able to work together with him, as we try to lay the ground work for a new church that may ensue (click here to see a recap video from my first visit to this town, and be sure to click the English subtitle option if you don't know Spanish!)...    

Big man Harry and I

My friend's name is Harry, and I first met him in the mall where he sold smoothies. We then went to play basketball a couple times, and since then we've become good friends... He believes in Jesus, and he's absorbing just about everything I teach him, and you can see him progressing a lot in his faith, in both our mid-week Bible studies and our Sunday services... He's a solid guy and consistent, and wants to get more involved in ministry... I honestly think he'll do very well, and I'm also just looking forward to hanging out with him some more, and playing a bit of basketball every once in a while.

...Right now the plan is for Harry and I to leave at the beginning of November and give it our best shot there in Puerto Carreño, while the other believers from our church in Cucuta will keep studying the Scriptures together and praising God in our weekly meetings... Then, in December Lord willing, Harry will make it back here to Cucuta, as I'll fly out to the States and then Scotland, where I'm looking forward to spending some time with a church there, that is looking into commending me as a missionary...

Pastor Jim Crooks and I outside Tanside Christian Fellowship

It would be so awesome if that actually came through, because I'll take all the prayer and help I can get.

...Knowing how meaningful it would be for me to receive a commendation like this, I'm just sad that for now, Alejandra won't get the same experience... I think she has tons of potential, and for the past 4 years I've seen God use her in so many ways - especially in my own life. The world needs more people like her, and particularly in places like the border cities of Colombia with Venezuela - Alejandra would be invaluable. 

It's risky business though, because once you get that church planting bug inside of you - you never want to stop.

Alejandra planting plants, which is the same as planting churches, but different, and yet I think she is capable of both.

-Sam

Missionary Profile: https://www.cmml.us/node/817
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Overview of Church Planting Effort Among Venezuelan Immigrants in Cucuta

Street preaching in Cucuta

Hi from Cucuta - Colombia's border city with the fragile country of Venezuela.

After travelling back and forth from Bogota to this frontier city for about a year now, and trying anything I can think of to plant a church, I finally feel like I’m pretty close.

...While there were previously always glimmers of hope, for various reasons, the multiple initial church groups that would sporadically spring to life, in just a matter of months, would always end up dissolving... The gospel is being preached, and people are responding favorably, but the main challenge has always been that many of my immigrant friends are super transitory, and very unstable both economically and emotionally. That, and how my time in Cucuta is so limited, has made it tough to get a real church off the ground...

Cucuta ministry throughout this past year

Meal sharing, food and clothing distribution, sporting events, informal job accompaniment, as well as evangelistic gatherings and Bible studies are attractive (and more effective here than what I've seen in other places), but having that continuity of the same people coming to the same meetings day in and day out has been what’s lacking. 

Therefore, a while back I invited 3 immigrant friends from Cucuta to stay in my apartment in Bogota, hoping that one day they could go back and help lead the group we were trying to form in Cucuta... The idea was sound, and since I was going to be traveling to Scotland and the Faroes a bit later, I was happy to have my friends stay in my apartment in the meantime and get acquainted with our church in Bogota.    

My 3 friends I invited to stay in my apartment in Bogota

The idea backfired on me, and instead of growing in maturity and love, the 3 fellows didn’t want to work or relate well with our church, and much less go back to serve the group in Cucuta... 2 of them got baptized, which was great, but sadly it was the very one who had the strongest Christian background who ended up being the most divisive.  

...I got back from an incredible trip in Scotland and the Faroe Islands, and I was back to the drawing board to see what else I could do.

While in Cucuta again I saw some good qualities in another Venezuelan street musician (Gabriel), and I took the risk of inviting him and his wife and baby daughter back to Bogota with me to give it another shot, knowing that it’s indispensable to have at least one go-to guy to help in leading the potential church.

    

My girlfriend Alejandra with Gabriel, Yurbey, Gabrielita, and I

For about a month before Holy Week, Gabriel and his family got involved in our church community while absorbing everything I was teaching them. Gabriel was thankful and had a good attitude, while taking advantage of his time in Bogota to save some money and start to envision what a church back in Cucuta could look like. After a good 4 weeks of holistic discipleship, we then returned to Cucuta along with my girlfriend Alejandra and a team of about 20 students and teachers from the Christian school I attended when I was a kid. When we arrived, the missions team and I stayed in a hotel where approximately 80 Venezuelan military or police dissidents were staying, whom we got to share life and the gospel with... It was so awesome! 

El Camino Academy Cucuta Missions Team

After an intense week of ministry (click here to watch a video recap), Alejandra and my street musician friend Gabriel and his family stayed in Cucuta while I returned to Bogota again with the high school missions team... Preaching in my own stomping grounds of Parkway Church and having the privilege of speaking in a few other churches and gatherings elsewhere in Bogota was great - but I couldn't wait to get back to Cucuta to see my lovely girlfriend, as well as reunite with some of the defector Venezuelan military friends I got to meet while in Cucuta previously.

Half of the Wednesday night Bible study group

Alejandra did a great job for 3 weeks keeping the group alive, and here I am again with her and another friend from Bogota (Alex), as well as Gabriel and his family and a handful of other Venezuelan immigrants (among them about 5 military dissident families) and I feel like we're on the right track... On Sundays we have a 2-hour church service with around 30 in attendance, and on Wednesdays we have an interactive Bible study with about 15... The difference with this group as opposed to others is that it's a bit more stable, even though that word "stable" I use very loosely, because even if my present friends are somewhat more situated than other immigrants - they're still in a very delicate position when you consider everything they're going through.

I know homesickness and cabin fever aren't real sicknesses, but they're definitely super real symptoms of my Venezuelan military dissident friends who are confined to living inside a crowded hotel with the perpetual uncertainty of not knowing what Juan Guaido's de facto administration will do with them. 

At the illegal Venezuelan-Colombia crossing with awesome friends Robbie and Paul

Meanwhile, I can't think of anything better for someone in a situation like this, than to have their eyes opened to the wonderful truths of the Word where they can know that they're loved by a good God who gave them his only Son to free them of all sin... I know of no better place where frightened and frustrated people can be valued and dignified than within a vibrant Christ-centered community of loving people who care about others even above themselves... I believe that instead of living in fear and despair, God can provide anyone who dares to believe, a real hope and peace and purpose through faith in Jesus, irrespective of all the calamities taking place around... I also believe that the way that others can know this salvation is through the proclamation of the gospel, from the lips of broken but emboldened believers like you and I.  

So that's what I'm going for.

ECA teacher Paul Kwon with hodgepodge group of military dissidents, Venezuelan immigrants, and I

-Sam Killlins  

Missionary Profile: www.cmml.us/node/817 

  

The Birth of a True Leader

About 1300 years before Christ there was famine in the land of Judah, and so a man with his wife and two sons left their home town of Bethlehem, and immigrated to the land of Moab. There this family's sons each married a Moabite, thus separating themselves even more from their home country... Later on, the father and his two sons died, leaving their widowed and childless mother alone, both destitute and depressed, to fend for herself in a land not her own.

In the midst of this woman's anguish she heard news that the Lord had visited his people, and given them food... After not being able to convince one of her daughter's in law to stay in Moab, the two of them sojourned to Bethlehem where the Lord provided a kinsman redeemer.

In a major turn of events, this widowed daughter in law remarried and gave birth to a son, thus bringing tremendous joy to herself and her mother in law... It's this tragic yet redemptive story of immigrants and foreigners that serves as the backdrop for the ultimate redemptive story of Christmas.

3 generations later, a shepherd boy from that same town of Bethlehem was God's unlikely choice as the future king of Israel. He was improbable in age and stature, but dead on in integrity and courage... A true shepherd who knew how to look out for his flock, and a courageous warrior who stood up to the scariest of foes. He was a man after God's own heart, who sought God's approval and presence more than anything else.

This king united Israel, conquered Jerusalem, and brought the Ark of the Covenant to it's final resting place. God promised him that his house and his kingdom would endure, and his throne would be established forever - and so it is. To this day this unlikely shepherd boy's kingdom endures because it is through his offspring that the ultimate Shepherd and King was born. 

1000 years later, both kings and shepherds in the town of Bethlehem gathered to behold the ultimate newborn King and Shepherd there before them. He, like his great grandmother from Moab, at a very young age became an immigrant, along with his parents, to find refuge from an insecure and ruthless king. Ironically, this immigrant boy spent part of his years growing up in the "sanctuary country" of Egypt that had formerly enslaved the very people he specifically came to save. The fact that he had been born in Bethlehem was the qualification for his death threat as a baby, and the misunderstanding of thinking that he was from Nazareth, became another qualification for his death threat as an adult. And yet this man's real home was neither Bethlehem, nor Egypt, nor Nazareth but Heaven itself, from which he had immigrated to this Earth to become all that which his ancestors had foreshadowed and foretold. 

Especially one of his great grandfathers from Ur of the Chaldees, the patriarch of patriarchs, who also immigrated all over the place - this man once received a promise from God that he would bless him and his offspring so that his offspring would in turn bless the whole world... That promise was given about 1500 years before its fulfillment, but when it arrived it effectively became valid for everyone who has lived and is living 2000 years since.

And it all came about through this one man: the ultimate foreshadowed and foretold Redeemer, Shepherd, and King born in Bethlehem 2019 years ago.

His name is Jesus.    

Finally in his 30's, this wonderful Jesus called out a terrible ruler who had beheaded his cousin. This ruler was the son of the former tyrant who had tried to kill Jesus as a baby, and was everything a sick and depraved and terrible ruler should be, and therefore, the exact opposite of the true and loving sacrificial leader Jesus is. 

Immediately after making reference to this wretched oppressor as a fox, Jesus then expressed his profound longing to gather and protect everyone linked to his own lineage like the way a hen would gather her chicks, but they were not willing... The irony of the situation is that many of those who were most closely related to Jesus by blood and who lived there in the holiest city of the world where Jesus was standing at the time, failed to accept him as the true leader that he was... 

Much like a hen who sacrifices herself to save the life of her chicks, Jesus sacrificed himself to save all those who would come to him as the ultimate Redeemer, Shepherd, King, and... I suppose we could also say "Hen" of the world.

Condemning Vs. Commending Missionaries

In the ongoing debate of immigration policy there is an anti-immigrant senator from Australia who commends the assassination of missionary John Allen Chau by the isolated indigenous people living on North Sentinel Island as though it were a good thing.

Australian Senator Pauline Hanson argues that Chau had no business "invading" the remote island, and thus justifies her own disregard towards immigrants, or missionaries even, as if they were all a menace to society.   

The illustration is full of contradictions and irony (like the fact that Hanson is Anglo Saxon which under her philosophy would exclude her from the right to even live in and much less govern Australia - a country technically of the Aborigines - who would be most comparable to the Sentinelese, not her)... But despite the political, racial, and religious issues involved, the point that Hanson tries to make of it being proper to kill other human beings entirely because those human beings are different, is extremely preposterous.

Hanson commends savage and ferocious behavior under the guise of "protection of culture", and by doing so exalts sin as if it were a virtue.

There are all sorts of things I wish I could say about the situation, but what I'm most interested in is this idea of "commendation."   

When you evaluate everything that went down in North Sentinel Island on November 17, 2018 when John Chau was killed, everyone who hears this story is ultimately forced to decide who to commend within the aftermath. Do you commend the Sentinelese like Pauline Hanson for defending their culture? or do you commend John Chau for sacrificing everything he had out of love for God and the Sentinelese?

What's discouragingly noticeable to me in my research of Chau's story, is that before the incident, apparently he was never officially commended by any local church in the States or elsewhere before embarking on this daring mission. Why, I wonder? Was it because Chau had no interest in churches? ...or was it because no church had any interest in him? I don't know the answer to that question, but my guess is that it's the latter as opposed to the former... Sure, churches like to talk about evangelism and missions and their love for the lost, but how many leaders of churches are truly willing to send out their qualified youth so they can share the gospel to the ends of the earth, and to even financially support these young people as they adapt to a different culture, master a foreign language, and lovingly share Christ with anyone they can?

My awesome elders who daringly sent me out in the care of the Holy Spirit to the Colombian mission field in 2009

...I know a few leaders of churches who would, and who even put their money where there mouth is by supporting my own life and ministry specifically (and those of you reading this know exactly who you are - and I can't even tell you how grateful I am to God for each one of you), but sadly I also know of a few other church leaders or even Christians in general who don't care very much about Christ's great commission, maybe because the subject is too complicated, as we can see from the example of John Chau... "Commend a guy like John? No way josé," church elders would think, "we would rather the young men in our congregation save up to buy fancy cars and houses and marry pretty wives so they can live comfortable suburban lifestyles and show up to our Sunday morning services and faithfully deposit their juicy checks in our tithing baskets so we can buy nicer church buildings and occasionally send our youth groups to exciting amusement parks."

...Okay, maybe I went a little too far with that, but I still think it's sad how comparably small the percentage of resources invested in world missions is by the evangelical church at large, compared to other causes... Or then again, who even cares about the money? what if we just talked about empowering our church members, both guys and girls equally, to serve Christ without any reservations, in any capacity we can think of, no matter what the cost?... What are we so scared of? That someone might get killed like John Chau and have the whole situation turn into a worldwide spectacle? ...I can see how that is something worth avoiding, but I just wish there were more people out there willing to count the cost and go for it, and serve Christ unreservedly, because the reward in Him is far greater than any material, emotional, or even physical loss we can imagine.                 

John Allen Chau's recent martyrdom has re-awaken in me that single minded drive to preach Christ crucified, cost it what it may, to anyone I can, even to the ends of the Earth...

After preparing myself in every way I could, back in July of 2009, there were two church elders who took the chance in commending me to the mission field, and since then I've started a few churches and am helping start a few more. The missionary service organization I'm affiliated with has recently asked me to get a new commendation for 2019, and I honestly don't know what's going to happen. Does anyone care?

I know there are plenty of people who criticize John for recklessly "losing his life" for Christ to the Sentinelese, but if he were a part of one of the churches that I've started in Colombia, I think I would have laid my hands on him in commending him to the mission field with seriousness and an understanding of what is at stake.

There are some who look upon this polarizing situation as a terrible mistake; I see it as an example of someone who was living for Jesus more than himself, and who carefully counted the cost of what he was doing, knowing full well that the worst that could happen was something far better than anything imaginable (Philippians 2:11). The best thing that could have happened would have been that the Sentinelese would have started to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior while they, along with John, would have awaited Christ's return...

John beat me to Jesus's presence, and I doubt he really cares about what everyone else is saying about him here on Earth. I'm sure the only words that mattered to him back on November 17th were the ones that Jesus pronounced when he stood up to tell him "Well done my good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:23) as he welcomed him into Heaven's glory.

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Articles Referenced:

1st Picture

Article by the Gospel Coalition

Article by the Washington Post

Article by New York Times

Wikipedia

Yahoo news

Thanksgiving Without Walls

While the first wave of Central American immigrants from the caravan that Trump fears so much has arrived at the American border; simultaneously there are thousands of Venezuelan immigrants arriving at Colombia's border as well, and crossing it, both legally and illegally. 

Thousands of Venezuelans and I waiting to cross into Colombia

American President Donald Trump considers the immigrant caravan in Mexico a "national emergency" and has deployed thousands of troops to the American Southern border to secure it's wall.

But instead of fearing what immigrants may or may not do in either Colombia or the States, I think the church needs to urgently mobilize itself to receive foreigners in love, and share the gospel with every newcomer as best as we can.      

In Ephesians 2 Paul talks about Christ breaking down the dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles, thereby reconciling us both to God in one body through the cross (v. 14-16).

While many like to build walls to separate us from those who are different - Jesus came to give eternal citizenship to those who are near and those who are far off (v. 17-19).

Thanksgiving was invented to remind us of how indigenous locals helped our immigrant ancestors survive the winter, and give God thanks.

So instead of building bigger walls, our nation should be setting bigger tables to bring near through love and the proclamation of Christ, those who have been alienated and separated from God (v. 12- 13). Irregardless of race, economic level, or legal status.

Why I'm Not a Good Samaritan

I think we often misunderstand the parable of the Good Samaritan as a teaching intended to turn us into more compassionate people when really, that's not the main intention of the parable at all, as great of an intention as that may be.

...While the parable of the Good Samaritan definitely inspires us to notice hurting people's needs irregardless of their race or religion or condition, and to attend to them in love, costing us what it may; I think we miss the crucial point of what Jesus is teaching us if the only thing we glean from this story is that we need to become better people who love others more...

Of course loving people more is a great objective (and I know that I really need to do that better), but I believe that there is something deeper here than what is initially understood.

Every teaching of Jesus always has an objective, and every objective is always directed to someone specific. In this case, Jesus was sharing this parable to an expert of the law who was trying to justify himself (Luke 10:25-29); and I believe that this is the best clue that we have in understanding what Jesus is ultimately getting at in this specific story.

The two questions Jesus addresses in this story are as follows: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" and, "Who is my neighbor?".

...According to the characters in this parable, the answer to the second question is clear. It's everyone - including, but not limited to, my enemy (just like the Jews were to the Samaritans, and the Samaritans were to the Jews)... But how should I love my enemy? Well, surprisingly, the way the good Samaritan loved the man that fell into the hands of the robbers is how - by going way above and beyond any normal call of duty, and risking all my life and resources in giving others all the time and help they need at my own expense.

The beauty of Jesus' teaching in this parable is that when we consider the good Samaritan, his example is exactly what we need so we can know how to love others, and we're inspired to start doing so, even though we know that if we're honest with ourselves, we have to admit that we really don't come close to that standard. Maybe we want to, but we don't really want to have to...

In my mind I love the idea of being the hero in this story, I love the idea of being the good Samaritan.

But when I'm in a hurry walking down the sidewalk in Cucuta to get to an appointment at the mall and I see a single mother with her baby begging for money on the edge of the sidewalk; I honestly don't want to have to stop and talk to her and take her and her child to a hotel for them to stay at and then buy them food and share the gospel with the mother before I tell her I'll pick her up the next day to take her to a Bible study. I don't want to pray for her and think of a business option she can work at to sustain herself, and then be the one to subsidize the operation. I don't want to show up late to the appointment at the mall where I was supposed to talk to another fellow who has all kinds of needs both personally and for his family back in Venezuela as well, in every way you can possibly imagine.

Eating dinner last night with three Venezuelan Women who live off the mercy of others on the  Cucuta streets Kailey, Irismar, and Fabiola; along with Keily's daughter Cristal and Irismar's son Fabian

Sure, in my mind I want to be the type of guy that would stop and do all that, but then again in real life when I'm walking down the street and I see the desperate mother with her child, looking at me with sadness, I wish I hadn't seen her. But I did though. And so I just act like I didn't, and keep walking to the mall, where I'll try to follow through with my other commitment, and then maybe I can help out the mother on the street on another occasion... All of this of course, out of neglect to a desperate woman with her child who aren't even my enemies... just beautiful Venezuelans created in the image of God who need my help.

Eating with Venezuelan immigrant musician friends Isaac, Alexander, and Jose at the mall

If I'm honest with myself, I'm usually like the priest or the Levite; even though I know I should be like the Samaritan.   

But the ultimate question still remains: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Well, the logical answer to that question is to simply fulfill every single aspect of the law, down to the smallest detail of it, and to do so in the same way this Samaritan exemplified so beautifully for the man who had been robbed... a Samaritan who was part of a sect that implies he had terrible theology compared to the Jewish priest and the Levite, who both should have been the first ones to respond to God's overarching command to love their neighbor, as they both knew they should have, even without thinking twice about it.

But each of them did think twice about it, and a third and fourth time as well probably, just like I would have, until they convinced themselves that they shouldn't help the poor man who was dying there, as much as they knew that helping him was exactly what they should have done.

...When I'm walking down the street here in Cucuta, I know full well what loving my neighbor as myself looks like, but most of the time I love myself more than my neighbor, and in the few cases that I love my neighbor as much as I love myself - that usually only lasts like a good ten minuets at most, and then I'm back to loving myself again, without my neighbor included, and would rather just ignore my next neighbor altogether who might pop up somewhere down the road again, in the form of someone else. Perhaps maybe I should even move somewhere more high class, where I don't have to see anyone in need, so that then I wouldn't even have to think about helping others to begin with...

Other neighbors in Cucuta, in the form of someone else

See, the answer to the question "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" is initially understood only when we consider the law, and once we consider the law, our condition before it is only that of total hopelessness and despair.

And that's exactly where we need to arrive if we're ever going to realize the need we have for grace.

We need to come to a point where we see how totally incapable we are of achieving salvation on our own, if we're ever going to then come to a place where we can receive the salvation we so desperately need from our terrible condition of sin. This realization comes when we understand who we are in light of a different character in this parable...

Though I wish I were the Samaritan, I usually act like the priest or Levite, and so consequently, who I'm most comparable to in this story is the man who fell among the robbers.

When I consider my life and understand that I don't always act like a good Samaritan by loving every single neighbor at every single moment in every single situation in my life; then there's nothing else that I can do other than recognize my own desperate need for a Savior to come and rescue me for every single sinful act of neglect towards every single neighbor that I could have loved but didn't.

If I don't realize I'm a hypocrite, then I am a hypocrite. If I don't realize that Jesus is essentially my  good Samaritan that came to rescue me in the moment of my deepest need, then I'll only think about other people's needs and feel sorry for them and try to make myself feel good about who I am by helping them without realizing that I am the one who needs help, and there is only one who is good enough to help me and that is God (Luke 18:19). And that I both need him and need to point others to him, more than I need anything else.

The reason why Jesus told this parable to the expert of the law was to challenge him in his self-justification. It was to make him realize that he needed a Savior, the very one who was standing in front of him... The expert of the law didn't so much need a story to remind him of how to be kind to people, though the parable of the good Samaritan does so to a T. What both the expert of the law and everyone one of us needs to be reminded of is that there is only one in all of history who has loved us like that "perfect Samaritan", and though we should imitate him in his love, we actually aren't even close to loving like he loves... The expert of the law needed a story to remind him of how far he was from being that "Samaritan" in his own strength, just like we need this story to remind us of how far we are from perfection as well, and thus in faith cry out to Jesus for his all-sufficient grace, as if we see a good Samaritan approaching us there in the distance... a "good Samaritan" as it were, who is ultimately a personification of the good Jewish man Christ Jesus.

Church Planting Among Venezuelan Immigrants

Hi - 

There are a few teachings of Jesus that have really floored me recently. One of those is in Luke 14 where Jesus refers to the invitation of eternal life as that of an invitation to a great banquet... Jesus, who would compare himself to the master in this story, becomes angry when he hears of people's excuses in not coming to the feast and tells his servants to go quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame. The servants obey, and yet there is still more room and so Jesus says, "go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in."  

For the past few months I've been trying to start a church in Colombia's border city with Venezuela (known as Cúcuta), and sometimes I feel like one of those servants in the parable going out into the streets inviting anyone I can. Just like in the parable, there are a lot of unlikely guests who have shown up; such as  immigrants and transvestites, who generally don't fit into the typical Christian "status quo."

On a few occasions we've shared meals together, but the main thing I want to do is share the gospel. I want to share it in such a way that my friends can clearly understand it and sincerely accept it. 

Some have, and many have gone on to other cities or countries in hopes of finding better opportunities while they sing some of the gospel songs that I've taught them along the way. Please pray that my friends would cling to Jesus and grow up in him throughout every stage of their journey.

This last week I connected with a group of immigrant street musicians and we've been singing together on the streets to the people in cars who give my friends a few coins in return. 

It's kind of fun to be honest, though sad at the same time, and I think that showing my friends that I care about them and that I identify with them is what makes the gospel that much more powerful. 

Last night I played some basketball with a few guys I met casually at a mall and at the basketball court, and I have high hopes that at least 4 of them will be a part of our Bible study tonight.

If you want to see a documentary of how this ministry started, please click HERE.

-Sam  

Missionary Profile: https://www.cmml.us/node/817