Archive for March, 2007

First, Norah and I want to let you all know (I wanted to let my family and everyone else know first, but since I need to write this letter anyway, I’ll do it all in one), that she is once again pregnant. We’re happy, but worried also. Incredibly, this is the 5th!!!! time that she’s been pregnant, but she lost two of the first four in miscarriages. We pray that this will be a normal pregnancy, and that all goes well. For us, three is enough, so we’ll probably have to get her tubes tied or something like that…

Anyways, I wanted to write you all about this. We are in a small dilemma. A good one of course, but we have to figure out what to do. As you all know, our church continues to grow, and grow and grow. And with growth comes the need for more space, more investments, etc. Right now we’re getting along fine in the building that we’re in, with several services, and we are currently remodeling to make more space in the main auditorium. Our biggest problem is when we want to have a meeting with everyone in the cell groups, or like what we’ll be doing here in a month, our Cell Church Conference. This past year, we’ve rented a coliseum several times for those types of services, and that has gone well, although they are expensive. We don’t have enough sound equipment to work in the coliseum, so we have to rent that, and we have to rent the coliseum itself, etc. The past year, the church has been able to cover the main cost for a few hours there, but right now it has no money, because of the construction that we are doing.

So here’s the deal. I wasn’t even thinking about talking to you all about this. I was originally planning on getting a loan down here, but I felt that that’s not what I should do, especially when I teach the people here that they should try as hard as possible to never fall into debt. I hate always asking for help, but God has had to humble me through missions, making me realize that our lives and ministry depend on him and those who support us. It would be nice to think we could do it on our own, but that’s exactly what God DOESN’T want us to feel or think. And of course, we know that it is for God’s glory so let me explain what our needs are.

This cell church conference that we’ll be doing here from April 20 to the 22nd is very important for us. God has blessed our church in a tremendous way in growth and more. This conference is a time when, first of all, we need to get everyone from our cell groups to understand the calling that God has given us, and for them to renew that fire that God gave them from the beginning. ALSO, and this is very important, we have the calling to share this with other pastors and churches from Sucre, and from around Bolivia. We have been working hard on getting other churches to see what God is doing in our church, so that they can also catch that fire and take it to theirs also. Many or most pastors are very depressed (for lack of a better term), about what is happening in their churches. I talk to them all of the time, and I see how they feel unmotivated and frustrated because of the lack of giving, commitment, etc. in their churches. But when they come and see what’s happening in our church, they go back renovated and feeling that it can happen in their churches also. That’s what happened to me 4 years back when I visited a large Baptist church in Santa Cruz that was totally on fire for God, and was growing in leaps and bounds. You could feel God’s power there, you could see honest to goodness fruits, and the people were totally passionated (Is that a word? Passion) for God. After seeing that it was real, and that it wasn’t dying out after a little bit of time, I realized that if God could do it there, he could do it here also. Now, that is happening with our church. We want to see Bolivia at God’s feet, but we can’t do it alone. We need to get as many pastors and churches as possible involved in this. That’s why we are inviting pastors from around the country, we will be traveling to try to get as many possible to assist. Also we want many churches, from all denominations, in Sucre to be in this Conference.

The problem is the money. To rent the coliseum, the sound equipment, chairs, and everything we need for the 3 days of the conference, it’s going to cost us over $3000. There is an cost for the event, but we’ve had to put it low enough to get as many people as possible to attend. The cost will cover the tickets for the Pastors who are coming from Argentina, their hotel, and gift, the advertisement, and all of those costs, but it won’t even touch the cost that it would cost us to rent the Coliseum, with the sound and all. (By the way, there is no other place that we can meet here in Sucre that would be any cheaper).

So to not write all day, our dilemma is whether or not to do it in the Coliseum, or to just do it in our church. We want and need to do it in the coliseum to be able to get all of our people in and to get other churches to attend, BUT we don’t have the money…. plus, we need to save up for our family to come home this summer, although we can buy those tickets with a credit card and pay them off once we’re there. Like I said before, I was going to get a loan for that amount of money, but I don’t feel good about that. So I’ll leave this in God’s hands. If we can get the money, we’ll do it there, if not, we’ll do it in our church.

The only thing I ask is that if you feel that God wants this, and you can help some, we would be VERY appreciative of that. Let me know. If not, please don’t worry about it. God’s WILL will be done. Of that I’m very certain.

Please pray for Norah in her pregnancy, and also please pray for our ministry always. We love you all very much. May God bless your lives greatly. Sorry for the LONG letter.

Love,

Jason