God's Metric: Enduring Faithfulness

"Victory belongs to those who believe in it the longest." Those inspiring words were spoken by the commander of an Air-craft carrier in the movie Pearl Habor. They were true in that context, and they are true in ministry. Ministry, especially cross-cultural ministry, requires persevering faith in the ultimate victory of God. Everyday battles are won and lost. Peoples' lives are destroyed by the enemy and by their own poor decisions. Pastors and missionaries who are desperately looking for results and confirmation that they are winning battles struggle with their own sin, and with the discouragements and disappointments of people who seem to love God one day and then crash and burn, or disappear, or turn on them the next. How can a person stay in ministry for a lifetime?

The only real answer to that question is, "by God's grace." Ministry by its very nature is a pouring out of oneself. When lived out as Jesus modeled it is sacrificial, it gets involved in the messy lives of sinful people, it endures abandonment, and yet it always believes in the ultimate victory of God's kingdom. It does NOT believe in the ultimate goodness of the human heart. On the contrary, it must come to peace with the fact that that so called "goodness" is a myth, in order to avoid disillusionment and synicism. Instead, enduring ministry comes to believe in the certainty of God's ultimate victory and rejoices in it.

Over the past two and a half years since we began Mission Adelante, mixed in with some glimpses of exciting ministry fruit, we have experienced a lot of these disappointments and discouragements. Several times during those discouraging seasons, Kristen and I have lain in bed asking ourselves, "what if this ministry doesn't grow?", "what if nobody responds to the gospel?", "what if we were left to do this alone?", "what if immigrants never open up to us on a personal level." Each time we have asked those questions God has only solidified and increased our commitment to this calling and ministry. While we currently enjoy measurable results and occasional victories in Mission Adelante, God reminds me that He is measuring "Enduring Faithfulness."

Will we continue to believe in His ultimate victory even when all we see are disappointing defeats? By His grace we will. Over the years, please make this your number one prayer for our family.

Caroline, Annie Finish Suzuki Piano Book One

After about 17 months of piano lessons, Caroline(9) and Annie (7) are finishing book one of the Suzuki series! It has been a great experience for our whole family! What began as hours of peck, peck, pecking annoying rhythms such as "MI-SSI-SSI-PPI HOT-DOG" has metamorphasized into beautiful music echoing off the plaster walls and the hard-wood floors of our 1922 home. Caroline and Annie have both become good young pianists, playing songs such as Claire da Lune, and Musette. And Charlie...well Charlie always takes a bow with the girls after their lessons even though he hasn't begun playing yet.

What has been most exciting to me is the girls' continued enthusiasm for it. They don't seem to view practice as drudgery and they often sit down at the piano to try their hand at making up their own melodies. I have become a believer in the Suzuki method which emphasizes playing familiar songs by ear before learning music theory. This gives young children enough early success to keep them interested while gradually introducing the necessary skills of sight reading. And, the repetition required to master the songs progressively instills fingering mechanics. Of course, our instructor, Charlotte Garwood, has just the right balance of discipline and patience and genuinely enjoys teaching. This combination of method, instructor and emphasis on parental involvement seems to be working marvelously for Caroline and Annie. They are excited to discover what come next in book two!

God's Soverienty in a Risky Plan

Before Jesus ascended to Heaven He gave His disciples what is now referred to as "The Great Commission". He told them to "go and make disciples of all nations." Disciples of Jesus learned this process from the Master. Jesus' method of making disciples was investing his life in them. Walking, talking, eating, doing ministry together, praying together, teaching them. It was a much more integrated approach than Sunday school or a Bible study program.

From a human standpoint it seems awfully risky that Jesus entrusted the future of His church in the world to a rag-tag group of wavering disciples. And yet that was His plan; call, equip, and send. And sending was not alone, but with the power of the Holy Spirit.

From the beginning, our passion and mission with Mission Adelante has been to "Serve Hispanic Immigrants to Christ and mobilize them to serve". For us this is just another way of saying we want to do what Jesus did with His disciples. Serving is the beginning of calling immigrants to a knowledge of a loving and gracious God. As we build relationships and invest, and walk alongside, and teach, we hope that the Holy Spirit will work to bring them to a place of being able to invest in the lives of others as well to share the gospel and bring them to maturity.

Leticia received Christ as her savior in January of 2006. Since then we have invested our lives in her in many ways. Last week Leticia began doing an introductory evangelistic/discipling study with two other Hispanic women. It was not a Mission Adelante scheduled event. It was Leticia initiating and meeting by herself with these women with the promise of walking alongside them to see them to maturity in Christ. And so the miracle of the Great Commission continues, and I stand in awe at the sovereignty of God in His seemingly risky plan that the nations should know Him.

Quick Updates

Internship-Mission Adelante is planning a summer internship for emerging leaders in cross-cultural ministry. Megan McDermott (left), a current volunteer, is the first to sign up. The program will require interns to live in the neighborhood for the summer and will include ministry training and practical experience. Please consider making a financial contribution to help us cover the costs of the internship! Funds are needed to cover the costs of housing, ministry and training expenses, and a modest stipend for each intern.

Building Remodel-The scope of our building remodel project has increased significantly. We are working with an architect and a general contractor on a plan that will include a combination of professional contractors, plus skilled and unskilled volunteers. Contact Seth Sears (seths@missionadelante.org) to sign up for a Saturday workday this year or to offer your skills!

Compelling Compassion-Graciela's English class prayed for her husband to get a job, God answered this prayer through one of our prayers and two weeks later Graciela and her husband were visiting our worship celebration. Compassion in the name of Christ is compelling!

Multiplying Leaders-Some preliminary evidences of fruit are suggesting that God is accomplishing the full cycle of our mission, "Serving Hispanic Immigrants to Christ and Mobilizing them to Serve." Leticia, who received Christ two years ago through Mission Adelante, is now discipling two new Hispanic women. Elaine, another recent convert is nearly finished with her basic discipleship study and is preparing to teach it to a friend whom she invited to our worship celebration last Sunday!