One day in the ministry of the Dominican Republic mission team

A day in the ministry this past week of our team in the Dominican Republic:

This morning we traveled to a small village called La Laura, where we were able to meet and play with about 60 children, ranging in ages from three to twelve.

Following the introductory time with the children, the teachers in the local two-room school allowed us time with the children, and the team performed its skits, passed out tracts, presented the gospel, and gave out "witnessing bracelets" to each child. We then took a walking tour of the village, witnessing first hand the devastating effects of poverty, the likes of which few people in America will ever see.

During the tour, one of the team members felt led to share with a lady who worked in the very small village store. This lady, named Joanna, was under deep conviction, and though she heard the gospel in her own language, she refused to accept the Lord. Please pray for her to be saved and that the seeds that were planted in her heart will bear fruit.

This afternoon the team had an experience it will never forget. We traveled to Balu Piejo, a remote village of about 50 people located in the middle of a very large sugar cane field. Though we thought we had seen poverty already on our trip, we had seen nothing like this village. The people there may go for days with little or no food. Many live in what look to be cattle stalls, small one room areas with a bed, perhaps a shelf, and nothing else. One small boy walked around with a shirt on and nothing else. It didn't take long to see that we were in the middle of a very unusual situation.

After walking through the very small village, our interpreter, a wonderful Dominican man named Kiko, gathered virtually every villager together. The team then passed out simple gifts to the villagers. We were humbled when the villagers were overjoyed to receive crayons and coloring sheets; even the older adults, many of whom could not read, were excited to color the sheets, which had Bible verses on them in Spanish.

The team then helped the villagers put together the witnessing bracelets, followed by the team's skit, "The Red Tie Club." These villagers were thrilled to see the team present the gospel through a simple bracelet and skit. Again, it was a very humbling experience to help many of the older people put their bracelets on.

One of the highlights of the trip to Balu Piejo was meeting Rodolfo, a 66 year old blind man who is a strong Christian. This man, blinded for over a year now and virtually penniless, gave a strong testimony of his faith in Christ and then sang a beautiful song of praise. The tears rolled down his cheeks as he praised the Lord openly and unashamedly; there is no way to describe what we witnessed as that blind man testified and praised the Lord.

A team member gave a Spanish testament to one of the few young boys in the village who could read. This boy agreed to read the Scripture to the old, blind man. Please pray that this testament will impact the lives of the entire village and lead to a great revival. As the Bible promises, His word will not return void.

We sang songs with the villagers and took part in an impromptu worship service. It may not have been in a beautiful cathedral, but the presence of the Lord was as real and as sweet as any service you could imagine. A crowning moment was when a beautiful rainbow appeared overhead as the team was ministering in the village.

We then had the privilege of giving food to each village family. What a humbling thing to give a bag of food (rice, beans, tuna, cooking oil, salt, coffee, and chicken broth) to people who in some cases literally had no food at all in their simple homes. As the team members passed out the bags of groceries, they escorted the villagers back to their homes and prayed with them. Again, there is no way to describe what we saw in Balu Piejo. The poverty was overwhelming, but God's grace was greater. Please pray for the villagers of Balu Piejo.

We ended our day by having dinner back at the SCORE facility with Tim and Jenny Craiger, the directors of the facility, with Pastor Avy and his wife, Gladys, and with Pastor Avy's children. We also heard a testimony from a young lady who was saved about a year ago and is going through discipleship training at the SCORE facility under the leadership of Pastor Avy. Pray for Pastor Avy and his work here. He and two other SCORE pastors are in charge of planting village churches in this area. As Pastor Avy explained, they confront the forces of darkness on a daily basis.

The team returned from the Dominican Republic last night, but God continues with the work He did in and through them in these past days. Please be sure to pray for the SCORE team as they continue to push back against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. On behalf of Rick Brittain and the rest of the WorldReach team, thanks for your faithful, fervent prayers. They certainly availed much.

Keep praying for our team in the Dominican Republic

Rick Brittain is leading a mission team of eight in partnership with SCORE International to the Dominican Republic. They arrived Saturday and are working in the sugar cane villages of the local area. In addition to VBS, they will be going into orphanages, leading devotions for the SCORE staff, and taking advantage of other evangelistic opportunities. As time and resources allow, they were hoping to assist in the clearing of a piece of property owned by SCORE that needed to be cleaned up before being placed on the market for sale.

Please pray for the evangelistic activities of the team. The Dominican Republic is saturated with occultic practices and the spiritual battle for the souls of the Dominican people is fierce. Pray for the safety and health of the team, and pray that God will speak to each of the team members, some of whom have never been on a cross cultural mission trip before.

As updates are received, we will endeavor to get them posted here on our blog.

Romania Team Update

As I write this, Ricky McRorie, Tommy Hewell, and I are in the Amsterdam airport waiting for our connecting flight to Bucharest and then to Cluj-Napoca. If all goes well, we will arrive in Cluj this evening around 6:10 and be joined by Kelly Spandau, a team member roundezvousing with us from Russia.

Pastor Teo and another brother will transport us via van on the 1 1/2 hour ride to Jibou. Lord willing, we will get settled into the homes of our hosts and have a good nights rest before beginning our ministry tomorrow.

Please pray for our continued safe travel, for our luggage to make it to Cluj...with us...and for those who will hear the gospel during the next days of our ministry.

This is the tenth anniversary of our partnership with Jibou Baptist Church, and we have some very special events planned to celebrate, encourage, and evangelize. Please check back regularly for daily updates.

Do not misunderstand what was preached at the Muslim day of prayer 9/25 at our nations capital

On September 25th thousands of Muslims gathered on the lawn of the United States capital for a time of prayer and worship.

During his sermon, the Muslim leader made it clear Islam would seek to make converts. He said, “America, I announce to you, it is my intention to invite your children to the worship of one God. It is my intention to remove every idol from every place -- nothing physical. It is a confrontation of ideas, because, brothers and sisters, the most powerful weapon you have in your hand ... is truth."

As born again believers we understand that Islam has nothing in common with Christianity. To better equip you for global missions, I want to explain how the speaker has placed Christianity directly in the cross-hairs of Islam.

First, when the speaker says he is going to invite your children to the worship of one God, he is not talking about the God of the Bible. Understand this fact clearly. Allah, the god – and that is with a little g – of Islam is not the Creator God – with a capital G – of the Bible.

Dr. Ergun Caner, a Muslim background believer and current President of Liberty Theological Seminary, has written that Muhammed – the founder of Islam – taught that Allah is beyond human understanding and approach and his nature is as the absolute one. So Islam rejects the essential Christian doctrine of the trinity. In fact, Islam claims the Holy Spirit is the angel Gabriel and that no one – including Jesus – is called a son of God.

Let me be very clear on this point because I hear too many times people saying the god of Islam is the same as the God of the Bible. This is a lie…I understand to use strong language such as this may be offensive to some, but we are talking about the salvation of souls. The lies of Islam are just as deadly as the lies of Satan.

"Muslims deny the fatherhood of God. Muslims deny the deity of the Son. Muslims deny the person of the Holy Spirit."

When the speaker at the national Muslim prayer gathering said that he wanted to remove every idol from every place, he is making a direct assault on the cross and what it signifies to born again believers. Muslims do not believe that Jesus ever died on the cross. If Christ never died, then there is no resurrection. To deny the resurrection is to deny the cornerstone of the orthodox Christian faith. As Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.”

We do not worship the cross of Christ, but the Christ who died on the cross. Again, Paul captured what would become the Islamic view of the cross when he again writes to the Corinthian believers that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved.”

The Muslim speaker made another statement that needs to be understood. He said, “It is a confrontation of ideas, because, brothers and sisters, the most powerful weapon you have in your hand ... is truth." This weapon about which he speaks is the Qur’an – the written holy book of Islam. To the Muslim, the Bible is a corrupted book of lies.

To the born again believer, the Bible is the revelation of God to a lost and dying world. It is His revelation of how we can come to know Him as Lord and Savior. It is inspired by His Spirit, inerrant and infallible. It reveals to all who will read it the truth…the absolute truth…about our Creator God who so loved the world that He was willing to give His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him – Jesus, God in the flesh – whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

I pray you will become equipped to share with those from any and all worldviews the reason for the hope that is in you. And that you will understand that Islam is anti-Christian founded by a man who was anti-Christ. For more information about the Islamic faith and how you can approach Muslims with the gospel of Jesus Christ, contact us here at WorldReach.

WorldReach Bible Institute Fall semester off to a great start!

Our Fall semester at the WorldReach Bible Institute is off to a great start. We have 18 enrolled in the Spanish Language Department on our Bogart campus, and 12 enrolled in our English Language Department.

Late registration is open through Monday September 21st. The two courses offered through our English Department are:

Bible Study Methods and Rules of Interpretation (Dr. Sam Cash - Professor)
New Testament Survey (Rev. Clark Ivey - Professor)

Bible Study Methods is a foundational course that teaches you how to understand what God's Word says, what it means, and how to apply it to your life or to the lives of those you are discipling or teaching. The New Testament Survey is for those who have already completed Bible Study Methods. A course description and syllabus can be found at the WorldReach Bible Institute web site - www.wbionline.us.

WorldReach Bible Institute is an approved provider of Continuing Education Units for the Association of Christian Schools International. Up to 5 CEUs can be earned for each of the above courses.

The tuition of $60 covers the cost of our core text - NIV Study Bible - and the course guide. Classes meet on twelve consecutive Monday evenings from 6:00-9:00pm at the campus of Prince Avenue Christian School in Bogart, Georgia (New Testament Survey meets 5 Saturday mornings throughout the 12 week semester). Online registration and directions to the campus are available at www.wbionline.us. You can also register before classes this Monday night in the Upper School hall outside the WBI classrooms.

Contact us here are WorldReach if you have any questions: 888-540-6534

God's power to stand firm in the midst of the spiritual battle

I have been studying Ephesians 6 to better understand the nature of the power we have to endure the spiritual battle in which we, as born again believers in Jesus Christ, are constantly engaged. Verse 10 is where Paul begins to write about how we can stand firm in this battle. I looked at a number of different translations

Ephesians 6:10 (HCSB) Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength.
Ephesians 6:10 (KJV) Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Ephesians 6:10 (NIV) Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Particularly intriguing was the most recent HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible) translation as it used the phrase "His vast strength" rather than "power of his might" or "his mighty power." I decided to research the Greek words used to better apprehend the depth and breadth of this "strength" or "power" or "might" of the Lord.

Kittle's (a multi-volume Greek theological dictionary of the New Testament) gave an expanded definition of the Greek word kratos that is translated "vast" in the HCSB: "the overwhelming greatness of the power of God...more particularly the outer aspects of the divine strength...its supremacy."

This is the power that is available to every believer as we enter into the battle that "is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens" (Eph. 6:13).

Only God has this power. Only God can manifest this power within us. Only God loves us enough to provide this power as we "put on the full armor of God so that [we] can stand against the tactics of the Devil" (Eph.6:12 HCSB).

It is this overwhelmingly, supreme power of God that gives us the ability to "resist in the evil day" and stand firm in the face of the promised onslaught. An incomprehensible power of an Almighty God!

How did the author get that meaning from that passage?

Many born again believers attend small group Bible studies. There are a variety of names such as Sunday School, Bible Study, Discipleship group, and cell group; however, most have in common a guided study that includes an extremely common tool called a study guide.

Over the years there have been many times that I worked my way through a study guide and would ask myself the question, "How did the author get that meaning from that passage?" Due to the press of time, the question would generally hang in my mind for a few moments only to fade as our group plowed on through that week's assignment.

However, there came a time when the Lord showed me that He wanted me to be able to sit down with His Word and allow His Spirit to speak to me through the Scriptures. This sent me on a quest to obtain the skills needed to appropriately observe and interpret the Scriptures, and then determine how they apply to my life.

The Beroean Christians became a model for me. "As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Beroea. On arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. The people here were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so [emphasis added]" ( Acts 17:10-11 HCSB). I wanted to be equipped to examine the Scriptures like the Beroean's in order to better understand God's Word and prepare myself to disciple others.

It was an extended journey for me, but by God's grace He led me to books, places and people for training in the methods and rules that I need to properly read and study the Scriptures. This revolutionized my life as a Great Commission Christian.

Because of our commitment at WorldReach to mobilize and equip the church for global missions, we are committed to training believers to systematically read and study God's Word. It is this commitment that resulted in the founding of WorldReach Bible Institute.

You may have experienced the same question as I did when going through various Bible studies; or God may be convicting you of the need to better prepare yourself to be a Great Commission Christian; or you may sense that as a small group leader you need to continue your leadership development; or perhaps you want to be able to discern what God's Word says, what it means, and how it applies to your life. If so, I exhort you to enroll in the foundational course at WorldReach Bible Institute (WBI): Bible Study Methods and Rules of Interpretation. You can find out more about WBI, the course content, costs, professors, certificate programs, and our partnership with the curriculum providers at the Bible Training Centre for Pastors/Church Leaders by visiting the WBI website at www.wbionline.us.

The next 12 week semester begins September 14th. Classes are held each Monday evening from 6-8:55pm on the campus of Prince Avenue Christian School. Online enrollment is available on the WBI web site.

Come join us so you will no longer be wondering how the author got the meaning, but determining the meaning yourself.

Report on our first Mission Celebration

Our celebration was scheduled to begin at 5pm this past Saturday. Just after 4pm I received a call from Romania. Pastor Teofil Mihoc, pastor of Jibou Baptist Church, wanted to assure me that our brothers and sisters in Jibou had been praying for our celebration. Not long after that, I received a text message from one of my mentors, Dave Guinn, that he had been praying for our event. Not only was it a great encouragement to me, but I knew that God was at work. Sure enough, after the eleven testimonies were complete, I had seen God speak through His people.

The celebration had its beginnings in a suggestion made to me by one of the members of Prince Avenue Baptist Church. He had gone on a short-term mission trip and wanted to hear what God had done on other mission trips. I believed the Spirit prompted him to share this with me. After praying and sensing a need to move forward, I also sensed a need to video the testimonies for sharing with others via web sites and within worship services. Thus was born the first WorldReach Mission Celebration.

A ton of thanks go out to Brother Reg Gattie and MattTyre (his able minded assistant) for being our video team. Also, many thanks to Brother David Smith who helped us procure the Smith House for this event. And thanks to those who came to share and hear...and brought finger foods and drinks for all to enjoy.

In order for you to be blessed by what we heard that night, we will be posting testimonies to our blog as soon as Reg completes the editing. To God be the glory, great things He is doing!

Do you have videos from a short-term mission trip or mission project that you would like to share with others? Shoot me an email and let's talk about using it on a future WorldReach blog post. You will never know how God may use it to encourage, mobilize or minister to others.