Day 1 is complete for Team Cali, as our 12-hour day of Sunday training was culminated tonight with the late arrival of 5 members of our team who were delayed for 24 hours in Miami due to heavy rain in South Florida on Saturday afternoon.
For most of our 34 team members from the States, the absence of the 5 had no effect. For my team of 5, it was significant as 2 of the missing 5 (Bill and Joel) are on our team. A veteran of 14 trips to Colombia, Bill was gracious enough to train Joel, a first-timer, during their downtime in Miami.
Notably, Joel is among 17 first-timers on Team Cali; Lisa being another. No surprise Lisa was fantastic today ... salsa dancing alongside locals during our morning service and picking up the slack in the evening when we were strategizing with our two churches while operating shorthanded. (Her only disappointment for the day was probably finding meat inside the empanadas Pastor Rodrigo's staff prepared for us after the morning service.)
Team Cali will plant or strengthen 14 churches in Cali in the next 96 hours, with each of the 7 teams working with a differen church Monday-Tuesday, then Wednesday-Thursday.
We are headed to the Cali barrio of Republica Israel tomorrow morning to work with a church which hosted us for their 2-hour service this morning. Our expedition over the next 48 hours in their community will help fuel a church they are planting several blocks from where we were today. Their existing church has been around for 10 years and with 90 in attendance today ... it was standing room only and time for expansion.
Pastor Rodrigo at Republica Israel warned us tonight not to wear jewelry and to leave all electronics back at the hotel, which makes us believe the nearby barrio where we are planting a church will be a notch down from where we visited today ... an area our translators labeled 2 or 3 on their socio-economic Cali scale, with 6 being Beverly Hills.
Our Bible verse for today is from Colossians 4, verses 2-6: "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."
Prayer. Open doors. Making the most of every moment in a spirit of kindness.
Amen.
(Pictured are Pastors Rodrigo and Carlos (right) in the middle of our circle tonight praying for our week in their communities. Pastor Carlos and his five-month old church of 25 members we will strengthem on Wednesday-Thursday.)
Blessings,
Dave
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