Back in Colombia in 2012!

Matt and I are excited to return to Colombia again in 2012 -- marking our third straight year in South America.

While Matt is headed back to Barranquilla in the fall (October 27 - November 3) on an 'I Am Second' expedition which includes a medical team, I am returning again to Cali to spend an exciting expedition during Easter week (March 31 - April 7) when we find many locals home for the national holiday.

What's most exciting for me about returning to Cali this spring is having my wife, Lisa, at my side. I am thrilled beyond words that Lisa has stepped out and know that our marriage will be the beneficiary of a week alongside each other in Cali. Lisa participated in an E3 Partners expedition to Uganda in 2007, prompting Matt and I to jump aboard in 2008 ... although our plans to head to Uganda were changed at the last minute by E3 Partners and replaced with a trip to Barranquilla.

And here we are four years later knowing God's plan was perfect.

I look forward to sharing stories of life transformation from Colombia this spring while Matt will do the same in the fall. You can click around and read stories at this Blog dating back to our first trip to Colombia in 2008. What's consistent is that we serve an awesome God where everything is truly possible.

God has truly blessed Lisa and I with so many generous friends and co-workers who are making our trip possible (with their financial support), and with careers that offer flexibility to spend one entire week in Colombia. My prayers during the coming weeks will include becoming more and more focused each day so we can fully serve Him and local churches while we are in Cali; physical health for Lisa as she continues to battle vertigo; and for both of us to bring the same passion of sharing the Gospel and our testimony into our neighborhood in North Dallas that we will possess in Colombia.

It's all about trust, letting go and allowing God to direct our lives.

Blessings, Dave

P.S. If you feel God tugging your heart to step out and participate in a mission trip, ask your church what opportunities are available. Our escorts, Dallas-based E3 Partners, travel to 36 countries around the world and make a handful of trips to Colombia every year. Check out e3partners.org and click on 'Expeditions' to get started.

To Protect And To Serve

More than 50 years ago, the Los Angeles Police Department formally adopted the phrase "To Protect and To Serve" as the aim and purpose of its profession. The mission statement of the LAPD has since been adopted by thousands of police departments across the United States.

I emphasized this phrase to 25 members of the Colombian National Police's Special Forces Unit in Cali on Friday morning, in our second opportunity in as many years to share the Gospel with some of their newest recruits.

The Special Forces unit is a hybrid of the Secret Service and a Marshall in the United States. Their task is to protect key government officials (all the way up to the president) traveling in and around Cali, and to protect the city of Cali from the worst forces of evil in the country, from drug lords to even guerrillas or peasant armies in Colombia better known as FARC.

The lieutenant of the Special Forces Unit who invited us back commands the group of 80, and during the past year has traveled to Georgia and Florida for leadership training alongside the United States Army.

While the Special Forces Unit protects, the aim and purpose of our team of 35 missionaries in Cali is to serve the 16 churches that we were building during the past week. By showing the love of Jesus first, then sharing His story, we were servants to the churches and their communities. We abide in truth and the Special Forces Unit abides in the law.

"Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established." - Romans 13:1

My only returning teammate from last year in Cali, Bill, joined me back at the Police Academy (my wisest move in most any circumstance would be to have Bill at my side), along with three of our translators, Adrian and Samuel (both presented with us to the Special Forces Unit in 2010), and Andrea, or Andy.

Once we were introduced by the pastor responsible for our relationship with the Special Forces Unit (Pastor Ciro), the five of us took turns engaging the police. I talked about our purpose in Cali, and that sharing the Gospel with only one person while in Colombia this week (our team of 35 actually presented the gospel to 2,299 and 1,699 acccepted Christ) would still make the trip worthy of our sacrifice of time and money. I talked about the significance of Good Friday and I talked about the profession of Jesus (carpenter) and how one of his primary tools (nails) is a painful reminder of the cross.

Only 18, Andy talked about her relationship with God, and the struggles she has endured. Her Mother gave birth to her at 16 and several years ago abandoned Colombia with a man who is not Andy's father to escape the stress of raising a family on her own. Andy's birth father lives in Cali but has a family of his own and only reaches out to Andy when she says there is an emergency need, like no food in the home. Andy lives with her grandmother and younger sister, who was a product of another of her mother's boyfriends who physically abused Andy's mother and largely provoked her mother's escape from the area.

Andy talked to the police about the painful reminders she sees everyday about her background. She has marks from two bullets that struck her during a drive-by shooting when she was 2 and her father was holding her at a bus stop. She has scars on her face and arms when a taxi ran into her on her bicycle when she was 10. There's marks from surgeries and on two different occasions, motorcycles have run over her legs.

"God has to love me and have a purpose for me or I wouldn't be here" is what she told me on Thursday night when she first shared her story to me.

Before Adrian shared the Gospel and Samuel his testimony, Bill talked about his family; wife, children and grandchildren. He talked about his 47-year old son, John, who died four years ago after enduring a debilitating disease to his muscles. Bill stressed that he only wished years ago he could have changed places with his son, but he couldn't, foreshadowing the Gospel presentation from Adrian.

All but 4 of the police officers were bold to step out to accept the free gift of having God at their side, through Jesus, as their ultimate bodyguard. Before we prayed, Samuel talked to the 4 men about their boldness not to just step out and join the crowd. Before we began, the 4 men all reconsidered. Jesus paid it all, and Jesus won them all. All glory to God.

We then prayed for each of the men, broke down into prayer groups, and finally prayed for the lieutenant for strength. It is overwhelming to think of his responsibilities. After leaving the academy, we made a brief stop to pray in a home of one of the policeman who is going to use it to begin discipling these new believers.

Their first small group had already been established.

Good Friday. Great Friday.

Blessings,

Dave

P.S. If you click in this blog to our entries from 2010 and the title "Stepping Out" you can read more about Andy. She fulfilled her goal of becoming a translator for us this year and may be one of the most remarkable people I have ever met. And she's only 18, did I say that?

In The Name of Keith

Day 4 of 4 is complete in Cali. We planted two churches and at each site our team of 4 North Americans and 4 translators delivered each pastor and his staff more than 200 tracts; people who were either presented the Gospel or who accepted Jesus.

Staggering what God can do.

My 4-person team from the States included 2 from South Carolina (Bill and Gordon) and 1 from Delaware (Henry). While Bill is completing his 12th trip in Colombia with E3 Partners, Gordon and Henry are putting the wraps on their first-ever mission trips.

And with heavy hearts.

Before the calendar turned 2011, Henry made a commitment to the trip with his childhood friend, Keith, who is a member of the same church in Greenville, SC, as both Bill and Gordon. In late January, Keith fell in the shower. The following week, Keith was diagnosed with brain cancer. He underwent surgery and then began an intense treatment which he and his wife, Joyce, chose would give him the best chance to stay the course to be in Cali this week.

Weeks ago, Keith and Joyce reconsidered and agreed that Cali was out of the question. At the same time, Gordon paid a visit to the hospital and felt the Spirit stirring him to step in for Keith. An accountant and father of four sons, Gordon had made dozens of excuses in the past on why he couldn't go to Colombia ... he couldn't think of one this time and jumped in with both feet to show his love for Keith.

My pictures today highlight Gordon (blue shirt). He remarked in the van en route to the church this morning, "I'm really not an evangelist. I mention the Lord in conversation in the workplace, but I just don't think of myself as an evangelist."

More than 30 Colombians accepted Christ today thanks to the hands and feet of Gordon and his translator, Adrian. Throughout the day as I checked on the team in the barrio, I never saw Gordon without being surrounded by men and women and families hanging out of windows to hear God working through Gordon.

God had a plan of saving the best for Gordon's last day.

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Friday is our traditional 'off-day' before our 6 PM victory service, when attendees from each of the 16 barrios where we planted churches this week in Cali will gather together to celebrate their new-found faith in Christ. Never a dry eye in the arena when we say goodbye to bonds we formed this week with so many warm-hearted Colombians.

For the second straight year, Bill and I and a few of our translators have been invited to share the Gospel to members of the Colombian National Police at their training academy south of the city. An honor I cannot express and looking back on the experience in April of 2010 still gives me chill bumps. Matt ... you will be so missed at our side.

My Profile picture on Facebook shows a photo with the men we presented to at the academy last year ... those who were bold enough to come forward and choose a life with Big Brother at their side aare at our side in the photo.

We would appreciate your prayers for the 9 AM meeting, which will be sandwiched between our daily 7 AM breakfast meeting and a Noon conquest for the baddest plantains in Cali. I'd like to think it will be a celebration!

God still hasn't let us down ... if we're willing to do His work.

Blessings,

Dave

The Importance Of A Father

Day 3 of 4 in the mission field meant starting a second church plant today. We arrived in our barrio, stepped foot into a large church (by Cali standards; traditional service of 150) and immediately were whisked upstairs where our excited pastor, Andres (pictured with his wife), showed us the church's children's ministry.

Nearly 30 children were gathered upstairs, and as well-mannered as a private school in Connecticut. Labeling these kiddos at-risk may be an understatement. Most of the children walk one hour each way, by themselves, to the church where they are fed (provided by the church) and educated (teachers are church volunteers). Don't think daycare here as a building with a drop-off lane out front .. the kids are on their own and most reside in a communal property where a Coleman tent may be an upgrade to what they call home.

How did we ever leave that area of the church this morning?

I spent lunch across from Pastor Andres at the church and asked his story, knowing that somewhere in his 37 years was an experience which had sown a deep passion to care for these lost children. You could see the love in his eyes from the morning with "his" kids.

Pastor Andres talked briefly about his childhood, then touched on choosing the nasty trifecta of becoming a hitman and a pimp and a thief. As a sidenote, the value of humanity in Colombia according to Pastor Andres is staggering ... the pricetag for a hit might be 80,000 pesos. Sound like a lot? That's $40. Break it down further and that equates to three days of work in Colombia ... at minimum wage.

His life turned when he broke into a home and his crime partner was shot in the mid-section and paralyzed. He then witnessed the power of prayer ... friends of his partner who were Christians crying out to God, and seeing his friend receive healing from the paralysis.

Pastor Andres accepted Christ, changed his ways, found a good church (where he met his wife) then started his church three years ago (children's ministry two years ago). Still looking for a connection to the children's ministry. I went deeper with Pastor Andres: was it power, money or anger which pushed him into such a nasty lifestyle? (Or maybe a movie, from the Blog entry earlier in the week.)

"Anger," Pastor Andres said without hesitating. "Anger at my father."

Early childhood memories of his father were centered around witnessing physical beatings ... either his mother or himself being the victim. His father then left home before Pastor Andres was 10, and for the next 16 years he admitted to waking up every day trying to figure out a way he could find his father, and kill him, for the abuse and the abandonment.

"I don't want these kids to experience what I experienced" Pastor Andres said.

Hence the connection. The kids are in great hands.

Before his father died last year, Pastor Andres witnessed his father return to the neighborhood, walk into his church and tell his son how proud he was of what he had become. It's one of the greatest memories Pastor Andres has in his life ... evidence we'll treasure approval from our fathers any way we can get it and no matter what evil have fathers have done to us in the past.

One more day in the mission field introducing Colombians to a relationship with their Heavenly Father. His love never ceases, and He never abandons. Pray for our strength, and pray for our peace to leave so many emotional situations in God's capable hands once we depart our barrios.

Blessings,

Dave

Scarred by 'Scarface'

Why do I ever question my wife (Lisa) and her judgment? I am so silly.

I recall years ago ... but not too long, when Lisa and I both accepted Jesus and became Christ followers. Lisa made the complete overhaul in lifestyle, including a personal decision to not support or watch R-rated movies.

As much as I tried to bend her rule when a really good movie came out but was rated 'R,' Lisa held firm ... it was 'R' for a reason, she said, thus included some kind of content that was inappropriate, i.e. violence, sex, language. Yes, we're adults ... but she drew a line in the sand and I've come to realize she's the brains of the household ... and so much more.

A brief change of focus brings us to Day 2 in the mission field in Cali. Our team was greeted before we left our hotel with a new translator, Manuel, who is a 4o-ish native of Cali who moved to Brooklyn as a teen-ager and stayed in the United States until five years ago. His English is terrific and we became fast friends on the streets of our barrio.

Manuel dreamed of entering the U.S Navy after high school to sail on big ships, but fell just shy in an English qualifying test. He was left empty to mull over his future -- in an area of the States where for generations foreigners landed to chase the American dream.

Manuel found a dream to chase that summer thanks to a trip to the movies ... 'Scarface.' The 1983 film with Al Pacino tells the story of a Cuban refugee who arrived in Miami and became a kingpin in the cocaine drug empire in the city. In no time, Manuel drove down to Miami and began moving kilos of cocaine throughout the United States where he was paid $1,000 per kilo and often trasnsported 20 kilos from city-to-city. You do the math for 4 days of work for a young man with no idea how to earn a living.

Several years later, a sting operation outside the Miami airport landed Manuel in prison, where he served his full sentence of 14 years. He never ran into trouble behind bars, and like a handful of locals serving our cause in Colombia ... he accepted Christ while in prison.

I had to ask Manuel. "A movie changed the course of your life, really?"

"That was it. It showed me what I thought was the American dream. That was one of the biggest thing I heard in prison at the time ... all of us wanted to be the guy in 'Scarface,' " he said.

Manuel was expedited back to Colombia in 2006 after his release and makes a good living with a taxi he owns in Cali. Old friends tried luring him back into the drug trade, but his heart is on serving the Lord and living a renewed life that glorifies Him.

We spent a great deal of time around a corner market in our barrio today. Time and again after we visited with locals, Manuel was reaching into his pocket buying poor men and women he knew needed quenching a cold drink, or even lunch, from the market. It was never an attempt to win someone into choosing Jesus, just a real show of love for the downtrodden.

It's one of the best representations I saw of Jesus the entire day.

Manuel is pictured feeding a man with special needs, and playing with Camila, who followed us each day ... and I would love to take back to the States! Her parents are involved in the church we are working in because of her as Camila began dragging them through the doors -- at the age of 5.

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From Mayberry to Sanford & Son

The rugged neighborhood we expected to work in on Monday and Tuesday turned into Mayberry (The Andy Griffith Show) when our church pastor opted for us to work closer to his church than to cross into areas he thought might present an outside risk to our mission team. We definitely move into a poor section of Cali for Wednesday and Thursday, where offering hope in Jesus ... any hope ... should open doors all day.

Blessings,

Dave

Engaged and On Their Way

Day One in the mission field ... so blessed to have a ton of prayers that we can feel down every calle, or street. In my group, there wasn't a home where someone who answered the door wasn't receptive to us, and no one wavered when we were still talking 30 minutes later, which is a 180-degree turn from life in the States. Teenage girls and boys walk the streets talking and overly-friendly instead of walking together and holding two separate conversations (texting) on their own phones. Another staple in the States, which tragically we see couples do too much even on date night.

Engaged and focused. Colombians do it so well.

Each of the 8 groups within Team Cali reports on a daily basis how many people we present the Gospel to and how many people prayed to accept Christ (77 and 60 for our 4-member group today for those keeping score), but I try and stress to our team (a) it's not about a religion at all, but a relationship, so meeting people where they are is critical over generating numbers," and (b) if someone places their faith in Christ but we fail to arm them with the tools to grow in their new-found faith and to interact with others in their community, they will quickly become a fruitless branch on the vine.

Dallas-based E3 Partners, our awesome mission trip escorts, have made a massive step forward in 2011 to engage those to whom we present the Gospel. In the past, we would invite everyone we met back to a slimmed-down church service at 5 PM every night to engage them in the church, they get to see where the church is located, and they are introduced to the pastor and his key church members.

E3 realized people didn't need more of the standard "church service" but sorely needed to begin getting fed .... hence the formation of 2-8 person discipleship small groups held at our church plants every night at 5 PM. A brief Bible story is shared within each group and the participants share ... what they like about the story ... what they don't like or is confusing ... what does the story tell you about God ... about people ... what can someone do differently about their life from the story they read ... who can each person tell about what they have learned?

Our church plant was packed (praise God) inside for the small groups tonight, and when the 4 of us and our translators departed at 6 PM, no one noticed when the North Amercans slipped out to grab the van back to the hotel. Our church members took ownership of the groups and facilitated (instead of teaching) to maximize participation.

There wasn't a dry mouth in the room. That's engagement.

In the bottom right corner of the photo is a man (gray sweater) and wife who teammate Bill visited in the afternoon. They have been married for less than 4 months, neither seemed to be ecstatic about the situation so wise Bill (married for 37 years) asked the husband where he was seeking counsel to live a Godly life as husband and leader of the household. The husband quickly asked where he could get THAT book .... From marriage development to money management, God's word has it all covered. The newlyweds were active in the small group, and any couple committed to growing closer to God side-by-side can't help but grow closer together. Bill's smile next to me, while watching the couple interact, made for a great memory to close the day.

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Brain Freeze of the Week #1. Jackson from New Jersey is a member of Team Cali who sat next to me on the flight from Miami to Cali on Saturday afternoon. I remarked to him that the weather looked clear for our arrival (it had rained much of the past week in Cali) which was a great sign. Jackson pointed out we were still at 33,000 feet, which is quite clear anywhere in the world. I think Jackson quickly looked into our Cali schedule to make sure he wasn't on my team.

Brain Freeze of the Week 2: After finishing my shower this morning, I looked at my roommate Andres and remarked I missed the morning slot for any warm/hot water in the hotel before our breakfast meeting started at 7 AM. Andres asked what knobs I was turning in the shower and I remarked, "Just the H, because the C is just going to be cold and I don't need that." Andres, a native of Cali now living in New Jersey, reminded me that we were no longer in the States where C means COLD but in South America where CALIENTE means hot. And the H ... if I could see clearly ... is really an F, for FRIO, or cold. Andres is on Jackson's team. Can only imagine the exchange they have each day of "guess what Dave said today?"

Uno loco hombre, Dave

Pastor Dirty Harry More Evidence of the Grace of God

Time and time again on a mission trip in a country like Colombia, where you hear jaw-dropping testimony after testimony, I'm reminded of God's unconditional love and willingness to rescue us wherever we are with arms open wide and forgiveness guaranteed.

Jesus paid for that.

Our first church plant this week (Monday and Tuesday) will be in a northern suburb of Cali rugged enough to prompt the government to send two military bodyguards with our 8-person team tomorrow when we depart the hotel. (No coffee necessary in this case to start the day.)

The church is led by Pastor Jorge, who joined us at our hotel this morning for the 25-minute trip to his barrio for their 10 AM church service. Pastor Jorge can best be described as 'Dirty Harry;' a 44-year old pastor who like every other native had to serve a one-year mandatory term in the police, or a branch of the national military, before moving on to college or another vocation. Pastor Jorge began taking his term on the police force into his own hands ... accepting bribes and foregoing the tangled legal process in favor of just choosing to execute the bad guys. A 26-year prison term was shortened to 10 years, he was released in 2004 and is now in full-time ministry; he also leads a Prison Fellowship in Cali and returns on occasion to where he was imprisoned to Medellin to share his story with former inmates.

A fellow prisoner shared the Gospel with Jorge on his first day in prison, which also happened to be his birthday, and his life has never been the same. His faith commitment aided in his early release, and also led to his wife of 27 years accepting Jesus after years of visiting him in prison and running out with her hands in the air pleading for 'no more talking about Jesus.'

The four of us from the States on one of the 8 teams here in Cali (picture of Team Cali from our 7 AM breakfast meeting) each shared our story this morning during church service, before Pastor Jorge reinforced his background, and then introducd my translator, Samuel, who used to be a bodyguard for Pablo Escobar and was deported from the States in the 1990s. The testimony I have from Samuel last spring would be a viral stealth if there wasn't a legitimate concern over the extensive list of names he mentions in his unbelievable background.

Life transformation is all around us; we only have to be transparent to share, then gain the trust of others to surrender and admit they are broken, too, and tired of doing it alone.

That's what happened after all our testimonies near the close of the church service, when 3 men in their early 20s stood up, joined their passionate and loving pastor, Jorge (picture), and said it was time for a life change. What an honor and privilege it is for God to allow me in prayer to lead them from the lost to the saved, from dead to alive, from hopeless to now directed and cared for by the best Father the world has ever seen.

Before we closed in prayer with the three amigos, another attendee in the room of 30 joined us up front; at 19 she was seeing that her lifestyle, too, needed a Jesus makeover and our nudge (again, all the Spirit, as Jesus promises, doing all the work) was just enough. Our 2 van drivers as we awaited lunch made the same profession and at 56 and 44, respectively, are starting new lives knowing God's grace now covers any and all their imperfections.

The mission field is all around us in HD if we only choose to open our eyes.

A late-afternoon rally involving each of the 16 churches we will plant in Cali this week and all our translators was highlighted by great friends from last year's Cali visit showing up to offer their support: a pastor's wife (Pilar) and her gifted daughter (Adriana/Adrienne). Another leader in their church (Andy), who volunterred her time last spring to work the streets with us is back as one of our official translators as she readies to graduate from nursing school. Andy committed the last 3-4 months to sharpen her English for our campaign and will do just fine this week.

News then came tonight that the invitation is back for us to return to the Colombian Natonal Police Academy on Friday (our designated off day) to share the gospel with a new group, similar to what we experienced last year with more than 50 police bolding getting up from their chairs at the academy to profess their their faith in Christ.

Better the face guerillas and the like with the baddest of the bad bodyguard leading the way, huh? Why do it alone?

We'll have time to focus on Friday on Thursday night. For now, our hearts turn back to giving Pastor Jorge's community our very best. My team can feel so many prayers from so many loved ones that have opened the hearts of so many to our cause for Christ ... I can point you to 4 young men and women and our van drivers before we settled in for lunch as evidence.

Their lives have truly just begun, and so has our time in Cali.

Blessings,

Dave