MEN'S MINISTRY---TWO GRADUATIONS ON THE SAME DAY!...
On Sunday, April 3, we celebrated graduations at two separate churches---the church we attend as a family, Vida Nueva (New Life) in Santiago and a church in the community of Los Salados---here are the graduates of Vida Nueva...
Jose Miguel, from our community of Lajas, gave an encouraging testimony...
Omar, whom Dave has trained to take over the leadership of this group, shared with the men...
The "knighting" of each man is always powerful--here Dave knights Romano, who will be helping lead this group of men in the future...
The congregation thoroughly enjoyed this graduation of 16 young men...
It was beautiful to witness both Jose Miguel and Jon, who work for us and whom Dave has been discipling for the past year, receive their diplomas...
And then there were three---these three men are all from our community of Lajas and have now begun a new men's group up in our neighborhood--please pray for Jose Miguel, Jon and Santos----Dave will be training and discipling them in this process...
After the church service, all the men and their families came back to our home to celebrate by sharing a meal, sharing some powerful testimonies in front of their family members and spending the afternoon together...
That same evening the men's group in Los Salados also hosted their graduation---so beautiful to see how God's message in "multiplying" here...
It is always powerful for the congregation to watch the men file in for the ceremony--please continue to pray for all the men in these small groups--that their faith and walk with the Lord grow stronger and stronger...
AND...A SPECIAL BAPTISM...
It was especially sweet when Santos asked Dave if he could be baptized in our pool the day of the men's class graduation--he shared with everyone first about his background which was not an easy one and how the Lord is changing him and giving him hope for a new life in Christ...
Both Dave and Jose Miguel have been discipling Santos---so now there are three young men in our neighborhood who are serious about following Christ and what they will mean for them and for this community--it has been a blessing and a privilege to witness how God is bringing forth new life in this community--one soul at a time!!!...
GUESTHOUSE HAPPENINGS...
Again this past month, we were privileged to host a young couple in our guest house-Edwin and Millie-they are members of Vida Nueva in Santiago and Edwin has been training to become a pastor---they are a beautiful example of God "renewing the face of the earth" here--one person and one couple at a time...
The week before their visit, they found out that they are pregnant with their first child---please keep this family in your prayers...
As always, our whole family is blessed by these visits---and a special blessing is that our teenage daughters get to witness young people strong in their faith living out their life and their marriage for Christ and bringing His goodness into their worlds...
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THOUGHTS FROM DAVE (AND HOPEFULLY FROM GOD TOO!)...
(1 John 1:5-6 NIV) “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him, must walk as Jesus did.”
O.K., I’ve been reading the Bible and studying it for a few decades now and why does this passage kind of “stick in my craw” all of a sudden. I’ve read it many times before and it’s probably impacted me about as much as reading Leviticus (that’s the book of the Bible I go to when I’m having trouble falling asleep at night- 5 minutes into Leviticus and I’m out like a light).
Anyhow, what’s this passage saying to us? Whenever the Bible says you “must” do something that kind of gets my attention and my carnal reaction is – “Hey, nobody’s going to tell me what I ‘must’ do.” You can’t water that word down. It’s as absolute as absolute can get. In our world today of political correctness using a word like “must” can get you in a lot of hot water. And why is it when someone (like my wife for instance) tells me I “must” do something, the hair on the back of my neck stands up and I want to do almost the exact opposite and become hostile. What’s that all about? Maybe it’s because it’s not being presented as a request but as a command.
Gosh look what happened to our first parents, created perfectly in the image of God, placed in a perfect garden- Eden. In Genesis 2:16-17 it says: “And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for when you eat it you will surely die.’” Why did God have to say that after everything? Thus far everything was going along so beautifully. To top it all off he could have said: “If you eat of it you’ll die,” but no he says: “When you eat from it you’ll die.” It’s like he knew old Adam and Eve were going to give in and do it. I wonder how many times they passed by that tree and thought: “What in the world is God’s reason for prohibiting us from eating the fruit from that tree?”
O.K., so here is my case in point: If two perfect people like Adam and Eve who had no sin but had the inclination or tendency to do the exact opposite of what God told them not to do, then can’t I cut myself a little slack when I get a burr in my saddle and put up some resistance to God’s must do’s or must not do’s?
Let’s go back to our verses in 1 John. Here is the point. God’s intentions from the beginning weren’t to booby trap us or set us up for failure. He’s not sitting up on his throne chuckling at us while we stumble and bumble along. Rather, he loves us so much that he’s given us total freedom. That freedom even goes as far as allowing us to totally reject him. He never forces obedience. His motivation is always in love and because he is the total embodiment of love, he has created each of us with the utmost desire of wanting to be loved; so what a beautiful passage 1 John 1:5 is. We can actually experience in this life our ultimate, innermost desire: to truly be complete in his love. Wow! When I look at God and know him in this way I’m motivated to obey his word and walk as Jesus did. I want to instead of I have to.
Next month I’m going to continue this, taking a serious look at verse 6 where it says: “If we claim to live in him than we must walk as Jesus did.” That really is where the “rubber meets the road” and where we as Christians have to look deep inside ourselves to see if we’re willing to trust him to that level of following Jesus and to see if our walk aligns with how Jesus walked.
Till next time…
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As always, we are very grateful for you all---your friendship, love, encouragement, prayers and perseverance with us on this journey. We love to hear from you so all emails and snail mail are very welcome! (Addresses at the bottom of this blog) Take a look at the right-hand side panel for our prayer requests and some words to encourage you.
We plan to be in Illinois in July and would love to see as many of you as possible--see side panel for details.
By God's grace and for His glory,
The Dave Schwulst family