Catch Up

I'm way behind on my posting, so let's get cracking........

During the week of July 15 we held our annual VBS.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it turned out great.  The kids were seemed glad to be here, and the leaders were enthusiastic and positive.   

That same week we had a team from Criswell College with us.  This is a tradition for them, and we always look forward to seeing them each year.  Besides helping in VBS, they always are involved in some type of community outreach/ministry.  This year they were working with our college minister, as he prepares for the launch of our new church plant.  It was a very good Criswell team this year.  Many thanks to Professor B.B. Alvarez for his help in putting all this together.

During this same time we also had a team from San Antonio who were conducting their own VBS in a local trailer park.  This excites me, because we haven't worked in that community much.  The response was great....they were ministering to over 50 kids each night, and the parents seemed pleased to see the team there.

The week of July 22nd was the busiest all summer at the HMC.  We had 2 teams staying with us, totaling about 65 people.  Our friends from Village Parkway Baptist Church were back at Riverside Park again this year.  Another team from Houston was working with Pastor Roberto Blanco west of town.  This was a new community for us, and the reception was great.  Pastor Roberto is a good man, and is doing a good job at their new church near Olmito.  It was a pleasure to send one of our work teams to him.  They all worked hard, and did a great job.

As I mentioned in my last post, last week I was in Georgia to attend the Send North America conference.  There were over 2,200 people present, learning about church planting and related topics.  The main sessions were really good, IMHO, and the worship was inspiring and deeply moving.  There's a good article about it here.

That brings us to this week, and there are a couple of things I need to report.  Yesterday in our morning worship service we were happy to host Les and Saralee Tilka.  The Tilkas have served as missionaries in the Philippines for several years; they are stateside at the moment on furlough.  Les brought the morning message, and Saralee and son Brad sang a couple of songs.

Finally, this week we are hosting a small but enthusiastic group from Lane Prairie Baptist Church.  They are our last team for the summer.  They'll be conducting 2 Vacation Bible Schools this week, along with some construction work.  Pray for them as they minister.

Whew.