Painting The Town

If you live in the Brownsville area, there is a ministry opportunity coming your way! Saturday, November 5th we will be crossing the border into Matamoros to help Pastor Adolfo Villarreal with a painting project at his church. If you'd like to help, meet us in the parking lot of FBC at 8:30 (and don't forget your passport!).

Triumph

Apologies to the loyal readers of the Valley Missions blog. All last week our church staff was on its annual retreat, so I wasn't able to post anything. This year we decided to pitch in some of our own money and take a cruise. It was the first for me; we sailed aboard the Carnival Triumph to Cozumel and Progreso, Mexico. All the staff wives (except mine) were able to go along. It was a nice time with a wonderful group of people. The staff met from about 1 - 5:30 every afternoon, and the rest of the time was free. Except for when we were watching the Texas Rangers throw away the World Series, it was lots of fun.

God's Hobby

This morning a pastor/church leader breakfast was held in Los Fresnos to try to get the word out about the upcoming Perspectives course. One of the presenters summed up the whole thing quite nicely, I thought. She said "Missions is not God's hobby". Indeed. And it shouldn't be ours either.

Update from Matamoros

My friend Abraham has posted an update on his blog. He continues his work in Mexico. The vast majority of folks there just want to live their lives unmolested, but the violence has made their situation very difficult, and a lot of innocent people are being affected by it. Please take a moment to read the update, and to pray for our dear Christian brothers in Mexico.

IMHO

How many times has this happened to you? Christian leader "X" issues a statement saying that Christian movie "Y" is "awesome!" or "incredible!" or even "the best movie of the year!". You rush off to the nearest theater to experience this cinematic marvel, only to be (how shall we put this)....uninspired?

Let's be honest: just because a movie promotes, say, family values doesn't mean that as a movie it is any good.

With that off my chest, I now turn to the new "Courageous" movie. I saw it Sunday, and can cheerfully report that it is not one of those cringe-inducing, though well-intentioned, movies I am referring to. In my humble opinion it is the Kendrick brothers' best work yet. The acting is better, the production values better, and the theme of the movie is an important one.

"Courageous" is not perfect, but it stands head and shoulders above most in the genre. You should see it.

Raising "On Mission" Kids

Every Christian parent is faced with the same dilemma: how do I pass my values on to my kids? And for those of us involved in world missions, how do we get our kids involved? This month there is a good article in On Mission magazine on how to help kids "catch the vision". Worth a look.

Courageous

I usually limit the posts on this blog to things having to do with my work as a missions pastor. From time to time, however, I feel obligated to use my enormous influence to promote other things. On September 30th the movie "Courageous" will be released (visit the movie website here). Courageous is made by the same folks who brought us "Fireproof". I understand that the theme this time is fatherhood. Now, the good Lord knows I've done my share of complaining about the corrosive effects of pop culture, and especially TV/movies. But it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, or so I'm told. So I post the information here with the hope that many people see Courageous, and that much good is done by it.