Columbia

Heading South

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I finally got around to it. After months of thinking about it and finally deciding to make it happen, I visited the latest regional campus of Brentwood Baptist Church, The Church at West End in Columbia.

It was a bit of a drive from Brentwood to Columbia. Even on a Sunday, it took 45 minutes. But it was so worth it. I loved seeing this congregation worshipping and celebrating the Lord’s Day together.

I love how each of the campuses has a unique flavor and how each fits the community very well. Each one is a different expression of what a biblical Church should look like.

Several years ago, my goal was to visit each of the current campuses of Brentwood Baptist. At the time, there were 8, but I managed to get to each one. Now, I’m thankful that I’ve been to all 9. Maybe at some point, there will be another for me to visit.

I’m praying for the Church. It seems like more and more these days, the true Church that holds to the true faith will have to be more united than ever to survive. We will have to cross denominational lines and work together. We have to see other churches not as rivals or competition but allies and fellow saints.

God is at work. Whether it’s a massive structure that hosts thousands or a small room with a handful of people, God is present in the midst of them. People are getting saved and baptized. God is calling out faithful men and women to the ministry and the mission field.

Lord, keep us faithful to your true gospel. Bring back Your wayward churches and denominations that have strayed from Your truth. Bring back the prodigals that have wandered away and deconstructed. May we be true to all that You ask of us, and may we be one just as You, the Holy Trinity, are one.

A Unique Kind of Blog for Me

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I have never done anything like this, but I have never felt so led by the Spirit to promote a friend of mine who will be leaving for Columbia in a little over a month to be an English teacher in a bilingual Christian missionary school in Columbia, South America.

Her name is Lara Spaw and she is one of the best people and godliest women I have ever met and had the blessing to be friends with. Her friendship has made me better, stronger, braver, and more like Jesus.

I am calling to you action on her behalf. First of all, I ask for you to pray for her to have a mind that is Spirit-led and controlled and eyes that are fixed on Jesus. I pray for protection and blessing and anointing over her in her travels and during her stay in Columbia.

But I also am calling you to support her financially. I myself have felt God putting a dollar amount in my heart to give to her ministry, and for me it would be a sin not to give that. But I encourage you to give as you feel led by the Spirit of God.

http://www.rce-international.org/donate/credit-card-donate-page/

This is the link. You will see a box with a scroll tab under the word “missionaries.” There you can scroll down until you see her name followed by the number 11944. Or you can write a check made out to RCE International and send it to PO Box 4528, Wheaton, IL 60189. In the memo line of your check, put “Ministry Account 11944.”

This plea for support is not because Lara is my friend. It is because I believe God called her to Columbia for such a time as this. Who knows but God may work in her and through her to do a mighty work in that country? Who knows but this might be the start of a nationwide revival that goes global?

I don’t know. I do know that God honors those who honor him and blesses those who reach out to the least of these.

Lara, I will be praying for you every day while you’re away and believing in faith that you will be amazed and astounded at what God does not only in you but through you and around you. You gave Jesus a place to start and now He is getting ready to change the world through you and others like you.

Thank you for your friendship and your faithfulness to God’s calling on your life.