Mission Possible

CEC'S MISSION:

To provide and facilitate access to biblical training, empowering and equipping servant-leaders to proclaim the Gospel with an emphasis on discipleship for the edification of the Church of Christ. 

One of our central focusses in the school is to provide access to biblical training specifically for those who for various reasons have not had the opportunity for further biblical preparation.  Time and time again I am blown away at the passion that many have in Mexico to serve God with all of their hearts, giving freely of their lives to serve the people in their communities; though, as seems to be the case everywhere, there is always a need for more people, there are so many who are serving God wholeheartedly.  If there is a greater need, it is to provide an opportunity to be further grounded in the Word so that they can be even more effective in their ministry.  This was the vision for and the mission of CEC right from the beginning.

This mission is what leads us to places like the small town we visited last week in the centrally located state of Michoacan.  Missionaries have been working with the local indigenous people for a number of years, establishing churches in the area, and we were able to see some of the fruits of those labours, also hearing stories about the hardships they have had to endure working in very closed  environments.  In a town such as the one we visited, sharing the Gospel has come up against some very strong barriers because the habitants of the town jealously guard their own culture, even to the extent of not allowing outside people to move in and live there simply because they had not grown up there.  But through perseverance, and by God's grace, a church has been established in this town.  We got the chance to meet with the young man, Isidro, who comes from the town and has stepped up to the role of pastoring this young church.  Our hosts, Pete and Cathy, missionaries who are doing a wonderful job at helping the work in this area, shared their burden of seeing this young man and his wife go to CEC to help further their ministry in this little town.  

Pastor Isidro (in the middle) together with his family

Our goal in CEC is to reach specifically people such as Pastor Isidro and others like him who are serving God and haven't had the opportunity for any biblical training whether the reasons be for funding (many Bible schools in Mexico are quite expensive) or for reasons of time (many programs running anywhere from 2 to 4 years).  The economic situation in this small communities is often tough and the commitment even to get away for the 14-week program we offer is a significant amount of time.  So we continue to pray for people like this family as we go out on the road making new connections like these.  Our goal in the future is also to do some on-the-road training so that we can be of further encouragement, especially in these more remote areas.  It's neither mission impossible nor mission accomplished but one in which we constantly see God moving and are excited to see how He will continue to do so.

Please keep praying for potential students!  We know that the investment that they make in getting away for those 14 weeks is always worth it.  Also, if you are interested in helping to support the school (which in turn helps keep the costs stay minimal for those who enrol), please let me know - I'd be glad to share more about those ongoing needs.  Thanks for your continued prayers!  In this "off-season" we continue to visit, promote, and plan, preparing for this coming school season.  ¡Dios les bendiga!

Greener on the Other Side

You've all thought it before, "Maybe it is greener on the other side..." Well, in this case, it kind of is the case... Did you know that, when referring to the US from within Mexico (at least, northern Mexico), it's often referred to as "the other side," (el otro lado, as in the other side of the border.) So, in referring to Canada, I'm on the other side of the other side, and yes, as you can tell from the picture below, it definitely is greener on the other side (of the other side...) than the Sonoran desert I left behind just the other day.

A LOOK BACKWARDS

The past couple of months since school finished in April, has been a time of getting back into a regular routine (whatever "regular" means...), planning for the coming school year and making new recruitment connections for CEC, among the other extra-CEC activities including being a part of the worship team at SCCC (San Carlos Community Church), continuing to work on some online Briercrest courses, and other opportunities as they arise. In a sense, this time is a bit of recuperation time from the intensity of the CEC course, as well as a preparation for what is to come. This coming year in particular has some very exciting things coming up.

A LOOK FORWARDS

In particular, we at CEC are excited about partnering together with a missionary we have known for a long time who has worked with an indigenous people group in Mexico and has had on his heart the desire to train Mexican missionaries for the work of cross-cultural missions here in Mexico. Beginning at the end of September through to the beginning of December, a training program (run similar to how CEC is run though with a specific missions focus) will run out of CEC's facility. I am looking forward to helping out where I can and will be doing some teaching together with a number of people who have had experience in missions. It's exciting to see what the first time around will hold as there are already a number of excited prospective students. Consiervos is the name of the program, or "Fellow Servants." The first part of the training consists of the above mentioned class-room training and will be followed by a one-year internship program where students will be mentored on the field in different missions around Mexico. Pray for the staff involved and for students whom God would have come this coming September!

Also exciting for us as staff at CEC is the first offering of the 2nd year program. To be clear we actually aren't going to call it "2nd year" but rather "followup" or "seguimiento", the reason being that this has nothing to do with levels but rather just continuing on in being faithful in the call to discipleship, both in being and in making disciples. One never really "arrives" or graduates at being a disciple, rather we just continue on in our call, (hopefully!) growing and maturing in the process. This is what we want to convey to the students, along with the fact that we too continue to be on this process together with them.

The followup program will run from March through April, 8 weeks in length, corresponding with the final 8 weeks of the 14-week program we currently offer. This has brought with it a fair bit of additional planning, and also will make an already-intense 14 weeks that much more intense, but it will be very exciting to see this finally come to fruition. It has been something that we've talked about for years and it seems that the pieces are fitting into place to make it happen (and happen well) this coming year.

So, that leaves me at the present, enjoying some cooler temperatures (and greener landscapes) in Manitoba. This is perhaps the calm before the storm, being able to get away for a bit and spend time with my home Church, family, and friends in Manitoba. Please don't hesitate to look me up! I'll be here through until the middle of August and would love to connect. Thanks for your prayers and please continue to pray for the new ventures coming up throughout the rest of this year and into the next. God bless each one of you! ¡Dios les bendiga!

God is in the details

You're probably familiar with the phrase, "the devil is in the details..." especially if you're the one putting the plans together! Often things aren't as simple as they may seem and hidden surprises spring up out of nowhere in those details never imagined. Yet for a Christian, it seems all too often that it's in the details where God shows up. Sometimes they are called "coincidences" yet how many coincidences does it take until something can no longer be called a coincidence??

Yesterday was one of the days full of "coincidences" where God continued to show up in the details. We set out early in the morning, myself together with one set of my adopted Mexican parents (Omar & Christina whom a number of you have had the privilege to meet) for a town about 200km from San Carlos, up the coast, called Bahía de Kino. Omar & Christian had lived there a number of years ago and they wanted to take me there to find and meet some pastors with the purpose of sharing the vision of the school, something that we are wanting to do more intentionally this year, especially closer to home, here in the state of Sonora. We hit the road with no particular destination other than arriving specifically at this town, to ask around for the local churches and meet the pastors.

On the way we passed through a small town, maybe 500 people or so and decided to ask around for a local evangelical congregation. "Coincidentally," the first person we saw "happened" to be the nephew of the pastor and pointed across the street from the store he was at to the pastor's house. The pastor, "happened" to know one of our teachers well who lived less than an hour away and belong to the denomination (Calvary Chapel) of one of our other teachers, also knowing him well. So after sharing a little about "this school in San Carlos," the connections were quickly made to the people we had in common, and as it turned out he had already been to one of our conferences a couple of years back at CEC. It indeed is a small world.

Receiving some direction from this pastor, we arrived at our destination and located a pastor of the same denomination who obviously knew very well the same teacher who has taught with us over the years. We also sought out the church Omar & Christina had been apart of many years ago only to find the pastor who is in charge now is the brother-in-law of the person whom they knew from many years ago. A careful review of the history and a catching up of where every is and has been serving then took place over a cup of coffee. This was then followed up by a visit to another pastor who, as it turns out, knows well not only our director, but the founder of our mission (BMSLA), and had been a part of a church plant where one of our other teachers is now the full-time pastor. (If I've lost you, you now have a thorough understanding of how the mennonite game works!)

All of this to say that, God often shows up in these details, having worked things out long before, and as we just move forward in obedience, we find that He has put things together in ways that only He can. It's neat to make these connections and be able to share first hand with these pastors the vision for CEC, and to see their enthusiasm for the opportunities that CEC provides. It seems to happen more often than not that we as Christians, no matter how close or far they may live away, we find that we are all connected, not just spiritually, but even our paths form this spider-web of connections that only God can and continues to weave together.

I suppose in one sense we may have "failed" at making new connections, but we were in every way encouraged knowing that God had led us to the people we needed to meet. We rejoice in these connections that are "re-discovered" and strengthened as we work together for the same goal, serving the same God. It's still early, but we are thinking about and praying for the next group of students for 2020. We plan for a maximum of 15 students for the first year course, and an additional 10 for the followup course (which will be the first time it is offered.)

Thanks for your prayers and continue to pray not only for the students who recently returned to their homes but those over the years who have been faithfully serving the Lord following their time at CEC. Pray also for those who may be discouraged and for those who are not walking faithfully with the Lord at this time.

!Dios les bendiga!