3 July 2024 Update

Greetings! I hope everyone is doing well. I want to thank each of you for praying for the work God is among the displaced indigenous people here in Bogota. Please pray that the word of Christ would speed ahead and be honored, that the gospel would advance throughout the world unhindered, and that those who walk in darkness would see a great light. May we continue to proclaim the good news of our Lord to everyone we can so that others may come to find rest in Christ and full forgiveness in Him.

The majority my work in Bogota focuses on the thousands of displaced indigenous groups living in two parks and two shelters. About once a week, I visit each shelter. Once a week we visit those in the park just outside the city. And several times a week, I visit the park that’s a 20-minute walk from my apartment. They are living in poor conditions with a lot of people cramped into a small amount of space. We often help with some of their material needs. But our primary focus is sharing the gospel. We use Spanish and recorded material in Chamí or Katío, their indigenous languages.

In June, we had four summer missionaries–university students from Mississippi–come to help us with the indigenous in Bogota. They all did a wonderful job working with the indigenous in the parks and shelters. They provided an invaluable assistance to us in our work among the displaced. The first week they were here, we also had a team from Texas come in to do medical clinics in the parks which provided some medical to the indigenous as well as a lot of gospel seed sowing among them.

Continue to pray for the Wounaan and my visits with “Silas”. We are still studying through Mark together. Pray for the Wounaan church in Bogota and that many other Wounaan would come to faith.

Pray for my visits with “Mike,” a Puinave man and his family. Pray that his interest in the gospel would grow.

Pray for the ministry in Las Cruces. I haven’t been able to be as involved in that work as I used to be, but pray for this new church to grow and to reach that neighborhood with the gospel.

Please continue to pray for us to mobilize the churches in Bogota to see the need among the displaced and become more involved in the work. We are starting to see more involvement. But I would like to see more consistent involvement. I would like to see Colombian believers see the need, become trained in how to work among indigenous, and work faithfully to see the indigenous be evangelized. We have begun to see more interest and involvement. Pray for that to continue.

Pray for us to have wisdom and patience. Mission work takes time. We need persistence faithful work in gospel proclamation and building relationships with people. We need wisdom in how we spend our time and resources and how to clearly communicate the gospel. Thank you for your prayers. Prayer is an indispensable part of our work. Pray for us and for God to send out more laborers into the harvest. May God’s grace be with you all.

In 1 Timothy, Paul says he’s been entrusted with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God (1:11). A few verses later, he gives us a concise summary of the heart of that gospel: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Paul would entrust this gospel to Timothy (1:18). And missionaries today are entrusted to preach it today. This gospel is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. We must embrace it and proclaim it to others so that they may know that Jesus is indeed the savior of the world (Jn 4:42; 1 Jn 4:14).

Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He came to seek and save the lost (Lk 19:10). He came to live a life of perfect obedience for sinners, to die on the cross for sinners, to rise again victorious for sinners. He did what he did for sinners. He even came to save someone like Paul the foremost of sinners. Paul had been a blasphemer, a persecutor, a violent aggressor (1:13). Yet God lavishly poured out upon him His mercy and grace. He saves sinners. And Jesus will save any sinner who comes to Him (Jn 6:37). So we urge all sinners to look to Christ to be saved. That is the good news to which we have been entrusted.

The gospel message–that Christ came into the world to save sinners–will lead us to doxology. Paul writes a few verse later, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1:17). In the gospel, we see God’s glory–His righteousness, justice, love, mercy, grace, and patience. We are so overwhelmed by His kindness and goodness towards us that we are filled with gratitude and compelled to worship. May we proclaim Jesus as the savior of sinners, urging them to look to Him for salvation so that on that final day we will see people from every tribe, nation, ethnicity, and tongue worshiping the Lamb around the throne (Rev 5:9; 7:9).