Beginning Our Ministry

In September, we began diving into ministry. For Adriana that has meant homeschooling our four children. Adriana seeks to help the kids continue to improve their English reading skills and to develop across the board. As of now, we plan for them to attend a Peruvian school next year; the Peruvian school year runs March–December. Several things need to fall into place for that to happen—one school we liked does not have openings for all our kids. We are not stressing about that (yet), as we’ve learned that we often need to hold our plans somewhat lightly. It’s also possible that Adriana and the kids will fall in love with homeschool.

My role has a couple of parts. I serve full-time with a Peruvian seminary called Centros Teológicos Bautistas (CTB), where I am Professor of Old Testament and Academic Director. My first course on the poetical books of the Old Testament begins on October 19. I’m in the midst of researching for and designing this 8-week course. We closed registration early after 40 students signed up.

At the same time, I’m easing into the academic side of the job, meeting the team and faculty, and planning for the future. This seminary has the potential to bless a lot of people because of the great foundation they have built.

In addition to serving at the seminary, many other opportunities to preach, teach, and serve often present themselves. For example, on September 30, a Pentecostal church planted 49 years ago by the parents of a friend invited me to preach during their anniversary celebration (for extra credit, you can see the whole sermon here).

This church has planted somewhere between 5-10 other churches around Peru and even in Argentina. Every year on the same date they have a three-day “party” with three daily services, starting at 5 am and ending at 9 pm! They asked me to preach at one of the services, on the topic of “God’s protection during hard times.” Their passion, commitment, and energy, even on day three(!), filled me with energy and excitement for ministry. It was also fun to see how brothers and sisters in the faith worship differently. One example… after opening my sermon with a story, I said, “please pray with me.” I guess I meant that somewhat figuratively. But every single one of the people there immediately stood up and began praying out loud while I prayed on the mic. It was really cool to hear 400 people praying all together. Although it was a bit difficult to concentrate on my own words! That is how they pray every time!