Friday, June 17, 2011

Ebag complete!

Just have to figure out how to bag things.  Good thing I have my digital scale to make sure I don't go over the 50 lb limits.

A big THANK YOU to my ebag sponsors!

  • Mike and Judy Cramer
  • The Sandovals--Sam, Dalila, Edgar & Maria
  • Kids of Heaventrain
  • Wendell & Vivian Kizzee
  • Darlene Johnson (Both your wheeled duffled bag came in handy)

Yep,  the Central kids of CLE  took up an offering for my little ole ebag.

A true example of Mathew 25. . .

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
   34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
   37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
   40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
   41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
   44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
   45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
   46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Friday, June 10, 2011

From the Dark. . .

In the early '90s, a war raged in Colombia between two competing drug cartels. Born of this violence, Felix Vargas knows no emotion, and is trained to be a killer. 

Vargas killed his first person at age 15.  His second victim was a girl who was attempting to assassinate him. After working for the Colombian military, trained by U.S. Green Berets and Navy Seals, Vargas found himself working against cocaine trafficker Pablo Escobar.  At one time,  Escobar was said to control 80 percent of the cocaine that traveled into the U.S. He was named by Fortune and Forbes magazines as one of the top 10 richest people in the world.  

When caught handling drugs, he is sentenced to seven years in a Miami prison, Felix's world begins to change as one person shows him Christ's love. When deported back to Columbia, he embarks on a journey from dark to light.


From the Dark from Global Communications on Vimeo.
Also available to download form nazarenemedia.org
Those times have changed, Felix and Lilliana  have 3 three children and are  global missionaries for the church of the Nazarene in Paraguay.  Extreme Paraguay is a partnership between Felix Vargas and Extreme Nazarene Ministries to jump-start an effort to plant 12 churches of 1000 in the capital city of Asuncion using short term volunteers and 5 pairs of 40/40 long term missionaries.
This film was shot on location at Felix's home church Casa De Oracion in Cali, Colombia with a cast of more than 40 people. The film won a 2007 Gold Davey Award, an international award honoring the creative media work of small firms worldwide. The team has received dozens of responses testifying to the story’s transformative potential.

World Mission Communications (WMC) distributed the short film free on DVD to more than 5,000 Nazarene churches in North America in the Fall of 2007.  The film was distributed throughout Latin America in the spring of 2008.
 

“We’ve had people write in and say it started a prayer movement in their church,” said Lee Rudeen, cinematographer. One church reported showing From the Dark in a drug rehab program to help addicted people see they have hope, Anderson added.

A missionary wrote, “We had a showing on Wednesday and nine accepted Christ. This is really an impactful testimony.” Also, a public school teacher requested a DVD to show troubled children in his classroom. 


From the Dark DVDs may still available. Write to info@fromthedarkfilm.com or call 816-333-7000, ext. 2285 for details. The DVD includes discussion questions and ideas for how to use the film in settings such as classes, small groups, fellowship times, and Wednesday evening services.
Length - 23 min.
Produced by Global Communications in 2008

webite 

Monday, June 6, 2011

Pics have arrived! Introducing . . .


Chuck Bunch is the Team leader and Vincent & Alyson Cork are the Coordinators for the Cali Team.  It's cool to see the Tibbs as part of the team.  The last time I saw them was when they visited our church for Extreme Argentina and that was two kids ago!  : )

Don't forget to keep everything in your prayers.  Check the last post for the most recent requests!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

My First Webcast!

 I finally got to "meet" my team today!

On Sunday 12:45pm PST (CALIFORNIA), 2:45pm CST (COLOMBIA & PERU), 3:45pm EST (OHIO) will all gathered together.   Some around a big screen at church(CALIFORNIA) and some around our computer screens. Together Extreme Colombia 5 obtained the details on the project and had the chance to ask any questions we had via a webcast.

All we had to do was first get all the time zones figured which our fearless leader, Alyson Cork helped with. Once the time was set, we turned on our computers and went to the URL, http://www.ustream.tv/. We then searched for Extreme Colombia 5 using the search box found at the top of the computer.

We then muted our computer (Commercials--yuck) and called a phone number.

Took a while for everyone to logged into the conference call and then to tweak the Ustream software so we could see everyone but we did it.

Interested in seeing what we did? Check out the uploaded video by clicking here or watch it in the player below.



Soon I will be boarding a jet plan bound for California and finally stopping in Colombia.

A big Thank you to my ebag sponsors:

Mike and Judy Cramer!

Time is running out if you were thinking about supporting me by purchasing something from my ebag list.  I need all materials donated for my ebag by June 12.  This will provide me with enough time to collect the materials myself and to pack them.  Would love to have you join me in my adventure through your participation in my ebag!

Prayer is also appreciated!  Current prayer requests are:

  • Vincent & Alyson are having Visa problems.  They are currently in Ecuador,  so please pray that the Lord will intervene so they can be in Colombia by the time we are there.
  • Ebag materials to arrive and for the packing parties that will be occurring in a week and half.
  • God's anointing on the meetings between Pastora and Vincent/Alyson as they discuss the technology issue for video conferencing of the Tuesday prayer times at the Cali Church each Tuesday from 4 to 6 am central time and for the details of the real time collaboration of the prayer time with Bedford Church of the Nazarene on June 28.
  • Pray for  the many people coming together to supply the needs in the field through donations to our ebags as well as donations to the project itself.
  • Pray that God will guide each of us as we cross geographical & cultural barriers and find hearts ready to receive the Word of God.
  • Pray that God opens doors for ministry, partnership and friendship.
  • Pray that we would be guided by the Holy Spirit and be able to recognize opportunities.

I thank my God every time I remember you.  In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now" Philippians 1:3-5 (NIV).

Thank you for praying!
Sharron