Two weeks ago, Dr. Jeff Iorg, the president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary visited our Seminary here in Mexico for our 110th anniversary. We also had some meetings to see how the two Seminaries can work together. He wrote a few things about his visit to Mexico on his blog.
You can check it out on the Photosynth website, too.
Yesterday was a busy day! August 27, 2003, we packed up our 7 suitcases and moved to Mexico to begin training youth workers in Latin America. 8 Years have passed so fast! A lot has happened since then–our family has grown and our ministry has seen some great things happen. We also have a lot more stuff.
Yesterday was also the end of the first certificate course of the year. We had the students at the house for lunch. It was also the opening service for the Seminary’s school year. We are looking forward to classes being in session again. It’s been a while since Dennis has taught, and he’s ready to get back into the classroom.
Here’s a quick picture from the service yesterday. The pastor of First Baptist Church of Satelite preached about stepping out of your comfort zone and making history. That is exactly what God called us to do 8 years ago, and it is what He keeps calling us to do today.
The academic dean of the Seminary asked me to help organize an event with his youth group and another group from another church. I thought it would be fun to teach them how to play Bunko. That proved to be quite a challenge. I think they had more fun playing basketball than playing Bunko, but the purpose was for them to get to know each other better, so I think Bunko worked out well.
Continue Reading…
Last Saturday we celebrated the 4th graduation of youth ministry students at the Mexican Baptist Theological Seminary. Juan Roman Jacinto graduated with his Bachelor’s degree in youth ministry. He also received a YMI certification, meaning that he has proven that he can put into practice what he has learned in the classroom. Juan will be opening a diploma in youth ministry extension on the coast of Oaxaca starting in August.
We also graduated our first 3 graduates with a diploma in youth ministry. These three have taken 9 youth ministry courses on Saturday mornings and completed the coursework necessary to receive a certificate, or diploma in youth ministry. They are all very active in their local church youth ministries and in the lives of young people throughout the week. This program was started two years ago to satisfy the needs of those who cannot attend Seminary classes full time but need youth ministry training.
The graduation at the Seminary was a great time for our family. We enjoyed being able to participate in the entire thing, now that we live directly on campus. The boys were able to play with their friends and we stayed for the banquet. We are very proud of all the graduates from the Seminary (there were 6 overall bachelor’s degree students). Many of them have taken youth ministry classes as electives and have become our friends. We will be sad to see them go, but we know that God has great things in store for them in their ministries.
Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the numbers game when it comes to ministries. Seminaries are not immune to this problem. The first few years at the Mexican Baptist Theological Seminary were rough times for the youth ministry program. After having three students enter the first year to study youth ministry, two of them dropped out. Numbers were not what we had hoped. But we’ve learned a lot since then.
This video of Dr. Elmer Towns says it best. He is talking about leading Liberty University to be the largest Christian University in the world and about his thoughts on the greatness of the Seminary. I especially like what he says here (see clip), “The Greatness of a Seminary is not in the number of students you have. The greatness of a Seminary is what they do for God once they graduate.”
I’m excited to see what our graduates do for God after they graduate from the Seminary.
Check out the entire video here:
Furlough, or “home assignment” is a time for a missionary family to get to do some things that they don’t necessarily get to do while on the mission field. Yesterday was one of those days.
We’ve been Tampa Bay Rays fans since they came into the Major Leagues, and this year, they are playing really well. So I decided to take Nathan to his first baseball game yesterday. We got some cheap tickets on StubHub and took off for the day.
Our tickets were 2 rows behind the wall in left-center field, and every Sunday at Tropicana Field, they have Family Fun Days, with all sorts of fun things for families with kids to do. They also happened to be giving out Super Hero Capes (which is why Nathan wanted to go, I think).
So, we ate peanuts, got a foot long hot dog, ate some Carvel ice cream, and watched baseball. It was fun to hang out with my big guy all day.
