Tonight we will have the last classes in the counseling course. We have had over thirty people each night with a high of almost 50. Tonight we will have the final exam, a role play counseling session and some students will present their sermon/lesson outlines for an assignment. Saturday will be a day of rest. We will do a little touristing and shopping.
Sunday we will be in two churches with both of us teaching a Sunday School class and I will be preaching in the morning service. In the afternoon we will go to another church and I will be preaching there as well. On Monday Joan will have a two hour ladies' meeting and will be presenting her testimony and a Bible lesson. She is writing it out in Spanish, and there will be a translator pesent, but the translator is new at it and shy about doing it.
Tuesday we will leave for home and the weather looks good.
Please pray:
For the classes and preaching
For continued health
That the ministry shared will continue in the hearts of the people
That the tranfer from Newark airport to JFK will go well
Pastor Farley
Friday, February 6, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Pastor and Joan in the Dominican Republic
We arrived safely late Friday evening and were met at the airport by our hosts, the Mejias. A little more than an hour later, we arrived at their home in Hato Mayor in the highlands and crawled into bed at about 2:00 a.m.
Saturday was a relatively quiet day. We slept until 8:00 and spent the morning and afternoon getting to know our host family. Enrique Mejia, who is in charge of the Bible school where Charlie is teaching this week, is well versed in English. He and Charlie have spent hours tossing ideas back and forth and sharing insights from Greek and Hebrew. His wife, Solanlly (pronounced So-lahn-yee) is a gracious, godly hostess. They gave up their bedroom for us and have made us feel at home. Their seven-year-old daughter has been a joy to us.
Saturday afternoon, Charlie was interviewed on local television. That evening he preached in a youth rally attended by about 30 young people. One of the invited churches was unable to attend because their bus experienced electrical problems.
Yesterday Pastor Elio picked us up and drove us to a Miches, a town on the north coast where he is planting a church. We spent the morning visiting church members and prospects and then ate lunch together. At 2:00 we had Sunday School for about ten children and at 3:00 church began. There were 14 people in the (only) room, including us. We arrived back in Hato Mayor at about 6:45 and were picked up at about 6:50 to go to another church where Charlie preached again.
Today we became a little better acquainted with this city of 40,000 by walking around for about an hour. In the morning, Charlie helped Enrique wrestle with the computer to produce the notes for the course in Spanish. Tonight the class on Biblical Counseling began with 49 students in attendance. Eight of them were pastors. Some are students preparing for the pastorate. Others were church leaders or their wives. The lessons were well received; the students attentive; and we are looking forward to tomorrow.
Please pray for clarity for Charlie in presenting the lessons, for the students to understand the material, for the assignments and exams to be an accurate evaluation of the students' understanding of the material. Please pray also for our hosts. Enrique is a very busy man with many responsibilities, and his wife has had some health issues.
Saturday was a relatively quiet day. We slept until 8:00 and spent the morning and afternoon getting to know our host family. Enrique Mejia, who is in charge of the Bible school where Charlie is teaching this week, is well versed in English. He and Charlie have spent hours tossing ideas back and forth and sharing insights from Greek and Hebrew. His wife, Solanlly (pronounced So-lahn-yee) is a gracious, godly hostess. They gave up their bedroom for us and have made us feel at home. Their seven-year-old daughter has been a joy to us.
Saturday afternoon, Charlie was interviewed on local television. That evening he preached in a youth rally attended by about 30 young people. One of the invited churches was unable to attend because their bus experienced electrical problems.
Yesterday Pastor Elio picked us up and drove us to a Miches, a town on the north coast where he is planting a church. We spent the morning visiting church members and prospects and then ate lunch together. At 2:00 we had Sunday School for about ten children and at 3:00 church began. There were 14 people in the (only) room, including us. We arrived back in Hato Mayor at about 6:45 and were picked up at about 6:50 to go to another church where Charlie preached again.
Today we became a little better acquainted with this city of 40,000 by walking around for about an hour. In the morning, Charlie helped Enrique wrestle with the computer to produce the notes for the course in Spanish. Tonight the class on Biblical Counseling began with 49 students in attendance. Eight of them were pastors. Some are students preparing for the pastorate. Others were church leaders or their wives. The lessons were well received; the students attentive; and we are looking forward to tomorrow.
Please pray for clarity for Charlie in presenting the lessons, for the students to understand the material, for the assignments and exams to be an accurate evaluation of the students' understanding of the material. Please pray also for our hosts. Enrique is a very busy man with many responsibilities, and his wife has had some health issues.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
You finally were the one to go Selma.
For my eight years as pastor Selma Ferris has responded to every death in the church with "I should have been the one to go!". Last week she finally went home to be with her Lord. This was the deepest longing of her heart. She loved her family, her friends and her church. She diligently used the time He gave her on this earth to labor in prayer and witness for him. When she would ask "Why didn't He take me instead?" We all knew the reason.
WHBC has lost a great prayer warrior. It has also lost an example of how to live the Christian life. Selma was saved in her forties through the wordless book. Her Bible was underlined, circled, dated with the dates of classes and messages, and most of all well read. She "encouraged" her children and grandchildren in their devotions, and that encouragement was fortified by positive and negative consequences. She was burdened for the lost of the whole world and over her sixty years of earthly service to the Lord she prayed for scores of missionaries and laboured to see her family make professions of faith. She was a hard worker despite not being in good health for much of middle age. She hated to be idle and was often crocheting, praying or reading her Bible.
Some have called her a giant, and in many ways she was. But the Bible never speaks well of giants, their accomplishments are credited to their strength. Selma would never want to take the credit, she would want it to go to her Lord, and so it does.
WHBC has lost a great prayer warrior. It has also lost an example of how to live the Christian life. Selma was saved in her forties through the wordless book. Her Bible was underlined, circled, dated with the dates of classes and messages, and most of all well read. She "encouraged" her children and grandchildren in their devotions, and that encouragement was fortified by positive and negative consequences. She was burdened for the lost of the whole world and over her sixty years of earthly service to the Lord she prayed for scores of missionaries and laboured to see her family make professions of faith. She was a hard worker despite not being in good health for much of middle age. She hated to be idle and was often crocheting, praying or reading her Bible.
Some have called her a giant, and in many ways she was. But the Bible never speaks well of giants, their accomplishments are credited to their strength. Selma would never want to take the credit, she would want it to go to her Lord, and so it does.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
WHBC's Got Talent!
If you missed the talent night you missed some great fun. Jerry Burns and Mark Frost MC'd with a steady patter of one liners and funny stories. Musical numbers were mixed in with comedy and a poetry reading to make for a very enjoyable time. We even had a juggler!
After the talent dessert seemed like an anti-climax (and you know how well I like cherry pie and ginger cookies :)
I am looking forward to seeing this on the schedule again, and seeing more of the hidden talents in our church family, and hopefully we will see some of that talent used in ministry during the coming year.
After the talent dessert seemed like an anti-climax (and you know how well I like cherry pie and ginger cookies :)
I am looking forward to seeing this on the schedule again, and seeing more of the hidden talents in our church family, and hopefully we will see some of that talent used in ministry during the coming year.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Why I am sold on Sunday Afternoon Visitation
We have had a Sunday afternoon visitation in each of the past three months. In each of those months the Lord has done something as a result.
The first visitation resuted in a fair contact starting to attend the church.
The second visitation resulted in a man asking the Lord to save him, and has been attending since.
Yesterday in the evening service a man was lead to the Lord during the service. Now this man's profession was not directly related to visitation, as the previous two events were, but I believe that the Lord will reward WHBC for our efforts to reach out with the gospel. Even if we do not see direct results from visitation ministries I believe strongly the Lord will give us "souls for our hire".
I want to thank all those who have gone out to visit, even in the cold and snow, and encourage others to make plans to be there next month on the third Sunday!
The first visitation resuted in a fair contact starting to attend the church.
The second visitation resulted in a man asking the Lord to save him, and has been attending since.
Yesterday in the evening service a man was lead to the Lord during the service. Now this man's profession was not directly related to visitation, as the previous two events were, but I believe that the Lord will reward WHBC for our efforts to reach out with the gospel. Even if we do not see direct results from visitation ministries I believe strongly the Lord will give us "souls for our hire".
I want to thank all those who have gone out to visit, even in the cold and snow, and encourage others to make plans to be there next month on the third Sunday!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Happy New Year!
Joan and I want to wish all of you a happy and spiritually prosperous New Year. Our house will still be open for New Year's Eve. I know the weather will be a challenge for some, but for those that feel comfortable driving we will be here and ready to pray in the New Year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
