Lost in Translation

I just finished one of my projects for the year (nothing like last-minute work, heh?). Please visit our new seminary website:

Seminario Bautista de Colombia

Por favor visíte nuestro nuevo sitio web del Seminario Bautista de Colombia.

I finished about two weeks ago the biography on Jonathan Edwards by Ian Murray. Excellent and very interesting! My new goal is to start reading more of Edwards, seeing as I share his name, he is John Piper´s inspiration (Piper says he´s trying to be a 21st Century Edwards), and his theology is challenging to me.

A new guy at church loaned me Edward´s Religious Affections in Spanish, so I´ve started reading it. I was at the biggest Christian book warehouse in Bogotá today and noticed a whole section by the same publisher, called Faro de Gracia. They are publishing helpful Reformed books in Spanish, especially for pastors. What a blessing to see more and more good materials in Spanish!

Today started early at about 4:30 a.m. as Marcos woke me up. I got up, made some coffee (yes, I love Colombia!), and opened my new Bible (la Biblia de las Américas) to Jeremiah 24, where God says, "My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart" (NIV). I was thinking about how today was such a crucial day for our church. We were going to vote on whether to accept Daniel as the new pastor. I didn´t think there was much chance humanly speaking because I had talked to a member last night about the vote, and he said he wasn´t going because he didn´t feel peace about the selection process; you gotta love boycotts of church business meetings.

Things didn´t look promising at church as we got everything ready. José and I had done the count, and apparently we had the potential to have a quorum, but everyone we were planning on had to show up. During the break between Sunday School and church I noticed Alvaro who had not been able to be at church for a month. Blanca showed up, who had been gravely ill for about two months. God was at work!

When we started the meeting we ended up with one more person than the quorum we needed. Of 37 members we had a total of 27 people to vote (we needed 70% of the members to have the meeting). We ended up voting for Daniel with 22 votes in favor, for a percentage 81% in favor!

We also approved three deacons and the rest of the administrative committee.

Later we went to Bogotá to see our friends Nic and Megan and their 3 new adopted kids! They now have five, and in my opinion they are heroes. I´ve mentioned their blog before... check it out -- Colombian Brewed