Category Archives: Herald of Truth

Here’s what my life looks like right now. What’s yours like?

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So, Mr. Herald of Truth guy, how’s your work changed during these times of social distancing?

      • I’m not traveling. At all. Haven’t traveled since December, which is remarkable for me. I’ve traveled about 70,000 miles each of the past two years. Being home feels strange.
      • I’m doing tons of media work. That’s not a huge change, but there is an uptick.
      • My “studio” is now in the house. The quality is not as good. No two ways about it. But advances in technology have made “not as good” be high quality, nonetheless.
      • Lots of gaffes, though:
        • Record the video, then realize that there was no audio input.
        • Record the video using the phone, only to get notifications on the screen while recording.
        • Do a recording session with Bruno Valle via Internet, only to discover that I had the recorder set to an input that was empty. That means two 8-minute segments of silence.
        • Have the recorder shut off during said recording session because the memory card is full. But it was full of segments of silence, so the loss was relative.
        • Record video on iPad, only to realize that I spent the whole time looking at the wrong part of the iPad. Close-up shots look pretty silly when you’re looking to the side.
        • And on and on and on…
      • Work doesn’t always start at 8 nor end at 5. Not that it ever does. But now more than ever I’m likely to be working early or finishing a project late. Or I might take a break in the afternoon to sit outside and read a bit because I’m feeling the stress of the lack of routine.
      • Finding more “other” work coming up during the day, like things from church, or non-HoT ministry projects.
    • I get to eat lunch with my beautiful wife and see her during the day.

    Those are some of the changes for me. How’s life for you?

Church Inside Out seminars

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I’ve submitted my next book to 21st Century Christian, and we have a verbal agreement for its publication. That said, I’m not done with Church Inside Out. The material in that book reflects so many things that are important to me. I love having the chance to share that material with others.

I’m grateful to Herald of Truth ministry for making that possible. Any church that would like me to present the Church Inside Out seminar to their people can make that happen free of charge. The only costs to the church are my travel expenses; Herald of Truth covers the rest.

Church Inside Out is a practical workshop for the congregation that wants to increase its impact on the community around it. The material is presented in four sessions:

Session 1: The Church Inside
Christians face new challenges when trying to reach today’s changing society: hostility toward religion, skepticism toward the Bible, apathy toward church membership. Yet the biggest hurdles we face are often inside our own congregations.
In this first session, we will look at attitudes in our churches that distance us from the communities around us. We will also examine the role of Christians as ambassadors of the Kingdom.

Session 2: The World Outside
In this session, we will look at how to analyze the make-up of our community and how to purposefully serve that community. We will also discuss the need to develop relationships with non-Christians to be able to share Christ with them.

Session 3: The Church Goes Out
Conversion is a process, and church members need to know how to actively participate in every stage of that process. The third session will look at how to treat people who are at different points in their spiritual journey towards God. We’ll learn how to recognize when people are ready to hear the good news and how to share it with them.

Session 4: Outsiders No More
When foreigners come to a new country, they go through something called acculturation. This is the process of learning the appropriate ways of doing things in their new culture. When new Christians begin meeting with the church, they go through a similar process. The final session deals with how to help new Christians become active members of the church.

I hope to get the chance to present this material at your congregation!

Book distribution in Cuba, Part 5

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I want to finish telling you about the last trip I took for Herald of Truth, a dream trip to Cuba. Though I’ve been to Cuba 33 times, this last trip was special.

The first four installments of this account are here:
Book distribution in Cuba, Part 1
Book distribution in Cuba, Part 2
Book distribution in Cuba, Part 3
Book distribution in Cuba, Part 4

After leaving Jiguaní, we headed for Palma Soriano, in the province of Santiago. We hit our first major rainstorm of the trip just as we pulled into town. We picked up one of the local Christians, Bryan Gonzalez, who helped us find the church building. We thought the storm would affect the crowd, but if it did, you couldn’t tell. The place was packed, with people standing outside. Everyone participated attentively during the presentation.

Bryan and his family accompanied us to Santiago. The rainstorm continued, and we discovered that there was a large fair going on in the main square downtown; because of this, we had to walk the last few blocks to our hotel.

The church in Santiago had requested permission to use a large concert hall (Sala Dolores) for Sunday’s event. The government approved the request. It was the first time the church in Santiago had been able to use a major public facility like this.

It was an amazing time. Christians from churches throughout the province gathered to fill the hall. The facility was constructed with choral music in mind, so the singing sounded fantastic. All in all, it was a wonderful capstone event for my trip to Cuba.

SPECIAL REQUEST: I’m not in the habit of asking for money on this blog, but I’m going to break that policy. We’d like to print and distribute more books in Cuba. The churches were very encouraged by what we did, and other congregations are clamoring for us to visit them and hold similar events. If you could give to Herald of Truth and mark your gift “Cuba Literature Distribution,” it would mean a lot to me and the Christians in Cuba. Thanks!

Book distribution in Cuba, Part 4

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Last month, I got to make a special trip to Cuba. It was my 33rd time there, but the first time that I got to visit churches in many of the central and eastern provinces. Working with our Herald of Truth representative in Cuba, Tony Fernández, I was able to print and distribute 2000 copies of the Lea La Biblia (Read The Bible) book I published last year. It was an exciting trip for me, one that Tony and I have dreamed of for years.

I told you last time of our visits to the provinces of Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey, and Las Tunas. From Las Tunas, we traveled to Holguín. Several congregations had gathered in the home of Alexander, one of the preachers. I had flown into the airport in Holguín several years ago, but had never visited the city nor the churches that meet there.

From there we continued on to the province of Granma. That had special significance for me. After 13 years, I’ve finally visited all of the provinces of Cuba. I dearly love the people of that island and have been blessed by so many of them.

We went to Bayamo, the capital city of the province. The church of Christ there is very small, so the preacher asked a local Pentecostal church to loan them their building. That church also invited its members to come to the event, and other churches of Christ from the province traveled in for the event, so we had a combined crowd of about 300. They had people in the balcony and standing on the sidewalk outside.

We had some singing before I spoke; let’s just say it was livelier than what you’d experience at most churches of Christ! The teaching time went very well, and everyone seemed to appreciate receiving the books.

The next morning we traveled to the small town of Jiguaní. This church at one time received support from the United States, but has been on its own for a while. They would love to have visits again, whether or not people can bring funds. It’s a small church in a rural area, faithfully serving God.

There was a large group of kids, so Tony took them aside for a class so that the adults could study.

There were several baptisms afterwards. It was the first time I’d seen a constructed vertical baptistery. I’ve seen people use barrels, but this one was made from cement.

It was a really encouraging morning.

I’ve got two more stops to tell you about, but I’ll leave off here for now. Thanks for reading!

SPECIAL REQUEST: I’m not in the habit of asking for money on this blog, but I’m going to break that policy. We’d like to print and distribute more books in Cuba. The churches were very encouraged by what we did, and other congregations are clamoring for us to visit them and hold similar events. If you could give to Herald of Truth and mark your gift “Cuba Literature Distribution,” it would mean a lot to me and the Christians in Cuba. Thanks!

Book distribution in Cuba, Part 3

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I want to continue to tell you about my last Herald of Truth trip to Cuba, where I traveled with Tony Fernández across the interior of the island, encouraging churches and distributing copies of the Lea La Biblia book I published earlier this year.

I last told you about being with the church in Sancti Spiritus. From there we traveled to Guayacanes (Ciego de Ávila province), where we met with a small church in a rural setting. Kadir Munguía has worked with this little congregation for a number of years. Again, it’s not easy to get much of a group out on a weekday morning, but we had a pretty good gathering nonetheless.


We then traveled on into the city of Ciego de Ávila, where Kadir and his brother Guillermo work with the main congregation in that town. Like in most places, Christians from several places came in for the event. There were several baptisms afterwards.

The next morning we traveled to Camagüey, where Laudino Cruz preaches. The place was already full with members from several congregations, when Laudino commented that there were two more buses coming! We didn’t realize they also had an upstairs area where they put people. Afterwards, there were a couple of baptisms.

That evening we were with the church in Las Tunas. This congregation has had a hard time, with the leading preacher leaving the faith a few years ago, later being killed in a traffic accident. This man’s family has continued to work with the church, building the congregation back up after the tragedy. It was good to be with them.

There’s more to tell, it was quite a trip. But that’s enough for today.
SPECIAL REQUEST: I’m not in the habit of asking for money on this blog, but I’m going to break that policy. We’d like to print and distribute more books in Cuba. The churches were very encouraged by what we did, and other congregations are clamoring for us to visit them and hold similar events. If you could give to Herald of Truth and mark your gift “Cuba Literature Distribution,” it would mean a lot to me and the Christians in Cuba. Thanks!