Category Archives: Herald of Truth

Trip to Guatemala

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI spent this past weekend in Guatemala City, on a trip for Herald of Truth Ministries. It was my first time in Guatemala, and I was impressed with what I saw of the church there.

Steve Ridgell traveled with me. Rigoberto Vargas, who is Herald of Truth’s field representative in Central America, met us there. Our local contact is Roberto Alvarez, a local minister who is director of the BICA preacher training school in Guatemala.Roberto Alvarez, left; me in the center; Rigoberto Vargas, right

It was a great weekend. We visited radio stations on Friday, as well as the local Bible society. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOn Saturday, Steve, Rigoberto and I spoke to the students at BICA, then Steve and I spoke to a married couples’ dinner that night at one of the churches. Steve preached Sunday morning at the downtown (Centro Histórico) church, while I was at the Pinares congregation. Then I spoke to the downtown group that evening.

Busy time. Got a lot done. Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

To any who have given to support Herald of Truth, let me say “Thank you” for making this possible. It’s a blessing to me to be able to devote my time to ministry.

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2013 Men’s Conference in Cuba

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Tony at conferenceLast week I was in Cuba on behalf of Herald of Truth Ministries, along with my coworkers, Steve Ridgell and Larry Sanders. We were mainly there to visit our representative, Tony Fernández, and we also participated in the XIII National Preachers Conference in Matanzas.

It was a good week, with a mixture of visiting some of the dozens of house churches that Tony and his coworkers have planted, worshiping with the Versalles church in Matanzas, leading a midweek service at the Los Mangos congregation and speaking at the conference.baptism

We also got to spend time with Juan Monroy, which is always good. Juan and Tony have worked with Herald of Truth longer than any of the rest of us, Juan for over 40 years and Tony for 18 years. God has used them to lead thousands of people to become Christians. It’s always an honor for me to get to spend time with these instruments of God.

Hope you had a great week. With no Internet access, I fall behind on the memes and rumors of memes; I’ll get back into a blogging rhythm little by little.

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Seminar on Long Island

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Herald of Truth logoI just had a wonderful weekend on Long Island. No, it’s not really the time of year to visit the Hamptons. I was there for Herald of Truth, holding a “Christ and Culture” seminar at the Roosevelt-Freeport Church of Christ, then teaching Bible class and preaching for the East End church of Christ in East Hampton, NY.

The seminar at the Roosevelt church was actually a gathering of Hispanic church leaders from the area. There were representatives from seven different congregations, about 60 people in all. It was the first time I had done the “Christ and Culture” seminar in Spanish. Everyone seemed pleased with the material, and I felt good about how it went.

On Sunday, they were having a joint meeting between the East End congregation and a Hispanic congregation from Riverhead, NY. Everything was done bilingually. After doing that regularly for over 10 years, it’s surprising to see how many people are amazed at how smoothly it can go. Done right, bilingual worship does not interrupt the flow of the service.

As it has been the last few weeks, travel was a bit interesting. Going up there, it was mechanical problems. We left Dallas 90 minutes late, causing me to miss the 3:30 flight to Long Island. The next flight they could get me on was at 10:00 p.m.

Coming home, it was the weather. Actually, I expected things to be worse. I was only about an hour late getting home. The rides were bumpy, but nothing too bad.

It’s always great to be with brothers and sisters in different areas. Then it’s always good to return home again.

Seminar at Brooks Avenue

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859499_10151318165338191_1846126711_oI was privileged to be with the Brooks Avenue Church of Christ in Raleigh, North Carolina, this past weekend. They invited me to come and present the “Christ and Culture” seminar that I do as part of my work with Herald of Truth. I’ve talked about doing such seminars in the past… but this time I’ve got pictures to prove it. Here’s a few:

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Ok, so I talk with my hands.

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Technology was extremely helpful this time. I used an iPad to control the presentation that was running on my laptop. Allowed me to see the slides as well as some notes.

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Some of the material that I present during the seminar is from Ray Vander Laan’s www.followtherabbi.com.

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I presented the final session during morning worship on Sunday. That meant that I had to take a 45 minute session and present it in 25 minutes. Talking fast is good for the soul!

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I told some friends on Facebook that every preacher secretly dreams of having Michael J. Fox playing guitar behind them as they preach. I used some still photos from “Back To The Future” to make a point about contextualization.

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I hope that everyone took away that main point. As Christians, we are foreigners and aliens in this world, but we’re not mere refugees… we’re on a diplomatic mission!

Trips to California and El Salvador

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Well, it’s been a busy month for travel. After returning from Argentina, I had the privilege of traveling to Sanger, California, to present a “Christ and Culture” seminar on behalf of Herald of Truth. The Sanger congregation is a healthy one, and they were very interested in the material I was presenting. It’s always fun to teach a group that’s interested in learning.

Last week, Steve Ridgell and I traveled to San Salvador, El Salvador. Herald of Truth is doing a media project there, and we went to help with an evangelistic campaign as part of the project. Twelve different congregations held simultaneous meetings, then came together for a combined worship service on Sunday.

I’m doing two radio programs that are currently airing in San Salvador: Lea La Biblia, the 15-minute program I’ve done for years, is on once a week on a Christian station there; and Esperanza Para La Vida, a two-and-a-half-minute spot aimed at outsiders, airs Monday through Friday on a large, national radio station. We were able to be interviewed on three stations during the days we were there, discussing the programs and inviting people to the activities held that weekend.

Over 40 people began Bible studies while we were there. There were several baptisms. The combined service, which was planned for about 500 people, had 750 in attendance. The radio programs have a growing listenership, both among church members and non-Christians. All in all, we were very pleased with what the church there has been able to do with the tools we provided them.