Category Archives: Herald of Truth

Juan Antonio Monroy

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Let’s hold off on the website advice until next week… everybody’s got their mind on holiday stuff right now. I thought I’d mention that Juan Monroy was here in town this week. It’s always good to see him.

Juan has two autobiographical works that have recently been written. The Nelson group has published Juan’s memoirs of what it was like to live under General Franco’s rule, a book called Un protestante en la Espana de Franco (A Protestant in Franco’s Spain). He was a bit apologetic about the title, saying that using any other term but Protestant would have made no sense in Spain.

The other book has yet to be officially released. It’s more of a general autobiography that Juan wrote in Spanish and my wife Carolina translated into English. I’m not sure of the release date, but ACU Press will bring it out with appropriate fanfare, I’m sure. I’ve had the advantage of getting to read it in the original Spanish and in English. It’s an interesting book.

Juan is the kind of man who doesn’t go for politically correct. He doesn’t say what will please people; he says what he believes. Those who love him, love him. Those who choose to criticize will always find something to criticize.

I’ve worked with Juan a lot over the last five years. (Juan has worked for Herald of Truth for 47 years) He has a strong character, which really bothers some people. I look at the things he’s done in his life, and I realize that many of those things wouldn’t have come about had it not been for the drive of his personality, for his self-confidence and for his willingness to speak his mind. I can overlook a few flaws.

Many people know Jesus today that might not have had it not been for Juan’s work. His legacy will stand the test of time. I’m proud to know him as a friend and a colleague.

Ministry Update

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Wanted to offer a quick update of what I’ve been doing with Herald of Truth over the last few weeks.

Three weeks ago, I went to Managua, Nicaragua, as part of an ongoing project we have there. I was interviewed on two radio stations, got to visit a few listeners from my radio program, did a mini-seminar on marriage for the couples at one church, and preached a two-day campaign. It was a very profitable time. I daresay that of all the places we’ve done projects over the last few years, the brothers in Managua have done the best job of reporting on the progress of the effort. And they did a great job of organizing the weekend’s activities.

The next week I was at the Global Missions Conference at the Legacy Church of Christ in North Richland Hills, Texas. I spoke on “Social Networking for Kingdom Advancement.” It was a great conference; I was sorry that I wasn’t able to attend the entire program.

Then last week I flew to Princeton, New Jersey, for a “Christ and Culture” seminar. Despite the earlier-than-usual snowstorm, we had a very good turnout and an excellent response to the material presented. The Princeton Church of Christ is a healthy church that is working hard to reach out to people in their area.

That’s what I’ve been up to. How about you?

To Cuba and back

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Quick trip this past weekend. Herald of Truth works with a young preacher in Cuba; this man has been invited to speak at several events this fall (Harding Lectureship, ACU Summit, etc.), so we’re working on getting him a visa to come to the States. The U.S. Interests Section in Havana requested to see the original letters of invitations for each event. Sounds simple enough, but the plain fact is that the U.S. and Cuban mail systems aren’t working together right now and other delivery companies balked at taking the materials. We finally decided it would be easiest just to hand carry them.

My travel took me through Cancun. It’s always interesting to me how excited people get when you mention Cancun. They seem to forget that:

  • being in the Cancun airport is no more exciting than being in any other airport
  • Cuba is a Caribbean island with beaches every bit as nice as they say the Cancun beach is (I wouldn’t know firsthand; outside of the Cancun airport, I’ve only seen the Marriott Courtyard hotel which is near the airport)

I left Abilene early on Saturday, doing my best to make it to Cancun in time to catch a 2:30 Cubana airlines flight. Both my flight from Abilene and Dallas went smoothly, so I got to Cancun right on time. Immigration and customs were no problem, so I got to the Cubana counter before noon.

When I checked in, the agent said, “Your flight leaves at 2:30, but check here at 2:00.” That seemed strange. A 2:30 flight should be boarding by 2:00. At the least, I should be through security by then. So I asked if I’d heard right. “Yes, there is a slight problem with the plane. If we can’t fix it, we’ll have to bring another one, which will mean your flight won’t leave until tonight.”

Yuck. Naturally when I went back at 2:00, they informed me that I should go to the gate… at 9:00 or 9:30 p.m. They also provided me with 100 pesos in vouchers (which is about 8 dollars. I picked up some bottled water to have in Cuba). I had no interest in leaving the airport, so I retreated to a place where I could at least access the Internet via my iPod touch. There was plenty of time to kill.

About 7:30 I wandered by the gate area and saw that an estimated departure time had been posted — 12:40. Wow! Eventually they gave us another voucher… some juice to drink there and more water to carry.

Finally a plane arrived. It wasn’t a Cubana plane, but one from T.A.C.A. (an airline from El Salvador). Having flown on Cubana in the past, I didn’t mind trading a broken-down Russian jet for the modern one we got to fly on. We touched down in Havana at about 4 in the morning.

Immigration and customs took a while. As would happen in any country, someone flying in on a tourist visa and only planning to stay one day catches the eye of immigration officials. My belongings were searched well, and I was questioned rather vigorously for about half an hour. Finally I got to leave the airport.

Tony Fernandez was there to pick me up; poor guy had been waiting all day. We drove to Matanzas, and I arrived at my hotel at about 6:40 a.m. Church was at 10:00, so I at least had a few minutes to rest a bit. I slept until 9:00, then jumped in the shower.

I noticed the water pressure was a bit weak, but I’d seen worse. The shower head could be taken off the mount and lowering it increased the pressure. No problem… I’d shower on my knees. With the trickle that was coming out, I was able to lather up thoroughly, both with soap and shampoo. That’s when the trickle disappeared. No water. At all. Not in the shower. Not in the sink. None.

There I was, covered in soap, and the only water in sight was in the toilet. Would I…?

Then I remembered Cubana’s generosity and the bottles of water in my bag. I could get more. This was an emergency. It was a bit chilly, but I was able to rinse off with one of the bottles and still had some left for brushing my teeth.

Church was great as always, and I got to share some time with dear friends at lunch and supper (with a nap in between). I didn’t dare stay up too late, since I had a 7:00 flight the next morning. That meant leaving the hotel at 3 a.m. At least there was water on Monday!

The return trip was pretty uneventful… flooded airport in Cancun, long lines at customs in Dallas, but everything was on time and I made it back.

So that was my weekend. How was yours?

Tulsa Workshop

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Next week is the Tulsa Workshop. I’ve attended the workshop several times, but this is the first time that I will be teaching a class there. Admittedly, the invitation was for Herald of Truth, but I’m the lucky one who actually gets to go and represent our ministry. I’ll be speaking on evangelism. The class will be at 3 p.m. Thursday and will have the title “We Have An Enormous Amount of Telling to Do” (phrase originally used by my boss, Bill Brant, in a letter sent to churches).

In getting ready for this class, I’ve got an enormous amount of material to work through. I want to offer a mix of stories and practical teaching. Keeping it to 45 minutes will be a challenge, even for me, a guy who usually runs short rather than long.

I hope to get a chance to hear some of the other speakers. A number of friends of mine are speaking, as well as several men that I just enjoy hearing their thoughts.

However, besides teaching the class, I’m also representing Herald of Truth, and part of that is attending to our booth in the exhibit area. Besides our usual information about our ministry activities, we will also be offering our latest book, Hope For Life. I’m expecting some of the other sellers to have copies of Letters From The Lamb; if not, we’ll have a few of those for sale as well.

The bonus to being at the workshop, of course, will be the chance to see some dear friends that I only see at events like this. Whether they admit it or not, most people find that’s the main attraction for this type of gathering.

Hope to see you next week in Tulsa!

XI National Preachers Conference in Cuba

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My trip to Cuba had two main purposes, besides the ongoing need to visit our Herald of Truth field office there. Training Cuban Christians in the production of professional videos was one of the purposes; for that purpose, Tim Frakes traveled with me and worked all week with a team of Christians. The other purpose of the trip was the national preachers conference that took place in two places simultaneously: Matanzas and Santiago.

I was the keynote speaker for the western conference, in Matanzas. Including the opening worship on Sunday night, I was scheduled to speak eight times, though I ended up combining two of the talks into one. The theme of the conference was “The Fruit of the Spirit.” We started on Sunday and finished Wednesday at noon. The scheduled was packed, with one speaker after another. I’m not sure that many Christians here would sit and listen to that many talks in a row, but these men did a great job of paying attention. It’s always fun to speak to a group that’s hungry to learn.

This was the first time that the conference had been split between two locations. Not all of the Cubans were happy about the change, especially because this is the only time in the year that they all get to see one another. However, the different format allowed for the participation of almost twice as many preachers, up to 450 from 250 the year before. Personally, I’d like to see a rotating format, with a centralized conference one year and a split conference the other. But I’m just a flunky in this one, so I’ve got no say.

The Cubans have had three major conferences each year: the mens conference, a womens conference and a youth conference. At present, the youth conference is having a hard time due to the lack of outside funding. If you know of a congregation that would be interested in being a part of the work in Cuba, this would be a great opportunity.