Update #2 from South Africa: Paco
Back in South Africa:
Os Guiness spoke
today. I have finally found worth having a man-crush on. He is deeply
intellectual, highly relevant, profoundly prophetic and a true lover of God (he
is amador).
We began the morning
with a study of Ephesians 1. The
process is so powerful.
After worship we took
a few minutes to study the text individually. Imagine 4200 people sitting in
the same room meditating on the same passage from the word of God.
They printed out the entire letter on a long sheet of paper. It is in
8 different languages. the only bummer is that they chose the ESV version. (I don’t
do weird English)
Then the
Lausanne theater team read the first chapter creatively through a
contemporary drama of what it would have been like to receive Tytichus (?) or "Ty"
into their fellowship carrying the letter through Roman checkpoints.
After that, we shared
our observations of the passage with our small groups. All the congress
participants were assigned a table for the purposes of discussion and
fellowship. Tables have a maximum of 6 chairs and the entire auditorium floor
is filled with tables. No one gets to sit alone or in anonymity. There
are close to 700 tables and our assigned seating is only for the morning
sessions. I was asked along with 700 other people to be a Table Leader. Thank
God for New Life small group training. So far only two of the people
assigned to my table have arrived (I am trying hard not to feel dejected: God
loves you, paco).
As a table
leader I am expected to encourage conversation leading by example. Last
evening we had one hour to all share our stories, hope for the congress,
strengths and limitations.
The two guys in my
group are great! We are really hitting off well. Global jiving!
- Simon, is from
Australia and works training and networking for children's and sports
ministries throughout the world. As he shared in our table discussion we
realized how hard it is for him to be serving children but his wife not being
able to have children. His wife, penny, is here on another table. Hopefully we
will get to meet her sometime during the week. It was great to pray for Simon. As we laid hands on him the HS spirit gave us a full sense
of empathy and we all ended up in tears.
- Umut is from Turkey. He
shared passionately about the work God has called him to do in Turkey. He
is younger than 30 and is already the General Secretary of the Association of
Protestant Churches in Turkey. He was converted while in college doing research
on the internet. One thing led to another and eventually he bumped by accident
onto the words of John 8:32 on some website. God then led him to meet and chat online with a Turkish christian
living in Canada. And finally agreed to visit a Christian church in another
city in turkey where he met the Lord Jesus. Now he is a pastor. One of his parishioners was killed by Muslims,
slashed his throat for being a believer. There is a movie about him and two
other Turkish believers murdered for their faith. Umut's English is not as
elaborate but is cool to hear his accent. After I shared about my life and
struggles he prayed for me, laying hands and speaking in turkish. It was
way cool!
By the way, one more
interesting thing about these two guys: Simon and his wife travel throughout the
world for about 6 months of the year since they have no kids. On the other
side, Umut has never travelled outside Turkey until this trip. Isn’t that
interesting!
Anyways, back to this
morning (Monday morning) we are following the Inductive method for bible study.
It was so cool to hear the observations of Umut, who lives in Smyrna, one of
the seven churches of the Apocalypse. Ephesus is the city next to
him. It’s as if we were reading the letter of the Apostle Paul to the
church in Lawndale or to the church in Oak Park. After that, Ajith
Fernando came to do the exposition from the front. 25 minutes on the dot. (good
thing they didn’t invite Mark—Mr-One-hour-minimum-preaching—Driscoll to speak).
The final step of the
time we spend on application questions. It was such a fulfilling time. It felt
like sharing a well-balanced meal with everyone there. I am wondering how this experience can
inform our way of studying scripture together for our New Life pastoral Message
Preparation, this feels definitely like a fellowship immersed in scripture.
The second session
was about truth. That is when Os Guiness spoke along with two other chaps. So
good! I hope you can follow some of these sessions @
www.lausanne.org. You can also interact by going to the
Global Conversations link.
Bless yall! Got my ipod and running shoes on. The
weather is great. I am going for a run. Hope to see me some seals.
Update from South Africa: Paco
Let’s pray for pastor Paco who for the next seven days will be part of the Lausanne World Congress in Cape Town South Africa.
What is this congress?
The Lausanne World Congress is a gathering of 4200 Christian leaders from 200 different countries of the world. This is the most diverse global gathering of followers of Jesus in all of history. Many of those in attendance have undergone tremendous hardship to take the gospel to their own people. It’s a tremendous honor to have pastor Paco representing, not only us, but our neighborhood, our church and our city in the midst of the global family. It has pleased our Lord Jesus to grant us a voice among the nations represented in South Africa.
What is the Purpose of this Congress?
More than 30 years ago evangelist Billy Graham together with 100 other world leaders sensed the Lord’s leading to convene a global gathering of believers in order to re-frame Christian mission in a world of social, political, economic, and religious upheaval. 2400 Christian leaders from 150 nations attended that congress in Lausanne Switzerland in 1974. A second congress in the Philippines saw 3000 representatives from 170 countries of the world gathered in 1989 to respond to the practical and theological questions of their day. Cape Town 2010 is the third of such congresses. Much has changed in our world since the last gathering. The delegates will have the task of praying, discussing, listening and agreeing as to the best ways to respond to the needs of our changing global reality with the transforming love of Jesus.
A Word from Pastor Paco:
Greetings from the southern-most western tip of Africa! Our part of the US delegation arrived into Cape Town last Thursday, October 14th after 18 hours of travel that took us from Atlanta to Johannesburg and finally to our destination in Cape Town. The congress begins early evening on Sunday. I am writing on Friday evening with a few impressions up to now.
Around noon I took an exploratory walk through the city. The old ring of the city reminds me of my home town of Tampico, back in Mexico where I grew up. Both cities are important ports filled with colonial looking buildings, vestiges of Dutch and British imperial influence, and a fresh ocean breeze in the air.
So, I was walking through a park when all of the sudden I heard someone yelling “Pastor Paco, wait!” As I turned around there was Daniel Buys, a young man who had spent a year serving our youth @ New Life Little Village through Mission Year. He then left as a missionary to Oaxaca, Mexico. He is here as part of the 300+ army of young volunteers who have come to serve from all over the world to make of this congress a successful event. They have been @ Cape Town already working for a week. Along with him was Rachel, also a young volunteer. They quickly gave me the news of their engagement. Theirs was the first engagement among “stewards” (as they call the volunteers) in this congress. I could not hold back the tears of joy thinking of the many gifts that our Lord always has reserved for his people. It was a double surprise to find a good friend while taking a stroll through the city—much like we would bump unto each other while walking through the neighborhood back home—and at the same time getting the privilege of celebrating in their tremendous joy. I was the first to be blessed with praying for this adventurous young Christian couple. By the way, many greetings from Dan and Rachel.
Registration began later on that afternoon. It was a sight to beheld seeing the waves of delegates from every corner of the globe arrive and greet each other with hugs, smiles and King Jesus in their hearts. What a beauty to see the people of God being family to one another even if in the natural we might appear to be perfect strangers. While in line I met Nick, a Chinese raised in Canada who has been planting churches among Muslims in northern Nigeria. The combinations are so amazing! I also had the joy of meeting Cornelius Constantinus—think of that name for a moment—he is a Romanian professor who has just this week being called to become the head of a seminary back home. Cody is a young man from Oklahoma who along his wife has been planting churches among Nepalese refugees in the northern suburbs of Chicago. My heart is humbled at the great privilege of meeting these 21st century heroes of the faith. And like them are many more. Can’t wait to hear their stories. May our faith be impacted by their lives.
Spring in southern Africa is in full bloom so having shaken many a hand I decided to go for a run along the pier. The population in South Africa is a mix of white Afrikaans, black Africans, and several hues of skin color including people with Indian heritage. Plenty of music and multiple languages flowed from restaurants and stores as I ran through the port.
Towards the middle of my run I was distracted by a loud bark coming from the lower pier at ocean level. As I leaned out from the top pier there was a large—cow size—seal taking in the afternoon sun on the lower pier with several other seals joyfully swimming in the ocean water. What a shock to have an animal that back home I have only seen at the zoo, and here it is enjoying its natural habitat. I was no more than 10 feet above the seal when it saw me, just gave a loud bark and went back to sun tanning.
It was such a surprise for me that I called some people walking by to come and see my discovery. A white African lady came closer, leaned out and waved me off with the words: “we have plenty of those around here!” Isn’t it funny that in Chicago we have an overabundance of squirrels and rats, and here they have too many seals and penguins.
That night I came back to my room to find an email inviting me to speak to the US delegation for our gathering on Monday evening. There are about 400 US delegates. I am grateful that this Monday evening—around noon Chicago time—I will be presenting our case before our brothers and sisters from the US. I am enthuse with the idea that on the other side of the planet people will hear of what God is doing through you and New Life back in Chicago.
I will see you in a few days. For now I beg you to keep this congress in your prayers. I also, personally, covet your prayers for me. My great desire is that God would infuse my heart with a love for our global family
Pastor Paco
Cape Town, South África
Ps. Some of you might be interested in knowing that this morning I attended Sunday worship at Hillsong South Africa. The place was standing room only with several hundred people waiting outside for a seat in the next service. They were celebrating the purchase of a brand new building which will soon be their church’s home. The largest night club in South Africa will soon be filled with worship to Jesus through our brothers and sisters @ Hillsong. Bang! Another goal for the King!