Fresh air outside the city.

Mountain views and pine trees.

14 familes.

In the middle of April 2010, we participated in a couples retreat as part of the launch process of Buenas Nuevas Panama, the church plant we are helping out.

Love Languages

The theme was love language, based on the popular book.  It’s been translated into Spanish, and Pastor Pedro and his wife did a great job introducing the material and leading the workshops.

By hosting this workshop, our church seeks to strengthen families through Christ’s help:  Parents that

• love each other,
• are loyal to each other,
• and for those who are able, raise honorable kids who will be future husbands or wives.

I’d love to share the stories that we heard that day.

All I can say is that your support helps us strengthen and or restore these families.

Though the retreat was just for the day, we know that it’s making a great investment in families and their future.

Thanks to our supporters for keeping us here!

I’ve started meeting regularly with one of the men who comes to our core group.

He too is a recent immigrant, and fleeing the political unrest from their home country.  Truly, they are starting over.

We’ve started meeting recently to discuss topics like

• How to study the Bible
• How to prepare a message.
• How to effectively evangelize

The Man of Peace

There is a church planting principle about finding the “person of peace.”

It is a phrase that comes from Luke 10, when Jesus sends out the 72.

In Luke 10:5-6 Jesus said, “When you enter a house, first say, `Peace to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.”

This shows a level of spiritual receptivity. Gary Rohrmeyer write:

How does one discern if a Person of Peace is in his or her life?  Here are a few things to look for:

1. Did they receive you openly into their lives knowing that you are a follower of Jesus?
2. Are they open to spiritual conversations? Meaning, you can dialogue with them about spiritual issues without them shutting down emotionally.
3. Are they willing to look into the Scriptures with a curious spirit and not a critical one?
4. Do they have influence with others? Are they in a position of influence over their family, friends and within the community?
5. Is their home a hub of activity for the neighborhood and extended family?
6. Do they have the ability to introduce new people into their sphere of influence effectively?
7. Do they have a natural ability of including and bringing others to small groups, events or worship services?

The person of peace is essentially a “point person” through whom a church planter can make lots of new connections.  This person may be spiritually seeking, or already a believer who has lots of unchurched contacts.  Sometimes it’s a person who has many people seeking them out for spiritual conversations.

Next Steps

This man I’ve stared meeting with seems to be a “person of peace.”

He has several people approaching him with lots of spiritual questions that he can’t seem to answer. He’s very amicable and open to hosting events in his condo.

He wants to help his friends and has turned to me for help.  We’ve started meeting for that very reason.

I think in a few weeks, we’ll have  a gathering in his house with his friends to talk about their questions and search for answers together.

In just a few weeks, the local church we are helping launch will hold a “taste of” service.

It’s a big event, where we are renting a hotel room, ramping up the personal invitations, and marketing and all the other regular elements of a church launch.

We’ve been talking for a few weeks about doing this in our regular Sunday night meetings, and it is fun watching the momentum build for that April 18 date.

Our theme will be on “Starting Over.”

As most of our core group are immigrants from another country, all recently arrived within the last 12 months, and they are starting over.  Some are finding faith in Christ along the way.

I hope to prepare a video with one member to help explain what we are doing, and how you can help us fund this project.