Colombian Christian Mission

I was honored to have known him and to have worked with him. He was a very simple person. He had little education and no real skills other than those needed to survive in the Jungle/Prairie region of Southeastern Colombia. He lived in relative poverty and suffered much in this life. He had a severe case of epilepsy that could not be controlled with medication. Yet from the very first day he heard the Gospel, he had given his whole heart and life to the Lord.

It sounded like a really big firecracker, but in the end, the bomb was not at all close to where I was or where we live. Many of you have probably read about the car bomb that was set off earlier this week here in Bogotá. One person was killed and about a dozen military personnel were injured. The name of the section of town where the bomb went of was given in some of the reports as similar to the section of town were we live. But the bomb went of on the other side of a very large central park here in Bogotá.

For years we published the Sunday school materials for the churches here in Colombia. It was a ministry of love, started by my wife, who had noticed that when church budgets were tight, it was always the children who were neglected. Since the churches here could seldom pay the preacher’s salary, none could afford to buy Sunday school literature for the kids. So she considered the needs and began to design, write, and produce an excellent series of lessons which used the very innovative methodology of printing each lesson as in individual folder rather than publishing quarterlies.

After a heavy work load teaching three graduate level classes last semester (considered a full time load in most graduate schools) in the Bible college program in Colombia, I returned to the States in early May. But I did not leave my work in Colombia. It has followed my up there as there have been many papers to grade in recent weeks.

Missionary work, perhaps more than most ministries and professions, requires adaptation and flexibility. Over the years, I have traveled on foot, used a bicycle, rode on local buses, driven a four wheel drive vehicle, and flown a light airplane. We use whatever means we need to use in order to take the Gospel to the people.

When we searched for a partner in our Christian higher education project, our only interest was in securing accreditation for the degree programs we intended to offer. Our first choice would have been one of our own Bible colleges, but none of them were willing to accept the possible expenses that they might incur with such an effort. So we were forced to look elsewhere and finally found an accredited distance learning university headquarted in the United States. They were quite willing to help us our and very flexible in allowing us to teach New Testament doctrine.

In many universities and colleges, full time teaching is considered to be three courses during the semester. Here in the Bible college program, I taught one class the first half of the semester and I am now teaching two more classes in the graduate school of the Bible college during the second half of the semester. I have about fifty students in the two classes. One class is on Soteriology (the Doctrine of Salvation) and the other is an Old Testament Survey class.

This week I finished the first class I taught in our Bible college program. For eight weeks I taught four hours each Tuesday morning. The class was rewarding as several of the students mentioned growing in their Biblical understanding to the point of changing some of their previous doctrines that they had come to realize were not in line with Biblical teaching. Now next week I begin two more classes. One will be a class on Soteriology, or the doctrine of salvation and the other will be an Old Testament survey class.

Each week I keep a very tightly scheduled routine. There is seldom any free time programmed in. But when tragedy stikes, I am never too busy to take time to be in a time of need. This last Saturday, I got an unexpected call from the preacher at one of the churches in the dangerous south end of Bogotá. The area where this church is located is so violent that the local Colombian leadership does not even like for me to visit the church alone. One of them will always go with me when I have a visit scheduled. But I had other things planned last Saturday when I got a very sad call.

This week has again seen frenetic activity in the establishment of our Bible college program. My first graduate class is with preachers and church leaders from indigenous church groups here in Colombia. It has been an opportunity to share the simple Gospel message with them as they compare clear Bible teaching to the often convoluted theologies developed by different church groups.