In late December 2012 I received a letter from Jeff, a 35-year-old man currently incarcerated in Washington State Reformatory who I hadn’t seen or heard from some two years. He was writing to tell me that on January 1, 2012 he’d totally surrendered his life over to Jesus and that things were going well. “I’m trying to reach out to the homies (fellow gang members) here. I get them signed up for church and with some I do Bible studies. Now I know why you do what you do.” Jeff’s letter was a bright light of hope for me.

Jeff grew up on the streets of our county, running with Mexican gangs. Much of the parenting he’s received has been from the moms of his homies and from older gang members. I was drawn to him from the moment we met 18 years ago, and have been pained that our connections have usually been during times of crisis between prison sentences. Jeff calculates that he’s been locked up for a total of 18 years, including stints as a juvenile.

I first met Jeff in 1995 in Skagit County Jail in one of my most memorable experiences as jail chaplain. On that day, my Bible study on John 4 was not working. The thirty or so Spanish-speaking inmates were unusually agitated. I took an inmate’s advice and wrapped up the study with the Lord’s Prayer, which I found myself praying faster and faster as I was hearing noises around me. When I opened my eyes, men on both sides of the room had chairs raised over their heads (a good reason to keep your eyes open when praying).

I later learned that the Sureño gang members in the jail had planned to jump the Norteños during the Spanish Bible study because a Norteño guy had started a rumor that disrespected Jeff, a Sureño. Inmates later told me that they felt paralyzed when the Spanish version of the prayer ended (it ends with “deliver us from evil”), and were unable to lower their chairs down on the heads of their enemies.

I did some one-on-one visits with Jeff who was 18 at the time, and then didn’t see him for two years while he served his prison sentence. Once released Jeff contacted me, asking me to perform a wedding for him and his childhood girlfriend Catalina, which I did. Sadly, in spite of Jeff’s love for Catalina and their baby girl Angel, gang involvement and drug dealing kept landing him in jail and prison. Jeff and Catalina’s marriage didn’t survive these stresses, though they have remained close friends.

The last time I had seen him was two years ago at a very stressful time. Skagit County prosecutors were trying to put Jeff away for 24 years on drug charges with gang enhancements. Aware that nearly all of Jeff’s past crimes were directly related to drug abuse, I had attempted and failed to convince the prosecutor to let Jeff into drug court. Jeff’s anxiety about being locked up for the rest of his daughter Angel’s youth was so extreme that he ended up inciting a riot that led to still more charges. He was shipped off to prison while I was on an itinerant speaking trip in the UK.

These past two Fridays I have visited Jeff in Washington State Reformatory (WSR) and your SW of here. Since I had seen him respond positively to Jesus in past jail Bible studies I was curious about his letter stating he’d surrendered his life to Jesus only last year. He told me that actually his conversion had started right at the darkest point during his last time in jail. He told me how the prosecutor has surprised him by inviting him to accept a plea agreement for only 60 months in prison— five years instead of a potential twenty-four. This felt to him like a direct intervention from God.

I was shocked to hear about this as well. I had called this prosecutor, presenting Jeff to her the way I saw him. I told her that as Jeff’s pastor I knew a side of him that law enforcement had not seen. I knew that underneath his rough exterior he had a compassionate heart and a true desire to change. I asked her to trust me and to believe in him, even after his recent behavior and the riot. She had listened but insisted that she couldn’t give him any breaks. But then she did!

As for his conversion on January 1, 2012 Jeff told me: “Bob, I’ve always known that I cannot serve two masters, and that I had to make the choice to serve only one. I hadn’t been willing all these years to give up my old ways and serve only Jesus until last January. And since then everything has changed.”

Jeff and I have spent the last two Fridays reading the Bible and praying together, and talking about his dream to work with young people prone to gang involvement. Jeff is a natural leader, is growing spiritually by leaps and bounds, and is actively preparing for his August 2014 release.

Jeff told me about how there have not been any Spanish services in the prison since he’s been there, and named many Mexican inmates who I know. He urged me to make contact with the prison officials. Last week I called the prison chaplain who is enthusiastic and is doing everything possible to have me approved to begin a bi-weekly Spanish service by June.

As far as I know Jeff, Catalina and Angel do not have people actively praying for them. You can make a big difference through your intercession. All of them need protection, wisdom and clear direction for their future, as well ongoing growth in knowing and following Jesus. Pray for me as I prepare to launch a new ministry to Spanish-speaking inmates in the WSR prison. Pray too for Tierra Nueva as we focus more attention on effectively welcoming ex-offenders back into our community.

The image of the sower in Matthew 13:18 has always resonated with me, as I have scattered lots of seeds in all sorts of ground: addicted, unbelieving, incarcerated, overworked, and often receptive.

I have witnessed many people receive the word with joy, drinking it into their thirsty souls.  I’ve watched them grow before my eyes.  And yet for the countless Bible studies I’ve led and individuals and families I’ve visited, I’ve seen very little fruit.

I don’t know what’s happened to most of the people I’ve ministered to a chaplain of Skagit County Jail and in Tierra Nueva’s migrant ministry.  Inmates have often gone off to prison, from which they’ve been deported or released to a new life in some place unknown to me.  I rarely hear what happens to people who have heard the word.  I’ve clung to texts like Isaiah 55:10-11, which have brought me some comfort.

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;  So shall my word be which goes forth from my mouth.  It shall not return to me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”

Eighteen years ago I met a young man named Julio in Skagit County Jail.   At that time he was a scrappy gang banger from Stockton, California, caught up in PCP and crack cocaine addiction and dealing drugs for income.  I did one-on-one visits with him while he was in jail, and was increasingly drawn to him.   He called me “Pastor Robert”.

Julio and I hit it off, and when he was out of jail I began visiting him and his girlfriend in the apartment from which Julio sold drugs.  Julio asked me to read the Bible with him and his girl friend and to pray.  Our Bible studies were constantly interrupted by customers wanting to buy drugs—many of whom I knew from jail Bible studies. Julio invited everyone who came by to join in and learn about God.  He was a natural evangelist.  I loved him.

Julio and his girlfriend had two beautiful daughters together, which added more financial pressures and stress to their relationship. In spite of my best counseling efforts, he and his girlfriend broke up.  Julio took his daughters to live with his mom in Arizona.  He worked at one of the skills he’d learned from his stepfather—smuggling people through the desert to safety.

He would tell me how his drug addiction was taking a toll on his health.  It was hard to keep in contact with him with his constantly changing cell phone numbers.  Many times we were out of touch for months.  He was always on my heart.  My prayers would be answered when he’d call me out of the blue and we’d reconnect and pray together over the phone.  His young daughters would sometimes call me, saying “Pastor Robert, can you pray for my dad?”

I felt my limitations as a pastor all the time with this wily, beloved sheep, and have prayed for him all these years, imaging myself carrying him up and laying him before Jesus.  My love for Julio and longing to see him grow drove me closer to Jesus, asking for wisdom, training, more love, more of the Holy Spirit—whatever was needed.

Two weeks ago Julio called me out of the blue.  Pastor Robert.  “I’m leaving where I’m at and I’m moving back to Washington.  I’m ready to surrender to Jesus and to work with you at Tierra Nueva!”  He’d been on a Greyhound bus for 2 ½ days already and asked if I could pick him up.  He was three hours from Mount Vernon!

Julio moved into our building and has become part of our life again.  Last Sunday we baptized him.  He’s been going out with us on missions to pray for people, and loves it. This has been deeply encouraging to me, and I’m celebrating the realizing of Psalm 126:5-6.

“Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.  He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”

Please pray for him as he starts out afresh as Jesus’ disciple and our newest recruit.  Please pray for his 15 and 17 year-old daughters, who are living on their own now in Mexico, and their mom who is now in prison.   Lift them before the Good Shepherd, Jesus himself.  He knows where they are and how to bring them home.

We just returned from three weeks in Korea and Thailand.  There we witnessed first-hand the Spirit calling people into missions, we served alongside front-line missionaries who care for women and men in prostitution, and participated in prayers of confession and repentance to address larger macro-powers.

In Korea I led a retreat for about 200 members of Jubilee Church, a congregation of young mostly-Asian English-speaking ex-pats living and working in Seoul.  Jubilee’s mission statement is Isaiah 61, and the Holy Spirit was strongly present to call people into Jesus’ ministry, visibly filling and healing people.  Many expressed their longing to follow Jesus into the darkest places—and Thailand definitely qualifies. (Jubilee prayer team is first picture below).

Next stop was Bangkok, where I met with Jennie-Joy, a young, joy-filled missionary working with Nightlight to advocate for individual women trafficked from other nations so they can get out of the sex trade (second photo below).

Iven and Kashmira Hauptman welcomed me into their home in the heart of one of Bangkok’s red-light districts.  Iven invited me on a several-hour loop around the National Palace and Emerald Buddha Temple, where we encountered dozens of young men awaiting customers as free-lance prostitutes.

We talked to a number of guys about Jesus and prayed for those who accepted our offers to bless them, as potential customers slowly cruised by.  Iven and Kashmira are fluent in Thai, have built relationships with their neighbors and many of these young men, with whom they envision starting a church.

My third stop was Pattaya, Thailand, home to the world’s largest sex-tourism scene and meeting place for two gatherings of missionaries living and serving the poor in slum communities with Servants and the New Friars. Gracie and our 17-year-old daughter, Anna, joined me to minister to these missionaries.

While there we went out on the streets three nights to pray for people in the heart of the red-light district, and to discern what Jesus would have us notice and do in response (third photo below).  Walking the streets was highly disturbing, and yet intercession seemed urgent and came naturally as the despair and emptiness of the women and men selling themselves and also the customers was in our faces.

We knew that an old US Air Force Base “U-Tapau” was close by, from which US B-52 bombers left to bomb Cambodia, Laos and North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.  Many directly link the death and terror from these bombing campaigns to the rise to power of Khmer Rogue, and Pol Pot’sexecution of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians.

We were also aware that the US military had used Pattaya as an R&R site, and that sex tourism got it’s start there largely due to US troop presence.  One evening after a prayer walk through the heart of the prostitution scene, my friend Tom and I waded into Pattaya Bay and confessed nation’s sins, re-affirming our baptisms.  We felt God’s strong presence hovering over the waters.

At the Easter Sunday we included an act of public confession and repentance for US’s use and abuse of Pattaya as part of our celebration of Jesus’ victory over the powers (see below).  Many Americans joined me as I led these prayers (fourth photo) and Cambodian participants and ministry workers living in Phnom Penh offered declarations of forgiveness.

The following week our daughter, Anna volunteered with Tamar Project, a ministry that reaches out to women in prostitution.  Anna was deeply impacted as she worked alongside women whom Tamar staff had befriended and offered employment through their bakery, café and greeting card businesses (final photo).

Anna’s experience of working alongside the women was life-changing, reminding us that Jesus’ love is deeply personal and relational, and can overcome any barrier.  It breaks the grip of evil as people surrender to the crucified and risen Victor.

Prayers of Confession (March 31, 2013, Pattaya, Thailand)

I confess and renounce the sin of the United States of America of using and abusing the land of Thailand, the city of Pattaya as a launching pad for bombing raids on Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos.  I renounce US Imperial designs and lament the death and ongoing destruction that have resulted and continue to be felt.

I confess and repent of the sin of American soldiers, military personnel and other citizens of using Thai and Cambodian women as objects and for and any role the US played in contributing to the rise of prostitution in SE Asia.

We declare that there is no justification for these actions.

We repent of the sin of misrepresenting God through these behaviors [since many people would have viewed the US as a Christian nation].

We ask the people of Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam for forgiveness for these sins in the name of Jesus.

Links to people and ministries

Jubilee Church, Seoul, http://jubileeseoul.com

Jenny Joy Tefler,  http://seedswillgrow.com/partners

Iven and Kasmira Hauptman, http://ivenandkashmira.com

Tamar Project, www.tamarcenter.org/en

Servants, http://servantsasia.org

On March 16 I gathered with 25 members of a delegation of Canadian and American Christians to bless the people of Mal Paso, Honduras—a village that Gracie and I have visited and cared for since 1983.  Honduras is currently considered the most violent country in the world—and Mal Paso’s recent history reflects the complexity and nature of much of violence wracking this impoverished nation and our unique role.

For nearly five years Gracie and I rode our motorcycle from Tierra Nueva’s farm base in Minas de Oro down the steep mountain road into the dry, lowland foothills every Wednesday.  One of the first couples we met were Teodoro and Chon, campesinos (peasants) in their mid-twenties (our same age at the time) who resided in front of a make-shift soccer field in the center of a village of scattered adobe houses.

They invited us in from the scorching sun to drink coffee under the veranda just off a courtyard that served as a holding pen for their small herd of cows.  Other subsistence farmers gathered with us to learn about sustainable farming practices.  Our group grew to include many of the village men and later the women– as Gracie worked with Chon, teaching them nutritious recipes, hygiene and nutrition.

At that time nobody was at all interested in Bible study—and we ourselves were more focused on trying to serve the people at their point of felt need– identified as increasing production of corn and beans, avoiding amoebic dysentery, a gravity-flow water system for the village, latrines and getting access to land for the many landless peasants.   We worked with the people on these priorities, and grew close to many as production increased, water systems and latrines were installed and the village progressed.  Teodoro and many other farmers experienced dramatic increases in their yields of corn and beans, and hope was on the rise.

One day the people came with reports that a little airplane had flown over their village and fields, dropping hundreds of little pieces of paper that warned that Jesus was coming soon and everyone who didn’t accept him before his arrival would be thrown into the lake of fire—so repent!  The people were stirred up, and wondering what we thought.  They asked us to lead them in a Bible study from then on at the start of every Wednesday agricultural committee gathering.

We watched many of Mal Paso’s residents become attracted to Jesus as we read and discussed together stories from the Gospels week after week.  Leaders emerged out of this committee who became Tierra Nueva’s founding peasant promotores (village trainers).

Hard times followed, as US AID (United States Agency for International Development) funded a project that paid farmers we had trained and organized to leave our ministry and re-organize under Honduran government- controlled committees.  US strategy at that time involved efforts to win Honduran hearts and minds as they recruited and trained peasants youth to fight the US’s battle against neighboring Nicaragua.  Tierra Nueva lost many villagers who accepted the free handouts of chemical fertilizer, chicken wire and food for work in exchange for their allegiance and relationship with us.

Then NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) came along, and US farmers were given the green light to sell heavily-subsidized American corn in Central American markets, causing local corn prices to drop below what peasants could produce it for.  These happenings drove many to hit the road for El Norte (the US), a dangerous and expensive journey across Guatemala and Mexico into the USA.

Many young men left our region. Some became involved in drug dealing, gang activity & served prison sentences in the US, later to be deported back to Honduras.  Many then became involved in drug trafficking (one of the reasons Honduras is so violent now).

While Teodoro had done well farming with Tierra Nueva, he, like many, got the “fever for the North.” He joined others from Mal Paso and surrounding villages to work in fields, construction sites and factories as an undocumented worker.  Teodoro returned 7-8 years later wealthier and tougher, his values damaged by wholesale pursuit of the American Dream.

Two years ago jealousy was aroused by some of Mal Paso residents successes in the United States.  A man who was successfully managing his immigrant brother’s affairs was falsely accused by family members.  Things escalated a he was shot to death.  This unleashed a wave of vengeance killings, as people hired assassins to shoot up whoever was next on the “kill list”.  My old friend Teodoro was #9 of the ten who were killed.  He was shot to death by submachine gun- bearing gunmen right there in his corridor where we’d started Tierra Nueva.

David, Tierra Nueva’s leader, was Teodoro’s next-door neighbor.  He was awoken by the shots early one morning and heard Teodoro crying out to God “my God, my God” as he died.  David had been first on the scene of most of the previous murders—and was traumatized.  Though a gifted leader, peacemaker and pastor, David felt he had to move out of the village to protect his family.  60% of the people moved away.  Not one of the murders has been investigated due a breakdown of law and order in much of the countryside.

For the past two years though David has been visiting those who remained in Mal Paso– some 150 people.  Every week David visits people in their homes, leads Bible studies and prayers.  We are working with him to seek employment solutions like raising chickens, pigs and purchasing abandoned land that once belonged to the victims.

Last week I accompanied him for several days of visits to Tierra Nueva’s families in other villages and was able to visit our coffee farm.  Everywhere we went we found people hungry for Bible study and open to prayer.  We saw many receive physical healing.  On Saturday we hosted the Catch the Fire team from Toronto to bless the people of Mal Paso.  Over 200 villagers came to receive medical consultations, medicine, beans and rice.  Members of the mission group played with the kids, painted their faces, shampooed hair and combed out lice.

David and I gathered the entire community at the start and addressed them regarding their need to mourn, to forgive and to receive God’s comfort.  Many acknowledged trauma, fear and ongoing nightmares.  Many men, women and children came into the center of our gathering to receive prayer.  People cried as hands were laid on them.  Prayer teams prayed for peoples healing and a group of us took a long walk around the circumference of the village, interceding for peace.

Please pray for wisdom and strength for David.  Pray too for peace in Mal Paso and for peace in troubled places like Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Israel/Palestine and beyond.

Recently I prepared a talk on Judges 19, which ends with a call to “consider, take counsel and speak up” about the victim—which in that case was a Levite’s concubine who had been raped and cut up into 12 pieces and distributed throughout Israel.  Rather than responding as the men of Israel did—seeking to punish offenders in ways that unleash more violence, the text invites alternate ways—like the recent acts of kindness and solidarity offered to Mal Paso.  I invite you to view my recent reflection on Judges 19 as you contemplate Jesus, the risen victim this week, available on YouTube at http://youtu.be/fkGDnmJWC4Q

The coffee harvest is now in full swing on Tierra Nueva’s coffee farm in Alta Mira.  I am glad to report that we now have the infrastructure in place for a growing production of specialty coffee that offers employment to local workers and income to support Tierra Nueva’s ministry in Honduras (see photos below).

We are grateful to supporters who have contributed funds to purchase a truck, coffee processing plant, housing for farm manager, latrines, solar dryers and drying patios.  A growing supply of quality beans are now available for Underground Coffee Project’s ex-offender-led roasting operation at Tierra Nueva in Burlington, which you can order online here: http://coffee.newearthworks.org

Tierra Nueva’s Honduran leader David Calix has had a calling to reach out to people in extreme poverty since we began working together in 1983.  Since TN’s founding in Minas de Oro in 1982 we have been committed to empowering the rural poor through teaching sustainable farming and intensive gardening, establishing gravity-flow water projects and teaching on nutrition and hygiene.  Bible study among people outside the churches has also been a major emphasis.  Now we are focusing on building small communities, “hogares en transformacion,” where new Christians can be built up in their faith and in sustainable living practices.

David visits his native village of Mal Paso twice a month.  He had to move away two years ago due to violence that led to the deaths of 9 men from opposing sides—all people David grew up with.  Honduras is currently considered the most violent country in the world due to lawlessness resulting from a breakdown in government leadership and widespread poverty and drug-trafficking.

Jesus’ sending the disciples out in Luke 10 provides inspiration for regular visits to receptive families.  Hondurans are noted for their generous hospitality, and David and other leaders are welcomed into homes in Mal Paso, Minas de Oro and other surrounding villages.

There in the security of people’s homes, prayers are offered for healing and other needs, and the Bible is read and discussed.  When Jesus heals someone rejected by the majority, and people feel cared for with no strings attached by Tierra Nueva’s workers, they usually want more, and the work is growing.  Leadership development is now the biggest priority.

David conducts larger gatherings every two weeks with all the families involved to encourage and build up these new believers.  He also is mentoring emerging leaders in Bible study and social development.  Tierra Nueva provides lunch for these meetings and covers transportation for people from surrounding villages.

Tierra Nueva’s future plans include regular visits to the villages of Huertas, Altamira, Guachipilín to engage people in prayer and Scripture study.

Please pray for a resolution of the political crisis in Honduras, and for reconciliation between the many Honduran Christian groups that are currently divided and working against each other.  Please intercede for David and his wife Esperanza’s health and safety.  Pray with us for a growing harvest of people into Jesus’ Kingdom.  Pray also for TN apprentice Paul Foth’s visit to Honduras Feb 18-March 5.

Right now we are in need of $20,000 for the purchase of land with a house where David and his family can live, show hospitality, gather people for worship, leadership training, and establish a small organic demonstration plot to train people in sustainable living practices.  See this YouTube video interview with David where he outlines his vision http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VGF7fFt2BI.

If you would like to support this project donations can be given through e-giving using this link,

https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift/gift.php?giftid=E4EB2CF9D2AC4AF

Or, you can sent to Tierra Nueva, Attn: Honduras, PO Box 161, Burlington, WA 98233, USA.

For an extended version of the David Calix interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFcQ00XJuw0

Gracie and I have been enjoying being back at Tierra Nueva after our year away in France.  We’ve appreciated our weekly worship services, which are drawing ex-offenders, people in recovery and immigrant workers.

For the past three months on Monday evenings Salvio, Bethany (TN Family Support Center directors), a growing number of Tierra Nueva apprentices and Gracie and I have been meeting at the Tierra Nueva building for thirty minutes of prayer before seeking to enter into a contemporary practice of Jesus’ mission according to Luke 10.

In Luke 10 Jesus sends out 70 workers in pairs, telling them to “beg the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” because the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few (10:2).  Our group varies from four to eight. As we’ve gone out we’ve seen that Jesus’ assessment of First Century Palestine is true today for Skagit County.  There is spiritual openness, great need and a longing among ordinary people to engage in some kind of outreach.

During our prayer time together we thank God for what the Spirit is already doing in our ministry and community and deliberately ask how we can best collaborate with God.  We seek guidance regarding where we should go.  We expect God to speak, bringing to mind families to visit, specific places to go, conditions needing healing—whatever the Holy Spirit wants to show us.

In Luke 10:3-4 Jesus sends out the 70 dependent and vulnerable (no shoes, money, extra clothes) and specifically commissions them to go as guests rather than hosts.  Seeking the person of peace is all about receiving people’s hospitality- and yet there’s a proactive side to this involving going out looking for receptive hosts.

Usually we visit people in their homes, and end up praying for their concerns—which include anything from the need for work (Boni and Lourdes, photo below) to physical healing and comfort (Alredo, pictured below, longs for his blind 30-year-old son to be able to see him).

A few weeks ago Gracie got the impression: “soft like a marshmallow” thinking it was about the condition of someone’s heart.  She also thought of the laundromat across the street beside a Mexican grocer.   Anna and Salvio thought we should go to the megastore Wal-Mart, and Salvio got “palm tree” and someone else thought of “black hair.”  I wasn’t sensing anything but decided to join Salvio and Anna and head to Wal-Mart, even though I dislike this particular megastore.

Meanwhile, Gracie and Paul headed across the street towards the laundromat, but as they passed by the Mexican grocery store, “Los Antojitos” they felt they should go in.  There Paul noticed a bag of big heart-shaped marshmallows by the cashier, and in front of it was a Mexican woman making a purchase with whom Gracie struck up a conversation.  They accompanied the woman outside into the cold December wind.  After they introduced themselves and briefly described how they were praying for God to bless people, they asked her if she needed prayer.

“Yes I do, but doesn’t everyone?” she said in Spanish.  Gracie agreed that everyone needs prayer but told her: “I think God is highlighting you,” and shared how they’d been praying and had gotten the impression of a heart as soft as a marshmallow.  At this the woman seemed to melt and said that in fact she needed prayer: for pain and swelling in her leg from deep-veined thrombosis and some other conditions.

The cold wind motivated them to duck into the laundromat, which was empty, and they prayed.  The woman cried as she told how she’d been longing for someone to tell her about Jesus and help her understand the Bible.  Gracie and Paul invited her to our Sunday service.

At that point she invited them to her car and offered them bags of oatmeal and granola from the factory where she works.  She’s come twice in to Tierra Nueva’s services, and we recently visited her and her family in their home where we celebrated God healing her leg, and prayed for her family.  Afterwards she invited us to share a meal delicious home-made chicken tamales and strawberry atole (a sweet pudding-like drink) (photo below).

This woman truly has a soft heart towards God and us.   She is longing to go out with us on our Monday night outreaches, which shows us that Jesus’ call for disciples to beg the Lord of the harvest for laborers is a prime example of evangelism as recruitment.

That same evening when Salvio, Anna and I went into Wal-Mart I was skeptical about our prospects.  However, as we walked down the first main aisle we ran straight into a big tower made up of stacked cases of Corona beer (a Mexican favorite).  Atop it was a big plastic palm tree! (photo below).  There beside it was a man with jet-black hair pushing a shopping cart full of hot chili cheetos.

Salvio and I approached him about our mission and he immediately agreed to receive prayer: at which time we learned he was from India but living in Vancouver, BC.   We prayed for him and encouraged him, realizing that our church aisles were becoming strangely inclusive, and the nearness of Jesus’ Kingdom was coming into places I would never have chosen (Wal-Mart).

We rejoined Gracie and Paul and truly could identify with joy of the 70 who returned to Jesus to debrief (Luke 10:17-21).  Last week I sensed God speaking to me to “double” these outreaches—which we plan to do beginning in January.

May you too experience the joy of the harvest as you venture into whatever version of Jesus’ ministry the Spirit leads you into in 2013.

In mid-October we gathered to celebrate Tierra Nueva’s 30-year anniversary.  A few weeks before that celebration I was fretting in the middle of the night, wondering: “why celebrate?” I experienced feelings ranging from ambivalence to disappointment to outright grief.  Perhaps mourning our many setbacks and outright failures would be more appropriate, I thought.

We’ve had so many losses and disappointments these 30 years: We’ve poured time and resources into projects that haven’t always born fruit; we’ve raised up leaders who have left us;  people we’ve led to Jesus and seriously advocated for have relapsed, re-offended, grown cold or been killed.  We’ve started and lost agricultural committees, Bible study groups and churches.  Truth-be-told we don’t know what’s happened to most of the people we’ve ministered to in Skagit County Jail or in the Honduran countryside.

I lay there feeling discouraged, thinking how successful other ministries and churches seem to be in contrast.  I struggled to believe that it’s not too late for us.  I found myself surrendering myself as fully as I know how, crying out to God to have mercy on us and to work with us and through us more effectively.  As I lay there praying I think God spoke to me.

I found myself thinking about God’s own ministry experience promoting salvation/liberation. I thought back to the first humans in the garden, who distrusted God’s goodness and chose death, rapidly– in spite of the most ideal beginning.  My thoughts moved to God’s failed efforts to prevent Cain from murdering his brother or getting humans to fill the earth and subdue it rather than starting from scratch after the Flood.

Jacob’s family came to mind.  I remembered Simeon and Judah who killed all the men in a city to retaliate for one man raping their sister Dinah; the ten sons of Jacob who threw their brother Joseph into a pit to kill him, selling him to the Midianites instead; 400 years of slavery in Egypt; Moses who murdered an Egyptian, fled his people and then 40 years later reluctantly responded to the call.

I thought of the Israelites making it out of Egypt only to be disgruntled and rebel, worshipping a golden calf.  None of the original escapees from Egypt made it into Canaan but died in the wilderness.

Then when God’s people do make it to Canaan they blow it over and over, turning to the gods of the land, being carried off into bondage, crying out and God showing mercy on them… many times (see Judges 10:6-16).

Then the monarchy– a bad start with Saul; David’s life of violence and adultery; a seriously-broken royal family; the kingdom dividing; lots of kings that did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; the people and leaders ignoring the prophets, or killing them; the Assyrians carrying off the 10 northern tribes after they spurned God’s prophets; the Babylonians destroying the temple and carrying off the cream of the crop into exile; returning to the land and rebuilding the temple, only to mess up again, and again.

When Jesus is born Israel is under Roman occupation.  He embodies God’s total presence to heal, deliver and in every way save.  But religious leaders reject him, the Romans crucify him, and his disciples abandon him.  The church is birthed into this mess and we keep making similar mistakes.

As I thought through the history of God’s people I felt strangely comforted– like maybe I was feeling the paternal heart of God, the feelings Jesus must have felt and still feels (though I don’t think God is anxious or depressed).  Yet it seems God hasn’t been totally successful yet, or has he?

God hasn’t managed full-on global revival through all the myriad of efforts to call, disciple, equip and mobilize.  God hasn’t succeeded in weaning his church from their current idols (money, politics, violence…).  Jesus and his disciples haven’t stopped global warming, human trafficking, mass incarceration, school violence, drug addiction, at least not yet.

I’ve concluded that I still like the way our great God goes about ministry and invites us to join.  God is kind, persistent and never gives up, in spite of human frailty, unreliability and outright rebellion (mine included).  Jesus shows us a God who reigns by serving, exercises power by emptying himself, wins by losing, and saves the world by dying.  God lets us fail and fall and learn hard lessons, but he is with us through it all.  The Spirit brings comfort and reignites faith, inspiring and mobilizing us anew.  I feel mobilized and grateful to be part of his messy (bloody) body of Christ.

We ended up having a rich and encouraging 30th anniversary.  Gracie and I are grateful to be seeking Jesus’ kingdom in the company of 20 committed colleagues who now make up our staff.

We value your prayers and friendship as we end this year and continue into our 31^st.  May the Spirit comfort, encourage, strengthen and inspire you this Advent season.

Last month I spoke at a conference called Unlocking the Future: From Mass Incarceration to Restorative Justice at Texas Lutheran University. I also preached about the Gerasene demoniac, inviting students to cross over to the other side with Jesus into the world of violent offenders (see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjlmWSa9UOg)

Coming back to the Skagit Valley of Washington State was a bigger shock than we expected after a year in Paris.  Significant ministry trips into 15 different countries seemed to increase our time away from home and give us new eyes for what was once familiar, sharpening our priorities.  We are enjoying re-connecting with our family, ministry colleagues (see photo), faith community, supporters and also with jail inmates, ex-offenders, gang members and immigrant workers.

We participated in a baptism of Evaristo, an ex-gang member who is now a member of our community, in the frigid waters of the Skagit (see photos below).  He and others want unforgettable, even dramatic baptismal experiences that will rival violent gang initiations.

Today Tierra Nueva’s visiting Honduran director David Calix, our Mexican pastor Salvio Hernandez and I met to try to distill our distinct theology and strategies for working with people in extreme poverty here and in Honduras.

As we prayed Salvio got a picture of a big tree, whose large branches provide cover.  David saw a big roof that sheltered people from rain or hot sun.  Luke 15, Romans 10:5-17 and Luke 10:1-9 all came to mind which we read and discussed at length over delicious chile rellenos and carne asada at the El Gitano Mexican Restaurant across the street from Tierra Nueva.

In Romans 10 the Apostle Paul contrasts efforts at self-salvation through following the law to the “righteousness based on faith.”  This righteousness does not require frantic work bringing Christ down from heaven or up from the grave (v. 7).  “The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart,” writes Paul.  How do we help people accustomed to seeing God as distant and punishing come to know God as close and loving?

Paul’s emphasis on people confessing with their mouth Jesus as Lord and believing from the heart that God has raised him from the dead (v. 9) really struck us as a brilliant crystallization into two essentials that show the Word as close & faith- inciting.

Jesus reveals that God (Lord) is not a distant law-enforcer but rather the one who comes down from heaven to seek and find the lost (Luke 15:4, 8).  Jesus shows God to be the friend of sinners, healer of the sick and liberator of the oppressed.  God raises Jesus from the dead, vanquishing death and all its authority, bringing him back to us as alive now.

“Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed!” (v. 12) write Paul.  “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,” he insists (v. 13).  But how will this message be proclaimed without preachers sent to communicate it in ways that instill faith? (v. 14-15).   If indeed “faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ” (v. 17) someone must agree to carry the message.  Luke 10 shows an early Christian strategy instigated by Jesus.

Jesus appoints 72 disciples and sends them out in groups of two ahead of him into homes to receive hospitality first & then heal and announce the Kingdom of God.  “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  So beg the Lord of the harvest to cast out laborers into his harvest” (v. 2).  Jesus sends them out needy and vulnerable (without money, suitcases or even shoes).  They humbly receive and also freely give in the homes where God directs them.

David has been practicing this in Honduras for the past few years, visiting the poorest families in fields and homes, establishing friendship, praying for people and leading them in Bible studies.

For the past six weeks we’ve been gathering on Monday nights to try out Jesus’ ministry strategy in Luke 10.  Four of us have been going out in teams of two, visiting families in rural migrant labor camps and in area apartments.  Every week people are welcoming us, receptive to prayer and many have experienced immediate healing.

On one of our first nights out we prayed for an older farm worker who had been working long hours harvesting blueberries.   She received almost immediate relief from pain in both her knees and arthritic wrists as Salvio, I and her husband prayed.

Two weeks ago a woman served us fresh blackberry juice from berries she’d harvested that day.  She asked us to pray for her to be freed from abdominal pain from a past operation, and then poured out her heart to us about having lost custody of her three children to her ex-husband.  She ended up confessing her bitterness and rage, asking for us to pray for freedom and God’s peace.

Last week we visited a Triqui-speaking couple from Mexico and their five children, who offered us soft drinks and then asked us to pray for healing for the woman’s leg.  As the pain gradually diminished, Salvio read Jesus’ teaching in Mark about the power of faith as small as a mustard seed.  The man asked us to pray for him to be filled with this faith.   We left with greater faith and excitement to follow Jesus, and are now inviting others from our staff and faith community to join us as part of Tierra Nueva’s weekly rhythm.

Through these weekly visits we are seeing that the closeness of the Word that Paul talks about can be experienced through our very closeness as carriers of the Word to people right where they live (under their roofs).  Jesus’ strength to comfort and heal people from emotional and physical pains wins them over to a God of grace and love.

During a 24 hour stop over in Jakarta in late May I taught on the gifts of the Spirit to a team of people ministering in the slums. While some of them were new to this kind of ministry, two of them had been living in a slum community that had been ravaged by fires and forced evictions.

Team members were feeling vulnerable and longing for a fresh impartation of the Holy Spirit. I felt so very privileged to be able to minister to each team members, and to visit the slum community where some of them were living.

For several hours I went out to visit the people. The team members had clearly won the trust of the residents through humbly living among the people, playing with the children and advocating for the whole community as they face eviction. After listening to a woman share about how difficult it is for her to leave her home of over 15 years, we asked her if she was suffering from back pain based a prophetic impression. She welcomed our prayers and experienced immediate healing.

We then moved on to talk to people in the adjoining house. Apparently the first woman we prayed for had told others, because one after another women were coming to us asking for prayer: for abscessed teeth, pain all through the body, back and shoulder pain. Each person was healed on the spot as we prayed. People were filled with visible joy and excitement. One woman pulled her husband over and insisted that we pray for his heart as he’d had pains and murmurs. As we prayed we proclaimed Jesus’ victory over the powers, and people received what we were saying.

A young lawyer who represented the slum dwellers was standing there watching as people were being healed. He approached me and asked if I prayed for land. He asked if we could pray for a legal breakthrough for the poor families he represented who had not yet received remuneration for their homes. A whole circle of people were gathered around as we explained to the lawyer how we would pray if he wanted us to pray.

“We understand the God is our father, and your father and the earth and everything in it belongs to him,” I explained with Lina translating. “The enemy of God, Satan, is ruling the world. But we believe that God sent his son Jesus to destroy the power of the enemy, which he did when he died on the cross. God has raised Jesus from the dead, and he is at the right hand of the Father. He intercedes for us, and sends the Holy Spirit to be our advocate and defender. “Is it okay with you if we pray for Jesus to intercede for you and to send the Holy Spirit to help you with these problems?” The lawyer and all the people expressed their agreement and we prayed. I was amazed to see people’s total openness to prayer in Jesus’ name.

On our way back as we passed by a woman in the doorway of her house the thought “pain in her left hip” dropped into my awareness. Ignoring this I continued on. After telling her about this impression she said that we should definitely go back and ask the woman. We did and sure enough she was in pain, and she wanted prayer for her hip and her knees. She was healed immediately, and totally touched that God had revealed her hip problem. Another neighbor who washed clothes by hand for a living asked us to pray for her elbow- and she was healed on the spot. One of the team had not yet seen physical healing– and she was watching her neighbors receive immediate healing as she laid hands on them. We were both so excited by what we’d witnessed that we decided to go back and talk with the first women who had been healed, and ended up praying for more healing.

A few hours later I was on a flight to Sydney, praising God for the beautiful signs of Jesus’ Kingdom that we were able to witness, and the coming together of aspects of ministry that too often are separated (incarnational presence, service, advocacy, healing prayer, proclamation).

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