Hi Everybody!
Since our last update, two big things have happened for us. One was the launch of weekly Rancheros Cristianos videos. The other was a trip in early October to connect with friends in Nebraska. Here’s the lowdown!
Joel Wentworth greets our Rancheros Cristianos on a recent Sunday with his congregation in Burwell, Nebraska.
Launch of Rancheros Cristianos Internacionales!
On September 20th, we launched the first of weekly videos to our Christian Rancher groups in Central America! The idea came from Cesar Gonzales, who asked if we could use what we have learned in creating training videos to start doing videos for our cowboys and ranchers in Central America. After kicking the idea around, we determined that we wanted it to be a discussion starter for groups and individuals to connect with scripture and offer a platform for them to experience a sense of community with others doing similar groups all over the world.
On September 20th, Nola and I welcomed viewers onto our back porch for our first ever virtual meeting of Rancheros Cristianos!
A typical video has a greeting from one of our friends, like the one Joel Wentworth did in the above picture. That particular day, Joel greeted the Guatemalans and Cesar greeted the Nebraskans!
Cesar offers a greeting to the folks in Burwell, Nebraska, from his home in Amberes, Guatemala.
In addition, we usually include someone singing a song, and then someone will give a short devotional thought. At the end, we model what we call “riding the bull”—making a tangible, personal commitment to do something this next week as a result of the scripture for the day. To date, we have done five videos and plan to continue until at least the end of the year.
Humberto Solares, of Santa Rosa de Lima, Guatemala, sings the Spanish version of “One Day at a Time” for one of the Rancheros Cristianos videos.
Here, Lawrence Turner is inviting the Guatemalan ranchers to come up and buy some of his cows he’s just taken to the sale barn in Valentine, Nebraska! He also committed to pray for the Guatemalans and asked them to pray for us and our nation as well.
Gaining Spiritual Leverage in Nebraska
For our first trip since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, we spent 10 days with friends in Nebraska. Bill and I were privileged to have our wives, Joyce and Nola, join us as well.
Rex and Deb Kelley hosted us at their bed and breakfast in Ord, Nebraska. Here they spoiled us with the best Nebraska steak I have had in my life! I took this picture and sent it to Cesar to make him jealous! Seated from left to right is Nola, Rex, Joyce, Bill, and Deb.
During that time, Bill and I had the opportunity to speak at four different churches, the Sandhills Baptist Association meeting, and Bill got to unveil the first showings of his Spiritual Leverage demonstrations that highlight the difference between just going to church and actually “being” the church.
Bill gets a volunteer to help him in getting spiritual leverage at the Sandhills Association gathering.
Bill also did the same presentation with the youth at Burwell Baptist.
Between the two weekends we spent in Nebraska, Bill and I also painted the house of our friends, Tom and Joyce Huffman. When we arrived, Tom was not feeling well, and in light of Covid-19 suspicions, we didn’t go into their house and kept our distance. As it turned out, both Tom and Joyce did test positive for the virus. Tom had to go to the hospital for a few days. Thankfully both are at home recuperating now and doing better.
Bill shares a greeting to our friends after we finished painting the Huffman house.
10:02 PRAYER
Please pray that the Rancheros Cristianos videos will help us spur one another on (Hebrews 10:24-25) to making disciples more effectively both here and in Central America.
Pray for a speedy recovery for Tom and Joyce Huffman.
Also pray that we use the technologies effectively to connect with one another during these unprecedented days.
ENGAGE
If you would like to see Bill’s demonstration, or would like to have him do it live at your church, let us know! As we continue to send out our Be-the-Church videos, please take a look at them, and if they seem helpful to you, pass them on through email or social media!
INVEST
Thank you for your continued faithfulness to this ministry. You encourage us so much!
CLICK HERE FOR THE EASY WAY TO INVEST.
Love y’all!
Steve