Tending Sheep Ministries

It’s been a while since our last (supposedly) monthly update. By God’s grace we are well, and hope that you are too. The picture above is from a recent scare we had with a fire next to our property. The full story is below.

Ministry Updates

Since our last newsletter, we’ve continued to support several local churches, where I’ve served as a guest preacher. This is incredibly gratifying. I have also had the privilege to continue teaching in a training program for pastors (sort of like condensed seminary). Our ministry’s mission statement is to tend the Lord’s sheep, and without hyperbole I can say that I feel like I’m fulling my life’s purpose by directly edifying the church through preaching, and by equipping pastors (in order to further edify the church). While this keeps us very busy, I can’t express the profound contentment found in living out God’s calling on one’s life.

My theological education is mostly self-acquired, so in order to better serve in ministry I started looking into attending seminary. The financial bar was simply too high, but God opened a door. I found a Spanish master’s program, all online, at a very distinguished seminary, for a small fraction of the cost of the English degree. Class starts in two weeks and I am so grateful to be able to fill in the gaps in my theological studies, and excited to pass on the knowledge I acquire to pastors here in Honduras.

Homestead Updates

The rainy season is in full swing, so we (by “we” I mean “my wife”) have been planting and harvesting things like chilies, herbs, and the like.

As I mentioned at the top, we had a recent scare with a fire next to our property. For context, Honduras has recently had a number of fires that have destroyed large swaths of forest. It was so bad that they closed schools for a few days due to the smoke pollution. Also, we live in the midst of highly flammable pine trees. When we smelled smoke and saw clouds of it billowing into the air down the hill from our house, we were alarmed.

I went to check it out, and fortunately the cause was not an uncontrolled forest fire, but rather the traditional slash and burn technique that many here use to clear out a field before planting (in spite of the burn ban which is in effect). Our neighbor was on the scene when I arrived and we were able to have an amicable conversation about his preparing to plant potatoes (hence the fire) before parting ways. This was just a reminder of a) how confidence in anything but God is misplaced and b) of how fleeting our time on this planet is.

God bless you and thank you for your support. Please join us in praying that God continue to use us for His glory.