Koinonia--Vision 2020

Today all of Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva, San Salvador, met together for a Koinonia service.  It's always an amazing time when 1000+ voices are lifted in praise. 

 

One of the special treats today was to hear a stage full of Vida Nueva kids sing "Cada Dia Empezar De Nuevo."  

The second special treat was a tag-team sermon from 2 Kings 2 by Pastor Julio and Pastor Steve. 

The sermon also included a very moving video which highlighted the current conditions here in El Salvador and ended with a plea for Christians to step up and make a difference.  

The Pastors presented the vision for the next five years.  There were four parts:

• Continue to expand the kingdom:
• By calling on each individual Vida Nueva member to share Jesus with at least 20 people 
• By planning and carrying out at least 20 evangelistic activities each year 
• By organizing and conducting 20 new, creative ways to present the gospel across all of our campuses
• Continue to transform lives:
• By continuing one-on-one discipleship with new believers
• By increasing the number of people involved in small groups and creating 120 new groups during the five-year period
• By growing mature leaders through IDEM (Institute for Ministerial Development)
• By encouraging believers to continue their spiritual growth by enrolling in seminary classes
• Reach the "other half"
• By providing increased resources/teachers in both the children's and youth ministries
• By beginning a program targeted at helping parents rear spiritually strong children
• By continuing to expand New Life Christian School through 12th grade
• By encouraging interested church members to consider adoption
• Expand MetroAmerica 020
• By strengthening our current mission churches so that they become self-sufficient
• By planting two additional churches out side of El Salvador; considering one plant in a city in Central America or the Caribbean and the second in a city in Mexico or Colombia.  
• By raising up new pastoral leaders to meet the needs of the church here in El Salvador as well as in the new church plants 

In addition to the four parts of the vision, Pastor Julio and Pastor Steve presented the following challenges, centered around facilities

• Finish the children's area at the Lourdes campus
• Construct new facilities at the Apopa campus
• Unify the Miravalle and Crown Plaza campus in a new location
• Form a new campus in another sector of San Salvador

The service ended with a call for 21 Days of Prayer and three days of fasting.  Please join us in praying God's guidance for Vida Nueva.

Healthy Eating + 10,000 Steps = Slimmer Me

I last wrote about my healthy eating, active walking lifestyle a little over two months ago.  At that point I was down 20 pounds and feeling great about what was going on.  Now, two months later, I am happy to say that another 10 pounds has disappeared, and I am nearing my goal.  

Over the past two months my biggest challenges have been (1) not having any clothes that fit me, (2) trying to keep myself psyched up to plan, shop and prepare healthy meals and (3) learning to make the best choices possible when I find myself in situations where my food choices are either unlimited (dining in the states) or very limited (dining in food courts in Nicaragua.) 

Challenge 1:  I was finally able to overcome this, in part, when, I had the opportunity to shop for a few new clothes while we were in the states.  It felt really great to ignore my previous size and move down to the smaller numbers.  Funny thing, though, it seemed like the only clothes I saw on sale were size L and XL.  When I needed those sizes, I seem to remember that the only sizes I ever saw were S and M.  Guess it's just Murphy's Law in action.  I have also realized that replacing a wardrobe, however humble, isn't something that can be done all at once . . . . even on sale, it's easy to spend your entire clothing budget in just one visit.  In addition, since I'm not quite at my goal weight, I don't know where my final size will land, so I bought enough to get by with a plan to shop again when we are in Kansas City at the end of July.

Challenge 2:  I haven't really missed or craved any of the foods that I've eliminated from my diet (sugar, white bread, white flour, white pasta, most dairy.)  What I have missed is the ability to throw a meal together, albeit not a healthy one, in 5-10 minutes, i.e. peanut butter/jelly sandwich, hot dog or chili dog, grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese.  Even though I do my best to menu plan, there are always things that come up at the last minute which require adjustments to my plans.  So, when we get home much later than we'd expected and it's to late to fix the dinner I had planned, it's been really hard to "stay the course" and try to eat the best way and not just the easy way.  Thank goodness frozen leftovers of healthy soups--they are my go to menu item on nights like I just described.  

Challenge 3:  We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary by spending two weeks in the San Francisco area.  Of course, celebrations call for eating and staying at a hotel means eating out.  One of the best things about the Daniel Plan is that since it's not actually a "diet," but rather a healthy eating plan, there seems (at least to me) to be much less guilt associated with making a less than healthy choice.  The book encourages 90% compliance, which allows room for an anniversary meal at Morton's!  When we returned home, I was pleasantly surprised to discover I had even lost a pound while we were gone--most likely to the 15,000+ steps I walked most of the days we were there.  

The next time I write about this subject, I hope to be discussing how I'm managing the "maintenance" phase, but only time will tell.