Finishing well in Costa Rica

I have had an incredible time in Costa Rica learning, growing and serving alongside an excellent team of people who love and follow Jesus Christ. I have been challenged and transformed by studying the life of Jesus chronologically and learning from the Master to be a disciple-maker and leader who serves.
I have made deep and lasting friendships here and I will miss sharing with those whom I have become so close with here. Here is a photo of the guys with whom I have shared my life and times of discipleship - being and making disciples of Jesus together.

Top row - Phil, Diego and Mark, Bottom row - Norman, Jorge and Checho.

I have been thinking about the words of Jesus' prayer in John 17 and I have been challenged by these words:

John 17:18 "As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world." (Jesus here is praying to his Father)

Jesus has given us as his disciples a sending into the world, to make disciples and to reflect Jesus to those around. As I have spent this time in Costa Rica, I have drawn closer to Jesus and I feel more than ever this call to go into the world (for me right now this is Queretaro, Mexico) and to make disciples. I know that this will mean suffering, difficulty, persecution, hard times and the need for lots of patience. But I also know that there is joy in serving God, blessing in obedience and the amazing privilege of serving the living God and being an ambassador for Christ.

Please pray for me in the coming days as I return to Mexico to continue being a disciple and making disciples of Jesus!!!

20 June Video update from Costa Rica

I hope you enjoy this video update!

Finishing up at Spanish school

"Espero que haya mejorado mi español"

I finished up at Spanish school on Friday the 5th of June and have said farewell for now to my Costa Rican familiy in San Francisco (San Francisco of the Costa Rican variety). I spent four weeks doing an intensive course of advanced Spanish. I feel like this has really helped me understand better why I speak like I speak and will give me a stronger base to continue perfecting my Spanish. Here is a photo of the graduating students and teachers from my intensive course. ¡Que chiva!

Jars of clay

2 Corinthians 4:5-7
⁵For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. ⁶For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. ⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

On the 28th and 29th of May, I attended and was involved in the Sonlife seminar - Jars of Clay (Vaso de barro). I both served at the seminar helping to set-up and playing drums for the alabanza and took the "Come and See" course which covers the first 29 years of Jesus' life.This was an awesome time of seeing God bring together a group of about 60-70 young leaders to worship Him, learn more about Jesus and be equipped to be and make disciples. I praise God for what He is doing here in Latin America to equip a new generation to be disciple-makers and live out what it means to be a follower of Jesus in today's world.

Some of the most impacting things for me were seeing the deep obedience to God of Mary and Joseph as parents of Jesus and the full implications of the way Jesus entered the world in the society both cultural and religious of that day. Also it has been impacting me in my study of the life of Jesus in God's word, the amazing mystery of the complete humanity and complete divinity of Jesus Christ.

I pray that you too will be challenged to take a fresh look at the Jesus of the Bible, God's Son who humbled himself and became a human being to save us from our sin, show us what God is like and reconcile us to a restored relationship with God.

Serving at Principe de Paz

Since I arrived in Costa Rica, I have been attending church at Principe de Paz. Woody and Su Roland go to this church, as well as my friend David Obando whom I met at the IT conference in Ecuador.

During this time that I am taking Spanish classes, I am living quite close to the church and God has given me the opportunity to serve with the youth at Principe de Paz.

Each week I go along to the planning meeting with the leaders in formation and help out David (the youth pastor). On Saturday afternoons we have the youth group meeting and I have been able to help out being a part of the group, chatting with the young people and helping out with some of the activities and teaching. David has asked me to share with the youth in one of the bible teaching sessions in the next few weeks which is a real privilege. I have also been helping out with the music where I can... good times!

My heart is to see Latin American young people encounter Jesus and enter into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. I pray that in my time serving with Principe de Paz I can be a blessing and be used by God to help some young people take the next step in their journey of faith in Jesus.

Here are some photos of the crew taken last Saturday night...

Phil and Chris (a.k.a. negro... meaning black in Spanish, not insulting black people)
Da boyz
Jose Luis and Phil

Back to school

Today I had my first day of a one month intensive Spanish course here in Costa Rica. My aim is to take my now fluent Spanish to the next level. I am currently at a level where I can understand pretty much everything that people say to me, apart from technical terms or local idiosyncracies, and can be easily understood by those that hear me. I particularly want to work on my accent and correct some aspects of my grammar. Even though lots of people tell me that I speak very good Spanish for the amount of time I've been in Mexico, I still have a long way to go in terms of improving, refining, expanding my vocubulary and starting to speak more correctly and eloquently.

Today, we started with an orientation session and a written and oral exam. There are about 18 of us in the intensive course and everyone else is from the US. I'm proudly flying the flag for Australia and have had lots of questions about the good old Land Downunder.

The Spanish Language Institute is one of the largest in Latin America and caters primarily for missionaries heading out to serve in Spanish-speaking countries in the region. In our first classes today, we did some revision on past-tense verbs in grammar class and then two hours of conversation. I am struggling to get my brain back into gear to learn grammar in classroom-style repetition but I think it will be helpful. The conversation class was interesting, but I'm praying that somehow I can find the way to make it push me because I'm used to conversation all-day, every day in Spanish on a variety of subjects.

Please continue to pray for my time here in Costa Rica, I'm enjoying it and wanting to make the most of every opportunity that God gives me to learn, grow and serve Him. Please also pray for the Costa Rican family that I am staying with for this month that I reflect Jesus and point them towards His saving grace.

Over and out... Phil

Getting to know Jesus better

A big part of the ministry here in Costa Rica is Sonlife – discipleship in the life of Jesus. I am spending as much time as I can learning about the life of Jesus with the Sonlife team and learning about leadership Jesus-style. There is so much richness in the Bible, the word of God, when we read it, study it and interact with it at a deeper level of understanding. A lot of the time we think about Jesus as God and don't think about Jesus as being fully human, a man, as well. Others go the other way and focus so much on the humanity of Jesus that they lose the truth that he is also fully God. It's a profound mystery and an amazing truth. As I get to know Jesus better (know Him, not just know about Him), my life is transformed and I am called into a deeper level of trust, amazement and obedience to God. My desire is to be more and more like Jesus in my character, in my habits, in my leadership and in my relationships with others.

What is discipleship all about?

Firstly, discipleship is about BEING a true disciple of Jesus Christ – seeking to develop the character of Christ. As disciples of Jesus, we are committed to be true disciples of Christ, actively seeking an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father, and letting Him transform our lives to reflect Jesus Christ. We aim to live a style of life that shows that Jesus lives in us and works through us.

"…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. This life that I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me." – Galatians 2:20

Secondly, discipleship is about MAKING disciples – Jesus' priority. As disciples of Jesus, we are committed to make disciples, intentionally investing in the lives of others. We don't just want to share the good news of the gospel, we want to share our lives with others.

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." – Matthew 28:19-20

On Saturday I went to a Sonlife seminar about Forming Leaders – Developing a Movement of Discipleship. In this seminar, we looked at how Jesus formed leaders for his movement of making disciples and announcing the Kingdom of God. Jesus had been calling followers, preaching to the masses and training disciples for 18 months to two years before he chose those who would be leaders. Jesus didn't stop working in the lives of the other disciples and followers, preaching the good news and investing in others, however, he did invest specific time and training in those who would be leaders. With his chosen leaders, Jesus first worked on their character, their very being, then he worked on the doing, how they were going to lead a multiplying movement of disciples. We looked at some specific events in the chronological life of Jesus immediately after Jesus chose and established the 12 apostles who would be closest to him.

Jesus chose leaders to be formed in his image for two reasons – to be with him and to send them out to preach and share (Mark 3:13-19). Jesus worked on forming four specific areas of his leaders – prayer, love, authority and obedience. He taught them to have a new understanding of these concepts that reflected Jesus' way and was very different to the world's view of these things.

As I follow Jesus, I am called into a new depth of prayer, intimate communication with God and listening to His voice; loving in the way that God loves, forgiving others even when they hurt me; having a new concept of obedience to God, doing His will always and obeying immediately, completely and joyfully; understanding authority from God's perspective, that I am under God's authority and He has given me all authority to serve, love and wash others' feet in humility, and to make disciples in Jesus' name.

Being a disciple of Jesus is a big call and it is only possible by the power of the Holy Spirit whom God has placed in me and by dying to myself and letting Christ live in me.