Welcome to my new blog. I'm glad you stopped by.
Here you will find updates from my life as a child of God, a Husband,
a father of five, a missions mobilizer, an orphan advocate and a photographer.
For those who read my previous blog you know who I am and what you might expect from this new blog.
I'll post pictures from recent photo shoots as well as pictures from our adventures in Honduras.
I'm contemplating writing a book so you might get some test chapters here as well. I'm honored that
anyone would be interested in what I say or what I do. I hope you'll be encouraged and blessed!
In a word, incredible. Incredibly difficult! Incredibly rewarding! Incredibly difficult to put into words! Its been two weeks since our Honduras backpacking trip and I’m still struggle to put the trip into words. Actually, I’ve not even talked much about it in the past two weeks. Not because I don’t want to talk about it, but its just so difficult to capture the experience in words.
With that said, I posted this “teaser” for those of you who keep checking the blog for an update. I’ll have more this coming week . . . I promise!
In 2001 Amy and I started Louder Than Words Mission Adventures. We left our church job and set out on a new journey to mobilize people to be strategically involved in international missions. Our primary missions focus over these past 10 years has been Honduras. The name “Louder Than Words” came from Matthew 5:16. The “missions adventures” came from the fact that our mission trips have at times been a little adventurous.
In a few days, LTW will take our name to a new level. We will set out from the small village of San Nicolas, Intibuca, Honduras (basically at the end of the road) with a group of 13 North Americans on a journey that will take us into 5 unreached Lenca villages. A little over half of the team members are college students from Mars Hill College (my alma mater). The remainder of the adults are from North Point Baptist in Weaverville, NC and Bethlehem Church in Gastonia, NC. This trip is a part of an ongoing LTW strategy to connect churches with approx. 200 Lenca villages in Honduars. You can read more about this particular trip in an older post here.
Since 2011 I have led about 50 mission teams to Honduras, but this one has to be the most adventurous. Not only is it the sense of the unknown, but the fact that we have trusted our national Honduran missionary partners with lining up all of the details. Yes, I’ve been on mission trips to Honduras where our national partners did all the pre-logistics, but we were going to one place and staying for the week. On this trip we will be going to places with whom we don’t have relationship and we’ll be sleeping in a new village each day. The trust factor is a great thing for LTW and for our national ministry partners, but I confess it has left me feeling a bit out of control. I guess that is a big part of the “adventure” and the faith building journey of leading this ministry.
If you have read this far, thanks for your time and interest in this missions adventure. If you are the praying type, I would invite you to join us on this journey through your prayers. The overarching goal of this trip is to share the Good News of Jesus with the Lenca people. We would be honored if you took the time to lift up the prayer points below:
Pray for physical stamina. We will be hiking several hours each day in elevations over 5,000 ft. (I’m a little concerned because I’m the oldest team member and probably the most “out-of-shape” . . . even though I did lose over 20 lbs.)
Pray for the team members by name: Mark, Chris, Vollie, Ben, Andy, Jonathan, Brady, Caroline, Megan, Rachael, Matt, Jon & Gerald. Many of these are college students as well as first time missionaries.
Pray for our Honduran missionary team by name: Erick, Daniel, Armando, Jorge & Roy
Pray for the villages of Piedra Rayada, El Naranjo, El Venado, La Chorrera & Santa Ana to be open to the Gospel
Pray for our housing each night in each of the villages. We have plans to stay in the local schools.
Pray for our families in NC while we are in Honduras.
Pray that the enemy’s roadblocks would be leveled by the power of God and that the Truth of the Gospel would be shared with boldness.
We plan to send out updates from the trail periodically. If you would like to follow along you can do so here. Thanks in advance for your prayers for our team and the Lenca people. I’ll certainly update when we return.
I’ve been thinking about March all day. Why would I think about March when October is my favorite month of the year? I’m thinking about March because it’s going to be a big month in the ministry of Louder Than Words Ministries. In March, we will be taking our first ever backpacking mission trip. If there is anyone besides me reading this post your reaction is certainly one of two things, “Oh wow, now that sounds exciting” or “Oh my, that doesn’t sound like fun”.
For me, it’s been a dream of mine for many years to lead a mission trip to villages that are not accessible by roads. Now granted, in the area of La Esperanza, Intibuca many of the “roads” are not really roads at all. The above picture was from a mission trip we did there this summer. It had rained so much that our bus could not make it out of the village. We had to get out and fill the muddy road with big rocks so that the bus could get some traction.
This spring, we will be going where there are no roads, but most importantly where there are NO evangelical churches of any denomination! Our team will be made of predominantly of college students and young people from Western North Carolina. We will go to the “end of the road” and start walking. Our plan is to visit four different villages in four days. We will do children’s ministry, sports ministry and show the movie “The Hope” each evening. We will spend the night in the village and get up the next day and hike about 3 hours into the next village.
We will be taking along with us some young Honduran church planters who will soon go back into these villages to start evangelical churches among these Lenca villages. These young men have committed their lives to taking the Gospel of Jesus to the Lenca – the largest unreached people group in Honduras. We are currently seeking churches that will partner with us to take the Gospel to these beautiful people in Honduras. If you or your church would be interested you can reply to this post and I’ll get you more information.
Now, back to October . . . if I’m going to hike in the mountains of Intibuca, Honduras, where the elevation is at least a mile, I’ve got to lose some weight and get in shape! I’ve actually started my “pre-training” for this trip. My goal is to lose 30 lbs. before Christmas! More on my progress in some later posts. . . .
Some of you will have the opportunity to hold this newsletter in your hands next week, but until then I’m trying out various forms of getting our newsletter in front of as many people as possible. If you would like more info our the ministry of LTW or would like to be added to our mailing list please send an email to info (at) louderthanwords.org.
This is the first of a few photos that I plan on sharing on the blog that are among my favorites from our summer ministry in Honduras. I don’t know how many pictures I took this summer, but I’m certain that it was over 4000. I’m not sure this one is my most favorite, but it is certainly in the top 5. This photo was taken in the small village of El Rosario, Intibuca, Honduras. I met Maura because we were putting a floor in her home. She was a very bashful young lady who liked to have her picture taken. Not unlike most Honduras she didn’t want to smile for the camera.
Last week I was confronted with an intriguing question about this picture. ”What is she saying?” was the question Erick Sanchez asked as he looked at this photo last week. So, I ask you the same question this week. When you look into those dark brown eyes what is Maura saying to you?
Well, he didn’t hate me, but he lost it when I put that backless gown on him! Marlon’s surgery went very well. It was difficult to explain to him what was about to happen, but he did better than I would have done. Dr. Parsons was incredible. He prayed with Marlon before the surgery and even came in on his day off to do the surgery! Terry Jordan, Marlon’s audiologist was with us and helped comfort him before and after the surgery.
A couple weeks before surgery I would ask him occasionally to breathe through his nose. It was extremely difficult for him and sounded like someone sucking air through a straw that was being pinched off. After the surgery Dr. Parsons said that Marlon’s adenoids were so big that they had forked and were growing into his nasal passages! When we got home and he became coherent, I asked him to breathe through his nose. When he drew air in his eyes widened and a huge grin came across his face. It was like, “I’ve never done that before!” Later that afternoon I asked him to do it again and as he expelled the air he said, “aaahhh.”
On Wednesday, I’ll head back to Honduras with Marlon. I have mixed emotions about it! We still don’t have his hearing aids and are exploring options to move the mountains to get him back for more hearing treatment. I’ll write more on that later . . . .
It’s been a while since I last updated the blog with news from Marlon’s world. There are a number of reasons, but one of which is that I think God is trying to teach me patience. This month’s virtue for our Children’s Ministry at Bethlehem Church has been PATIENCE. Each Sunday in May our children (and adults) have been learning about patience. It seems that I’ve got some lessons to learn in that area too.
I must confess that I have been getting a little impatient with the process of getting Marlon’s medical/hearing treatment. I know that he is not their only patient, but I’m ready to run, but at this point we need to focus on walking. I know that getting hearing aids and adjusting them takes time, but in reality we don’t have much time! Marlon has a one-time entry visa to the U.S. and he’s scheduled to go back to Honduras with me on June 9th (3 weeks from today).
My biggest concern right now is getting him another visa so he can return to continue this journey. So those of you who read this blog and believe in the power of prayer please pray that the U.S. government and the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras with give him an extended multiple entry visa. Also pray that his mother will be agreeable to that as well. Even though he has lived in an orphanage since he was 3 years old, his mother still has “parental” rights.
Back to the story of his hearing. We are now waiting on the hearing aid company to send the hearing aids. They are trying to determine the best model for him and we also need to pick out things the color of his aids. It’s my understanding that those decisions were going to be made today and that we would get the aids very soon. The other thing is the nasal surgery and possible removal of his tonsils and adenoids. June 3rd is the date scheduled for that procedure. I’ll keep everyone posted on that as we get closer.
On the home front, he has adjusted to life in NC extremely well. At times I wonder what’s going through is mind. I don’t know what I’d be thinking if I were him. He is a good kid and gets along well with our children. There have been a few “sibling rivalries,” but for the most part he is doing much better than I ever expected.
He has become very close to me and likes to sit beside me when I’m working and sit on my belly if I’m laying on the couch. He loves my affirmation and approval. At times I feel like I’ve got a new puppy! He follows me everywhere and even hung his head out of the car window last week. I would have been concerned if his tongue was hanging from his mouth! I think he just wants a Daddy!
He loves playing video games, soccer, coloring and can even be seen brushing the hair of Mariah’s baby dolls. As you can see from the picture above that he’s like most kids . . . he can’t get enough silly bands! He’s very competitive and loves to come in and tell me how many goals he scored against David in backyard soccer. Yet on the other hand, he wants to cry and moan when David and Daniel beat him in video games. We still have some things we’re working on with him, but in the end I’m glad God had our paths cross. I know God has something special for this kid!
In less that 24 hours all seven of us will be in Honduras again. I am excited about the opportunity to provide a camp for two orphanages in Honduras. I’m not at all excited about our TACA adventure on the way down to Honduras, but I’m never excited about traveling on airplanes with 5 children!
For those of you who pray and are reading this blog post please say a prayer for our travels tomorrow. I know Daniel is a little nervous because the last leg of our trip is on a turbo prop jet! I’m a little concerned that all our luggage gets there with us. We do, however, have a few days before the first team arrives so as long as we make it we’ll be fine! I’ll write more this week from Honduras on our upcoming camps for orphans until then enjoy a picture from last year’s camp.
I admit it’s not the greatest promo video, but when all you have is iMovie HD it works! I made this video to promo a special project for the children’s small groups at our church (Bethlehem Church). If you have questions about this year’s camps or would like to sponsor and orphan to go to camp you can email me (info (at) louderthanwords(dot)org). You can sponsor an orphan’s trip to camp by giving securely online here: SEND AN ORPHAN TO CAMP.
A couple months ago while in Honduras I had the opportunity to attend a bible study at a local body shop in Tegucigalpa. The bible study was started by two of my friends in Tegucigalpa (Esdras and Daniel). One of the guys at the body shop asked them if they would come once a week and teach a bible study. They whole-heartedly agreed and began going each Wednesday at lunch. The news must be spreading because a few weeks ago another body shop approached the guys about doing one at their place. I’m excited for these guys because they are “taking the Gospel” to the streets. Well, maybe not to the streets, but out into the public workplace.
This is a challenge to me because too many times we as North Americans build buildings where the Gospel is proclaimed. If you don’t come to the building then you don’t hear the message of Jesus. We don’t intentionally think that the message of Jesus can only be taught in a church, but too few of us talk about Jesus in the places we work or the stores we frequent. The Good News of Jesus cannot be contained in a building! This is challenging to me. If people are going to see Jesus in me then I’ve got to go to places where they need to see Jesus. I’ve got to talk about Jesus. If we only talk about Jesus in church then many who need to hear the Good News will likely miss it. I may not have access to a local body shop in which to teach the bible, but I certainly have opportunities each week to share the Good News of Jesus. What about you?
