Do you remember the first time you fell in love.  Maybe it was in the third grade and your palms got sweaty for the first time and you weren’t allowed to talk to your first love because someone in the class would find out about it.  Do you remember the first time your eyes were opened to Jesus and you fell in love with him.  Jesus wants you to remember and come back to that point in your life.   He is more concerned with relationship than ritual.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Lee Clamp shares a message about the characteristics of the gathering of the first believers.  The Impossible Mission can only be accomplished through a unified church.

Lee Clamp shares the sermon of Peter.  Peter was not only preaching a changed life to those first converts that day he was a testimony of a changed life.  The Impossible Mission can only be accomplished through lives that have been transformed.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Yesterday was a great day as the gospel was preached at our church.  One of the ideas that I discussed was this idea that in order to be saved, you have to know that you are drowning.  If you don’t know you are drowning in your sin, why would you even need a savior.  Jesus however saved us from our sin when it was drowning us.  And when he does, it transforms our lives.  You cannot come face to face with Christ and not be changed.  So what is your story?  Has Jesus changed your life, or are you still playing church.  Peter was changed from A to Z. 

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Apathetic, but after the resurrection he was Awe Inspiring

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Blind, but after the resurrection he was Bold

Before the Resurrection, Peter was a Coward, but after the resurrection he was Courageous.

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Defeated, but after the resurrection he was Delivered

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Embarrassed, but after the resurrection he was Extraordinary.

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Finished, but after the resurrection he was Fearless

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Garbage, but after the resurrection he was golden

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Hardened, but after the resurrection he was Holy

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Illegitimate, but after the resurrection he was In the family

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Judged, but after the resurrection he was justified.

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Kicked around, but after the resurrection he was Kingdom Bound.

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Lost, but after the resurrection he was Loved

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Misunderstood, but after the resurrection he was a Masterpiece

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Nothing, but after the resurrection he was Noble

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Oppressed, but after the resurrection he was Obsessed

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Poor, but after the resurrection he was Priceless

Before the Resurrection, Peter was a Quitter, but after the resurrection he couldn’t keep Quiet

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Ridiculous, but after the resurrection he was a Revolutionary

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Shattered, but after the resurrection he was Sold out

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Trapped, but after the resurrection he was Tenacious

Before the Resurrection, Peter was Uncertain, but after the resurrection he was Unbelievable

Before the Resurrection, Peter was a Victim, but after the resurrection he was Valiant

Before the Resurrection, Peter was a Wimp, but after the resurrection he was Warriors

Before the Resurrection, Peter was eXpelled, but after the resurrection he was eXhilarated

Before the Resurrection, Peter was a Yahoo, but after the resurrection he was Yelling out the name of Christ.

Before the Resurrection, Peter was a Zeroe, but after the resurrection he was in the Zone, a Zealot for the cause of Christ.

Changed people Change the World

Our final day in Pomona was such an encouraging day.  It was hard to leave tonight.  The people have been so welcoming and warm.

We began the day with another wonderful breakfast of oatmeal and fresh pineapple.  The children began to arrive for sports camp early and we were into full swing.  I prayed today that the Lord would save someone from their sin.   I first went to Mattison’s group and during his Bible study a child, Jeremiah, kept getting up and walking away from the group doing his own thing.  I pulled him off to the side and picked him up like a baby and started talking to him.  He was a cute 8 year old.  I asked him if he knew who Jesus was.  He said, “No”.  I then one on one shared the gospel with him.  I asked him if he wanted to follow Jesus and be baptized.  He said, “Not now.”  He was a cute kid.

Then I began to walk across the field and an 18 year old that was in our worship time last night came up and asked me what he could do to get his life back on track.  I told him that it was impossible and kept walking.  He followed and said, “What?”  I said, “It is impossible to do on your own.  The real question is What do I need to do to be saved from my sin?”  The night before he was very engaged with the gospel message even during invitation.  He told me he became a Christian the night before.  I then asked him to pray and confess Christ as Lord right then.  He did.  Then we encouraged him to be baptized.  His name was Alex.  His friend, Jerrel, walked up and also asked almost the same question as Alex walked away to get a Bible.  I told him the same thing and he prayed and confessed Christ as Lord.  They both came tonight to the closing worship time and met Pastor Wayne.  He encouraged them to come to the baptism classes next week.  So the Lord answered my prayer times two!  We had a closing ceremony where the kids recited their memory verses and we sang a few songs.

After lunch half of our team went back to the children’s home and the other half painted children’s furniture for the preschool.  It was very rustic furniture.  Nothing like what we would use in the states.  I had the opportunity to talk to the pastor’s oldest daughter Christy.  The Lord has his hand on her life.  She is such a strong, teenager in her faith.  It was good to listen, encourage, and pray with her.  As I listened I couldn’t help but think about how similiar teenagers are all around the world.

The team came back and we all gathered in the worship center with the cooks, the team, and the pastor.  We presented him with a tee shirt, left over soccer goals, and a love offering.  He presented me with a Belize flag from their worship area.  We plan to hang it in the merge.

Then they prepared a feast for us!  Fresh Lobster tails, fried shrimp, and some type of bread pudding made from a root and ginger.  To top it off our third coke product this week in a glass bottle.

The final worship service was awesome.  We had a sharing time.  Many from the village came out.  The women’s group got up to share and their was a black out in electricity.  When their is a blackout in the village, it is dark!  I guess this happens all the time.  A few of the children got a bit scared and the ladies calmed them as they lit candles and told them to sit down, we weren’t finished.  They began to sing worship songs by candle light.  At the end of their song the lights were restored.  It was one of those Wow moments.  Pastor Wayne shared a brief message and thanked us, and then we sang Shout to the Lord (which was a song I learned with our students my second year in student ministry at Barnwell on our first mission trip.)  There was many hugs and tears and we returned home.  The people of Belize may not have as nice of things as the average American, but they have each other and they value relationships.  If there is one thing I have been challenged with it is this:  We should use things, and value people…Not use people, and value things.

Now starts a beautiful partnership with a missional church in Pomona, Belize.

Check out pics from the day at www.facebook.com/leeclamp

Today I spent the beginning of the day with Katie at sport camp.  She did an excellent job ministering to her group and leading her group in Bible Study.  I was so impressed with her.  I then went and hung out with Grady’s group.  The boys in his group really like him and he is a natural at leading them.  They are all 10-13 years old.  Then we had some great news.  Mattison led a little boy named Haden to the Lord.  He was so excited.  He prayed with him and he wants to get baptized.  Wesley, his friend, was not ready.  We will pray for him for tomorrow.  We gave out all of the 200 soccer balls and we still have little children surrounding us saying, “Sir, please sir.  Sir, please sir.  Write my  name down for a ball.”

We had enchilada’s and mango’s for lunch.  Excellent.  The ladies of the church including Ms. Taylor, Carla (the pastor’s wife), and 2 others ladies have slaved in the kitchen for us.

In the afternoon, we finally had down time.  We traveled into the rain forest mountains to St. Helen’s Cave.  It felt like we were stepping into the Indian Jones movie.  We traveled into the cave which had a river running in it and was about 30 feet tall.  We stood with all the lights out and it was a darkness that no one had experienced before.  We stood silent and listened to the trickling of the river.  It was eary.  Ancient Mayan’s used to venture into the cave with no light and spend weeks there alone in a purfication process.  They thought it to be the closest thing to death.

Then we went to the Blue Hole.  It was in the middle of the jungle.  A bluish green water hole that was 25 foot deep.  A natural spring bubbled from underneath with extremely cold water and caused a river to flow away from it into the caves.  It was so refreshing after being drenched in sweat from the hike in the 110 percent humidity of the rain forest.

We traveled back to the church.  The pastor’s family is becoming close friends.  He told us of his desires for the church to be the church to the community.  They have a preschool of 3-4 year olds.  Because there is a lower expectation in facilities they are able to provide schooling in their building.  $6000 will purchase a building for 15 children.  They would like to extend their preschool to K5.  $1500 will help them finish their bathroom.  $15000 will finish their entire second story to expand their school as well which is a long range plan.  Copying machine $1500, and pastor’s office $4000.

After a dinner of fresh fried Red Snapper, rice, split pea soup, and cake; we had a youth service.  There were about 25 teenagers who came.  Our students did a funny drama that they came up with, and Mattison gave his testimony.  I then preached the gospel from Ephesians 2.  I was sweating bullets.  It was rolling off my face and neck, and rolling down his arm.  No students got saved, but I think a few Geckos on the wall were contemplating.  I was able to encourage the youth leader, Yovan, and prayer with her.  She is doing a good work, and has about 40 teenagers that meet every Saturday night.

We closed out the day on the roof of our hotel singing praise songs and praying together.  Now if only I could call my family, it would be a perfect day.  I miss them very much and not being able to call is killing me.

Check out pics from the day at www.facebook.com/leeclamp

Another 80 children showed up at sports camp.  There were over 175 children involved.  It was overwhelming, but we realized that it is not about the organization or the program but about loving on the children.  Many students wanted a soccer ball.  We are slowly running out.  We will probably not have one for every child, but there are kids everywhere in the community kicking around a ball with colors that represent the story of the gospel.  We now know why they are so good at soccer.  There is absolutely nothing for the children to do, but play together.  Everyone of them even after camp is in the field dribbling and kicking the ball around.  It takes you back in time with how things once were in America before we got so busy and preoccupied with things.

We went back to the children’s home.  Today we were able to give them hats that Taylor Boyleston and Philip Johns gave us.  They loved them.  Each of us gathered a couple of youths together and prayed.  This home is doing a great job at loving on the children and teaching them manners and respect.  There is mostly teenage girls here.  We gave each of them a Bible.  Ren is our resident Gideon and brought 200 Bibles.

Tonight the ladies had Bible study together with the women of the church.  Bible study is much different here.  A lot less organized and lot more free.  The woman sang together.  Then they read a passage of scripture and discussed it verse by verse.  The men do not have an organized small group gathering throughout the week, but we invited men for a Bible Study.  Three men gathered with Ren, Nick, Pastor Wayne, and I and we began to tell life stories.  One of the men lived in Chicago for 25 years and returned home to Belize.  He was the village mayor.  Seemed to have a lot of influence.  Just got saved about 3 years ago.  Very skeptical of Christianity all of his life because of Christians and false preachers.  He desired a group to begin to help the men build relationships together and strengthen one another.  I then looked at him and said, “I think I am looking at the leader.”  He said, “I don’t know enough of the Bible.”  I said, “Now you are starting to sound like Moses.”  We challenged him to begin a small group of men to hold one another accountable, pray together, and simply read the scripture together with Pastor Wayne’s support.  Ren told him that he messed up now, because we would be praying that he rise up and lead.  We talked for two hours.  Issues were brought up and I would be reminded of scripture and read it aloud to the men.  It was an encouraging time.  We went longer than the woman and even had to leave early.  That doesn’t happen often!  We prayed together and then returned back home.

Check out pictures at my facebook account.   www.facebook.com/leeclamp

We began the day with breakfast provided by the servant ladies at Pomona.  They have been there when we arrive everyday and leave after we are gone. 

We blew up 90 soccer balls and laid out soccer jerseys that Michael Allen donated from the soccer teams at BHS.  It was a frenzy!  Starting at  9 am children started showing up from all over the village.  We had about 90 children involved in the soccer camp. 

It was controled chaos to say the least, but the children had a blast and our teenagers and adults did a great job.  Belinda and Heather manned the snack station and distributed the balls.  She talked with several children around the covered area.  Katie and Dawn led a volleyball group.  Mattison, Grady, Ashley, and Kirsten all lead a soccer group.  Several teenagers came out and helped lead the soccer group.  They were phenomenal.  Even some of the 12 year olds gave Matt and Grady a run for their money.  Most of them were playing with bare feet.  The teens lead a bible study and we presented the balls to the children after camp and told them what the colors represented and shared the gospel.

After camp we ate lunch.  Corn torilla shells, chicken, and vegetables.  Excellent.  We then went to Hosanna Home, a children’s home that was opened by a man in PA.  The children know him as Mr. Bob.  It was very clean, the children were very respectful, and it was well run.  Located in the mountains, it had a beautiful view.  Highlights there included getting to know some teenage girls and playing cards with them.  I let them paint my fingernails, and they put a head band with hair on my head.  They had a blast.  Grady killed a tarantula that was as big as my hand.  Our teenagers are awesome.  They were loving on the kids and playing games with them.  I was so proud of them.

We went back to the church and had dinner (bbq chicken, beans and rice, and fried plantana).  They also bought me a birthday cake and sang to me.  It had trick candles.  The pastor’s daughter has captured my heart.  Her name is Abigal and she is nine.  Full of life with big brown eyes.  Delightful personality.  She helped me blow out the candles.

Then we had a children’s service.  About 50 children showed up.  Families hung around outside the church talking to Pastor Wayne.  We talked with them about the story of Jonah through games, puppet show, and drama.  Our team then split up andm made bracelets with the children and prayed with them.

It has been a long day.  I was exhausted and drained from the heat, and we had a team meeting when we got back.  Our leader pulled out the guitar and we started to sing.  Then Sarah, our leader, said “I know you are drained, but pour out your life this week as an offering to the Lord.”  I was reminded of Paul’s words when he said that he was being poured out like a drink offering and that he beat his body and made it his slave so that he would not be disqualified from the prize.  I am rejuvenated.  Tomorrow will be great.

Ready for the day!

We slept well as did the gecko in our room.  We awoke at 5 am, thanks to Ren and Grady again.  We were dressed and ready by 6:30 am.  We did not need to be ready until 7:30 am, but it did give us time to read the Word!  We then went to Pomona Christian Community Church where they fed us eggs, cheese, fried jacks (like an elephant ear!), and fruit.  We were finished with breakfast by 8:30 am. 

Pomona

Children’s Sunday School (they do not meet with everyone on Sunday AM) started at 10 am, so we had plenty of time to talk with children as they trickled in for an hour and a half.  I spoke with the pastor’s sons Aaron and Jesse.  They are really cool and full of personality.  A dog was using the bathroom in the yard and I said, “The dog is poo pooing.” Jesse looked puzzed and asked what I was talking about.  I said, “Do you not call it poo poo?” He said, “No.”  I said, “What do you call it?”  With an innocent straight face said, “Sheet.” with a creole accent.  I died laughing and said, “I don’t guess that is a cuss word here.”

One of the things that we are learning is that cultures other than America are not as consumed with time and the program.  They are more concerned with relationship and people.  This is a lesson the church could really do well to learn and grasp.  We started fifteen minutes or so late, we ended 30 minutes late, but it was all on time.  The pastor’s children are full of personality.  His oldest daughter led the children in singing.  Her name is Christy.  His next two children are sons, Jesse and Aaron.  His next two children are full of smiles and dimples Abigal and Ruth. 

After singing, the children stood up in classes and recited a Bible verse.  We split into groups and taught them the story of Zacceaus, and discussed how we could apply the principles of his transformation to our lives.  We had lunch and then came back to the hotel for ministry training which was an excercise for us to tell one another our spiritual story in 7 minutes. 

We set out to tour around our hotel and went for ice cream and a small shop with only ice cream.  We walked down to the beach which was cluttered with liter and the water resembled the brackish water of the beaches of South Carolina.  Nice palms everywhere and a man throwing a cast net into the water to try to catch bait. 

Mattison and Grady purchased a coconut from a man riding a bike.  He sliced it and they drank the coconut milk out of it.  They pretended to like it and tried to get others to drink, but I didn’t buy it.  They finally admitted that it was pretty bad and put it down.

Tonight we worshipped with the church.  It was a packed house of about 75 adults and children.  Full of Spirit.  No air conditioning.  I wondered if we would still conduct services in America if there was no air conditioned building.  They spent an hour singing, sharing testimony, a few students sang Reggae Christian. 

Then we did a skit that the students put together.  Grady gave a testimony, and Mike led in worship.  Bert sang a song and I preached on being a missionary to the community using the story of the good .  The founding pastor of the church was there.  He led Pastor Wayne to the Lord 16 years ago.   

The congregation sang a birthday song to me.  I can’t think of better way to spend my 35th birthday. 

We embarked on our trip to Belize this morning.  The day started at 5:15 am with Ren taking a shower and Grady talking constantly.  We then hopped on a van to the airport and met a sharp young man named Abou from Liberia.  He talked to me about his muslim faith and his understanding of the differences between his faith and Christians.  I encouraged him to seek out the validity of the resurrection of Christ, because that is the corner stone of our faith.  I also encouraged him to seek out if the book of John spoke truth.

We made it to the airport and Ren got stopped at security and was interrogated in “the room”.  We then got on the plane and took off.  Kirsten squealed like a pig the entire lift off and was extremely excited.  The flight was smooth and we touched down in Belize at noon.  We went through customs and had 11 bags full of stuff that we were donating.  We thought we may have to pay a tax but Ren, Ashley, and I made it through.  Next thing I hear is Belinda yelling my name across the customs area saying they need the key to check her bag, which causes a chain reaction of all the customs people noticing all of our bags being the same.  They then summoned us all together to ask us to give an itemized list of everything in the bag, which K had all ready for us!  Then they said we would have to pay a customs tax unless we had a letter stating we were exempt…which I pulled out that K had ready for us.  Then he said, “No.  It needs to be from our Prime Minister of Finance.”  I said, “Really.”  I then found myself in front of the counter paying a $100 tax, which was actually good because we should have had to pay 5 times that much with the stuff we were bringing into the country. 

We met our missionary guides Mike and Sarah outside.  Burt was our bus driver.  He is native to Belize, a preacher’s kid, and cool as ice under pressure.  We will get to that in a minute. 

We had lunch at a pizza place and our students talked with a crippled beggar, and also fed a child who was on the street.  They were able to share their faith with him as well.

We headed to a children’s home and I was so impressed with our kids.  The home was depressed by American standards, but was a haven for children.  Our kids jumped right in and started picking up children and loving on them.  Even those with special needs and chicken pox!  It was so encouraging to watch them.  Over half of our group already shared their faith.  I am so proud of them.  I met a cool guy named Aaron.  He had been there for 11 years.  I told him he was going to be a preacher some day.  Solid athlete.Nick Williams held the hand of a special needs girl who was mute for over an hour just because she wanted him to and needed some attention.   

We then traveled two hours through the mountains to Pomona Christian Community Church.  This is where things started to get interesting.  We had  a tire blow out on our luxury school bus.  Bert then went to change the tire on the duelly system.  No jack.  Decided to find a rock and run it up on the other tire.  This jacked it off the ground enough to change the tire.  The spare had the radials sticking out.  We then proceeded through the mountains at record speeds, and then we got to our first bridge going 60 mph.  It was one lane and Burt never took his foot off the accelerator.  As we are passing someone on a bicycle, the spare exploded.  I thought we hit him.  I know he is cleaning out his shorts. 

Finally we pulled up at the church, and were greeted by children and youth.  Pastor Wayne was so inviting and we were brought in like royalty.  They treated us to fried chicken, mashed potatoes, noodles, and chocolate cake.  We felt at home.  

Home sweat Home

We then rode to our hotel in Dangriga and settled in.  We are exhausted, but excited to start our mission tomorrow.  We will be leading children’s Sunday School in the morning and I will be preaching tomorrow night for their service.