Tomorrow at 12:30 pm, Celebration Baptist Church is going to Nicaragua to assist with a crusade in a town called El Viejo just outside Chinandega. 

 You may be thinking ... "well, SOME of the CBC is going ..." the rest are staying right here.  Actually, we are ALL going.  You see, some are:

SENDERS      providing material support in the way of financial help and materials to distribute.  Almost everyone on our team has people helping pay for all or a portion of their expenses ... it is a beautiful thing to see the family of faith involved in each other's lives this way.   Our Father's Day offering produced over $2700 to provide school supplies for children.  In Nicaragua, education is free ... but only for those children whose parents can afford to pay for the school supplies.  So, this gift will make an enormous impact!

PRAYER PARTNERS   providing intercession for safety, boldness, encouragement and a fruitful effort.  There is no way to underestimate how import this is ... and everyone can participate.  My children have always been my prayer partners as I have led teams on short term projects.  Now, for the first time, one of my kids is getting on the airplane with us!

GO-ERS   of course, the last group are the ones feverishly packing and double checking their packing list even as I write.  God bless these faithful ones who have struggled through the obstacles of finances, fears and the many distractions that made each one considering just not going "this time." 

Not everyone can get on a plane ... because of health concerns, work situation, small children at home, etc.  But ... everyone can play a part in this mission effort.

So - since we are all a part of this, I want to challenge you to prepare yourself spiritually in the same way that our team has done.  We used a prayer guide as a means to getting clean and right before God.  Since none of us are perfect and unconfessed sin can limit how God is willing to work through us, we all should take the time to spiritually prepare.

Click here to download the prayer guide.

Let me warn you, the devil will try to use this to beat you down and discourage you ... as you take God into your past and confront past failures it can drive you to despair and shame ... or it can take you to the cross where you can, once again, humble yourself and receive freely the forgiveness and love from the Lord that none of us deserve.

So let's get ready for the Mission Trip!

We look forward to celebrating together about all God will do through our churches work this next week both here and there.  Please click on the map of Nicaragua on the home page of our website each day for updates from the field.  We will do our best to post journal entries, prayer requests, etc. while we are there so you can all see what is happening.

Blessings,

Pastor Paul