August-September 2026 

The good hand of his God was upon Ezra. He had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach it.”                                        Ezra 7:9–10 

What is it about this place that it has become a training camp for servants who are answering their call to prepare, study, obey, and teach God’s Word? What was it about Ezra’s place that enabled him to set the example?

The IBBM-Tepic OANSA kids learned this past Saturday that it certainly wasn’t about the place. Only the fittest Jewish hostages had survived Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion, the roughly 900-kilometer desert journey to their new location in idolatrous Babylon, and the ensuing 70-year, well-deserved exile. It was a banishment prophesied by God through Isaiah more than a century prior and reiterated through Jeremiah in the Lord’s sacred scrolls. 

    

Ezra was born in Babylon, decades after Persian King Cyrus conquered Babylon and authorized the first wave of Jews to return and rebuild Jerusalem. He was a scribe and a priest, a descendant of Aaron, and Ezra says of himself that he purposed, like Daniel had before him, to prepare his heart to study the law of the Lord, to obey it, and to teach God’s decrees to his fellow Israelites. That was the task, and Ezra accomplished it only because “the good hand of God was upon him.” He was diligent, and God used him mightily. That’s what God does. 

OANSA-Tepic resumed with the great anticipation of eighty kids chomping at the bit to return! The leaders are an army of diligent servants who have prepared their hearts, studied, obeyed, and are now teaching the next generation of IBBM leaders by both word and example. The theme of our first five-week series is “What Are We Talking About?” We’re talking about where and how we got the Bible in our language; why it is our authority, why it is understandable and a light for our path, why it is necessary, and why it is sufficient. 

And now, like Ezra, we can simply “do what it says,” knowing that the good hand of the Lord our God is upon us, too, to teach it where He leads. 

Three years ago, Mirelis and Hector came from their home in Cuba to IBBM-Tepic for a year-long internship before heading to Encarnación de Díaz, “La Chona,” as church planters. Missionaries from Cuba to Mexico! Praise God that IBBM-Tepic has become known for being like the church at Paul’s Antioch where the Spirit of God could say, “I have a special task for sending all kinds of chosen people beyond your own doors to carry the Gospel.” Pastor Martín and Erén and the church family have the vision to roll up their sleeves, learning and taking part in the process alongside those whom God has set apart to take His Word where it is not known, to carry the Gospel where it is not, and to plant a church where there is none. Mirelis and Hector traveled back to Tepic last week for the first time since they left here two years ago. They have spent the week joyfully reporting on what God has done in a very dark and difficult place. They have prepared, studied, gone, and taught His Word. God’s hand is upon them, and the children and leaders of IBBM-Tepic OANSA generously joined the team, giving them a special offering.

Last Saturday, Pastor Manuel from Zapote de Picachos called to ask us to pray for his brother, Martín, from his natal village of Playa de Golondrinas. Martín has contracted hemorrhagic dengue fever. His family managed to get him down the mountain, to the river, and to Tepic, where surprisingly, he was admitted immediately for surgery because of an intracranial hemorrhage. Though the prognosis is not favorable, his family clearly knows that God has a plan that often does not meet our expectations. 

Pastor Manuel and a team of teachers from his church at Zapote had already prepared to leave for the village of Guásima del Caimán to celebrate the anniversary of the baby church there and to teach the new believers the next lessons in the series of Biblical Discipleship. 

The trek to Guásima is long and requires emulating mountain goats for hours; it certainly is not for novice hikers. Manuel told me that he had determined that there is nothing he can do for his brother while he is hopefully recuperating in the hospital, so the trip will continue as planned. They have prepared their hearts, studied, chosen to obey, and they’ll go, and teach. Manuel said he will see his much-loved brother when he returns, or in Heaven. They have learned, for sure, that this life is not about this life…and the hand of God is upon them. 

And speaking of life, this past week marked three score and ten, plus four, for me. They have truly seemed “but a vapor.” Apparently, some of my sweet friends have learned to use AI; this must have been quite a party! I can only bow my head in thanks that the good hand of our God has surrounded me with an army of self-sacrificing, stuff-sharing, Jesus-loving friends and family. May we all continue together to prepare, seek, do, and teach His Truth where He leads. 

See albums of the past two months' activities here. 

April/May 2026 Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you ... and you will be a blessing.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. Genesis 12:1-2

The stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, Saul, Esther, Deborah, and hundreds more have had a profound effect on my entire life and are still affecting the lives of every single person with whom I’m privileged to share them. I couldn’t wait to teach the final lesson of this quarter of the Tepic church OANSA council time last Saturday. The theme of this series was “Choices that Transform,” and the lesson was, “Obey or Sacrifice.” 

 I was transported back to the afternoon when my eight-year-old self sat on the floor of our family room, surrounded by a pile of my school friends, as our mom emphasized that Samuel warned Saul and, more importantly, that God says, “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 

AWANA didn’t exist for us back then, but my mom and dad made it possible to invite our friends to come home from school with us every Thursday for the best Bible Club ever. We walked into the house to the smell of home-baked cookies and a refreshing drink, then took our places on the family room floor to hear the well-rehearsed flannel-graph Bible story our mom had prepared for the week’s lesson. When the story was over, she gave each of us a corresponding Bible verse, handwritten on a construction-paper template, for us to memorize for the following week. I have repeated 1 Samuel 15:22 hundreds of times since the day it was first hidden in my heart, and it guides my decision-making to this day. 

From living examples, I learned the importance of caring for and teaching children simple, clear stories from the Bible and relating them to the Gospel message. Many of my school friends, now in their 70’s, will never regret the transformative choices they made in that little Bible Club. Neither will many of my Mexican and Huichol friends, some of whom are now pastors, leaders, and parents of children of their own, who are learning to hide God’s Word in their hearts as well. 

In yet another of those Bible Club stories, just as “the Lord promised Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you… and I will bless you,’” He has blessed and made His name great in Tepic. My parents loved hearing stories from Mexico. They especially loved hearing about the annual Huichol Youth camp; and along with others who love God’s work here, they had a tangible investment in providing scholarships and supplies. 

They dedicated the walls of one of the hallways of their own house for a gallery of framed portraits of the yearly camp group picture, donated by Arturo, the photographer. Seven years ago, I arrived from Mexico just hours before we said our last earthly “good-bye,” the night my daddy passed over the threshold into Heaven and into the open arms of His beloved Savior, and just in time to witness his smile of gratitude as I delivered the 2019 framed addition to his gallery. Seven more portraits have since been added to the collection. His gallery is now hanging on a wall of the Huichol church at Zapote de Picachos as a reminder to all of God’s promise and His delight in obedience more than sacrifice. 

The Zapote de Picachos church is a living testimony to God’s promise to His people: “I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” Though the enemy has attacked them in ways we never dreamed possible, God has blessed this little church like no other I’ve ever seen. He takes joy in their very first faithful steps as well as in His finished work. 

Just this past week, they hosted the annual Huichol pastors’ conference, attended by pastors and leaders from churches throughout the Sierra Madre. The brothers and sisters from Zapote worked tirelessly, sacrificed generously, and served their guests with joy, along with Pastor Martín and Erén, from Tepic, who prepared messages and counsel for the pastors and their wives. Some arrived on foot, others via rural transport as far as it would go, and still others came by boat up or down river. All came eager to teach, learn, praise, and fellowship. 

Like with Abraham, God doesn't always provide all the details at once. He just says, "Leave, and go to this land; trust me and obey." He gives His orders one chapter at a time, and some of those chapters end with cliff-hangers to be completed at a later date. Like Abraham learned, like Samuel proclaimed, the mission is to obey, taking the step He shows today by faith. 

I will bless you … and you will be a blessing.