Maybe I'll end up making blog posts a higher priority after all. It's an effective way for me to accomplish multiple things at once: telling my family/friends about what I'm doing, journaling (I know...I know), and documenting what I do each day. It's a win for everyone right, as long as my posts aren't lame?
We went to the church building today and met with the senior pastor. He told us about his long term plans for the church and how they really want to start changing the culture of Ticos. People live paycheck to paycheck and are hesitant to invest in their futures, which causes them to be stuck in the rut of living paycheck to paycheck. Interest rates are so high, they can't afford to get loans to start a business or purchase a home. A loan to start a business requires a detailed business plan and collateral. If they can even get those things they are looking at interest rates of 25%. Credit card interest rates are 45%.
The church is also struggling financially. Talk about putting things into perspective. They have come up with some innovative ways to keep their building though! They have given up their classroom space in the basement of the church to allow a bakery to move in. The bakery is not affiliated with the church, so they collect a fair rent. But still provides an opportunity to witness to the business owners and patrons of the paneria. You'll never guess what else they're doing to provide cash flow and job training for a few church members. Seriously, you'll never guess. They use their sanctuary as an automobile repair shop. Yea, I know! A few guys from the church work on cars in the sanctuary and divide the income among themselves, church staff and the building costs. Leaving a small portion to be reinvested into the business for tools, etc. Would you do that with your sanctuary? Last time I checked, most churches in the US don't even allow food or beverages into the sanctuary.
We also took some time driving around San Jose to see the varying lifestyles: lower class, middle class, and upper class. There is quite a contrast even with minimal separation. One road had squatters (people who just built a home on some vacant land) on one side and middle class, decent looking homes on the other. I also discovered the United States' greatest global export: materialism. We walked through a mall where we saw signs advertising financing....at a Payless Shoesource. Ticos will get store financing, with a very high interest rate, just to keep up with trendy fashions.
We went to the church building today and met with the senior pastor. He told us about his long term plans for the church and how they really want to start changing the culture of Ticos. People live paycheck to paycheck and are hesitant to invest in their futures, which causes them to be stuck in the rut of living paycheck to paycheck. Interest rates are so high, they can't afford to get loans to start a business or purchase a home. A loan to start a business requires a detailed business plan and collateral. If they can even get those things they are looking at interest rates of 25%. Credit card interest rates are 45%.
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| A Church Sanctuary? |
After dinner at a parishioner's home we headed to the school to start our training. It got off to a slow start but in the end we had a great time. This evening I met with about 10 teenagers to discuss technology today. Our intention is to get them excited about using technology for ministry. More specifically, supplementing their church. They all have Facebook pages and use Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube. One young lady is evening training to be Cisco certified. We played a fun game that maybe I can share with my Sunday School class someday. Tomorrow we meet with our classes again in the evening. The team will also be available at the church all afternoon for participants to ask individual questions and dig deeper.
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| My Class |
When I woke up this morning God was laying on my heart some Scripture that I needed to share with the students. It was about how we all spend our time online. What we say. Pictures we post. Do they represent us as Christians? First I shared what God commands us not to do in Ecclesiastes 5:2-3 and Ephesians 4:29. Then what He commands us to do in Colossians 4:6, "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." I explained to them that what you say online needs to reflect the life of a Christian. We must not allow non-Believers to call us hypocrites based on how we treat others online anymore than how we treat others in person. Prayerfully consider what you have representing yourself on the web, if God was looking at your Facebook page would he approve? Because he is.
Buenas noches! Hopefully we can do this again tomorrow night.
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