January 4, 2007

Goals for 2007

The beginning of a new year is a time when we naturally reflect on the past and make plans for the future. A few days ago I posted a list of some of the ministries God allowed us to have in 2006. Today I would like to share some of the vision God has given us for 2007.

Ministry

Our main focus right now is the ministry internship program at the Cariri Baptist Seminary. During the next year I would like to:

Continue to streamline the reporting process. We made some good progress in 2006 with the development of booklets for students to use in reporting. There are some bugs in the system, however, that need to be worked out.

Visit each of the students in their practical ministries. This was a goal I had for last year, that I was unable to complete. This year I am putting aside other activities (such as our church choir) to be able to focus on our students.

Set up the puppet ministry. We plan to start the semester by holding a "School of Puppetry" at the seminary. From the students who participate and show and interest and aptitude for puppet ministry we will form a traveling puppet team. One thing that we will need to do is find funding for an adequate sound system.

Last year I helped to design the SBC Website, and it is pretty much my "baby" at present. A few things need to happen this year:

Bring total control of site design to the SBC. Our web designer is doing an outstanding job. However, he lives in Belo Horizonte, and we are at the point where we need to be able to make major changes without going through a third party.

Set up e-mail addresses and mailing lists. See above item.

Improve website calendar. See above item.

As many of you know, our plan is to plant churches and start a camp ministry in the state of Maranhão. Our major burden is for that area. With that in mind, we have set following priorities:

Take at least two seminary students to get to know the Maranhão field. One thing Maranhão needs is workers. My goal while here at the seminary is to share my burden for that region with seminary students who are looking for a place to minister.

Promote the seminary during Carnaval Retreat in São Luís. Another way I can contribute to the ministry there is by challenging the young people in the Maranhão churches to consider training at the seminary. I will be doing just that as I speak at this year's Carnaval retreat.

Find property and/or house for purchase. Eventually, we want to roll up our sleeves and work shoulder-to-shoulder with the pastors in Maranhão. As a step in this direction, we want to find a property to buy--either with a house already on it, or where a house can be built.

One of the unexpected opportunities that arose in 2006 was the Cidade Feliz puppet segment on a local TV program run by our area Regular Baptist churches. The program was very well-received. We suffered from several limitations. This year, we need to make some changes:

Find adequate studio to film. This is priority number one. The little "upper room" we are using is just not adequate anymore. Actually, it never was, but we made do because it was the only thing available. Now we have a couple options we are pursuing.

Utilize new editing program. I have reached the editing limit of iFilm. Better quality editing is just aroud the corner.

Do ten excellent programs. Quality over quantity. Instead of trying to film every other week, we will plan ten stories to be taped throughout the year. We will take the necessary time to make good scenery and props, put together background music, etc.

Find funding. This is a biggie. God has supplied for us to improve up to our current level. If we are going to improve, God will have to direct by His provision. I am convinced of the value of this kind of programming. Pray that God will bring in the resources.

Personal and Spiritual

I cannot improve on a list of resolutions set forth by Nathan Busenitz in the Pulpet Magazine Blog. They are a summary of seventy(!) resolutions made by Jonathan Edwards. Busenitz boils them down to ten. They are as follows:

1. To live for God’s glory

2. To make the most of this life, in terms of eternal impact

3. To take sin seriously

4. To become theologically astute

5. To be humble

6. To exhibit self-control in all things

7. To always speak with grace and truth

8. To constantly develop an eternal focus

9. To be a faithful Christian, in prayer and dedication

10. To daily pursue a fervent love for Christ

I readily confess that I have a long ways to go on most, if not all, of the above items.

As far as personal goals, Itacyara and I are both pursuing our further education. Itacyara will continue to study language arts at the Cariri Regional University, with the idea of becoming an official translator.

My studies are much less formal. I plan to continue my regimen of reading one book a week. You can accompany this regimen in the Book of the Week feature on this blog. I am emphasizing historical, theological, and devotional works.

In the next few days I will be announcing the publication of a book entitled "Cowboys, Kings, and Villains". It is a collection of Christian puppet scripts (in English) that I have written over the years. I have enjoyed the process of putting this together and publishing it with Cafepress. At present we are making some changes in the cover design. As soon as this is accomplished the book will be made available. I plan to publish another book by the end of 2007.

Plans

Some exciting things are already on our calendar in 2007:

* Three conferences.
* Two puppetry seminars.
* A trip to the US in May (should finances allow).
* A missions team from Winter Haven, Florida.
* The arrival of Shanna Riddle to help us with filming and editing.
* Last but (DEFINITELY) not least, the arrival of our second child.

This post has rambled somewhat. I hope you can detect that we are very excited to see what God is going to do in 2007. Please pray for us as we make every effort to have an impact for the Kingdom here in Northeast Brazil.

Posted by Andrew on January 4, 2007 4:35 AM.

Comments

Posted by: Marc at February 10, 2007 1:40 PM

Posted by: Andrew at February 11, 2007 11:58 AM